OVERVIEW: This README file is for the SimpleScalar simulator release 3.0. This release is available from: http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~mscalar/simplescalar.html in the file simplesim-3.0.tar.gz. TO INSTALL: The following details how to build and install the SimpleScalar simulators: a) 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. b) 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 MS VC++ on Windows NT, first delete the symbolic link "tests/". c) make This builds the simplescalar simulators. d) 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. e) 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. 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.cs.wisc.edu/~mscalar/simplescalar.html 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 TBD... 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, join the SimpleScalar mailing list (simplescalar@cs.wisc.edu) by sending e-mail to majordomo@cs.wisc.edu, with the message body (not the subject header) containing "subscribe simplescalar". Also watch the SimpleScalar web page at: http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~mscalar/simplescalar.html And please send up your comments regarding this tool set, we are continually trying to improve it and we appreciate your input. Best Regards, Todd Austin (taustin@ichips.intel.com), Intel MicroComputer Research Labs Doug Burger (dburger@cs.wisc.edu), UW-Madison Computer Sciences Department