upstream/0.4.6/RELEASE

Release notes for Gavare's eXperimental Emulator (GXemul), 0.4.6
================================================================

Copyright (C) 2003-2007  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.

Processors (ARM, MIPS, PowerPC, and SuperH) are emulated using dynamic 
translation. Unlike some other dynamically translating emulators, GXemul 
does not need to generate native code, only a "runnable intermediate 
representation", and will thus run on any host architecture.

The documentation lists the machines and guest operating systems that can 
be regarded as "working" in GXemul. The best working guest operating 
systems are probably NetBSD/pmax and NetBSD/cats.


The changes between release 0.4.5.1 and 0.4.6 include, among other things:

    o)  NetBSD/pmppc can now run in the emulator (with root-on-nfs), on
        an emulated Artesyn PM/PPC board.

    o)  An instruction combination has been implemented for the idle loop
        used by NetBSD/arm (cats, netwinder, and iq80321). In plain English,
        this means that if the guest OS inside the emulator is not using
        any CPU, the emulator should not use much CPU on the host either.

    o)  Some minor SuperH emulation speed improvements.

    o)  General code cleanup: Non-working (skeleton) emulation modes have
        been removed, to make it easier to maintain the source code in
        the long run, and many unused/legacy constructs have been removed.

Please read the HISTORY file for more details.


Files included in this release are:

  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.
  demos                       Tutorial-like demos of testmachine functionality.
  doc                         Documentation.
  experiments                 Experimental code. (Usually not needed.)
  src                         Source code.

To build the emulator, run the configure script, and then run make. This 
should work on most Unix-like systems.


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.

    This product includes software developed by the Alice Group.

    This product includes software developed by Ichiro FUKUHARA.

    This product includes software developed by Marcus Comstedt.

    This product includes software developed by Bill Paul.

    This product includes software developed by Nivas Madhur.

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.


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	42	Release notes for Gavare's eXperimental Emulator (GXemul), 0.4.6
2			================================================================
3	dpavlin	2
4	dpavlin	34	Copyright (C) 2003-2007 Anders Gavare.
5	dpavlin	2
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	40	Processors (ARM, MIPS, PowerPC, and SuperH) are emulated using dynamic
13	dpavlin	34	translation. Unlike some other dynamically translating emulators, GXemul
14			does not need to generate native code, only a "runnable intermediate
15			representation", and will thus run on any host architecture.
16
17	dpavlin	22	The documentation lists the machines and guest operating systems that can
18	dpavlin	28	be regarded as "working" in GXemul. The best working guest operating
19	dpavlin	34	systems are probably NetBSD/pmax and NetBSD/cats.
20	dpavlin	2
21	dpavlin	20
22	dpavlin	42	The changes between release 0.4.5.1 and 0.4.6 include, among other things:
23	dpavlin	12
24	dpavlin	42	o) NetBSD/pmppc can now run in the emulator (with root-on-nfs), on
25			an emulated Artesyn PM/PPC board.
26	dpavlin	2
27	dpavlin	42	o) An instruction combination has been implemented for the idle loop
28			used by NetBSD/arm (cats, netwinder, and iq80321). In plain English,
29			this means that if the guest OS inside the emulator is not using
30			any CPU, the emulator should not use much CPU on the host either.
31	dpavlin	10
32	dpavlin	42	o) Some minor SuperH emulation speed improvements.
33	dpavlin	2
34	dpavlin	42	o) General code cleanup: Non-working (skeleton) emulation modes have
35			been removed, to make it easier to maintain the source code in
36			the long run, and many unused/legacy constructs have been removed.
37	dpavlin	40
38	dpavlin	38	Please read the HISTORY file for more details.
39	dpavlin	2
40	dpavlin	36
41	dpavlin	2	Files included in this release are:
42
43			HISTORY Detailed revision history / changelog.
44			LICENSE Copyright message / license.
45			README Quick start instructions, for the impatient.
46			RELEASE This file.
47			TODO TODO notes.
48	dpavlin	4	configure, Makefile.skel sh and make scripts for building GXemul.
49	dpavlin	24	demos Tutorial-like demos of testmachine functionality.
50	dpavlin	2	doc Documentation.
51			experiments Experimental code. (Usually not needed.)
52	dpavlin	4	src Source code.
53	dpavlin	2
54	dpavlin	24	To build the emulator, run the configure script, and then run make. This
55	dpavlin	22	should work on most Unix-like systems.
56	dpavlin	2
57	dpavlin	24
58	dpavlin	4	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
60	dpavlin	2	that "All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software"
61			must display acknowledgements. Even though I do NOT feel I mention features or
62			use of the header files (the "software") in any advertising materials, I am
63			still very grateful for the fact that these people have made their files
64			available for re-use, so regardless of legal requirements, I guess thanking
65			them like this is in order:
66
67			This product includes software developed by the University of
68			California, Berkeley and its contributors.
69
70			This product includes software developed for the
71			NetBSD Project. See http://www.netbsd.org/ for
72			information about NetBSD.
73
74			This product includes software developed by Jonathan Stone for
75			the NetBSD Project.
76
77			This product includes software developed for the NetBSD Project
78			by Matthias Drochner.
79
80			This product includes software developed by the NetBSD
81			Foundation, Inc. and its contributors.
82
83			This product includes software developed by Christopher G. Demetriou.
84			[for the NetBSD Project.]
85
86			This product includes software developed by Adam Glass.
87
88			This product includes software developed by the PocketBSD project
89			and its contributors.
90
91			This product includes software developed by Peter Galbavy.
92
93			Carnegie Mellon University (multiple header files,
94			no specific advertisement text required)
95
96			This product includes software developed by Charles M. Hannum.
97
98			This product includes software developed under OpenBSD by Per Fogelström.
99
100			This product includes software developed by Per Fogelström.
101
102			This product includes software developed at Ludd, University of
103			Luleå, Sweden and its contributors.
104
105			This product includes software developed by Hellmuth Michaelis
106			and Joerg Wunsch
107
108			The font(s) in devices/fonts are Copyright (c) 1992, 1993, 1994
109			by Hellmuth Michaelis and Joerg Wunsch. ("This product includes software
110			developed by Hellmuth Michaelis and Joerg Wunsch", well, the font
111			is maybe not software, but still...)
112
113			impactsr-bsd.h is Copyright (C) 2004 by Stanislaw Skowronek.
114
115			This product includes software developed for the NetBSD Project by
116			Wasabi Systems, Inc. [by Simon Burge]
117
118			arcbios_other.h is Copyright (c) 1996 M. Warner Losh.
119
120			This product includes software developed by Marc Horowitz.
121
122	dpavlin	14	This product includes software developed by Brini.
123
124			This product includes software developed by Mark Brinicombe
125			for the NetBSD Project.
126
127	dpavlin	20	This product includes software developed by TooLs GmbH.
128
129			This product includes software developed by Manuel Bouyer.
130
131	dpavlin	22	This product includes software developed by the Alice Group.
132
133	dpavlin	24	This product includes software developed by Ichiro FUKUHARA.
134
135	dpavlin	32	This product includes software developed by Marcus Comstedt.
136
137	dpavlin	40	This product includes software developed by Bill Paul.
138
139	dpavlin	42	This product includes software developed by Nivas Madhur.
140
141	dpavlin	12	Also, src/include/alpha_rpb.h requires the following:
142
143			Copyright (c) 1994, 1995, 1996 Carnegie-Mellon University.
144			All rights reserved.
145
146			Author: Keith Bostic, Chris G. Demetriou
147
148			Permission to use, copy, modify and distribute this software and
149			its documentation is hereby granted, provided that both the copyright
150			notice and this permission notice appear in all copies of the
151			software, derivative works or modified versions, and any portions
152			thereof, and that both notices appear in supporting documentation.
153
154	dpavlin	2	See individual files for license details, if you plan to redistribute GXemul
155			or reuse code.
156
157	dpavlin	24
158	dpavlin	2	If you have found GXemul useful in some way, or feel like sending me comments
159	dpavlin	38	or feedback in general, then mail me at anders(At)gavare.se.
160	dpavlin	2