41f228c2ea
This patch enables the use of protobuf input files in the build process, thus allowing .proto files to be added to input. Each .proto file is compiled using the protoc tool and the newly created C++ source is added to the list of sources. The first location where the protobufs will be used is in the capturing and replay of memory traces, involving the communication monitor and the trace-generator state of the traffic generator. This will follow in the next patch. This patch does add a dependency on the availability of the BSD licensed protobuf library (and headers), and the protobuf compiler, protoc. These dependencies are checked in the SConstruct, similar to e.g. swig. The user can override the use of protoc from the PATH by specifying the PROTOC environment variable. Although the dependency on libprotobuf and protoc might seem like a big step, they add significant value to the project going forward. Execution traces and other types of traces could easily be added and parsers for C++ and Python are automatically generated. We could also envision using protobufs for the checkpoints, description of the traffic-generator behaviour etc. The sky is the limit. We could also use the GzipOutputStream from the protobuf library instead of the current GPL gzstream. Currently, only the C++ source and header is generated. Going forward we might want to add the Python output to support simple command-line tools for displaying and editing the traces.
This is the gem5 simulator.
For detailed information about building the simulator and getting
started please refer to:
* The main website: http://www.gem5.org
* Documentation wiki: http://www.gem5.org/Documentation
* Doxygen generated: http://www.gem5.org/docs
* Tutorials: http://www.gem5.org/Tutorials
Specific pages of interest are:
http://www.gem5.org/Introduction
http://www.gem5.org/Build_System
http://www.gem5.org/Dependencies
http://www.gem5.org/Running_gem5
Short version:
External tools and required versions
To build gem5, you will need the following software:
g++ version 4.3 or newer.
Python, version 2.4 - 2.7 (we don't support Python 3.X). gem5 links in the
Python interpreter, so you need the Python header files and shared
library (e.g., /usr/lib/libpython2.4.so) in addition to the interpreter
executable. These may or may not be installed by default. For example,
on Debian/Ubuntu, you need the "python-dev" package in addition to the
"python" package. If you need a newer or different Python installation
but can't or don't want to upgrade the default Python on your system,
see http://www.gem5.org/Using_a_non-default_Python_installation
SCons, version 0.98.1 or newer. SCons is a powerful replacement for make.
If you don't have administrator privileges on your machine, you can use the
"scons-local" package to install scons in your m5 directory, or install SCons
in your home directory using the '--prefix=' option.
SWIG, version 1.3.34 or newer
zlib, any recent version. For Debian/Ubuntu, you will need the "zlib-dev" or
"zlib1g-dev" package to get the zlib.h header file as well as the library
itself.
m4, the macro processor.
4. In this directory, type 'scons build/<ARCH>/gem5.opt' where ARCH is one
of ALPHA, ARM, MIPS, POWER, SPARC, or X86. This will build an optimized version
of the gem5 binary (gem5.opt) for the the specified architecture.
If you have questions, please send mail to gem5-users@gem5.org
WHAT'S INCLUDED (AND NOT)
-------------------------
The basic source release includes these subdirectories:
- gem5:
- configs: example simulation configuration scripts
- ext: less-common external packages needed to build gem5
- src: source code of the gem5 simulator
- system: source for some optional system software for simulated systems
- tests: regression tests
- util: useful utility programs and files
To run full-system simulations, you will need compiled system firmware
(console and PALcode for Alpha), kernel binaries and one or more disk images.
Please see the gem5 download page for these items at http://www.gem5.org/Download