It's still correct. But then when the SAD pattern is recognized:
patt_29 = SAD_EXPR <a_14, b_16, r_23>;
This is not correct. This only happens for targets with both uabd and
sabd but not vec_widen_{s,u}abd, currently LoongArch is the only target
affected.
The problem is vect_look_through_possible_promotion will throw away a
series of conversions if the effect is equivalent to a sign change and a
promotion, but here the sign change is definitely relevant, and the
promotion is also relevant for "mixed sign" cases like
r += abs((unsigned int)(unsigned char) a - (signed int)(signed char) b
(we need to promote to HImode as the difference can exceed the range of
QImode).
If there were any redundant promotion, it should have been stripped in
vect_recog_abd_pattern (i.e. when patt_31 = .ABD (a.0_4, b.1_6) is
recognized) instead of in vect_recog_sad_pattern, or we'd have a
missed-optimization if the ABD output is not summerized. So anyway
vect_recog_sad_pattern is just not a proper location to call
vect_look_through_possible_promotion for the ABD inputs, remove the
calls to fix the issue.
gcc/ChangeLog:
PR tree-optimization/118727
* tree-vect-patterns.cc (vect_recog_sad_pattern): Don't call
vect_look_through_possible_promotion on ABD inputs.
gcc/testsuite/ChangeLog:
PR tree-optimization/118727
* gcc.dg/pr108692.c: Mention PR 118727 in the comment.
* gcc.dg/pr118727.c: New test case.