It was previously possible for a stalled message to be reordered after an
incomming message. This patch ensures that any stalled message stays in its
original request order.
This patch allows SLICC protocols to use more than one message type with a
message buffer. For example, you can declare two in ports as such:
in_port(ResponseQueue_in, ResponseMsg, responseFromDir, rank=3) { ... }
in_port(tgtResponseQueue_in, TgtResponseMsg, responseFromDir, rank=2) { ... }
This patch drops the NetworkMessage class. The relevant data members and functions
have been moved to the Message class, which was the parent of NetworkMessage.
This structure's only purpose was to provide a comparison function for
ordering messages in the MessageBuffer. The comparison function is now
being moved to the Message class itself. So we no longer require this
structure.
The processes of warming up and cooling down Ruby caches are simulation-wide
processes, not just RubySystem instance-specific processes. Thus, the warm-up
and cool-down variables should be globally visible to any Ruby components
participating in either process. Make these variables static members and track
the warm-up and cool-down processes as appropriate.
This patch also has two side benefits:
1) It removes references to the RubySystem g_system_ptr, which are problematic
for allowing multiple RubySystem instances in a single simulation. Warmup and
cooldown variables being static (global) reduces the need for instance-specific
dereferences through the RubySystem.
2) From the AbstractController, it removes local RubySystem pointers, which are
used inconsistently with other uses of the RubySystem: 11 other uses reference
the RubySystem with the g_system_ptr. Only sequencers have local pointers.
Restoring from a checkpoint with ruby + the DRAMCtrl memory model was not
working, because ruby and DRAMCtrl disagreed on the current tick during warmup.
Since there is no reason to do timing requests during warmup, use functional
requests instead.
Committed by: Nilay Vaish <nilay@cs.wisc.edu>
This patch fixes a long-standing isue with the port flow
control. Before this patch the retry mechanism was shared between all
different packet classes. As a result, a snoop response could get
stuck behind a request waiting for a retry, even if the send/recv
functions were split. This caused message-dependent deadlocks in
stress-test scenarios.
The patch splits the retry into one per packet (message) class. Thus,
sendTimingReq has a corresponding recvReqRetry, sendTimingResp has
recvRespRetry etc. Most of the changes to the code involve simply
clarifying what type of request a specific object was accepting.
The biggest change in functionality is in the cache downstream packet
queue, facing the memory. This queue was shared by requests and snoop
responses, and it is now split into two queues, each with their own
flow control, but the same physical MasterPort. These changes fixes
the previously seen deadlocks.
This patch takes a first step in tightening up how we use the data
pointer in write packets. A const getter is added for the pointer
itself (getConstPtr), and a number of member functions are also made
const accordingly. In a range of places throughout the memory system
the new member is used.
The patch also removes the unused isReadWrite function.
This patch removes the parameter that enables bypassing the null check
in the Packet::getPtr method. A number of call sites assume the value
to be non-null.
The one odd case is the RubyTester, which issues zero-sized
prefetches(!), and despite being reads they had no valid data
pointer. This is now fixed, but the size oddity remains (unless anyone
object or has any good suggestions).
Finally, in the Ruby Sequencer, appropriate checks are made for flush
packets as they have no valid data pointer.
This patch is the final in the series. The whole series and this patch in
particular were written with the aim of interfacing ruby's directory controller
with the memory controller in the classic memory system. This is being done
since ruby's memory controller has not being kept up to date with the changes
going on in DRAMs. Classic's memory controller is more up to date and
supports multiple different types of DRAM. This also brings classic and
ruby ever more close. The patch also changes ruby's memory controller to
expose the same interface.
This function was added when I had incorrectly arrived at the conclusion
that such a function can improve the chances of a functional read succeeding.
As was later realized, this is not possible in the current setup. While the
code using this function was dropped long back, this function was not. Hence
the patch.
This patch removes the data block present in the directory entry structure
of each protocol in gem5's mainline. Firstly, this is required for moving
towards common set of memory controllers for classic and ruby memory systems.
Secondly, the data block was being misused in several places. It was being
used for having free access to the physical memory instead of calling on the
memory controller.
From now on, the directory controller will not have a direct visibility into
the physical memory. The Memory Vector object now resides in the
Memory Controller class. This also means that some significant changes are
being made to the functional accesses in ruby.
This patch transitions the Ruby Message and its derived classes from
the ad-hoc RefCountingPtr to the c++11 shared_ptr. There are no
changes in behaviour, and the code modifications are mainly replacing
"new" with "make_shared".
The cloning of derived messages is slightly changed as they previously
relied on overriding the base-class through covariant return types.
This patch tidies up random number generation to ensure that it is
done consistently throughout the code base. In essence this involves a
clean-up of Ruby, and some code simplifications in the traffic
generator.
As part of this patch a bunch of skewed distributions (off-by-one etc)
have been fixed.
Note that a single global random number generator is used, and that
the object instantiation order will impact the behaviour (the sequence
of numbers will be unaffected, but if module A calles random before
module B then they would obviously see a different outcome). The
dependency on the instantiation order is true in any case due to the
execution-model of gem5, so we leave it as is. Also note that the
global ranom generator is not thread safe at this point.
Regressions using the memtest, TrafficGen or any Ruby tester are
affected and will be updated accordingly.
This patch is the final patch in a series of patches. The aim of the series
is to make ruby more configurable than it was. More specifically, the
connections between controllers are not at all possible (unless one is ready
to make significant changes to the coherence protocol). Moreover the buffers
themselves are magically connected to the network inside the slicc code.
These connections are not part of the configuration file.
This patch makes changes so that these connections will now be made in the
python configuration files associated with the protocols. This requires
each state machine to expose the message buffers it uses for input and output.
So, the patch makes these buffers configurable members of the machines.
The patch drops the slicc code that usd to connect these buffers to the
network. Now these buffers are exposed to the python configuration system
as Master and Slave ports. In the configuration files, any master port
can be connected any slave port. The file pyobject.cc has been modified to
take care of allocating the actual message buffer. This is inline with how
other port connections work.
Using '== true' in a boolean expression is totally redundant,
and using '== false' is pretty verbose (and arguably less
readable in most cases) compared to '!'.
It's somewhat of a pet peeve, perhaps, but I had some time
waiting for some tests to run and decided to clean these up.
Unfortunately, SLICC appears not to have the '!' operator,
so I had to leave the '== false' tests in the SLICC code.
Code in two of the functions was exactly the same. This patch moves
this code to a new function which is called from the two functions
mentioned initially.
The first two levels (L0, L1) are private to the core, the third level (L2)is
possibly shared. The protocol supports clustered designs. For example, one
can have two sets of two cores. Each core has an L0 and L1 cache. There are
two L2 controllers where each set accesses only one of the L2 controllers.
A cluster over here means a set of controllers that can be accessed only by a
certain set of cores. For example, consider a two level hierarchy. Assume
there are 4 L1 controllers (private) and 2 L2 controllers. We can have two
different hierarchies here:
a. the address space is partitioned between the two L2 controllers. Each L1
controller accesses both the L2 controllers. In this case, each L1 controller
is a cluster initself.
b. both the L2 controllers can cache any address. An L1 controller has access
to only one of the L2 controllers. In this case, each L2 controller
along with the L1 controllers that access it, form a cluster.
This patch allows for each controller to have a cluster ID, which is 0 by
default. By setting the cluster ID properly, one can instantiate hierarchies
with clusters. Note that the coherence protocol might have to be changed as
well.
This patch replaces max_in_port_rank with the number of inports. The use of
max_in_port_rank was causing spurious re-builds and incorrect initialization
of variables in ruby related regression tests. This was due to the variable
value being used across threads while compiling when it was not meant to be.
Since the number of inports is state machine specific value, this problem
should get solved.
Some of the code in StateMachine.py file is added to all the controllers and
is independent of the controller definition. This code is being moved to the
AbstractController class which is the parent class of all controllers.
This patch removes the following three files: RubySlicc_Profiler.sm,
RubySlicc_Profiler_interface.cc and RubySlicc_Profiler_interface.hh.
Only one function prototyped in the file RubySlicc_Profiler.sm. Rest of the
code appearing in any of these files is not in use. Therefore, these files
are being removed.
That one single function, profileMsgDelay(), is being moved to the protocol
files where it is in use. If we need any of these deleted functions, I think
the right way to make them visible is to have the AbstractController class in
a .sm and let the controller state machine inherit from this class. The
AbstractController class can then have the prototypes of these profiling
functions in its definition.
This moves event and transition count statistics for cache controllers to
gem5's statistics. It does the same for the statistics associated with the
memory controller in ruby.
All the cache/directory/dma controllers individually collect the event and
transition counts. A callback function, collateStats(), has been added that
is invoked on the controller version 0 of each controller class. This
function adds all the individual controller statistics to a vector
variables. All the code for registering the statistical variables and
collating them is generated by SLICC. The patch removes the files
*_Profiler.{cc,hh} and *_ProfileDumper.{cc,hh} which were earlier used for
collecting and dumping statistics respectively.
The histogram for tracking outstanding counts per cycle is maintained
in the profiler. For a parallel implementation of the memory system, we
need that this histogram is maintained locally. Hence it will now be
kept in the sequencer itself. The resulting histograms will be merged
when the stats are printed.
These functions are currently implemented in one of the files related to Slicc.
Since these are purely C++ functions, they are better suited to be in the base
class.
This patch modifies ruby so that two controllers can be connected to each
other with only message buffers in between. Before this patch, all the
controllers had to be connected to the network for them to communicate
with each other. With this patch, one can have protocols where a controller
is not connected to the network, but communicates with another controller
through a message buffer.
The functional write code was assuming that all writes are block sized,
which may not be true for Ruby Requests. This bug can lead to a buffer
overflow.
Committed by: Nilay Vaish <nilay@cs.wisc.edu>
This patch allows ruby to have multiple clock domains. As I understand
with this patch, controllers can have different frequencies. The entire
network needs to run at a single frequency.
The idea is that with in an object, time is treated in terms of cycles.
But the messages that are passed from one entity to another should contain
the time in Ticks. As of now, this is only true for the message buffers,
but not for the links in the network. As I understand the code, all the
entities in different networks (simple, garnet-fixed, garnet-flexible) should
be clocked at the same frequency.
Another problem is that the directory controller has to operate at the same
frequency as the ruby system. This is because the memory controller does
not make use of the Message Buffer, and instead implements a buffer of its
own. So, it has no idea of the frequency at which the directory controller
is operating and uses ruby system's frequency for scheduling events.
This patch is as of now the final patch in the series of patches that replace
Time with Cycles.This patch further replaces Time with Cycles in Sequencer,
Profiler, different protocols and related entities.
Though Time has not been completely removed, the places where it is in use
seem benign as of now.
The patch started of with replacing Time with Cycles in the Consumer class.
But to get ruby to compile, the rest of the changes had to be carried out.
Subsequent patches will further this process, till we completely replace
Time with Cycles.
This patch modifies the Histogram class' add() function so that it can add
linear histograms as well. The function assumes that the left end point of
the ranges of the two histograms are the same. It also assumes that when
the ranges of the two histogram are changed to accomodate an element not in
the range, the factor used in changing the range is same for both the
histograms.
This function is then used in removing one of the calls to the global
profiler*. The histograms for recording the delays incurred in processing
different requests are now maintained by the controllers. The profiler
adds these histograms when it needs to print the stats.
This patch does several things. First, the counter for fully busy cycles for a
controller is now kept with in the controller, instead of being part of the profiler.
Second, the topology class no longer keeps an array of controllers which was only
used for printing stats. Instead, ruby system will now ask each controller to print
the stats. Thirdly, the statistical variable for recording how many different types
were created is being moved in to the controller from the profiler. Note that for
printing, the profiler will collate results from different controllers.
This patch was initiated so as to remove reference to g_system_ptr,
the pointer to Ruby System that is used for getting the current time.
That simple change actual requires changing a lot many things in slicc and
garnet. All these changes are related to how time is handled.
In most of the places, g_system_ptr has been replaced by another clock
object. The changes have been done under the assumption that all the
components in the memory system are on the same clock frequency, but the
actual clocks might be distributed.
Many Ruby structures inherit from the Consumer, which is used for scheduling
events. The Consumer used to relay on an Event Manager for scheduling events
and on g_system_ptr for time. With this patch, the Consumer will now use a
ClockedObject to schedule events and to query for current time. This resulted
in several structures being converted from SimObjects to ClockedObjects. Also,
the MessageBuffer class now requires a pointer to a ClockedObject so as to
query for time.
The patch adds support to slicc for recognizing arguments that should be
passed to the constructor of a class. I did not like the fact that an explicit
check was being carried on the type 'TBETable' to figure out the arguments to
be passed to the constructor.
The patch also moves some of the member variables that are declared for all
the controllers to the base class AbstractController.
