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3 | PSIM 1.0.1 - Model of the PowerPC Environments | |
4 | ||
5 | ||
6 | Copyright (C) 1994-1996, Andrew Cagney <cagney@highland.com.au>. | |
7 | ||
8 | This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify | |
9 | it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by | |
10 | the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or | |
11 | (at your option) any later version. | |
12 | ||
13 | This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, | |
14 | but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of | |
15 | MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the | |
16 | GNU General Public License for more details. | |
17 | ||
18 | You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License | |
19 | along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software | |
20 | Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA. | |
21 | ||
22 | ||
23 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | |
24 | ||
25 | ||
26 | PSIM is a program written in extended ANSI-C that implements an | |
27 | instruction level simulation of the PowerPC environment. It is freely | |
28 | available in source code form under the terms of the GNU General | |
29 | Public License (version 2 or later). | |
30 | ||
31 | The PowerPC Architecture is described as having three levels of | |
32 | compliance: | |
33 | ||
34 | UEA - User Environment Architecture | |
35 | VEA - Virtual Environment Architecture | |
36 | OEA - Operating Environment Architecture | |
37 | ||
38 | PSIM both implements all three levels of the PowerPC and includes (for | |
39 | each level) a corresponding simulated run-time environment. | |
40 | ||
41 | In addition, PSIM, to the execution unit level, models the performance | |
42 | of most of the current PowerPC implementations (contributed by Michael | |
43 | Meissner). This detailed performance monitoring (unlike many other | |
44 | simulators) resulting in only a relatively marginal reduction in the | |
45 | simulators performance. | |
46 | ||
47 | ||
48 | A description of how to build PSIM is contained in the file: | |
49 | ||
50 | ftp://ftp.ci.com.au/pub/psim/INSTALL | |
51 | or ftp://cambridge.cygnus.com/pub/psim/INSTALL | |
52 | ||
53 | while an overview of how to use PSIM is in: | |
54 | ||
55 | ftp://ftp.ci.com.au/pub/psim/RUN | |
56 | or ftp://cambridge.cygnus.com/pub/psim/RUN | |
57 | ||
58 | This file is found in: | |
59 | ||
60 | ftp://ftp.ci.com.au/pub/psim/README | |
61 | or ftp://cambridge.cygnus.com/pub/psim/README | |
62 | ||
63 | ||
64 | Thanks goes firstly to: | |
65 | ||
66 | Corinthian Engineering Pty Ltd | |
67 | Cygnus Support | |
68 | Highland Logic Pty Ltd | |
69 | ||
70 | who provided the resources needed for making this software available | |
71 | on the Internet. | |
72 | ||
73 | More importantly I'd like to thank the following individuals who each | |
74 | contributed in their own unique way: | |
75 | ||
76 | Allen Briggs, Bett Koch, David Edelsohn, Gordon Irlam, | |
77 | Michael Meissner, Bob Mercier, Richard Perini, Dale Rahn, | |
78 | Richard Stallman, Mitchele Walker | |
79 | ||
80 | ||
81 | Andrew Cagney | |
82 | Feb, 1995 | |
83 | ||
84 | ||
85 | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- | |
86 | ||
87 | ||
88 | What features does PSIM include? | |
89 | ||
90 | Monitoring and modeling | |
91 | ||
92 | PSIM includes (thanks to Michael Meissner) | |
93 | a detailed model of most of the PowerPC | |
94 | implementations to the functional unit level. | |
95 | ||
96 | ||
97 | SMP | |
98 | ||
99 | The PowerPC ISA defines SMP synchronizing instructions. | |
100 | This simulator implements a limited, but functional, | |
101 | subset of the PowerPC synchronization instructions | |
102 | behaviour. Programs that restrict their synchronization | |
103 | primitives to those that work with this functional | |
104 | sub-set (eg P() and V()) are able to run on the SMP | |
105 | version of PSIM. | |
106 | ||
107 | People intending to use this system should study | |
108 | the code implementing the lwarx instruction. | |
109 | ||
110 | ENDIAN SUPPORT | |
111 | ||
112 | PSIM implements the PowerPC's big and little (xor | |
113 | endian) modes and correctly simulates code that | |
114 | switches between these two modes. | |
115 | ||
116 | In addition, psim can model a true little-endian | |
117 | machine. | |
118 | ||
119 | ISA (Instruction Set Architecture) models | |
120 | ||
121 | PSIM includes a model of the UEA, VEA and OEA. This | |
122 | includes the time base registers (VEA) and HTAB | |
123 | and BATS (OEA). | |
124 | ||
125 | In addition, a preliminary model of the 64 bit | |
126 | PowerPC architecture is implemented. | |
127 | ||
128 | IO Hardware | |
129 | ||
130 | PSIM's internals are based around the concept | |
131 | of a Device Tree. This tree intentionally | |
132 | resembles that of the Device Tree found in | |
133 | OpenBoot firmware. PSIM is flexible enough | |
134 | to allow the user to fully configure this device | |
135 | tree (and consequently the hardware model) at | |
136 | run time. | |
137 | ||
138 | Run-time environments: | |
139 | ||
140 | PSIM's UEA model includes emulation for BSD | |
141 | based UNIX system calls. | |
142 | ||
143 | PSIM's OEA model includes emulation of either: | |
144 | ||
145 | o OpenBoot client interface | |
146 | ||
147 | o MOTO's BUG interface. | |
148 | ||
149 | ||
150 | Floating point | |
151 | ||
152 | Preliminary support for floating point is included. | |
153 | ||
154 | ||
155 | Who would be interested in PSIM? | |
156 | ||
157 | o the curious | |
158 | ||
159 | Using psim, gdb, gcc and binutils the curious | |
160 | user can construct an environment that allows | |
161 | them to play with PowerPC Environment without | |
162 | the need for real hardware. | |
163 | ||
164 | ||
165 | o the analyst | |
166 | ||
167 | PSIM includes many (contributed) monitoring | |
168 | features which (unlike many other simulators) | |
169 | do not come with a great penalty in performance. | |
170 | ||
171 | Thus the performance analyst is able to use | |
172 | this simulator to analyse the performance of | |
173 | the system under test. | |
174 | ||
175 | If PSIM doesn't monitor a components of interest, | |
176 | the source code is freely available, and hence | |
177 | there is no hinderance to changing things | |
178 | to meet a specific analysts needs. | |
179 | ||
180 | ||
181 | o the serious SW developer | |
182 | ||
183 | PSIM models all three levels of the PowerPC | |
184 | Architecture: UEA, VEA and OEA. Further, | |
185 | the internal design is such that PSIM can | |
186 | be extended to support additional requirements. | |
187 | ||
188 | ||
189 | What performance analysis measurements can PSIM perform? | |
190 | ||
191 | Below is the output from a recent analysis run | |
192 | (contributed by Michael Meissner): | |
193 | ||
194 | For the following program: | |
195 | ||
196 | long | |
197 | simple_rand () | |
198 | { | |
199 | static unsigned long seed = 47114711; | |
200 | unsigned long this = seed * 1103515245 + 12345; | |
201 | seed = this; | |
202 | /* cut-cut-cut - see the file RUN.psim */ | |
203 | } | |
204 | ||
205 | Here is the current output generated with the -I switch on a P90 | |
206 | (the compiler used is the development version of GCC with a new | |
207 | scheduler replacing the old one): | |
208 | ||
209 | CPU #1 executed 41,994 AND instructions. | |
210 | CPU #1 executed 519,785 AND Immediate instructions. | |
211 | . | |
212 | . | |
213 | . | |
214 | CPU #1 executed 1 System Call instruction. | |
215 | CPU #1 executed 207,746 XOR instructions. | |
216 | ||
217 | CPU #1 executed 23,740,856 cycles. | |
218 | CPU #1 executed 10,242,780 stalls waiting for data. | |
219 | CPU #1 executed 1 stall waiting for a function unit. | |
220 | . | |
221 | . | |
222 | . | |
223 | CPU #1 executed 3,136,229 branch functional unit instructions. | |
224 | CPU #1 executed 16,949,396 instructions that were accounted for in timing info. | |
225 | CPU #1 executed 871,920 data reads. | |
226 | CPU #1 executed 971,926 data writes. | |
227 | CPU #1 executed 221 icache misses. | |
228 | CPU #1 executed 16,949,396 instructions in total. | |
229 | ||
230 | Simulator speed was 250,731 instructions/second | |
231 | ||
232 | ||
233 | What motivated PSIM? | |
234 | ||
235 | As an idea, psim was first discussed seriously during mid | |
236 | 1994. At that time its main objectives were: | |
237 | ||
238 | ||
239 | o good performance | |
240 | ||
241 | Many simulators loose out by only providing | |
242 | a binary interface to the internals. This | |
243 | interface eventually becomes a bottle neck | |
244 | in the simulators performance. | |
245 | ||
246 | It was intended that PSIM would avoid this | |
247 | problem by giving the user access to the | |
248 | full source code. | |
249 | ||
250 | Further, by exploiting the power of modern | |
251 | compilers it was hoped that PSIM would achieve | |
252 | good performance with out having to compromise | |
253 | its internal design. | |
254 | ||
255 | ||
256 | o practical portability | |
257 | ||
258 | Rather than try to be portable to every | |
259 | C compiler on every platform, it was decided | |
260 | that PSIM would restrict its self to supporting | |
261 | ANSI compilers that included the extension | |
262 | of a long long type. | |
263 | ||
264 | GCC is one such compiler, consequently PSIM | |
265 | should be portable to any machine running GCC. | |
266 | ||
267 | ||
268 | o flexibility in its design | |
269 | ||
270 | PSIM should allow the user to select the | |
271 | features required and customise the build | |
272 | accordingly. By having the source code, | |
273 | the compiler is able to eliminate any un | |
274 | used features of the simulator. | |
275 | ||
276 | After all, let the compiler do the work. | |
277 | ||
278 | ||
279 | o SMP | |
280 | ||
281 | A model that allowed the simulation of | |
282 | SMP platforms with out the large overhead | |
283 | often encountered with such models. | |
284 | ||
285 | ||
286 | PSIM achieves each of these objectives. | |
287 | ||
288 | ||
289 | Is PSIM PowerPC Platform (PPCP) (nee CHRP) Compliant? | |
290 | ||
291 | No. | |
292 | ||
293 | Among other things it does not have an Apple ROM socket. | |
294 | ||
295 | ||
296 | Could PSIM be extended so that it models a CHRP machine? | |
297 | ||
298 | Yes. | |
299 | ||
300 | PSIM has been designed with the CHRP spec in mind. To model | |
301 | a CHRP desktop the following would need to be added: | |
302 | ||
303 | o An apple ROM socket :-) | |
304 | ||
305 | o Model of each of the desktop IO devices | |
306 | ||
307 | o An OpenPIC device. | |
308 | ||
309 | o RTAS (Run Time Abstraction Services). | |
310 | ||
311 | o A fully populated device tree. | |
312 | ||
313 | ||
314 | Is the source code available? | |
315 | ||
316 | Yes. | |
317 | ||
318 | The source code to PSIM is available under the terms of | |
319 | the GNU Public Licence. This allows you to distribute | |
320 | the source code for free but with certain conditions. | |
321 | ||
322 | See the file: | |
323 | ||
324 | ftp://archie.au/gnu/COPYING | |
325 | ||
326 | For details of the terms and conditions. | |
327 | ||
328 | ||
329 | Where do I send bugs or report problems? | |
330 | ||
331 | There is a mailing list (subscribe through majordomo@ci.com.au) at: | |
332 | ||
333 | powerpc-psim@ci.com.au | |
334 | ||
335 | If I get the ftp archive updated I post a note to that mailing list. | |
336 | In addition your welcome to send bugs or problems either to me or to | |
337 | that e-mail list. | |
338 | ||
339 | This list currently averages zero articles a day. | |
340 | ||
341 | ||
342 | Does PSIM have any limitations or problems? | |
343 | ||
344 | PSIM can't run rs6000/AIX binaries - At present PSIM can only | |
345 | simulate static executables. Since an AIX executable is | |
346 | never static, PSIM is unable to simulate its execution. | |
347 | ||
348 | PSIM is still under development - consequently there are going | |
349 | to be bugs. | |
350 | ||
351 | See the file BUGS (included in the distribution) for any | |
352 | other outstanding issues. | |
353 |