/[gxemul]/trunk/README
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Revision 44 - (hide annotations)
Mon Oct 8 16:22:56 2007 UTC (16 years, 5 months ago) by dpavlin
File size: 3594 byte(s)
++ trunk/HISTORY	(local)
$Id: HISTORY,v 1.1632 2007/09/11 21:46:35 debug Exp $
20070616	Implementing the MIPS32/64 revision 2 "ror" instruction.
20070617	Adding a struct for each physpage which keeps track of which
		ranges within that page (base offset, length) that are
		continuously translatable. When running with native code
		generation enabled (-b), a range is added after each read-
		ahead loop.
		Experimenting with using the physical program counter sample
		data (implemented 20070608) together with the "translatable
		range" information, to figure out which physical address ranges
		would be worth translating to native code (if the number of
		samples falling within a range is above a certain threshold).
20070618	Adding automagic building of .index comment files for
		src/file/, src/promemul/, src src/useremul/ as well.
		Adding a "has been translated" bit to the ranges, so that only
		not-yet-translated ranges will be sampled.
20070619	Moving src/cpu.c and src/memory_rw.c into src/cpus/,
		src/device.c into src/devices/, and src/machine.c into
		src/machines/.
		Creating a skeleton cc/ld native backend module; beginning on
		the function which will detect cc command line, etc.
20070620	Continuing on the native code generation infrastructure.
20070621	Moving src/x11.c and src/console.c into a new src/console/
		subdir (for everything that is console or framebuffer related).
		Moving src/symbol*.c into a new src/symbol/, which should
		contain anything that is symbol handling related.
20070624	Making the program counter sampling threshold a "settings
		variable" (sampling_threshold), i.e. it can now be changed
		during runtime.
		Switching the RELEASE notes format from plain text to HTML.
		If the TMPDIR environment variable is set, it is used instead
		of "/tmp" for temporary files.
		Continuing on the cc/ld backend: simple .c code is generated,
		the compiler and linker are called, etc.
		Adding detection of host architecture to the configure script
		(again), and adding icache invalidation support (only
		implemented for Alpha hosts so far).
20070625	Simplifying the program counter sampling mechanism.
20070626	Removing the cc/ld native code generation stuff, program
		counter sampling, etc; it would not have worked well in the
		general case.
20070627	Removing everything related to native code generation.
20070629	Removing the (practically unusable) support for multiple
		emulations. (The single emulation allowed now still supports
		multiple simultaneous machines, as before.)
		Beginning on PCCTWO and M88K interrupts.
20070723	Adding a dummy skeleton for emulation of M32R processors.
20070901	Fixing a warning found by "gcc version 4.3.0 20070817
		(experimental)" on amd64.
20070905	Removing some more traces of the old "multiple emulations"
		code.
		Also looking in /usr/local/include and /usr/local/lib for
		X11 libs, when running configure.
20070909	Minor updates to the guest OS install instructions, in
		preparation for the NetBSD 4.0 release.
20070918	More testing of NetBSD 4.0 RC1.

1 dpavlin 2
2    
3 dpavlin 44 --------------------------------------------------------
4     Gavare's eXperimental Emulator -- GXemul 0.4.6.1
5     --------------------------------------------------------
6 dpavlin 2
7 dpavlin 44
8     Copyright (C) 2003-2007 Anders Gavare
9    
10    
11    
12 dpavlin 24 Overview -- What is GXemul?
13     -----------------------------
14 dpavlin 2
15 dpavlin 44 GXemul is a framework for full-system computer architecture emulation.
16     Several processor architectures and machine types have been implemented.
17     It is working well enough to allow unmodified "guest" operating systems to
18     run inside the emulator, as if they were running on real hardware.
19 dpavlin 2
20 dpavlin 44 The emulator emulates (networks of) real machines. The machines may
21     consist of ARM, MIPS, PowerPC, and SuperH processors, and various
22     surrounding hardware components such as framebuffers, busses, interrupt
23     controllers, ethernet controllers, disk controllers, and serial port
24     controllers.
25 dpavlin 2
26 dpavlin 44 GXemul, including the dynamic translation system, is implemented in
27     portable C, which means that the emulator will run on practically any host
28     architecture.
29    
30 dpavlin 34 The documentation lists the machines and guest operating systems that can
31     be regarded as "working" in GXemul. The best working guest operating
32     systems are probably NetBSD/pmax and NetBSD/cats.
33    
34 dpavlin 44 Possible uses of GXemul include:
35 dpavlin 12
36 dpavlin 24 o) running guest operating systems in a "sandboxed" environment
37    
38     o) compiling your source code inside a guest operating system which you
39     otherwise would not have access to (e.g. various exotic ports of
40     NetBSD), to make sure that your source code is portable to those
41     platforms
42    
43 dpavlin 44 o) educational purposes, e.g. to learn how to write code for MIPS
44    
45     o) hobby operating system development; the emulator can be used as a
46     complement to testing your code on real hardware
47    
48 dpavlin 24 o) simulating (ethernet) networks of computers running various
49     operating systems, to study their interaction with each other
50    
51     o) debugging code in general
52    
53     Use your imagination :-)
54    
55    
56 dpavlin 44
57 dpavlin 24 GXemul's limitations
58     --------------------
59    
60 dpavlin 44 o) GXemul is not a cycle-accurate simulator, because it does not simulate
61     things smaller than an instruction. Pipe-line stalls, instruction latency
62     effects etc. are more or less completely ignored.
63 dpavlin 24
64 dpavlin 44 o) Hardware devices have been implemented in an ad-hoc and as-needed manner,
65     usually only enough to fool certain guest operating systems, e.g. NetBSD,
66     that the hardware devices exist and function well enough for those guest
67     operating systems to use them.
68 dpavlin 24
69 dpavlin 44 (A consequence of this is that a machine mode may be implemented well
70 dpavlin 24 enough to run NetBSD for that machine mode, but other guest operating
71 dpavlin 44 systems may not run at all, or behave strangely.)
72 dpavlin 24
73    
74 dpavlin 44
75 dpavlin 2 Quick start
76     -----------
77    
78 dpavlin 4 To compile, type './configure' and then 'make'. This should work on most
79 dpavlin 28 Unix-like systems. If it does not, then please mail me a bug report.
80 dpavlin 2
81 dpavlin 24 You might want to experiment with various CC and CFLAGS environment
82     variable settings, to get optimum performance.
83    
84 dpavlin 10 If you are impatient, and want to try out running a guest operating system
85 dpavlin 44 inside GXemul, read this: doc/guestoses.html#netbsdpmaxinstall
86 dpavlin 2
87 dpavlin 10 If you want to use GXemul for experimenting with code of your own,
88     then I suggest you compile a Hello World program according to the tips
89     listed here: doc/experiments.html#hello
90 dpavlin 2
91 dpavlin 10 Please read the rest of the documentation in the doc/ sub-directory for
92     more detailed information on how to use the emulator.
93    
94    
95 dpavlin 44
96 dpavlin 2 Feedback
97     --------
98    
99     If you have found GXemul useful in some way, or feel like sending me
100     comments or feedback in general, then mail me at anders(at)gavare.se.
101    

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