/[gxemul]/trunk/man/gxemul.1
This is repository of my old source code which isn't updated any more. Go to git.rot13.org for current projects!
ViewVC logotype

Diff of /trunk/man/gxemul.1

Parent Directory Parent Directory | Revision Log Revision Log | View Patch Patch

revision 10 by dpavlin, Mon Oct 8 16:18:27 2007 UTC revision 18 by dpavlin, Mon Oct 8 16:19:11 2007 UTC
# Line 1  Line 1 
1  .\" $Id: gxemul.1,v 1.24 2005/06/26 10:05:02 debug Exp $  .\" $Id: gxemul.1,v 1.35 2005/10/27 14:01:11 debug Exp $
2  .\"  .\"
3  .\" Copyright (C) 2004-2005  Anders Gavare.  All rights reserved.  .\" Copyright (C) 2004-2005  Anders Gavare.  All rights reserved.
4  .\"  .\"
# Line 29  Line 29 
29  .\" This is a minimal man page for GXemul. Process this file with  .\" This is a minimal man page for GXemul. Process this file with
30  .\"     groff -man -Tascii gxemul.1    or    nroff -man gxemul.1  .\"     groff -man -Tascii gxemul.1    or    nroff -man gxemul.1
31  .\"  .\"
32  .Dd JUNE 2005  .Dd OCTOBER 2005
33  .Dt GXEMUL 1  .Dt GXEMUL 1
34  .Os  .Os
35  .Sh NAME  .Sh NAME
# Line 41  Line 41 
41  .Op file Ar ...  .Op file Ar ...
42  .Nm  .Nm
43  .Op general options  .Op general options
44  .Op Ar @configfile ...  .Ar @configfile
45  .Nm  .Nm
46  .Op userland, other, and general options  .Op userland, other, and general options
47  .Ar file Op Ar args ...  .Ar file Op Ar args ...
48  .Sh DESCRIPTION  .Sh DESCRIPTION
49  .Nm  .Nm
50  is an experimental instruction-level machine emulator. It can be used to  is an experimental instruction-level machine emulator. Several
51  run binary code for (among others) MIPS-based machines, regardless of host  emulation modes are available. In some modes, processors and surrounding
52  platform. Several emulation modes are available. For some modes,  hardware components are emulated well enough to let unmodified operating
53  processors and surrounding hardware components are emulated well enough to  systems (e.g. NetBSD) run as if they were running on a real machine.
54  let unmodified operating systems (e.g. NetBSD) run as if they were running  .Pp
55  on a real machine.  The processor architecture best emulated by GXemul is MIPS, but other
56  .Pp  architectures are also partially emulated.
57  There are three ways to invoke the emulator. When emulating a  .Pp
58  complete machine, settings can be entered directly on the command line, or  MIPS processors are emulated either using a simple type of binary
59  they can be read from a configuration file. When emulating a userland  translator (on Alpha and i386 hosts), or using traditional slow
60  environment (syscall-only emulation, not emulating complete machines),  interpretation (all other hosts, including amd64 machines running in
61  then the program name and its argument should be given on the command  64-bit mode).
62  line.  .Pp
63    Non-MIPS processors (e.g. ARM) are emulated using a newer dynamic
64    translation system (called dyntrans in the rest of this man page);
65    dyntrans does not require any host-specific code, so it should work on any
66    platform. Performance is somewhere between binary translation and
67    traditional interpretation.
68    .Pp
69    There are three ways to invoke the emulator:
70    .Pp
71    1. When emulating a complete machine, configuration options can be entered
72    directly on the command line.
73    .Pp
74    2. Options can be read from a configuration file.
75    .Pp
76    3. When emulating a userland environment (syscall-only emulation, not
77    emulating complete machines), then the program name and its argument
78    should be given on the command line. (This mode doesn't really work yet.)
79  .Pp  .Pp
80  The easiest way to use the emulator is to supply settings directly on the  The easiest way to use the emulator is to supply settings directly on the
81  command line. The most important thing you need to supply is the  command line. The most important thing you need to supply is the
82  file argument. This is the name of a binary file (an ELF, a.out, ECOFF,  file argument. This is the name of a binary file (an ELF, a.out, COFF/ECOFF,
83  SREC, or a raw binary image) which you wish to run in the emulator. This file  SREC, or a raw binary image) which you wish to run in the emulator. This file
84  might be an operating system kernel, or perhaps a ROM image file.  might be an operating system kernel, or perhaps a ROM image file.
85  .Pp  .Pp
# Line 97  Machine selection options: Line 113  Machine selection options:
113  .It Fl E Ar t  .It Fl E Ar t
114  Try to emulate machine type  Try to emulate machine type
115  .Ar "t".  .Ar "t".
116    This option is not always needed, if the
117    .Fl e
118    option uniquely selects a machine.
119  (Use  (Use
120  .Fl H  .Fl H
121  to get a list of types.)  to get a list of types.)
# Line 110  Use this together with Line 129  Use this together with
129  .Pp  .Pp
130  Other options:  Other options:
131  .Bl -tag -width Ds  .Bl -tag -width Ds
132    .It Fl A
133    Disable load/store alignment checks in some cases. This might give a small
134    increase in performance, but the emulator will not run correctly if the
135    emulated code actually tries to do unaligned loads or stores. (This option
136    is only meaningful when emulating MIPS CPUs, when the host architecture is
137    Alpha or i386, and binary translation is enabled.)
138  .It Fl B  .It Fl B
139  Disable dynamic binary translation. By default, bintrans  Disable dynamic binary translation. By default, bintrans
140  will be turned on if the host+target architecture combination is  will be turned on if the host+target architecture combination is
141  supported.  supported. Currently, the only supported target architecture for bintrans
142    is MIPS, and the supported host architectures are Alpha and i386.
143  .It Fl C Ar x  .It Fl C Ar x
144  Try to emulate a specific CPU type,  Try to emulate a specific CPU type,
145  .Ar "x".  .Ar "x".
# Line 152  Tape. Line 178  Tape.
178  Force a specific ID number.  Force a specific ID number.
179  .El  .El
180  .Pp  .Pp
181  Unless otherwise specified, filenames ending with ".iso" are assumed to be  Unless otherwise specified, filenames ending with ".iso" or ".cdr" are
182  CDROM images. Most others are assumed to be disks. Depending on which  assumed to be CDROM images. Most others are assumed to be disks. Depending
183  machine is being emulated, the default for disks can be either SCSI or  on which machine is being emulated, the default for disks can be either
184  IDE. Some disk images that are very small are assumed to be floppy disks.  SCSI or IDE. Some disk images that are very small are assumed to be floppy
185  (If you are not happy with the way a disk image is detected, then you need  disks. (If you are not happy with the way a disk image is detected, then
186  to use explicit prefixes to force a specific type.)  you need to use explicit prefixes to force a specific type.)
187  .Pp  .Pp
188  For floppies, the gH;S; prefix is ignored. Instead, the number of  For floppies, the gH;S; prefix is ignored. Instead, the number of
189  heads and cylinders are assumed to be 2 and 80, respectively, and the  heads and cylinders are assumed to be 2 and 80, respectively, and the
# Line 172  This disables automatic clock adjustment Line 198  This disables automatic clock adjustment
198  .It Fl i  .It Fl i
199  Display each instruction as it is being executed.  Display each instruction as it is being executed.
200  .It Fl J  .It Fl J
201  Disable some speed tricks.  Disable some speed tricks. For MIPS emulation, these are mostly
202    timing-related. For non-MIPS emulation (i.e. those modes using dyntrans),
203    this flag disables the use of "instruction combinations".
204  .It Fl j Ar n  .It Fl j Ar n
205  Set the name of the kernel to  Set the name of the kernel to
206  .Ar "n".  .Ar "n".
# Line 197  Set nr of CPUs (for SMP experiments). Line 225  Set nr of CPUs (for SMP experiments).
225  Force a "netboot" (tftp instead of disk), even when a disk image is  Force a "netboot" (tftp instead of disk), even when a disk image is
226  present (for DECstation, SGI, and ARC emulation).  present (for DECstation, SGI, and ARC emulation).
227  .It Fl o Ar arg  .It Fl o Ar arg
228  Set the boot argument (for DEC, ARC, or SGI emulation).  Set the boot argument (mostly useful for DEC, ARC, or SGI emulation).
229  Default  Default
230  .Ar arg  .Ar arg
231  for DEC is "-a", for ARC "-aN".  for DEC is "-a", for ARC/SGI it is "-aN", and for CATS it is "-A".
232  .It Fl p Ar pc  .It Fl p Ar pc
233  Add a breakpoint. (Remember to use the "0x" prefix for hex.)  Add a breakpoint. (Remember to use the "0x" prefix for hex.)
234  .It Fl Q  .It Fl Q
# Line 278  Force the single-step debugger to be ent Line 306  Force the single-step debugger to be ent
306  .It Fl q  .It Fl q
307  Quiet mode; this suppresses startup messages.  Quiet mode; this suppresses startup messages.
308  .It Fl s  .It Fl s
309  Show opcode usage statistics after the simulation.  For MIPS emulation: Show opcode usage statistics after the simulation.
310    For non-MIPS emulation (i.e. using dyntrans): Save statistics to a file at
311    regular intervals of which physical addresses that were executed.
312  .It Fl V  .It Fl V
313  Start up in the single-step debugger, paused.  Start up in the single-step debugger, paused.
314  .It Fl v  .It Fl v
# Line 300  distribution. Line 330  distribution.
330  The following command will start NetBSD/pmax on an emulated DECstation  The following command will start NetBSD/pmax on an emulated DECstation
331  5000/200 (3MAX):  5000/200 (3MAX):
332  .Pp  .Pp
333  .Dl "gxemul -E dec -e 3max -d nbsd_pmax.img"  .Dl "gxemul -e 3max -d nbsd_pmax.img"
334  .Pp  .Pp
335  nbsd_pmax.img should be a raw disk image containing a bootable  nbsd_pmax.img should be a raw disk image containing a bootable
336  NetBSD/pmax filesystem.  NetBSD/pmax filesystem.
# Line 326  Please read the documentation for more d Line 356  Please read the documentation for more d
356  There are many bugs. Some of the known bugs are listed in the BUGS  There are many bugs. Some of the known bugs are listed in the BUGS
357  file in the  file in the
358  .Nm  .Nm
359  source distribution, some are indirectly mentioned in the TODO file.  source distribution, some are indirectly mentioned in the TODO file,
360    and some are mentioned in the source code itself.
361  .Pp  .Pp
362  The binary translation subsystem is really terrible, but it is less  The binary translation subsystem is really terrible, but it is less
363  terrible than running without it.  terrible than running without it.
364  .Pp  .Pp
365    Userland (syscall-only) emulation doesn't really work yet.
366    .Pp
367    Emulation of MIPS CPUs is done differently from other emulation modes; the
368    documentation sometimes only reflect the way things work with MIPS
369    emulation, and it is incorrect when applied to e.g. ARM emulation.
370    .Pp
371  .Nm  .Nm
372  does not simulate individual pipe-line stages or penalties caused by  does not simulate individual pipe-line stages or penalties caused by
373  branch-prediction misses or cache misses, so it cannot be used for  branch-prediction misses or cache misses, so it cannot be used for
374  accurate performance measurement.  accurate simulation of any actual real-world processor.
375  .Pp  .Pp
376  .Nm  .Nm
377  is not timing-accurate.  is not timing-accurate.
Legend:
Removed from v.10  
changed lines
  Added in v.18
  ViewVC Help
Powered by ViewVC 1.1.26