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WriteInvalidateReq ensures that a whole-line write does not incur the cost of first doing a read exclusive, only to later overwrite the data. This patch splits the existing WriteInvalidateReq into a WriteLineReq, which is done locally, and an InvalidateReq that is sent out throughout the memory system. The WriteLineReq re-uses the normal WriteResp. The change allows us to better express the difference between the cache that is performing the write, and the ones that are merely invalidating. As a consequence, we no longer have to rely on the isTopLevel flag. Moreover, the actual memory in the system does not see the intitial write, only the writeback. We were marking the written line as dirty already, so there is really no need to also push the write all the way to the memory. The overall flow of the write-invalidate operation remains the same, i.e. the operation is only carried out once the response for the invalidate comes back. This patch adds the InvalidateResp for this very reason.
This is the gem5 simulator. The main website can be found at http://www.gem5.org A good starting point is http://www.gem5.org/Introduction, and for more information about building the simulator and getting started please see http://www.gem5.org/Documentation and http://www.gem5.org/Tutorials. To build gem5, you will need the following software: g++ or clang, Python (gem5 links in the Python interpreter), SCons, SWIG, zlib, m4, and lastly protobuf if you want trace capture and playback support. Please see http://www.gem5.org/Dependencies for more details concerning the minimum versions of the aforementioned tools. Once you have all dependencies resolved, type 'scons build/<ARCH>/gem5.opt' where ARCH is one of ALPHA, ARM, NULL, MIPS, POWER, SPARC, or X86. This will build an optimized version of the gem5 binary (gem5.opt) for the the specified architecture. See http://www.gem5.org/Build_System for more details and options. With the simulator built, have a look at http://www.gem5.org/Running_gem5 for more information on how to use gem5. The basic source release includes these subdirectories: - 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 If you have questions, please send mail to gem5-users@gem5.org Enjoy using gem5 and please share your modifications and extensions.