/[gxemul]/upstream/0.4.6/RELEASE
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revision 8 by dpavlin, Mon Oct 8 16:18:19 2007 UTC revision 40 by dpavlin, Mon Oct 8 16:22:11 2007 UTC
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1  Release notes for GXemul 0.3.3.2  Release notes for Gavare's eXperimental Emulator (GXemul), 0.4.5.1
2  ================================  ==================================================================
3    
4  Copyright (C) 2003-2005  Anders Gavare.  Copyright (C) 2003-2007  Anders Gavare.
5    
6    
7  GXemul is an experimental instruction-level machine emulator. It can be  GXemul is an experimental instruction-level machine emulator. Several
8  used to run binary code for (among others) MIPS-based machines. Several  emulation modes are available. In some modes, processors and surrounding
9  emulation modes are available. For some emulation modes, processors and  hardware components are emulated well enough to let unmodified operating
10  surrounding hardware components are emulated well enough to let unmodified  systems (e.g. NetBSD) run as if they were running on a real machine.
11  operating systems run as if they were running on a real machine.  
12    Processors (ARM, MIPS, PowerPC, and SuperH) are emulated using dynamic
13  I have verified that the following "guest" operating systems can run  translation. Unlike some other dynamically translating emulators, GXemul
14  inside the emulator:  does not need to generate native code, only a "runnable intermediate
15    representation", and will thus run on any host architecture.
16      Guest operating system             Emulated machine  
17      ----------------------             ----------------  The documentation lists the machines and guest operating systems that can
18      NetBSD/pmax 2.0 (and 1.6.2)        DECstation 5000/200  be regarded as "working" in GXemul. The best working guest operating
19      OpenBSD/pmax 2.8-BETA              DECstation 5000/200  systems are probably NetBSD/pmax and NetBSD/cats.
20      Ultrix 4.2-4.5                     DECstation 5000/200  
21      Sprite demo harddisk image         DECstation 5000/200  
22      Debian GNU/Linux for DECstation    DECstation 5000/200  The changes between release 0.4.4.1 and 0.4.5 include, among other things:
23      Redhat Linux 7.1 for mips          DECstation 5000/200  
24      NetBSD/arc 1.6.2                   Acer PICA-61      o)  Initial support for "disk overlays" has been implemented. This
25      OpenBSD/arc 2.3                    Acer PICA-61          enables e.g. simple roll-back of emulated disk contents to a
26      NetBSD/hpcmips 2.0                 NEC MobilePro 770, 780, 800, 880          previous state.
27      NetBSD/cobalt 2.0                  Cobalt  
28        o)  Dyntrans bug fixes; code translations on physical addresses that
29  A couple of other emulation modes exist. Some of these modes are almost          were offset a multiple of 128 MB from each other could either
30  working well enough to run complete guest operating systems, but most are          cause weird bugs, or translation leaks (leading to unnecessary
31  just skeletons. The modes that work are listed in the documentation.          dyntrans cache overflows).
32    
33  The emulator can also be used in other experiments; it does not have to      o)  Some cleanup: The GDB debugging stub support, some dummy machine
34  run entire guest operating systems. It is important to remember, though,          modes (TS7200, Walnut, PB1000, and Meshcube), and some dummy or
35  that GXemul does not simulate things smaller than an instruction; this          experimental CPUs (RCA180x and Transputer) have been removed, to
36  means that pipe-line stalls, penalties caused by branch-prediction misses,          make the emulator slightly more maintainable.
37  and other effects are not simulated.  
38    The changes between release 0.4.5 and 0.4.5.1 include, among other things:
39  Summary of changes between release 0.3.2 and 0.3.3.2:  
40        o)  OpenBSD/landisk has now had its first release (4.1, 2007-05-01).
41          x)  When booting from an ISO9660 (CDROM) filesystem image, the kernel          Landisk emulation is now stable enough to allow OpenBSD/landisk
42              can now in some cases be read directly from the image, so there is          to be installed onto a disk image, and run from it.
43              no need any longer to supply an external kernel. (It is a quick,  
44              buggy, and very ugly hack, but it sometimes works.)      o)  Finally found and fixed an old bug in the address to symbol name
45            lookup mechanism, which caused some symbols to be missed. Debug
46          x)  Mixing more than one disk image type (SCSI, IDE, PC-style floppy)          output with -t or -i should now show all symbols.
47              within one emulated machine is now possible. (There is however no  
48              stable emulation mode yet that uses this.)  Please read the HISTORY file for more details.
49    
         x)  Many minor updates and bugfixes.  
50    
51  Files included in this release are:  Files included in this release are:
52    
   BUGS                        A list of known bugs.  
53    HISTORY                     Detailed revision history / changelog.    HISTORY                     Detailed revision history / changelog.
54    LICENSE                     Copyright message / license.    LICENSE                     Copyright message / license.
55    README                      Quick start instructions, for the impatient.    README                      Quick start instructions, for the impatient.
56    RELEASE                     This file.    RELEASE                     This file.
57    TODO                        TODO notes.    TODO                        TODO notes.
58    configure, Makefile.skel    sh and make scripts for building GXemul.    configure, Makefile.skel    sh and make scripts for building GXemul.
59      demos                       Tutorial-like demos of testmachine functionality.
60    doc                         Documentation.    doc                         Documentation.
61    experiments                 Experimental code. (Usually not needed.)    experiments                 Experimental code. (Usually not needed.)
62    src                         Source code.    src                         Source code.
   tests                       Regression tests.  
63    
64  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
65    should work on most Unix-like systems.
66    
 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.)  
67    
68  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
69  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
# Line 133  them like this is in order: Line 129  them like this is in order:
129    
130      This product includes software developed by Marc Horowitz.      This product includes software developed by Marc Horowitz.
131    
132        This product includes software developed by Brini.
133    
134        This product includes software developed by Mark Brinicombe
135        for the NetBSD Project.
136    
137        This product includes software developed by TooLs GmbH.
138    
139        This product includes software developed by Manuel Bouyer.
140    
141        This product includes software developed by the Alice Group.
142    
143        This product includes software developed by Ichiro FUKUHARA.
144    
145        This product includes software developed by Marcus Comstedt.
146    
147        This product includes software developed by Bill Paul.
148    
149    Also, src/include/alpha_rpb.h requires the following:
150    
151        Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 Carnegie-Mellon University.
152        All rights reserved.
153    
154        Author: Keith Bostic, Chris G. Demetriou
155    
156        Permission to use, copy, modify and distribute this software and
157        its documentation is hereby granted, provided that both the copyright
158        notice and this permission notice appear in all copies of the
159        software, derivative works or modified versions, and any portions
160        thereof, and that both notices appear in supporting documentation.
161    
162  See individual files for license details, if you plan to redistribute GXemul  See individual files for license details, if you plan to redistribute GXemul
163  or reuse code.  or reuse code.
164    
 Thanks to everyone who has provided me with feedback.  
165    
166  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
167  or feedback in general, then mail me at anders(at)gavare.se.  or feedback in general, then mail me at anders(At)gavare.se.
168    
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