/--===============------\
______ __ | |⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺⎺| |
| _ \ \ / / | | | |
| |_) \ \ / / | | Emulator! | |
| _ < \ V / | | | |
|_| \_\ \_/ | |_______________| |
_________ | ::::|
|___ /___ \ '======================='
|_ \ __) | //-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-'-\\
___) / __/ //_'_'_'_'_'_'_'_'_'_'_'_\\
|____/_____| [-------------------------]
rv32emu
is an emulator for the 32 bit RISC-V processor model (RV32),
faithfully implementing the RISC-V instruction set architecture (ISA).
It serves as an exercise in modeling a modern RISC-based processor, demonstrating
the device's operations without the complexities of a hardware implementation.
The code is designed to be accessible and expandable, making it an ideal educational
tool and starting point for customization. It is primarily written in C99, with
a focus on efficiency and readability.
Features:
- Fast interpreter for executing the RV32 ISA
- Comprehensive support for RV32I and M, A, C, F extensions
- Memory-efficient design
- Built-in ELF loader
- Implementation of commonly used newlib system calls
- Experimental SDL-based display/event/audio system calls for running video games
- Support for remote GDB debugging
- Experimental JIT compiler for performance boost while maintaining a small footprint
rv32emu
relies on certain third-party packages for full functionality and access to all its features.
To ensure proper operation, the target system should have the SDL2 library
and SDL2_Mixer library installed.
- macOS:
brew install sdl2 sdl2_mixer
- Ubuntu Linux / Debian:
sudo apt install libsdl2-dev libsdl2-mixer-dev
Build the emulator.
$ make
Run sample RV32I[M] programs:
$ make check
Run Doom, the classical video game, via rv32emu
:
$ make doom
The build script will then download data file for Doom automatically. When Doom is loaded and run, an SDL2-based window ought to appear.
If RV32F support is enabled (turned on by default), Quake demo program can be launched via:
$ make quake
The usage and limitations of Doom and Quake demo are listed in docs/demo.md.
The image containing all the necessary tools for development and testing can be executed by docker run -it sysprog21/rv32emu:latest
. It works for both x86-64 and aarch64 (Apple's M1 chip) machines.
rv32emu
is configurable, and you can override the below variable(s) to fit your expectations:
ENABLE_EXT_M
: Standard Extension for Integer Multiplication and DivisionENABLE_EXT_A
: Standard Extension for Atomic InstructionsENABLE_EXT_C
: Standard Extension for Compressed Instructions (RV32C.D excluded)ENABLE_EXT_F
: Standard Extension for Single-Precision Floating Point InstructionsENABLE_Zicsr
: Control and Status Register (CSR)ENABLE_Zifencei
: Instruction-Fetch FenceENABLE_GDBSTUB
: GDB remote debugging supportENABLE_SDL
: Experimental Display and Event System CallsENABLE_JIT
: Experimental JIT compiler
e.g., run make ENABLE_EXT_F=0
for the build without floating-point support.
Alternatively, configure the above items in advance by executing make config
and
specifying them in a configuration file. Subsequently, run make
according to the provided
configurations. For example, employ the following commands:
$ make config ENABLE_SDL=0
$ make
RISCOF (RISC-V Compatibility Framework) is a Python based framework that facilitates testing of a RISC-V target against a golden reference model.
The RISC-V Architectural Tests, also known as riscv-arch-test, provide a fundamental set of tests that can be used to verify that the behavior of the RISC-V model aligns with RISC-V standards while executing specific applications. These tests are not meant to replace thorough design verification.
Reference signatures are generated by the formal RISC-V model RISC-V SAIL
in Executable and Linkable Format (ELF) files.
ELF files contain multiple testing instructions, data, and signatures, such as cadd-01.elf
.
The specific data locations that the testing model (this emulator) must write to during
the test are referred to as test signatures.
These test signatures are written upon completion of the test and are then compared to the reference signature.
Successful tests are indicated by matching signatures.
To install RISCOF:
$ python3 -m pip install git+https://github.com/riscv/riscof
RISC-V GNU Compiler Toolchain should be prepared in advance.
You can obtain prebuilt GNU toolchain for riscv32-elf
from the Automated Nightly Release.
Then, run the following command:
$ make arch-test
For macOS users, installing sdiff
might be required:
$ brew install diffutils
To run the tests for specific extension, set the environmental variable RISCV_DEVICE
to one of I
, M
, C
, Zifencei
, privilege
.
$ make arch-test RISCV_DEVICE=I
Current progress of this emulator in riscv-arch-test (RV32):
- Passed Tests
I
: Base Integer Instruction SetM
: Standard Extension for Integer Multiplication and DivisionC
: Standard Extension for Compressed InstructionZifencei
: Instruction-Fetch Fenceprivilege
: RISCV Privileged SpecificationF
Standard Extension for Single-Precision Floating-Point
Detail in riscv-arch-test:
- RISCOF document
- riscv-arch-test repository
- RISC-V Architectural Testing Framework
- RISC-V Architecture Test Format Specification
The benchmarks are classified into three categories based on their characteristics:
Category | Benchmark | Description |
---|---|---|
Computing intensive | puzzle | A sliding puzzle where numbered square tiles are arranged randomly with one tile missing, designed for solving the N-puzzle problem. |
Pi | Calculates the millionth digit of π. | |
miniz | Compresses and decompresses 8 MiB of data. | |
primes | Finds the largest prime number below 33333333. | |
sha512 | Computes the SHA-512 hash of 64 MiB of data. | |
I/O intensive | Richards | An OS task scheduler simulation benchmark for comparing system implementations. |
Dhrystone | Evaluates string operations, involves frequent memory I/O, and generates the performance metric. | |
Computing and I/O Hybrid | Mandelbrot | A benchmark based on the Mandelbrot set, which uses fixed-point arithmetic and involves numerous integer operations. |
AES | Includes 23 encryption and decryption algorithms adhering to the Advanced Encryption Standard. | |
Nqueens | A puzzle benchmark where n queens are placed on an n × n chessboard without attacking each other, using deep recursion for execution. | |
qsort | Sorts an array with 50 million items. |
These benchmarks performed by rv32emu (interpreter-only mode) and Spike v1.1.0. Ran on Intel Core i7-11700 CPU running at 2.5 GHz and an Ampere eMAG 8180 microprocessor equipped with 32 Arm64 cores, capable of speeds up to 3.3 GHz. Both systems ran Ubuntu Linux 22.04.1 LTS. We utilized gcc version 12.3, configured as riscv32-unknown-elf-gcc.
The figures below illustrate the normalized execution time of rv32emu and Spike, where the shorter indicates better performance.
Continuous benchmarking is integrated into GitHub Actions, allowing the committer and reviewer to examine the comment on benchmark comparisons between the pull request commit(s) and the latest commit on the master branch within the conversation. This comment is generated by the benchmark CI and provides an opportunity for discussion before merging.
The results of the benchmark will be rendered on a GitHub page. Check benchmark-action/github-action-benchmark for the reference of benchmark CI workflow.
There are several files that have the potential to significantly impact the performance of rv32emu
, including:
src/decode.c
src/rv32_template.c
src/emulate.c
As a result, any modifications made to these files will trigger the benchmark CI.
rv32emu
is permitted to operate as gdbstub in an experimental manner since it supports
a limited number of GDB Remote Serial Protocol (GDBRSP).
To enable this feature, you need to build the emulator and set ENABLE_GDBSTUB=1
when running the make
command.
After that, you might execute it using the command below.
$ build/rv32emu -g <binary>
The <binary>
should be the ELF file in RISC-V 32 bit format. Additionally, it is advised
that you compile programs with the -g
option in order to produce debug information in
your ELF files.
You can run riscv-gdb
if the emulator starts up correctly without an error. It takes two
GDB commands to connect to the emulator after giving GDB the supported architecture of the
emulator and any debugging symbols it may have.
$ riscv32-unknown-elf-gdb
(gdb) file <binary>
(gdb) target remote :1234
Congratulate yourself if riscv-gdb
does not produce an error message. Now that the GDB
command line is available, you can communicate with rv32emu
.
If the -d [filename]
option is provided, the emulator will output registers in JSON format.
This feature can be utilized for tests involving the emulator, such as compiler tests.
You can also combine this option with -q
to directly use the output.
For example, if you want to read the register x10 (a0), then run the following command:
$ build/rv32emu -d - -q out.elf | jq .x10
This is a static analysis tool for assessing the usage of RV32 instructions/registers in a given target program. Build this tool by running the following command:
$ make tool
After building, you can launch the tool using the following command:
$ build/rv_histogram [-ar] [target_program_path]
The tool includes two optional options:
-a
: output the analysis in ascending order(default is descending order)-r
: output usage of registers(default is usage of instructions)
Example Instructions Histogram
To install lolviz, use the following command:
$ pip install lolviz
For macOS users, it might be necessary to install additional dependencies:
$ brew install graphviz
Build the profiling data by executing rv32emu
.
This can be done as follows:
$ build/rv32emu -p build/[test_program].elf
To analyze the profiling data, use the rv_profiler
tool with the desired options:
$ tools/rv_profiler [--start-address|--stop-address|--graph-ir] [test_program]
See CONTRIBUTING.md for contribution guidelines.
rv32emu
is available under a permissive MIT-style license.
Use of this source code is governed by a MIT license that can be found in the LICENSE file.
In rv32emu
repository, there are some prebuilt ELF files for testing purpose.
aes.elf
: See tests/aes.ccaptcha.elf
: See tests/captcha.ccc.elf
: See tests/ccchacha20.elf
: See tests/chacha20coremark.elf
: See eembc/coremark [RV32M]dhrystone.elf
: See rv8-benchdonut.elf
: See donut.cdoom.elf
: See sysprog21/doom_riscv [RV32M]fcalc.elf
: See fcalc.chamilton.elf
: See hamilton.cieee754.elf
: See tests/ieee754.c [RV32F]jit-bf.elf
: See ezaki-k/xkon_betalena.elf
: See tests/lena.cline.elf
: See tests/line.c [RV32M]maj2random.elf
: See tests/maj2random.c [RV32F]mandelbrot.elf
: See tests/mandelbrot.cnqueens.elf
: See tests/nqueens.cnyancat.elf
: See tests/nyancat.cpi.elf
: See tests/pi.c [RV32M]qrcode.elf
: See tests/qrcode.cquake.elf
: See sysprog21/quake-embedded [RV32F]readelf.elf
: See tests/readelfrichards.elf
: See tests/richards.crvsim.elf
: See tests/rvsim.cscimark2.elf
: See tests/scimark2 [RV32MF]smolnes.elf
: See tests/smolnes [RV32M]spirograph.elf
: See tests/spirograph.cstream.elf
: See tests/stream [RV32MF]
- Writing a simple RISC-V emulator in plain C
- Writing a RISC-V Emulator in Rust
- Bare metal C on my RISC-V toy CPU
- Juraj's RISC-V note
- libriscv: RISC-V userspace emulator library
- GUI-VP: RISC-V based Virtual Prototype (VP) for graphical application development
- LupV: an education-friendly RISC-V based system emulator
- mini-rv32ima / video: Writing a Really Tiny RISC-V Emulator
- RVVM