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Release notes for Gavare's eXperimental Emulator (GXemul), 0.3.6.1 |
Release notes for Gavare's eXperimental Emulator (GXemul), 0.4.0 |
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================================================================== |
================================================================ |
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Copyright (C) 2003-2005 Anders Gavare. |
Copyright (C) 2003-2006 Anders Gavare. |
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GXemul is an experimental instruction-level machine emulator. Several |
GXemul is an experimental instruction-level machine emulator. Several |
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hardware components are emulated well enough to let unmodified operating |
hardware components are emulated well enough to let unmodified operating |
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systems (e.g. NetBSD) run as if they were running on a real machine. |
systems (e.g. NetBSD) run as if they were running on a real machine. |
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The processor architecture best emulated by GXemul is MIPS, but other |
The documentation lists the machines and guest operating systems that can |
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architectures are also partially emulated. |
be regarded as "working" in GXemul. The best supported guest operating |
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systems are probably NetBSD/pmax, NetBSD/cats, and OpenBSD/cats. |
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I have verified that the following "guest" operating systems can run inside |
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the emulator: |
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Guest operating system Emulated machine |
The most important change between release 0.3.8 and 0.4.0 is: |
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---------------------- ---------------- |
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NetBSD/pmax 2.0.2 (and 1.6.2) DECstation 5000/200 |
o) The emulation of MIPS processors has been completely rewritten; |
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OpenBSD/pmax 2.8-BETA DECstation 5000/200 |
it now uses the same portable dynamic translation system as the |
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Ultrix 4.2-4.5 DECstation 5000/200 |
ARM and PowerPC emulation modes. |
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Sprite demo harddisk image DECstation 5000/200 |
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Debian GNU/Linux for DECstation DECstation 5000/200 |
On Alpha and i386 hosts (and AMD64 hosts running in 32-bit mode), |
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Redhat Linux 7.1 for mips DECstation 5000/200 |
GXemul previously used translation into native code. This release |
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NetBSD/arc 1.6.2 Acer PICA-61 |
will perform worse than 0.3.8 on those host architectures. |
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OpenBSD/arc 2.3 Acer PICA-61 |
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NetBSD/hpcmips 2.0.2 NEC MobilePro 770, 780, 800, 880 |
On all other hosts (including AMD64 running in native 64-bit mode), |
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NetBSD/cobalt 2.0.2 Cobalt |
0.4.0 is likely to be faster than 0.3.8, when emulating MIPS, at |
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NetBSD/evbmips 2.0.2 Malta 5Kc/4Kc evaluation board |
least for R3000 emulation. |
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NetBSD/sgimips 2.0.2 SGI O2 ("IP32") |
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NetBSD/cats 2.0.2 CATS (ARM) |
I think that in the long term, moving towards full portability like |
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OpenBSD/cats 3.7 CATS (ARM) |
this is a good idea. |
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(Most of these are MIPS-based machines, except the CATS, which is an |
(Since the MIPS emulation mode has been rewritten from scratch, and I have |
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ARM-based machine.) |
not really had much time over for debugging, there are most likely new |
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bugs in 0.4.0 that were not present in 0.3.8. However, I feel that it is |
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Some of these guest operating systems are easier to install and run than |
better to make a quick release now than to wait even longer.) |
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others. The best supported mode is the DECstation 5000/200 emulation mode, |
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with NetBSD/pmax as the guest operating system. |
There have also been many other changes, including, but not limited to: |
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A couple of other emulation modes exist. Some of these modes are almost |
o) The "test machine" functionality is more well-defined than before, |
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working well enough to run complete guest operating systems, but most are |
and some tutorial-like demos have been added. These could be useful |
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just skeletons. The modes that work are listed in the documentation. |
e.g. in operating system construction courses. |
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The emulator can also be used in other experiments; it does not have to run |
o) NetBSD/sgimips 3.0 works now. This is most likely due to the rewrite |
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entire guest operating systems. (However, GXemul does not simulate things |
of the MIPS emulation mode. Previous releases of GXemul only worked |
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smaller than an instruction. What this means is that pipe-line stalls, |
with NetBSD/sgimips 2.1. |
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penalties caused by branch-prediction misses or cache misses, and other |
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micro-architectural effects are not simulated.) |
o) I have begun implementing rudimentary support for GDB remote serial |
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protocol connections. This means that you can run e.g. the Data |
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The most imporant user-visible change between release 0.3.5 and 0.3.6 is: |
Display Debugger, and connect it to a GXemul instance. |
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x) The experimental ARM emulation mode is now working well enough |
No advanced GDB functionality is working yet, but starting and |
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to install NetBSD/cats and OpenBSD/cats onto harddisk images. |
stopping the emulated machine and single-stepping should work. |
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There have also been lots of other small changes, too small to mention here. |
Please read the HISTORY files for more details. |
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The 0.3.6.1 release fixes some issues related to ARM emulation: |
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x) The emulator can now be compiled inside NetBSD/cats or OpenBSD/cats, |
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inside the emulator itself. (In 0.3.6, some bugs prevented this.) |
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x) Performance increase: A non-scientific but realistic test, measuring |
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the real-world time it takes to do a full NetBSD/cats installation, |
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seems to indicate that 0.3.6.1 can be twice as fast as 0.3.6 was. |
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Files included in this release are: |
Files included in this release are: |
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BUGS A list of known bugs. |
BUGS List of known bugs for this release. |
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HISTORY Detailed revision history / changelog. |
HISTORY Detailed revision history / changelog. |
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LICENSE Copyright message / license. |
LICENSE Copyright message / license. |
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README Quick start instructions, for the impatient. |
README Quick start instructions, for the impatient. |
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RELEASE This file. |
RELEASE This file. |
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TODO TODO notes. |
TODO TODO notes. |
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configure, Makefile.skel sh and make scripts for building GXemul. |
configure, Makefile.skel sh and make scripts for building GXemul. |
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demos Tutorial-like demos of testmachine functionality. |
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doc Documentation. |
doc Documentation. |
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experiments Experimental code. (Usually not needed.) |
experiments Experimental code. (Usually not needed.) |
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src Source code. |
src Source code. |
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To build the emulator, run the ./configure script, and then run make. |
To build the emulator, run the configure script, and then run make. This |
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should work on most Unix-like systems. |
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Building the emulator should work on most Unix-like systems. (One system which |
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is specifically known to NOT work is Ultrix/RISC inside the emulator; Ultrix |
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chokes on the configure script and the default cc in Ultrix doesn't work.) |
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Regarding files in the src/include/ directory: only some of these are written |
Regarding files in the src/include/ directory: only some of these are written |
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by me, the rest are from other sources (such as NetBSD). The license text says |
by me, the rest are from other sources (such as NetBSD). The license text says |
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This product includes software developed by Mark Brinicombe |
This product includes software developed by Mark Brinicombe |
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for the NetBSD Project. |
for the NetBSD Project. |
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This product includes software developed by TooLs GmbH. |
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This product includes software developed by Manuel Bouyer. |
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This product includes software developed by the Alice Group. |
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This product includes software developed by Ichiro FUKUHARA. |
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Also, src/include/alpha_rpb.h requires the following: |
Also, src/include/alpha_rpb.h requires the following: |
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Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 Carnegie-Mellon University. |
Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 Carnegie-Mellon University. |
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See individual files for license details, if you plan to redistribute GXemul |
See individual files for license details, if you plan to redistribute GXemul |
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or reuse code. |
or reuse code. |
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Thanks to (in no specific order) Joachim Buss, Juli Mallett, Juan Romero |
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Pardines, Alec Voropay, Göran Weinholt, Alexander Yurchenko, and everyone |
Thanks to (in no specific order) Joachim Buss, Olivier Houchard, Juli Mallett, |
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else who has provided me with feedback. |
Juan Romero Pardines, Alec Voropay, Göran Weinholt, Alexander Yurchenko, and |
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everyone else who has provided me with feedback. |
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Special thanks to Alec Voropay for testing this release with Linux |
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kernels, and on Cygwin, and also thanks to Ondrej Palkovsky for testing |
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with HelenOS. |
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If you have found GXemul useful in some way, or feel like sending me comments |
If you have found GXemul useful in some way, or feel like sending me comments |
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or feedback in general, then mail me at anders(at)gavare.se. |
or feedback in general, then mail me at anders(at)gavare.se. |
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