/[gxemul]/trunk/man/gxemul.1
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revision 12 by dpavlin, Mon Oct 8 16:18:38 2007 UTC revision 20 by dpavlin, Mon Oct 8 16:19:23 2007 UTC
# Line 1  Line 1 
1  .\" $Id: gxemul.1,v 1.29 2005/08/10 15:51:09 debug Exp $  .\" $Id: gxemul.1,v 1.39 2005/11/23 22:03:25 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 AUGUST 2005  .Dd NOVEMBER 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 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 inside the emulator as if they were running on a
54  let unmodified operating systems (e.g. NetBSD) run as if they were running  real machine.
55  on a real machine.  .Pp
56  .Pp  The processor architecture best emulated by GXemul is MIPS, but other
57  (Non-MIPS emulation modes are also under development, but so far none of  architectures (ARM and PowerPC) are also partially emulated.
58  those modes has reached the completeness required to run unmodified  .Pp
59  operating systems.)  MIPS processors are emulated either using a simple type of binary
60  .Pp  translator (on Alpha and i386 hosts), or using traditional slow
61  There are three ways to invoke the emulator. When emulating a  interpretation (all other hosts, including amd64 machines running in
62  complete machine, settings can be entered directly on the command line, or  64-bit mode).
63  they can be read from a configuration file. When emulating a userland  .Pp
64  environment (syscall-only emulation, not emulating complete machines),  Non-MIPS processors are emulated using a newer dynamic
65  then the program name and its argument should be given on the command  translation system (called dyntrans in the rest of this man page);
66  line.  dyntrans does not require any host-specific code, so it should work on any
67    platform. Performance is somewhere between binary translation and
68    traditional interpretation.
69    .Pp
70    There are three ways to invoke the emulator:
71    .Pp
72    1. When emulating a complete machine, configuration options can be entered
73    directly on the command line.
74    .Pp
75    2. Options can be read from a configuration file.
76    .Pp
77    3. When emulating a userland environment (syscall-only emulation, not
78    emulating complete machines), then the program name and its argument
79    should be given on the command line. (This mode doesn't really work yet.)
80  .Pp  .Pp
81  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
82  command line. The most important thing you need to supply is the  command line. The most important thing you need to supply is the
83  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,
84  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
85  might be an operating system kernel, or perhaps a ROM image file.  might be an operating system kernel, or perhaps a ROM image file.
86  .Pp  .Pp
# Line 120  Other options: Line 133  Other options:
133  .It Fl A  .It Fl A
134  Disable load/store alignment checks in some cases. This might give a small  Disable load/store alignment checks in some cases. This might give a small
135  increase in performance, but the emulator will not run correctly if the  increase in performance, but the emulator will not run correctly if the
136  emulated code actually tries to do unaligned loads or stores.  emulated code actually tries to do unaligned loads or stores. (This option
137    is only meaningful when emulating MIPS CPUs, when the host architecture is
138    Alpha or i386, and binary translation is enabled.)
139  .It Fl B  .It Fl B
140  Disable dynamic binary translation. By default, bintrans  Disable dynamic binary translation. By default, bintrans
141  will be turned on if the host+target architecture combination is  will be turned on if the host+target architecture combination is
142  supported.  supported. Currently, the only supported target architecture for bintrans
143    is MIPS, and the supported host architectures are Alpha and i386.
144  .It Fl C Ar x  .It Fl C Ar x
145  Try to emulate a specific CPU type,  Try to emulate a specific CPU type,
146  .Ar "x".  .Ar "x".
# Line 163  Tape. Line 179  Tape.
179  Force a specific ID number.  Force a specific ID number.
180  .El  .El
181  .Pp  .Pp
182  Unless otherwise specified, filenames ending with ".iso" are assumed to be  Unless otherwise specified, filenames ending with ".iso" or ".cdr" are
183  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
184  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
185  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
186  (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
187  to use explicit prefixes to force a specific type.)  you need to use explicit prefixes to force a specific type.)
188  .Pp  .Pp
189  For floppies, the gH;S; prefix is ignored. Instead, the number of  For floppies, the gH;S; prefix is ignored. Instead, the number of
190  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 183  This disables automatic clock adjustment Line 199  This disables automatic clock adjustment
199  .It Fl i  .It Fl i
200  Display each instruction as it is being executed.  Display each instruction as it is being executed.
201  .It Fl J  .It Fl J
202  Disable some speed tricks.  Disable some speed tricks. For MIPS emulation, these are mostly
203    timing-related. For non-MIPS emulation (i.e. those modes using dyntrans),
204    this flag disables the use of "instruction combinations".
205  .It Fl j Ar n  .It Fl j Ar n
206  Set the name of the kernel to  Set the name of the kernel to
207  .Ar "n".  .Ar "n".
# Line 208  Set nr of CPUs (for SMP experiments). Line 226  Set nr of CPUs (for SMP experiments).
226  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
227  present (for DECstation, SGI, and ARC emulation).  present (for DECstation, SGI, and ARC emulation).
228  .It Fl o Ar arg  .It Fl o Ar arg
229  Set the boot argument (for DEC, ARC, or SGI emulation).  Set the boot argument (mostly useful for DEC, ARC, or SGI emulation).
230  Default  Default
231  .Ar arg  .Ar arg
232  for DEC is "-a", for ARC "-aN".  for DEC is "-a", for ARC/SGI it is "-aN", and for CATS it is "-A".
233  .It Fl p Ar pc  .It Fl p Ar pc
234  Add a breakpoint. (Remember to use the "0x" prefix for hex.)  Add a breakpoint. (Remember to use the "0x" prefix for hex.)
235  .It Fl Q  .It Fl Q
# Line 240  Scale down framebuffer windows by Line 258  Scale down framebuffer windows by
258  .Ar n  .Ar n
259  x  x
260  .Ar n  .Ar n
261  times.  times. This option is useful when emulating a very large framebuffer, and
262    the actual display is of lower resolution. If
263    .Ar n
264    is negative, then there will be no scaledown, but emulation of certain
265    graphic controllers will be scaled up
266    by
267    .Ar -n
268    times instead. E.g. Using
269    .Ar -2
270    with VGA text mode emulation will result in 80x25 character cells rendered
271    in a 1280x800 window, instead of the normal resolution of 640x400.
272  .It Fl y Ar x  .It Fl y Ar x
273  Set max_random_cycles_per_chunk to  Set max_random_cycles_per_chunk to
274  .Ar x  .Ar x
# Line 289  Force the single-step debugger to be ent Line 317  Force the single-step debugger to be ent
317  .It Fl q  .It Fl q
318  Quiet mode; this suppresses startup messages.  Quiet mode; this suppresses startup messages.
319  .It Fl s  .It Fl s
320  Show opcode usage statistics after the simulation.  For MIPS emulation: Show opcode usage statistics after the simulation.
321    For non-MIPS emulation (i.e. using dyntrans): Save statistics to a file at
322    regular intervals of which physical addresses that were executed.
323  .It Fl V  .It Fl V
324  Start up in the single-step debugger, paused.  Start up in the single-step debugger, paused.
325  .It Fl v  .It Fl v
# Line 345  terrible than running without it. Line 375  terrible than running without it.
375  .Pp  .Pp
376  Userland (syscall-only) emulation doesn't really work yet.  Userland (syscall-only) emulation doesn't really work yet.
377  .Pp  .Pp
378    Emulation of MIPS CPUs is done differently from other emulation modes; the
379    documentation sometimes only reflects the way things work with MIPS
380    emulation, and it is incorrect when applied to e.g. ARM emulation.
381    .Pp
382  .Nm  .Nm
383  does not simulate individual pipe-line stages or penalties caused by  does not simulate individual pipe-line stages or penalties caused by
384  branch-prediction misses or cache misses, so it cannot be used for  branch-prediction misses or cache misses, so it cannot be used for
385  accurate performance measurement.  accurate simulation of any actual real-world processor.
386  .Pp  .Pp
387  .Nm  .Nm
388  is not timing-accurate.  is not timing-accurate.
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