upstream/0.3.7/RELEASE

Release notes for Gavare's eXperimental Emulator (GXemul), 0.3.7
================================================================

Copyright (C) 2003-2005  Anders Gavare.


GXemul is an experimental instruction-level machine emulator. Several
emulation modes are available. In some modes, processors and surrounding
hardware components are emulated well enough to let unmodified operating
systems (e.g. NetBSD) run as if they were running on a real machine.

MIPS processors are emulated using either a simple binary translation
layer ("recompilation"), which is used on Alpha and i386 hosts, or by
traditional interpretation (very very slow, but works on any host platform).

ARM and PowerPC processors are emulated using a newer dynamic translation
system. Performance is somewhere between traditional interpretation and
dynamic recompilation; however, the dynamic translation system used in
GXemul does NOT require platform-specific back-end code. In plain English,
this means that the dyntrans system works on any host platform.

I have verified that the following "guest" operating systems can run inside
the emulator. Instructions on how to install and run these can be found in
the documentation.

    Guest operating system             Emulated machine
    ----------------------             ----------------
    NetBSD/pmax 2.1 (and 1.6.2)        DECstation 5000/200
    OpenBSD/pmax 2.8-BETA              DECstation 5000/200
    Ultrix 4.2-4.5                     DECstation 5000/200
    Sprite demo harddisk image         DECstation 5000/200
    Debian GNU/Linux for DECstation    DECstation 5000/200
    Redhat Linux 7.1 for mips          DECstation 5000/200
    NetBSD/arc 1.6.2                   Acer PICA-61
    OpenBSD/arc 2.3                    Acer PICA-61
    NetBSD/hpcmips 2.1                 NEC MobilePro 770, 780, 800, 880
    NetBSD/cobalt 2.1                  Cobalt
    NetBSD/evbmips 2.1                 Malta 5Kc/4Kc evaluation board
    NetBSD/sgimips 2.1                 SGI O2 ("IP32")
    NetBSD/cats 2.1                    CATS (ARM)
    OpenBSD/cats 3.8                   CATS (ARM)
    NetBSD/prep 2.1                    PReP (PowerPC Reference Platform)

Some of these guest operating systems are easier to install and run than
others. The best supported guest operating systems are probably NetBSD/pmax,
NetBSD/cats and OpenBSD/cats.

The emulator can also be used in other experiments; it does not have to run
entire guest operating systems. However, as GXemul is an instruction-level
emulator, it does not simulate things smaller than an instruction. What this
means is that pipe-line stalls, penalties caused by branch-prediction misses
or cache misses, and other micro-architectural effects are not simulated.

User-visible change between release 0.3.6.2 and 0.3.7 include:

    o)  The experimental PowerPC emulation mode is now working well enough
        to allow NetBSD/prep 2.1 to be installed and run inside the emulator.
        It is not 100% stable, and it is not optimized for performance yet,
        but hopefully enough for simple experiments.

    o)  I finally took the time to implement a DEC 21143 NIC; this brings
        network connectivity to NetBSD/cats. (The userland "NAT"-like
        networking layer is still a bit buggy, and does not work with
        everything. However, NetBSD/cats can now be installed via ftp.)

    o)  CD-ROM images can now in some cases be detected as ATAPI CD-ROMs
        instead of IDE harddisks. It works for at least NetBSD, OpenBSD,
        and Linux on CATS, and NetBSD on hpcmips.

Internal (code related) changes include:

    o)  Cleanup of the PCI and ISA bus frameworks; in practice this means
        that more code can be shared between different emulated machine
        models than before, and that adding new machine types will become
        easier.

    o)  Dyntrans updates; 32-bit PowerPC mostly, but also many performance
        related updates for ARM.

There have also been lots of other changes, too many and small to mention here.

Files included in this release are:

  BUGS                        A list of known bugs.
  HISTORY                     Detailed revision history / changelog.
  LICENSE                     Copyright message / license.
  README                      Quick start instructions, for the impatient.
  RELEASE                     This file.
  TODO                        TODO notes.
  configure, Makefile.skel    sh and make scripts for building GXemul.
  doc                         Documentation.
  experiments                 Experimental code. (Usually not needed.)
  src                         Source code.

To build the emulator, run the ./configure script, and then run make.

Building the emulator should work on most Unix-like systems. (One system which
is specifically known to NOT work is Ultrix/RISC inside the emulator; Ultrix
chokes on the configure script and the default cc in Ultrix doesn't work.)

Regarding files in the src/include/ directory: only some of these are written
by me, the rest are from other sources (such as NetBSD). The license text says
that "All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software"
must display acknowledgements. Even though I do NOT feel I mention features or
use of the header files (the "software") in any advertising materials, I am
still very grateful for the fact that these people have made their files
available for re-use, so regardless of legal requirements, I guess thanking
them like this is in order:

    This product includes software developed by the University of
    California, Berkeley and its contributors.

    This product includes software developed for the
    NetBSD Project.  See http://www.netbsd.org/ for
    information about NetBSD.

    This product includes software developed by Jonathan Stone for
    the NetBSD Project.

    This product includes software developed for the NetBSD Project
    by Matthias Drochner.

    This product includes software developed by the NetBSD
    Foundation, Inc. and its contributors.

    This product includes software developed by Christopher G. Demetriou.
    [for the NetBSD Project.]

    This product includes software developed by Adam Glass.

    This product includes software developed by the PocketBSD project
    and its contributors.

    This product includes software developed by Peter Galbavy.

    Carnegie Mellon University   (multiple header files,
    no specific advertisement text required)

    This product includes software developed by Charles M. Hannum.

    This product includes software developed under OpenBSD by Per Fogelström.

    This product includes software developed by Per Fogelström.

    This product includes software developed at Ludd, University of
    Luleå, Sweden and its contributors.

    This product includes software developed by Hellmuth Michaelis
    and Joerg Wunsch

    The font(s) in devices/fonts are Copyright (c) 1992, 1993, 1994
    by Hellmuth Michaelis and Joerg Wunsch.  ("This product includes software
    developed by Hellmuth Michaelis and Joerg Wunsch", well, the font
    is maybe not software, but still...)

    impactsr-bsd.h is Copyright (C) 2004 by Stanislaw Skowronek.

    This product includes software developed for the NetBSD Project by
    Wasabi Systems, Inc.  [by Simon Burge]

    arcbios_other.h is Copyright (c) 1996 M. Warner Losh.

    This product includes software developed by Marc Horowitz.

    This product includes software developed by Brini.

    This product includes software developed by Mark Brinicombe
    for the NetBSD Project.

    This product includes software developed by TooLs GmbH.

    This product includes software developed by Manuel Bouyer.

Also, src/include/alpha_rpb.h requires the following:

    Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 Carnegie-Mellon University.
    All rights reserved.

    Author: Keith Bostic, Chris G. Demetriou

    Permission to use, copy, modify and distribute this software and
    its documentation is hereby granted, provided that both the copyright
    notice and this permission notice appear in all copies of the
    software, derivative works or modified versions, and any portions
    thereof, and that both notices appear in supporting documentation.

See individual files for license details, if you plan to redistribute GXemul
or reuse code.

Thanks to (in no specific order) Joachim Buss, Juli Mallett, Juan Romero
Pardines, Alec Voropay, Göran Weinholt, Alexander Yurchenko, and everyone
else who has provided me with feedback.

If you have found GXemul useful in some way, or feel like sending me comments
or feedback in general, then mail me at anders(at)gavare.se.

1	dpavlin	20	Release notes for Gavare's eXperimental Emulator (GXemul), 0.3.7
2			================================================================
3	dpavlin	2
4			Copyright (C) 2003-2005 Anders Gavare.
5
6
7	dpavlin	14	GXemul is an experimental instruction-level machine emulator. Several
8			emulation modes are available. In some modes, processors and surrounding
9	dpavlin	12	hardware components are emulated well enough to let unmodified operating
10			systems (e.g. NetBSD) run as if they were running on a real machine.
11	dpavlin	2
12	dpavlin	20	MIPS processors are emulated using either a simple binary translation
13			layer ("recompilation"), which is used on Alpha and i386 hosts, or by
14			traditional interpretation (very very slow, but works on any host platform).
15	dpavlin	2
16	dpavlin	20	ARM and PowerPC processors are emulated using a newer dynamic translation
17			system. Performance is somewhere between traditional interpretation and
18			dynamic recompilation; however, the dynamic translation system used in
19			GXemul does NOT require platform-specific back-end code. In plain English,
20			this means that the dyntrans system works on any host platform.
21
22	dpavlin	12	I have verified that the following "guest" operating systems can run inside
23	dpavlin	20	the emulator. Instructions on how to install and run these can be found in
24			the documentation.
25	dpavlin	12
26	dpavlin	2	Guest operating system Emulated machine
27			---------------------- ----------------
28	dpavlin	20	NetBSD/pmax 2.1 (and 1.6.2) DECstation 5000/200
29	dpavlin	2	OpenBSD/pmax 2.8-BETA DECstation 5000/200
30			Ultrix 4.2-4.5 DECstation 5000/200
31			Sprite demo harddisk image DECstation 5000/200
32			Debian GNU/Linux for DECstation DECstation 5000/200
33			Redhat Linux 7.1 for mips DECstation 5000/200
34			NetBSD/arc 1.6.2 Acer PICA-61
35			OpenBSD/arc 2.3 Acer PICA-61
36	dpavlin	20	NetBSD/hpcmips 2.1 NEC MobilePro 770, 780, 800, 880
37			NetBSD/cobalt 2.1 Cobalt
38			NetBSD/evbmips 2.1 Malta 5Kc/4Kc evaluation board
39			NetBSD/sgimips 2.1 SGI O2 ("IP32")
40			NetBSD/cats 2.1 CATS (ARM)
41			OpenBSD/cats 3.8 CATS (ARM)
42			NetBSD/prep 2.1 PReP (PowerPC Reference Platform)
43	dpavlin	2
44	dpavlin	12	Some of these guest operating systems are easier to install and run than
45	dpavlin	20	others. The best supported guest operating systems are probably NetBSD/pmax,
46			NetBSD/cats and OpenBSD/cats.
47	dpavlin	10
48	dpavlin	12	The emulator can also be used in other experiments; it does not have to run
49	dpavlin	20	entire guest operating systems. However, as GXemul is an instruction-level
50			emulator, it does not simulate things smaller than an instruction. What this
51			means is that pipe-line stalls, penalties caused by branch-prediction misses
52			or cache misses, and other micro-architectural effects are not simulated.
53	dpavlin	2
54	dpavlin	20	User-visible change between release 0.3.6.2 and 0.3.7 include:
55	dpavlin	2
56	dpavlin	20	o) The experimental PowerPC emulation mode is now working well enough
57			to allow NetBSD/prep 2.1 to be installed and run inside the emulator.
58			It is not 100% stable, and it is not optimized for performance yet,
59			but hopefully enough for simple experiments.
60	dpavlin	2
61	dpavlin	20	o) I finally took the time to implement a DEC 21143 NIC; this brings
62			network connectivity to NetBSD/cats. (The userland "NAT"-like
63			networking layer is still a bit buggy, and does not work with
64			everything. However, NetBSD/cats can now be installed via ftp.)
65	dpavlin	2
66	dpavlin	20	o) CD-ROM images can now in some cases be detected as ATAPI CD-ROMs
67			instead of IDE harddisks. It works for at least NetBSD, OpenBSD,
68			and Linux on CATS, and NetBSD on hpcmips.
69	dpavlin	6
70	dpavlin	20	Internal (code related) changes include:
71
72			o) Cleanup of the PCI and ISA bus frameworks; in practice this means
73			that more code can be shared between different emulated machine
74			models than before, and that adding new machine types will become
75			easier.
76
77			o) Dyntrans updates; 32-bit PowerPC mostly, but also many performance
78			related updates for ARM.
79
80			There have also been lots of other changes, too many and small to mention here.
81
82	dpavlin	2	Files included in this release are:
83
84			BUGS A list of known bugs.
85			HISTORY Detailed revision history / changelog.
86			LICENSE Copyright message / license.
87			README Quick start instructions, for the impatient.
88			RELEASE This file.
89			TODO TODO notes.
90	dpavlin	4	configure, Makefile.skel sh and make scripts for building GXemul.
91	dpavlin	2	doc Documentation.
92			experiments Experimental code. (Usually not needed.)
93	dpavlin	4	src Source code.
94	dpavlin	2
95			To build the emulator, run the ./configure script, and then run make.
96
97			Building the emulator should work on most Unix-like systems. (One system which
98			is specifically known to NOT work is Ultrix/RISC inside the emulator; Ultrix
99			chokes on the configure script and the default cc in Ultrix doesn't work.)
100
101	dpavlin	4	Regarding files in the src/include/ directory: only some of these are written
102			by me, the rest are from other sources (such as NetBSD). The license text says
103	dpavlin	2	that "All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software"
104			must display acknowledgements. Even though I do NOT feel I mention features or
105			use of the header files (the "software") in any advertising materials, I am
106			still very grateful for the fact that these people have made their files
107			available for re-use, so regardless of legal requirements, I guess thanking
108			them like this is in order:
109
110			This product includes software developed by the University of
111			California, Berkeley and its contributors.
112
113			This product includes software developed for the
114			NetBSD Project. See http://www.netbsd.org/ for
115			information about NetBSD.
116
117			This product includes software developed by Jonathan Stone for
118			the NetBSD Project.
119
120			This product includes software developed for the NetBSD Project
121			by Matthias Drochner.
122
123			This product includes software developed by the NetBSD
124			Foundation, Inc. and its contributors.
125
126			This product includes software developed by Christopher G. Demetriou.
127			[for the NetBSD Project.]
128
129			This product includes software developed by Adam Glass.
130
131			This product includes software developed by the PocketBSD project
132			and its contributors.
133
134			This product includes software developed by Peter Galbavy.
135
136			Carnegie Mellon University (multiple header files,
137			no specific advertisement text required)
138
139			This product includes software developed by Charles M. Hannum.
140
141			This product includes software developed under OpenBSD by Per Fogelström.
142
143			This product includes software developed by Per Fogelström.
144
145			This product includes software developed at Ludd, University of
146			Luleå, Sweden and its contributors.
147
148			This product includes software developed by Hellmuth Michaelis
149			and Joerg Wunsch
150
151			The font(s) in devices/fonts are Copyright (c) 1992, 1993, 1994
152			by Hellmuth Michaelis and Joerg Wunsch. ("This product includes software
153			developed by Hellmuth Michaelis and Joerg Wunsch", well, the font
154			is maybe not software, but still...)
155
156			impactsr-bsd.h is Copyright (C) 2004 by Stanislaw Skowronek.
157
158			This product includes software developed for the NetBSD Project by
159			Wasabi Systems, Inc. [by Simon Burge]
160
161			arcbios_other.h is Copyright (c) 1996 M. Warner Losh.
162
163			This product includes software developed by Marc Horowitz.
164
165	dpavlin	14	This product includes software developed by Brini.
166
167			This product includes software developed by Mark Brinicombe
168			for the NetBSD Project.
169
170	dpavlin	20	This product includes software developed by TooLs GmbH.
171
172			This product includes software developed by Manuel Bouyer.
173
174	dpavlin	12	Also, src/include/alpha_rpb.h requires the following:
175
176			Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 Carnegie-Mellon University.
177			All rights reserved.
178
179			Author: Keith Bostic, Chris G. Demetriou
180
181			Permission to use, copy, modify and distribute this software and
182			its documentation is hereby granted, provided that both the copyright
183			notice and this permission notice appear in all copies of the
184			software, derivative works or modified versions, and any portions
185			thereof, and that both notices appear in supporting documentation.
186
187	dpavlin	2	See individual files for license details, if you plan to redistribute GXemul
188			or reuse code.
189
190	dpavlin	14	Thanks to (in no specific order) Joachim Buss, Juli Mallett, Juan Romero
191			Pardines, Alec Voropay, Göran Weinholt, Alexander Yurchenko, and everyone
192			else who has provided me with feedback.
193	dpavlin	2
194			If you have found GXemul useful in some way, or feel like sending me comments
195			or feedback in general, then mail me at anders(at)gavare.se.
196