[RFC] OpenXLA PJRT plugin

Present proposal for OpenXLA PJRT plugin along with creation of new repo for
its development.

Author: jpienaar

rfcs/20230123-pjrt-plugin.md

@@ -0,0 +1,221 @@
+## RFC: OpenXLA PJRT Plugin
+
+| Status        | Proposed                                                |
+| :------------ | :------------------------------------------------------ |
+| **RFC #**     | [32](https://github.com/openxla/community/pull/32) |
+| **Author(s)** | Skye Wanderman-Milne ([email protected]), Jieying Luo ([email protected]), Jacques Pienaar ([email protected]) |
+| **Sponsor**   | Stella Laurenzo ([email protected]), James Rubin ([email protected]) |
+| **Updated**   | 2023-01-23                                              |
+
+## Objective
+
+*   Framework integration of a packaged compiler and runtime solution;
+
+## Proposal
+
+*   Adopt PJRT as the supported device plugin mechanism for OpenXLA;
+*   Create new repo openxla/openxla-pjrt-plugin for the OpenXLA PJRT plugin;
+
+## Background: PJRT
+
+[PJRT](https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/master/tensorflow/compiler/xla/pjrt/c/pjrt_c_api.h)
+is a uniform Device API that we want to add to the OpenXLA ecosystem. The long
+term vision for PJRT is that: (1) frameworks (TensorFlow, PyTorch, JAX, etc.)
+will call PJRT, which has device-specific implementations that are opaque to the
+frameworks; (2) each device focuses on implementing PJRT APIs, and can be opaque
+to the frameworks.
+
+![PJRT plugin integrating OpenXLA into ML frameworks](20230123-pjrt-plugin/frameworks.png)
+<p align = "center"> PJRT provides a platform independent interfacing for
+compilers and corresponding runtimes. </p>
+
+PJRT API will provide an easy interface with which frameworks can integrate a
+packaged compiler and runtime solution. It will be the supported interface that
+will be used by TensorFlow and JAX for all compiler and runtime integration. And
+as such it will be easy for other compilers and runtimes that implement the PJRT
+interface to integrate with these systems.
+
+## PJRT plugin mechanism goal
+
+The PJRT plugin mechanism should support the following features:
+
+*   Different devices (e.g. TPU, GPU) can have different implementations
+    (through
+    [PJRT C API interface](https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/master/tensorflow/compiler/xla/pjrt/c/pjrt_c_api.h)).
+*   Registration of multiple PJRT plugins.
+*   Loading multiple PJRT plugins (e.g. both CPU and TPU) in the same process.
+*   Passing configuration values from client (e.g. JAX lib) or from json files
+    provided by the plugin (default configs).
+*   Plugin discovery and choosing which plugins to load.
+
+## High level plugin structure
+
+![High-level plugin structure](20230123-pjrt-plugin/plugin-structure.png)
+
+## Current Status
+
+As of Dec 14, 2022
+
+*   [LoadPjrtPlugin(plugin_name, library_path)](https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/master/tensorflow/compiler/xla/stream_executor/tpu/pjrt_api.cc#L73)
+    can be used to load a PJRT plugin. We also provide a Python method
+    [load_pjrt_plugin](https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/master/tensorflow/compiler/xla/python/xla.cc#L329)
+    binded to it.
+*   [GetCApiClient(plugin_name)](https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/master/tensorflow/compiler/xla/pjrt/pjrt_c_api_client.cc#L1150)
+    can be used to create a PJRT client. We also provide a Python method
+    [get_c_api_client](https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/master/tensorflow/compiler/xla/python/xla.cc#L391)
+    binded to it.
+
+## Design Considerations
+
+### <a name="heading=h.782ksg6rl5bj"></a> Loading plugins
+
+We will provide a low level C++ method to load a PJRT plugin, which takes
+`library_path` and `config_values` as inputs. A python method `load_pjrt_plugin`
+binded to it will be provided as well.
+
+```c++
+Status LoadPjrtPlugin(string library_path, map<string, string> config_values) {
+  library_handle = dlopen(library_path);
+  function_prt = dlsym(library_handle, "GetPjrtApi");
+  if (function_prt != nullptr) {
+     PJRT_Api* api = function_prt();
+     plugin_name = parse(library_path);
+     PluginInfo plugin_info(api, config_values);
+     global_pjrt_plugin_map[plugin_name] = plugin_info;
+  }
+}
+```
+
+*   `GetPjrtApi` returns a `PJRT_Api*` pointer that contains the implementation
+    of the C APIs.
+*   `global_pjrt_plugin_map` is a global `map<plugin_name, PluginInfo>` with the
+    same lifetime as the program
+*   `plugin_name` has the same meaning as `platform_name` in JAX.
+*   To be able to store the config values, and be future-proofed for other
+    information such as version, we propose to use a class PluginInfo. This
+    class is immutable after constructed, and contains getter method for
+    `PJRT_Api*` and config values.
+
+### Discovering and automatic loading plugins
+
+To allow framework users to pip-install plugins without requiring further code
+changes, we'll implement a Python discovery mechanism to automatically find and
+load plugins. The plugin discovery will be based on the
+[naming convention of the Python module](https://packaging.python.org/en/latest/guides/creating-and-discovering-plugins/#using-naming-convention),
+and full paths set in the environment variable `PJRT_PLUGIN_LIBRARY_PATH` which
+is added to allow users to manually specify directories and/or .so files). For
+modules found, it will be imported.
+
+*   Tentative naming convention for .so/json files:
+    "pjrt-plugin-<plugin_name>.so" or "pjrt-plugin-<plugin_name>.json".
+
+There are two options to automatically load plugins (decision has not been made
+yet):
+
+Option 1: Plugin module updates PJRT_PLUGIN_LIBRARY_PATH on import. A python
+method `load_pjrt_plugins` will be added to discover .so/json files related to
+PJRT plugins and load them.
+
+```python
+def load_pjrt_plugins():
+  for directory in env[PJRT_PLUGIN_LIBRARY_PATH]:
+    if json file:
+      Library_path, config_values = parse json file
+      load_pjrt_plugin(library_path, config_values)
+    elif .so file:
+      load_pjrt_plugin(.so file path)
+```
+
+Option 2: Plugin module is responsible for calling
+[load_pjrt_plugin](#heading=h.782ksg6rl5bj) with its default options on import.
+
+Open questions:
+
+*   Are there requirements about what file should not be loaded?
+
+### <a name="heading=h.396bmv8gkskz"></a> Create PJRT client(s)
+
+Frameworks decide which PJRT clients to create and use. For example, a framework
+can create PJRT clients for all the plugins loaded. It can also choose to only
+create a subset of PJRT clients based on some priorities rules. It can also come
+from the user configuration.
+
+Two python methods binding to C++ methods will be provided to facilitate
+creating PJRT clients:
+
+1.  `get_loaded_plugin_names()` which gets all loaded plugin names from
+    `global_pjrt_plugin_map`.
+2.  `create_pjrt_client(plugin_name)` which creates a PJRT C API client (similar
+    to
+    [GetCApiClient](https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/master/tensorflow/compiler/xla/pjrt/pjrt_c_api_client.cc#L1150)).
+    It will retrieve the PluginInfo stored in `global_pjrt_plugin_map` and run
+    `PJRT_Client_Create` (see
+    [Config values for creating PJRT client(s)](#heading=h.bjuf0soco0sj)
+    section).
+
+Open questions:
+
+*   What about plugin initialization that are not related to creating a PJRT
+    client? For example, these two functions in
+    [tpu_initializer_helper.cc](https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/master/tensorflow/compiler/xla/stream_executor/tpu/tpu_initializer_helper.cc#L269-L270)
+    should be run when initializing TPU. Currently they are called every time a
+    PJRT TPU client is created. Shall we add another method InitializePlugin and
+    only run it once? Alternatively, the plugin can implement it in
+    `PJRT_Client_Create` and run it once in the first time a client was created.
+*   Do we want to create PJRT clients for every plugin that is found? Will that
+    involve some initialization for the device which should not run multiple
+    times?
+    *   We may need to store loaded PluginInfo in a nested map `map<device_type,
+        <plugin_name, PluginInfo>>` if we want to know what plugins are
+        available for a device (e.g. current PJRT GPU and IREE GPU) and only
+        create one PJRT client per device.
+
+### <a name="heading=h.bjuf0soco0sj"></a> Config values for creating PJRT client(s)
+
+GetCApiClient will be changed to take a map of config values. This map can be
+passed to `PJRT_Client_Create` through
+[PJRT_NamedValue](https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/master/tensorflow/compiler/xla/pjrt/c/pjrt_c_api.h#L210).
+The default config values can (1) come from the json file which will be stored
+in PluginInfo, or (2) plugin implementation during import.
+
+### Framework integration
+
+All the methods mentioned above can be reused across frameworks. For example,
+JAX lib can integrate as follows:
+
+*   Call [load_pjrt_plugins](#heading=h.782ksg6rl5bj) when
+    [initializing backends](https://github.com/google/jax/blob/a66b3dcdd378b723e275a19258de826260b4c83e/jax/_src/lib/xla_bridge.py#L381).
+*   Call [get_loaded_plugin_names](#heading=h.396bmv8gkskz) to get loaded PJRT
+    `plugin_name`, have some framework specific logics to decide whether to call
+    [create_pjrt_client](#heading=h.396bmv8gkskz) to create the PJRT client.
+
+```python
+def create_pjrt_clients():
+  loaded_plugin_names = get_loaded_plugin_names()
+  for plugin_name in loaded_plugin_names:
+    # Framework specific logics to decide whether to create
+    if should_create_pjrt_client(plugin_name):
+      pjrt_client = create_pjrt_client(plugin_name)
+```
+
+For TensorFlow, discovery will be added to
+[here](https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/master/tensorflow/api_template.__init__.py#L142),
+and loading PJRT plugins will be added to
+[here](https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/master/tensorflow/core/common_runtime/pluggable_device/pluggable_device_plugin_init.cc#L124).
+Depending on the plugin, the client can be created implicitly in the first time
+it is used, or created in a plugin custom op kernel. Created PJRT clients will
+be saved in the
+[global TensorFlow ResourceManager](https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/master/tensorflow/core/tfrt/common/pjrt_util.h#L26).
+
+For more information about PJRT, please consult the PJRT
+[C header](https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/master/tensorflow/compiler/xla/pjrt/c/pjrt_c_api.h),
+[C++ header](https://github.com/tensorflow/tensorflow/blob/master/tensorflow/compiler/xla/pjrt/pjrt_client.h),
+[plugin mechanism design doc](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FieBwiflD6DT9Z38wFIrnNxrUto1AOP3UuibQ4vpvEQ/edit)
+and
+[integration guide](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EL62DkASMFZbk89K6MIPNGUFBTbkC21v5-uL5fB8VsM/edit).
+
+## Initial contribution
+
+We will use the plugin in
+[IREE samples](https://github.com/iree-org/iree-samples/tree/main/pjrt-plugin)
+to seed the repo and build full PJRT support as part of OpenXLA project.