/[gxemul]/trunk/RELEASE
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revision 10 by dpavlin, Mon Oct 8 16:18:27 2007 UTC revision 38 by dpavlin, Mon Oct 8 16:21:53 2007 UTC
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1  Release notes for GXemul 0.3.4  Release notes for Gavare's eXperimental Emulator (GXemul), 0.4.5
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, regardless  emulation modes are available. In some modes, processors and surrounding
9  of host platform. Several emulation modes are available. For some modes,  hardware components are emulated well enough to let unmodified operating
10  processors and surrounding hardware components are emulated well enough to  systems (e.g. NetBSD) run as if they were running on a real machine.
11  let unmodified operating systems (e.g. NetBSD) run as if they were running  
12  on a real machine.  Processors (ARM, MIPS, PowerPC, SuperH) are emulated using dynamic
13    translation. Unlike some other dynamically translating emulators, GXemul
14  I have verified that the following "guest" operating systems can run  does not need to generate native code, only a "runnable intermediate
15  inside the emulator:  representation", and will thus run on any host architecture.
16    
17      Guest operating system             Emulated machine  The documentation lists the machines and guest operating systems that can
18      ----------------------             ----------------  be regarded as "working" in GXemul. The best working guest operating
19      NetBSD/pmax 2.0.2 (and 1.6.2)      DECstation 5000/200  systems are probably NetBSD/pmax and NetBSD/cats.
20      OpenBSD/pmax 2.8-BETA              DECstation 5000/200  
21      Ultrix 4.2-4.5                     DECstation 5000/200  
22      Sprite demo harddisk image         DECstation 5000/200  The changes between release 0.4.4.1 and 0.4.5 include, among other things:
23      Debian GNU/Linux for DECstation    DECstation 5000/200  
24      Redhat Linux 7.1 for mips          DECstation 5000/200      o)  Initial support for "disk overlays" has been implemented. This
25      NetBSD/arc 1.6.2                   Acer PICA-61          enables e.g. simple roll-back of emulated disk contents to a
26      OpenBSD/arc 2.3                    Acer PICA-61          previous state.
27      NetBSD/hpcmips 2.0.2               NEC MobilePro 770, 780, 800, 880  
28      NetBSD/cobalt 2.0.2                Cobalt      o)  Dyntrans bug fixes; code translations on physical addresses that
29      NetBSD/evbmips 2.0.2               Malta 5Kc/4Kc evaluation board          were offset a multiple of 128 MB from each other could either
30      NetBSD/sgimips 2.0.2               SGI O2 ("IP32")          cause weird bugs, or translation leaks (leading to unnecessary
31            dyntrans cache overflows).
32  Some of these guest operating systems are easier to install and run than  
33  others. The best supported mode is the DECstation 5000/200 emulation mode,      o)  Some cleanup: The GDB debugging stub support, some dummy machine
34  with NetBSD/pmax as the guest operating system.          modes (TS7200, Walnut, PB1000, and Meshcube), and some dummy or
35            experimental CPUs (RCA180x and Transputer) have been removed, to
36  A couple of other emulation modes exist. Some of these modes are almost          make the emulator slightly more maintainable.
37  working well enough to run complete guest operating systems, but most are  
38  just skeletons. The modes that work are listed in the documentation.  Please read the HISTORY file for more details.
   
 The emulator can also be used in other experiments; it does not have to  
 run entire guest operating systems. (However, GXemul 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.)  
   
 Summary of changes between release 0.3.3.2 and 0.3.4:  
   
         x)  When emulating a network of multiple machines, the emulated  
             machines can now be placed on different hosts.  
   
         x)  NetBSD/evbmips can now be installed and run from a disk image.  
             (There is no INSTALL kernel for NetBSD/evbmips, so you need to  
             install using another OS, for example emulated NetBSD/pmax.)  
   
         x)  NetBSD/sgimips can now be installed. Not onto a SCSI disk,  
             but the files can be exported via nfs from another emulated  
             machine. The sgimips machine can then netboot. (Read the  
             documentation for details.)  
39    
 There have also been various other minor updates and bugfixes.  
40    
41  Files included in this release are:  Files included in this release are:
42    
   BUGS                        A list of known bugs.  
43    HISTORY                     Detailed revision history / changelog.    HISTORY                     Detailed revision history / changelog.
44    LICENSE                     Copyright message / license.    LICENSE                     Copyright message / license.
45    README                      Quick start instructions, for the impatient.    README                      Quick start instructions, for the impatient.
46    RELEASE                     This file.    RELEASE                     This file.
47    TODO                        TODO notes.    TODO                        TODO notes.
48    configure, Makefile.skel    sh and make scripts for building GXemul.    configure, Makefile.skel    sh and make scripts for building GXemul.
49      demos                       Tutorial-like demos of testmachine functionality.
50    doc                         Documentation.    doc                         Documentation.
51    experiments                 Experimental code. (Usually not needed.)    experiments                 Experimental code. (Usually not needed.)
52    src                         Source code.    src                         Source code.
   tests                       Regression tests.  
53    
54  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
55    should work on most Unix-like systems.
56    
 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.)  
57    
58  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
59  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 143  them like this is in order: Line 119  them like this is in order:
119    
120      This product includes software developed by Marc Horowitz.      This product includes software developed by Marc Horowitz.
121    
122        This product includes software developed by Brini.
123    
124        This product includes software developed by Mark Brinicombe
125        for the NetBSD Project.
126    
127        This product includes software developed by TooLs GmbH.
128    
129        This product includes software developed by Manuel Bouyer.
130    
131        This product includes software developed by the Alice Group.
132    
133        This product includes software developed by Ichiro FUKUHARA.
134    
135        This product includes software developed by Marcus Comstedt.
136    
137    Also, src/include/alpha_rpb.h requires the following:
138    
139        Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 Carnegie-Mellon University.
140        All rights reserved.
141    
142        Author: Keith Bostic, Chris G. Demetriou
143    
144        Permission to use, copy, modify and distribute this software and
145        its documentation is hereby granted, provided that both the copyright
146        notice and this permission notice appear in all copies of the
147        software, derivative works or modified versions, and any portions
148        thereof, and that both notices appear in supporting documentation.
149    
150  See individual files for license details, if you plan to redistribute GXemul  See individual files for license details, if you plan to redistribute GXemul
151  or reuse code.  or reuse code.
152    
 Thanks to (in no specific order, that is, this is in alphabetic order :-)  
 Joachim Buss, Juli Mallett, Juan RP, Alec Voropay, Alexander Yurchenko,  
 and everyone else who has provided me with feedback.  
153    
154  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
155  or feedback in general, then mail me at anders(at)gavare.se.  or feedback in general, then mail me at anders(At)gavare.se.
156    
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