README

   1 This is release m5_1.1 of the M5 simulator.
   2
   3 This file contains brief "getting started" information and release
   4 notes.  For more information, see http://m5.eecs.umich.edu.  If you
   5 have questions, please send mail to m5sim-users@lists.sourceforge.net.
   6
   7 WHAT'S INCLUDED (AND NOT)
   8 -------------------------
   9
  10 Since you're reading this file, presumably you've managed to untar the
  11 distribution.  The archive you've unpacked has three subdirectories:
  12  - m5: the simulator itself
  13  - m5-test: regression tests and scripts to run them
  14  - ext: less-common external packages needed to build m5
  15  - alpha-system: source for Alpha console and PALcode
  16
  17 M5 is a capable, full-system simulator that current supports both Linux
  18 2.4/2.6 and the proprietary Compaq/HP Tru64 version of Unix. We are able
  19 to distribute Linux bootdisks, but we are unable to distribute bootable
  20 disk images of Tru64 Unix. If you have a Tru64 license and are interested
  21 in obtaining disk images, contact us at m5-dev@eecs.umich.edu.
  22
  23 WHAT'S NEEDED
  24 -------------
  25 - GCC (version 3.3 or 3.4 recommended)
  26 - Python 2.3 or newer
  27 - SCons 0.96.1 (see http://www.scons.org)
  28
  29 WHAT'S RECOMMENDED
  30 ------------------
  31 - MySQL (for statistics complex statistics storage/retrieval)
  32 - Python-MysqlDB (for statistics analysis)
  33
  34 GETTING STARTED
  35 ---------------
  36
  37 There are two different build targets and three optimizations levels:
  38
  39 Target:
  40 -------
  41 ALPHA_SE - Syscall emulation simulation
  42 ALPHA_FS - Full system simulation
  43
  44 Optimization:
  45 -------------
  46 m5.debug - debug version of the code with tracing and without optimization
  47 m5.opt   - optimized version of code with tracing
  48 m5.fast  - optimized version of the code without tracing and asserts
  49
  50 Different targets are built in different subdirectories of m5/build.
  51 Binaries with the same target but different optimization levels share
  52 the same directory.  Note that you can build m5 in any directory you
  53 choose by copying the SConstruct file there and creating symbolic links
  54 to the 'm5' and 'ext' directories.
  55
  56 The following steps will build and test the simulator.  The variable
  57 "$top" refers to the top directory where you've unpacked the files,
  58 i.e., the one containing the m5, m5-test, and ext directories.  If you
  59 have a multiprocessor system, you should give scons a "-j N" argument (like
  60 make) to run N jobs in parallel.
  61
  62 To build and test the syscall-emulation simulator:
  63
  64         cd $top/m5/build
  65         scons ALPHA_SE/test/opt/quick
  66
  67 To build and test the full-system simualator:
  68
  69 1. Download the full-system binary package from
  70    http://m5.eecs.umich.edu/dist/m5_system_1.1.tar.bz2.  This package includes
  71    disk images and kernel, palcode, and console binaries for Linux and FreeBSD.
  72 2. Edit SYSTEMDIR in $top/m5-test/SysPaths.py to point to your local copy
  73    of the binaries.
  74 3. In $top/m5/build, run "scons ALPHA_FS/opt/test/quick".
  75