/[gxemul]/trunk/man/gxemul.1
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revision 10 by dpavlin, Mon Oct 8 16:18:27 2007 UTC revision 24 by dpavlin, Mon Oct 8 16:19:56 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 1.65 2006/06/22 13:22:40 debug Exp $
2  .\"  .\"
3  .\" Copyright (C) 2004-2005  Anders Gavare.  All rights reserved.  .\" Copyright (C) 2004-2006  Anders Gavare.  All rights reserved.
4  .\"  .\"
5  .\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without  .\" Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
6  .\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:  .\" modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
# 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 JUNE 2006
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  .\" TODO: Reenable this once userland emulation works:
46  .Op userland, other, and general options  .\" .Nm
47  .Ar file Op Ar args ...  .\" .Op userland, other, and general options
48    .\" .Ar file Op Ar args ...
49  .Sh DESCRIPTION  .Sh DESCRIPTION
50  .Nm  .Nm
51  is an experimental instruction-level machine emulator. It can be used to  is an experimental instruction-level machine emulator. Several
52  run binary code for (among others) MIPS-based machines, regardless of host  emulation modes are available. In some modes, processors and surrounding
53  platform. Several emulation modes are available. For some modes,  hardware components are emulated well enough to let unmodified operating
54  processors and surrounding hardware components are emulated well enough to  systems (e.g. NetBSD) run inside the emulator as if they were running on a
55  let unmodified operating systems (e.g. NetBSD) run as if they were running  real machine.
56  on a real machine.  .Pp
57  .Pp  Processors (ARM, MIPS, PowerPC) are emulated using a kind of dynamic
58  There are three ways to invoke the emulator. When emulating a  translation system. Performance is somewhere between traditional
59  complete machine, settings can be entered directly on the command line, or  interpretation and recompilation into native code. However, the dynamic
60  they can be read from a configuration file. When emulating a userland  translation system used in GXemul does not (currently) generate native
61  environment (syscall-only emulation, not emulating complete machines),  code, and thus does not require platform-specific back-ends. In plain
62  then the program name and its argument should be given on the command  English, this means that the dyntrans system works on any host architecture.
63  line.  .Pp
64    The emulator can be invoked in the following ways:
65    .Pp
66    1. When emulating a complete machine, configuration options can be entered
67    directly on the command line.
68    .Pp
69    2. Options can be read from a configuration file.
70    .\" .Pp
71    .\" 3. When emulating a userland environment (syscall-only emulation, not
72    .\" emulating complete machines), then the program name and its argument
73    .\" should be given on the command line. (This mode doesn't really work yet,
74    .\" and is disabled for stable release builds.)
75  .Pp  .Pp
76  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
77  command line. The most important thing you need to supply is the  command line. The most important thing you need to supply is the
78  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,
79  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
80  might be an operating system kernel, or perhaps a ROM image file.  might be an operating system kernel, or perhaps a ROM image file.
81  .Pp  .Pp
# Line 97  Machine selection options: Line 109  Machine selection options:
109  .It Fl E Ar t  .It Fl E Ar t
110  Try to emulate machine type  Try to emulate machine type
111  .Ar "t".  .Ar "t".
112    This option is not always needed, if the
113    .Fl e
114    option uniquely selects a machine.
115  (Use  (Use
116  .Fl H  .Fl H
117  to get a list of types.)  to get a list of types.)
# Line 110  Use this together with Line 125  Use this together with
125  .Pp  .Pp
126  Other options:  Other options:
127  .Bl -tag -width Ds  .Bl -tag -width Ds
128  .It Fl B  .\" The -A command line option is DEPRECATED and will be removed soon.
129  Disable dynamic binary translation. By default, bintrans  .\" .It Fl A
130  will be turned on if the host+target architecture combination is  .\" Disable load/store alignment checks in some cases. This might give a small
131  supported.  .\" increase in performance, but the emulator will not run correctly if the
132    .\" emulated code actually tries to do unaligned loads or stores. (This option
133    .\" is only meaningful when emulating MIPS CPUs, when the host architecture is
134    .\" Alpha or i386, and binary translation is enabled.)
135    .\" .It Fl B
136    .\" Disable native translation backends. By default, translation backends are
137    .\" used if the host+target architecture combination is supported. Currently,
138    .\" the only supported host architecture for the old bintrans system (used
139    .\" when emulating MIPS processors) are Alpha and i386. The old bintrans
140    .\" system will hopefully be removed some day.
141  .It Fl C Ar x  .It Fl C Ar x
142  Try to emulate a specific CPU type,  Try to emulate a specific CPU type,
143  .Ar "x".  .Ar "x".
# Line 121  This overrides the default CPU type for Line 145  This overrides the default CPU type for
145  (Use  (Use
146  .Fl H  .Fl H
147  to get a list of available CPU types.)  to get a list of available CPU types.)
148  .It Fl d Ar name  .It Fl d Ar [modifiers:]filename
149  Add  Add
150  .Ar name  .Ar filename
151  as a disk image. By adding one or more modifier characters and then a  as a disk image. By adding one or more modifier characters and then a
152  colon (":") as a prefix to  colon (":") as a prefix to
153  .Ar "name",  .Ar filename,
154  you can modify the way the disk image is treated. Available modifiers are:  you can modify the way the disk image is treated. Available modifiers are:
155  .Bl -tag -width Ds  .Bl -tag -width Ds
156  .It b  .It b
# Line 141  FLOPPY. Line 165  FLOPPY.
165  Override the default geometry; use H heads and S sectors-per-track.  Override the default geometry; use H heads and S sectors-per-track.
166  (The number of cylinders is calculated automatically.)  (The number of cylinders is calculated automatically.)
167  .It i  .It i
168  IDE.  IDE. (This is the default for most machine types.)
169  .It r  .It r
170  Read-only (don't allow changes to be written to the file).  Read-only (don't allow changes to be written to the file).
171  .It s  .It s
172  SCSI (this is the default for most machine types).  SCSI.
173  .It t  .It t
174  Tape.  Tape.
175  .It 0-7  .It 0-7
176  Force a specific ID number.  Force a specific ID number.
177  .El  .El
178  .Pp  .Pp
179  Unless otherwise specified, filenames ending with ".iso" are assumed to be  For SCSI devices, the ID number is the SCSI ID. For IDE harddisks, the ID
180  CDROM images. Most others are assumed to be disks. Depending on which  number has the following meaning:
181  machine is being emulated, the default for disks can be either SCSI or  .Bl -tag -width Ds
182  IDE. Some disk images that are very small are assumed to be floppy disks.  .It 0
183  (If you are not happy with the way a disk image is detected, then you need  Primary master.
184  to use explicit prefixes to force a specific type.)  .It 1
185    Primary slave.
186    .It 2
187    Secondary master.
188    .It 3
189    Secondary slave.
190    .El
191    .Pp
192    Unless otherwise specified, filenames ending with ".iso" or ".cdr" are
193    assumed to be CDROM images. Most others are assumed to be disks. Depending
194    on which machine is being emulated, the default for disks can be either
195    SCSI or IDE. Some disk images that are very small are assumed to be floppy
196    disks. (If you are not happy with the way a disk image is detected, then
197    you need to use explicit prefixes to force a specific type.)
198  .Pp  .Pp
199  For floppies, the gH;S; prefix is ignored. Instead, the number of  For floppies, the gH;S; prefix is ignored. Instead, the number of
200  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
201  number of sectors per track is calculated automatically. (This works for  number of sectors per track is calculated automatically. (This works for
202  720KB, 1.2MB, 1.44MB, and 2.88MB floppies.)  720KB, 1.2MB, 1.44MB, and 2.88MB floppies.)
203    .It Fl G Ar port
204    Pause at startup, and listen to TCP port
205    .Ar port
206    for incoming remote GDB connections. The emulator starts up in paused
207    mode, and it is up to the remote GDB instance to start the session.
208  .It Fl I Ar x  .It Fl I Ar x
209  Emulate clock interrupts at  Emulate clock interrupts at
210  .Ar x  .Ar x
# Line 172  This disables automatic clock adjustment Line 214  This disables automatic clock adjustment
214  .It Fl i  .It Fl i
215  Display each instruction as it is being executed.  Display each instruction as it is being executed.
216  .It Fl J  .It Fl J
217  Disable some speed tricks.  Disable some speed tricks. This usually means disabling the use of
218    dyntrans "instruction combinations".
219  .It Fl j Ar n  .It Fl j Ar n
220  Set the name of the kernel to  Set the name of the kernel to
221  .Ar "n".  .Ar "n".
222  When booting from an ISO9660 filesystem, the emulator will try to boot  When booting from an ISO9660 filesystem, the emulator will try to boot
223  using this file. (In some emulation modes, eg. DECstation, this name is passed  using this file. (In some emulation modes, eg. DECstation, this name is passed
224  along to the boot program. Useful names are "bsd" for OpenBSD/pmax,  along to the boot program. Useful names are "bsd" for OpenBSD/pmax,
225  or "vmunix" for Ultrix.)  "vmunix" for Ultrix, or "vmsprite" for Sprite.)
226  .It Fl M Ar m  .It Fl M Ar m
227  Emulate  Emulate
228  .Ar m  .Ar m
229  MBs of physical RAM. This overrides the default amount of RAM for the  MBs of physical RAM. This overrides the default amount of RAM for the
230  selected machine type.  selected machine type.
 .It Fl m Ar nr  
 Run at most  
 .Ar nr  
 instructions (on any cpu).  
231  .It Fl N  .It Fl N
232  Display nr of instructions/second average, at regular intervals.  Display the number of executed instructions per second on average, at
233    regular intervals.
234  .It Fl n Ar nr  .It Fl n Ar nr
235  Set nr of CPUs (for SMP experiments).  Set the number of processors in the machine, for SMP experiments.
236    .Pp
237    Note: The emulator allocates quite a
238    lot of virtual memory for per-CPU translation tables. On 64-bit hosts,
239    this is normally not a problem. On 32-bit hosts, this can use up all
240    available virtual userspace memory. The solution is to either run the
241    emulator on a 64-bit host, or limit the number of emulated CPUs to a
242    reasonable number (say, less than 32).
243    .Pp
244    Note 2: SMP simulation is not working very well yet; multiple processors
245    are simulated, but synchronization between the processors does not map
246    very well to how real-world SMP systems work.
247  .It Fl O  .It Fl O
248  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
249  present (for DECstation, SGI, and ARC emulation).  present (for DECstation, SGI, and ARC emulation).
250  .It Fl o Ar arg  .It Fl o Ar arg
251  Set the boot argument (for DEC, ARC, or SGI emulation).  Set the boot argument (mostly useful for DEC, ARC, or SGI emulation).
252  Default  Default
253  .Ar arg  .Ar arg
254  for DEC is "-a", for ARC "-aN".  for DEC is "-a", for ARC/SGI it is "-aN", and for CATS it is "-A".
255  .It Fl p Ar pc  .It Fl p Ar pc
256  Add a breakpoint. (Remember to use the "0x" prefix for hex.)  Add a breakpoint.
257    .Ar pc
258    can be a symbol, or a numeric value. (Remember to use the "0x" prefix for
259    hexadecimal values.)
260  .It Fl Q  .It Fl Q
261  Disable the built-in PROM emulation. This is useful for running raw ROM  Disable the built-in PROM emulation. This is useful for
262  images from real machines.  experimenting with running raw ROM images from real machines.
263  .It Fl R  .It Fl R
264  Use a random bootstrap cpu, instead of CPU nr 0. (For SMP experiments.)  Use a random bootstrap cpu, instead of CPU nr 0. (For SMP experiments.)
265  .It Fl r  .It Fl r
266  Dump register contents for every executed instruction.  Dump register contents for every executed instruction.
267  .It Fl S  .It Fl S
268  Initialize the emulated RAM to random data, instead of zeroes.  Initialize emulated RAM to random data, instead of zeroes. This option
269  .It Fl T  is useful when trying to trigger bugs in a program that occur because the
270  Enter the single-step debugger on unimplemented memory accesses.  program assumed that uninitialized memory contains zeros. (Use with
271    care.)
272  .It Fl t  .It Fl t
273  Show a trace tree of all function calls being made.  Show a trace tree of all function calls being made.
274  .It Fl U  .It Fl U
275  Enable slow_serial_interrupts_hack_for_linux.  Enable slow_serial_interrupts_hack_for_linux.
276  .It Fl X  .It Fl X
277  Use X11.  Use X11. This option enables graphical framebuffers.
278  .It Fl x  .It Fl x
279  Open up new xterms for emulated serial ports. (Default is to open up  Open up new xterms for emulated serial ports. The default behaviour is to
280  xterms when using configuration files, but not when starting an  open up xterms when using configuration files, or if X11 is enabled. When
281  emulation with settings directly on the command line.)  starting up a simple emulation session with settings directly on the
282    command line, and neither
283    .Fl X
284    nor
285    .Fl x
286    is used, then all output is confined to the terminal that
287    .Nm
288    started in.
289  .It Fl Y Ar n  .It Fl Y Ar n
290  Scale down framebuffer windows by  Scale down framebuffer windows by
291  .Ar n  .Ar n
292  x  x
293  .Ar n  .Ar n
294  times.  times. This option is useful when emulating a very large framebuffer, and
295  .It Fl y Ar x  the actual display is of lower resolution. If
296  Set max_random_cycles_per_chunk to  .Ar n
297  .Ar x  is negative, then there will be no scaledown, but emulation of certain
298  (experimental).  graphic controllers will be scaled up
299    by
300    .Ar -n
301    times instead. E.g. Using
302    .Ar -2
303    with VGA text mode emulation will result in 80x25 character cells rendered
304    in a 1280x800 window, instead of the normal resolution of 640x400.
305  .It Fl Z Ar n  .It Fl Z Ar n
306  Set the number of graphics cards, for emulating a dual-head or tripple-head  Set the number of graphics cards, for emulating a dual-head or tripple-head
307  environment. (Only for DECstation emulation so far.)  environment. (Only for DECstation emulation so far.)
# Line 243  Add Line 311  Add
311  as an X11 display to use for framebuffers.  as an X11 display to use for framebuffers.
312  .El  .El
313  .Pp  .Pp
314  Userland options:  .\" Userland options:
315  .Bl -tag -width Ds  .\" .Bl -tag -width Ds
316  .It Fl u Ar emul-mode  .\" .It Fl u Ar emul-mode
317  Userland-only (syscall) emulation. (Use  .\" Userland-only (syscall) emulation. (Use
318  .Fl H  .\" .Fl H
319  to get a list of available emulation modes.) Some (but not all) of the  .\" to get a list of available emulation modes.) Some (but not all) of the
320  options listed under Other options above can also be used with userland  .\" options listed under Other options above can also be used with
321  emulation.  .\" userland emulation.
322  .El  .\" .El
323  .Pp  .\" .Pp
324  General options:  General options:
325  .Bl -tag -width Ds  .Bl -tag -width Ds
326    .It Fl c Ar cmd
327    Add
328    .Ar cmd
329    as a command to run before starting the simulation. A similar effect can
330    be achieved by using the
331    .Fl V
332    option, and entering the commands manually.
333  .It Fl D  .It Fl D
334  Guarantee fully deterministic behavior. Normally, the emulator calls  Guarantee fully deterministic behavior. Normally, the emulator calls
335  srandom() with a seed based on the current time at startup. When the  srandom() with a seed based on the current time at startup. When the
# Line 270  Display a list of available CPU types, m Line 345  Display a list of available CPU types, m
345  emulation modes. (Most of these don't work. Please read the documentation  emulation modes. (Most of these don't work. Please read the documentation
346  included in the  included in the
347  .Nm  .Nm
348  distribution for details on which modes that actually work.)  distribution for details on which modes that actually work. Userland
349    emulation is not included in stable release builds, since it doesn't work
350    yet.)
351  .It Fl h  .It Fl h
352  Display a list of all available command line options.  Display a list of all available command line options.
353  .It Fl K  .It Fl K
354  Force the single-step debugger to be entered at the end of a simulation.  Force the single-step debugger to be entered at the end of a simulation.
355  .It Fl q  .It Fl q
356  Quiet mode; this suppresses startup messages.  Quiet mode; this suppresses startup messages.
357  .It Fl s  .\".It Fl s
358  Show opcode usage statistics after the simulation.  .\"For MIPS emulation: Show opcode usage statistics after the simulation.
359    .\"For non-MIPS emulation (i.e. using dyntrans): Save statistics to a file
360    .\"at regular intervals of which physical addresses that were executed.
361  .It Fl V  .It Fl V
362  Start up in the single-step debugger, paused.  Start up in the single-step debugger, paused.
363  .It Fl v  .It Fl v
364  Verbose debug messages.  Increase verbosity (show more debug messages). This option can be used
365    multiple times.
366  .El  .El
367  .Pp  .Pp
368  Configuration file startup:  Configuration file startup:
# Line 300  distribution. Line 380  distribution.
380  The following command will start NetBSD/pmax on an emulated DECstation  The following command will start NetBSD/pmax on an emulated DECstation
381  5000/200 (3MAX):  5000/200 (3MAX):
382  .Pp  .Pp
383  .Dl "gxemul -E dec -e 3max -d nbsd_pmax.img"  .Dl "gxemul -e 3max -d nbsd_pmax.img"
384  .Pp  .Pp
385  nbsd_pmax.img should be a raw disk image containing a bootable  nbsd_pmax.img should be a raw disk image containing a bootable
386  NetBSD/pmax filesystem.  NetBSD/pmax filesystem.
# Line 318  emulated test machine in "paused" mode: Line 398  emulated test machine in "paused" mode:
398  .Pp  .Pp
399  .Dl "gxemul -E testmips -V hello_mips"  .Dl "gxemul -E testmips -V hello_mips"
400  .Pp  .Pp
401  (Paused mode means that you enter the interactive single-step debugger  Paused mode means that you enter the interactive single-step debugger
402  directly at startup, instead of launching the Hello World program.)  directly at startup, instead of launching the Hello World program.
403    .Pp
404    The paused mode is also what should be used when running "unknown" files
405    for the first time in the emulator. E.g. if you have a binary which you
406    think is some kind of MIPS ROM image, then you can try the following:
407    .Pp
408    .Dl "gxemul -vv -E baremips -V 0xbfc00000:image.raw"
409    .Pp
410    You can then use the single-stepping functionality of the built-in
411    debugger to run the code in the ROM image, to see how it behaves. Based on
412    that, you can deduce what machine type it was actually from (the
413    baremips machine is not a real machine), and perhaps try again with
414    another emulation mode.
415    .Pp
416    In general, however, real ROM images require much more emulation detail
417    than GXemul provides, so they can usually not run.
418  .Pp  .Pp
419  Please read the documentation for more details.  Please read the documentation for more details.
420  .Sh BUGS  .Sh BUGS
421  There are many bugs. Some of the known bugs are listed in the BUGS  There are many bugs. Some of the known bugs are mentioned in the TODO
422  file in the  file in the
423  .Nm  .Nm
424  source distribution, some are indirectly mentioned in the TODO file.  source distribution, some are marked as TODO in the source code itself.
425    .Pp
426    Userland (syscall-only) emulation doesn't really work yet.
427  .Pp  .Pp
428  The binary translation subsystem is really terrible, but it is less  The documentation sometimes only reflects the way things worked with
429  terrible than running without it.  the old MIPS emulation mode (prior to 0.4.0), and it is incorrect when
430    applied to current releases.
431  .Pp  .Pp
432  .Nm  .Nm
433  does not simulate individual pipe-line stages or penalties caused by  is in general not cycle-accurate; it does not simulate individual
434  branch-prediction misses or cache misses, so it cannot be used for  pipe-line stages or penalties caused by branch-prediction misses or
435  accurate performance measurement.  cache misses, so it cannot be used for accurate simulation of any actual
436    real-world processor.
437  .Pp  .Pp
438  .Nm  .Nm
439  is not timing-accurate.  is not timing-accurate, i.e. clocks inside the emulator are in general
440    not at all synched with clocks in the real world. There are a few
441    exceptions to this rule (the mc146818 device tries to automagically
442    adjust emulated timer ticks to actual emulation speed).
443  .Sh AUTHOR  .Sh AUTHOR
444  Anders Gavare <anders@gavare.se>  GXemul is Copyright (C) 2003-2006 Anders Gavare <anders@gavare.se>
445  .Pp  .Pp
446  See http://gavare.se/gxemul/ for more information.  See http://gavare.se/gxemul/ for more information. For other Copyright
447    messages, see the corresponding parts of the source code and/or
448    documentation.
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