OVERVIEW:

This README file is for the SimpleScalar simulator release 3.0e. This release is available from:

https://github.com/toddmaustin/simplesim-3.0

TO INSTALL:

The following details how to build and install the SimpleScalar simulators:

a) git clone https://github.com/toddmaustin/simplesim-3.0

Clone the SimpleScalar 3.0 repository into your local simplesim-3.0/ directory. This is a public repository, so you won’t even need a GitHub account to get access to this code.

b) vi Makefile

Make sure all compile options are set for your host, we've listed
the options for the OS/compiler combinations that were tested,
uncomment one of these if appropriate.  You'll likely not have to
change anything for the supported hosts, and if you need to change
anything, it will likely be the CC variable (which specifies
the ANSI C compiler to use to build the simulators).  NOTE: the
simulators must be built with an ANSI-C compatible compiler, if you
have problems with your compiler, try using GNU GCC as it is known
to build the simulators on all the supported platforms.

c) make config-pisa            (to build SimpleScalar/PISA)
   or
   make config-alpha            (to build SimpleScalar/Alpha)

Execute one of the above commands to configure the SimpleScalar
build.  The SimpleScalar/PISA build executes SimpleScalar PISA
(Portable ISA) binaries (the old "SimpleScalar ISA"), and the
SimpleScalar/Alpha build executes statically linked Alpha OSF
binaries.  If building with Cygwin/32 (www.cygwin.com) on Windows,
    be sure to unpack with "tar" to set up the symbolic links.

d) make

This builds the simplescalar simulators.

e) make sim-tests

This tests the simulators, this step will take anywhere from ~5 min
to an hour, depending on the performance of your host.  Inspect the
output of this command, when the script diff's the outputs of the
simulators against the known good outputs, there should be no
differences.

f) vi pipeview.pl textprof.pl

Configure these two perl scripts by placing the location of your
perl executable on the first line of each script.

BUILDING BINARIES FOR SIMPLESCALAR

SimpleScalar/PISA binaries must be built using the SimpleScalar GNU tool chain (e.g., GCC, GAS, GLD), available from:

http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~mscalar/simplescalar.html

Prebuilt SimpleScalar PISA (Portable ISA) binaries, for big- and little-endian hosts, are also available from that site.

SimpleScalar/Alpha binaries must be built on Digitial Alpha OSF Unix (or with a suitable cross compiler). Any Alpha OSF Unix compiler should work, however, the binaries must be statically linked. To statically link a binary, add the “-static” flag to the link line of GNU GCC, or add “-non_shared” to the link line of the DEC compilers. NOTE: if you get a “dnet_conn not found” error when linking Alpha OSF binaries, add “-ldnet_stub” to your link line.

IS SIMPLESCALAR FREE?

No, but academic users (e.g., users at education institutions, U.S. government research labs, and non-profit research institutes) may use SimpleScalar tools free-of-charge for non-commercial research and instruction. Support is provided to non-commercial users as resources permit. Any use of SimpleScalar software, in binary or source form, in a commercial setting or application (e.g., use within a for-profit business, use to generate intellectual property for patents, or use to implement a consulting contract) for any reason, purpose or goal is commercial use of SimpleScalar software and thus requires a commercial use license from SimpleScalar LLC. Contact SimpleScalar LLC at info@simplescalar.com for commercial licensing details.

PUBLISHING PAPERS WITH SIMPLESCALAR

When publishing a paper with SimpleScalar results, please refer to the specific target you use as “SimpleScalar/PISA” or “SimpleScalar/Alpha”. In addition, please make reference to the latest SimpleScalar report, this reference is available from:

http://www.simplescalar.com

Above all, please use good judgement when doing research with the SimpleScalar tool set. Before publishing any numbers you should validate your results. Use the pipetrace facility, combined with microbenchmarks, to test our code, your code, and your intuitions. If the simulators are not appropriate for your experiments, build a new simulator or use another more appropriate simulation tool set. The SimpleScalar tool set is not appropriate for all computer architecture research, and it’s certainly not any substitute for good science.

USING SIMPLESCALAR FOR INSTRUCTION

Many instructors have found the SimpleScalar tools useful in their courses. To make this process as painless as possible, we’ve made available an instructors kit that includes pre-built binaries with small-ish inputs. Also included are directions on how to build and run the experiments, suggested projects at all levels, and slides that the instructor can use to introduce students to the Simplescalar tool set. The instructions kit is available from http://www.simplescalar.com.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

For general documentation on the tool set, see the hacker’s guide in the file “hack_guide.{pfd,ps,ppt}”. Frequently asked questions are answered in the FAQ file. And suggested projects are listed in the file PROJECTS. The simulators (the sim-* executables) are self-documenting, just run them with the “-h” flag.

To get plugged into the SimpleScalar scene, visit the SimpleScalar GitHub respository (https://github.com/toddmaustin/simplesim-3.0). And please send us your comments regarding this tool set, we are continually trying to improve it and we appreciate your input.

Best Regards,

Todd Austin todd.m.austin@gmail.com