\input texinfo @c -*- texinfo -*-
-@settitle QEMU x86 Emulator Reference Documentation
+@iftex
+@settitle QEMU CPU Emulator Reference Documentation
@titlepage
@sp 7
-@center @titlefont{QEMU x86 Emulator Reference Documentation}
+@center @titlefont{QEMU CPU Emulator Reference Documentation}
@sp 3
@end titlepage
+@end iftex
@chapter Introduction
-QEMU is an x86 processor emulator. Its purpose is to run x86 Linux
-processes on non-x86 Linux architectures such as PowerPC or ARM. By
-using dynamic translation it achieves a reasonnable speed while being
-easy to port on new host CPUs. Its main goal is to be able to launch the
-@code{Wine} Windows API emulator (@url{http://www.winehq.org}) on
-non-x86 CPUs.
+@section Features
-QEMU features:
+QEMU is a FAST! processor emulator. By using dynamic translation it
+achieves a reasonnable speed while being easy to port on new host
+CPUs.
-@itemize
+QEMU has two operating modes:
+
+@itemize @minus
+
+@item
+User mode emulation. In this mode, QEMU can launch Linux processes
+compiled for one CPU on another CPU. Linux system calls are converted
+because of endianness and 32/64 bit mismatches. The Wine Windows API
+emulator (@url{http://www.winehq.org}) and the DOSEMU DOS emulator
+(@url{www.dosemu.org}) are the main targets for QEMU.
+
+@item
+Full system emulation. In this mode, QEMU emulates a full
+system, including a processor and various peripherials. Currently, it
+is only used to launch an x86 Linux kernel on an x86 Linux system. It
+enables easier testing and debugging of system code. It can also be
+used to provide virtual hosting of several virtual PCs on a single
+server.
+
+@end itemize
+
+As QEMU requires no host kernel patches to run, it is very safe and
+easy to use.
-@item User space only x86 emulator.
+QEMU generic features:
-@item Currently ported on i386, PowerPC and S390.
+@itemize
+
+@item User space only or full system emulation.
@item Using dynamic translation to native code for reasonnable speed.
-@item The virtual x86 CPU supports 16 bit and 32 bit addressing with segmentation.
-User space LDT and GDT are emulated. VM86 mode is also supported
-(experimental).
+@item Working on x86 and PowerPC hosts. Being tested on ARM, Sparc32, Alpha and S390.
+
+@item Self-modifying code support.
+
+@item Precise exceptions support.
+
+@item The virtual CPU is a library (@code{libqemu}) which can be used
+in other projects.
+@end itemize
+
+QEMU user mode emulation features:
+@itemize
@item Generic Linux system call converter, including most ioctls.
@item clone() emulation using native CPU clone() to use Linux scheduler for threads.
-@item Accurate signal handling by remapping host signals to virtual x86 signals.
+@item Accurate signal handling by remapping host signals to target signals.
+@end itemize
+@end itemize
-@item QEMU can emulate itself on x86 (experimental).
+QEMU full system emulation features:
+@itemize
+@item Using mmap() system calls to simulate the MMU
+@end itemize
-@item The virtual x86 CPU is a library (@code{libqemu}) which can be used
-in other projects.
+@section x86 emulation
+
+QEMU x86 target features:
+
+@itemize
+
+@item The virtual x86 CPU supports 16 bit and 32 bit addressing with segmentation.
+LDT/GDT and IDT are emulated. VM86 mode is also supported to run DOSEMU.
+
+@item Support of host page sizes bigger than 4KB in user mode emulation.
+
+@item QEMU can emulate itself on x86.
@item An extensive Linux x86 CPU test program is included @file{tests/test-i386}.
It can be used to test other x86 virtual CPUs.
@end itemize
-Current QEMU Limitations:
+Current QEMU limitations:
@itemize
-@item Not all x86 exceptions are precise (yet). [Very few programs need that].
-
-@item No support for self-modifying code (yet). [Very few programs need that, a notable exception is QEMU itself !].
-
@item No SSE/MMX support (yet).
@item No x86-64 support.
-@item Some Linux syscalls are missing.
+@item IPC syscalls are missing.
@item The x86 segment limits and access rights are not tested at every
-memory access (and will never be to have good performances).
+memory access.
@item On non x86 host CPUs, @code{double}s are used instead of the non standard
10 byte @code{long double}s of x86 for floating point emulation to get
maximum performances.
+@item Full system emulation only works if no data are mapped above the virtual address
+0xc0000000 (yet).
+
+@item Some priviledged instructions or behaviors are missing. Only the ones
+needed for proper Linux kernel operation are emulated.
+
+@item No memory separation between the kernel and the user processes is done.
+It will be implemented very soon.
+
@end itemize
-@chapter Invocation
+@section ARM emulation
+
+@itemize
+
+@item ARM emulation can currently launch small programs while using the
+generic dynamic code generation architecture of QEMU.
+
+@item No FPU support (yet).
+
+@item No automatic regression testing (yet).
+
+@end itemize
+
+@section SPARC emulation
+
+The SPARC emulation is currently in development.
+
+@chapter QEMU User space emulator invocation
@section Quick Start
+If you need to compile QEMU, please read the @file{README} which gives
+the related information.
+
In order to launch a Linux process, QEMU needs the process executable
itself and all the target (x86) dynamic libraries used by it.
libraries:
@example
-qemu -L / /bin/ls
+qemu-i386 -L / /bin/ls
@end example
@code{-L /} tells that the x86 dynamic linker must be searched with a
@item Since QEMU is also a linux process, you can launch qemu with qemu:
@example
-qemu -L / qemu -L / /bin/ls
+qemu-i386 -L / qemu-i386 -L / /bin/ls
@end example
@item On non x86 CPUs, you need first to download at least an x86 glibc
Then you can launch the precompiled @file{ls} x86 executable:
@example
-qemu /usr/local/qemu-i386/bin/ls-i386
+qemu-i386 /usr/local/qemu-i386/bin/ls-i386
@end example
You can look at @file{/usr/local/qemu-i386/bin/qemu-conf.sh} so that
QEMU is automatically launched by the Linux kernel when you try to
@item The x86 version of QEMU is also included. You can try weird things such as:
@example
-qemu /usr/local/qemu-i386/bin/qemu-i386 /usr/local/qemu-i386/bin/ls-i386
+qemu-i386 /usr/local/qemu-i386/bin/qemu-i386 /usr/local/qemu-i386/bin/ls-i386
@end example
@end itemize
-@section Wine launch (Currently only tested when emulating x86 on x86)
+@section Wine launch
@itemize
able to do:
@example
-qemu /usr/local/qemu-i386/bin/ls-i386
+qemu-i386 /usr/local/qemu-i386/bin/ls-i386
@end example
@item Download the binary x86 Wine install
@item Then you can try the example @file{putty.exe}:
@example
-qemu /usr/local/qemu-i386/wine/bin/wine /usr/local/qemu-i386/wine/c/Program\ Files/putty.exe
+qemu-i386 /usr/local/qemu-i386/wine/bin/wine /usr/local/qemu-i386/wine/c/Program\ Files/putty.exe
@end example
@end itemize
@section Command line options
@example
-usage: qemu [-h] [-d] [-L path] [-s size] program [arguments...]
+usage: qemu-i386 [-h] [-d] [-L path] [-s size] program [arguments...]
@end example
-@table @samp
+@table @option
@item -h
Print the help
-@item -d
-Activate log (logfile=/tmp/qemu.log)
@item -L path
Set the x86 elf interpreter prefix (default=/usr/local/qemu-i386)
@item -s size
Set the x86 stack size in bytes (default=524288)
@end table
+Debug options:
+
+@table @option
+@item -d
+Activate log (logfile=/tmp/qemu.log)
+@item -p pagesize
+Act as if the host page size was 'pagesize' bytes
+@end table
+
+@chapter QEMU System emulator invocation
+
+@section Introduction
+
+@c man begin DESCRIPTION
+
+The QEMU System emulator simulates a complete PC. It can either boot
+directly a Linux kernel (without any BIOS or boot loader) or boot like a
+real PC with the included BIOS.
+
+In order to meet specific user needs, two versions of QEMU are
+available:
+
+@enumerate
+
+@item
+@code{qemu} uses the host Memory Management Unit (MMU) to simulate
+the x86 MMU. It is @emph{fast} but has limitations because the whole 4 GB
+address space cannot be used and some memory mapped peripherials
+cannot be emulated accurately yet. Therefore, a specific Linux kernel
+must be used (@xref{linux_compile}).
+
+@item
+@code{qemu-softmmu} uses a software MMU. It is about @emph{two times
+slower} but gives a more accurate emulation. (XXX: Linux cannot be ran
+unpatched yet).
+
+@end enumerate
+
+QEMU emulates the following PC peripherials:
+
+@itemize @minus
+@item
+VGA (hardware level, including all non standard modes)
+@item
+PS/2 mouse and keyboard
+@item
+IDE disk interface (port=0x1f0, irq=14)
+@item
+NE2000 network adapter (port=0x300, irq=9)
+@item
+Serial port (port=0x3f8, irq=4)
+@item
+PIC (interrupt controler)
+@item
+PIT (timers)
+@item
+CMOS memory
+@end itemize
+
+@c man end
+
+@section Quick Start
+
+Download the linux image (@file{linux.img}) and type:
+
+@example
+qemu-softmmu linux.img
+@end example
+
+Linux should boot and give you a prompt.
+
+@section Direct Linux Boot and Network emulation
+
+This section explains how to launch a Linux kernel inside QEMU without
+having to make a full bootable image. It is very useful for fast Linux
+kernel testing. The QEMU network configuration is also explained.
+
+@enumerate
+@item
+Download the archive @file{linux-test-xxx.tar.gz} containing a Linux
+kernel and a disk image.
+
+@item Optional: If you want network support (for example to launch X11 examples), you
+must copy the script @file{qemu-ifup} in @file{/etc} and configure
+properly @code{sudo} so that the command @code{ifconfig} contained in
+@file{qemu-ifup} can be executed as root. You must verify that your host
+kernel supports the TUN/TAP network interfaces: the device
+@file{/dev/net/tun} must be present.
+
+When network is enabled, there is a virtual network connection between
+the host kernel and the emulated kernel. The emulated kernel is seen
+from the host kernel at IP address 172.20.0.2 and the host kernel is
+seen from the emulated kernel at IP address 172.20.0.1.
+
+@item Launch @code{qemu.sh}. You should have the following output:
+
+@example
+> ./qemu.sh
+connected to host network interface: tun0
+Uncompressing Linux... Ok, booting the kernel.
+Linux version 2.4.20 (fabrice@localhost.localdomain) (gcc version 2.96 20000731 (Red Hat Linux 7.3 2.96-110)) #22 lun jui 7 13:37:41 CEST 2003
+BIOS-provided physical RAM map:
+ BIOS-e801: 0000000000000000 - 000000000009f000 (usable)
+ BIOS-e801: 0000000000100000 - 0000000002000000 (usable)
+32MB LOWMEM available.
+On node 0 totalpages: 8192
+zone(0): 4096 pages.
+zone(1): 4096 pages.
+zone(2): 0 pages.
+Kernel command line: root=/dev/hda ide1=noprobe ide2=noprobe ide3=noprobe ide4=noprobe ide5=noprobe
+ide_setup: ide1=noprobe
+ide_setup: ide2=noprobe
+ide_setup: ide3=noprobe
+ide_setup: ide4=noprobe
+ide_setup: ide5=noprobe
+Initializing CPU#0
+Detected 501.285 MHz processor.
+Calibrating delay loop... 989.59 BogoMIPS
+Memory: 29268k/32768k available (907k kernel code, 3112k reserved, 212k data, 52k init, 0k highmem)
+Dentry cache hash table entries: 4096 (order: 3, 32768 bytes)
+Inode cache hash table entries: 2048 (order: 2, 16384 bytes)
+Mount-cache hash table entries: 512 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
+Buffer-cache hash table entries: 1024 (order: 0, 4096 bytes)
+Page-cache hash table entries: 8192 (order: 3, 32768 bytes)
+CPU: Intel Pentium Pro stepping 03
+Checking 'hlt' instruction... OK.
+POSIX conformance testing by UNIFIX
+Linux NET4.0 for Linux 2.4
+Based upon Swansea University Computer Society NET3.039
+Initializing RT netlink socket
+apm: BIOS not found.
+Starting kswapd
+Journalled Block Device driver loaded
+pty: 256 Unix98 ptys configured
+Serial driver version 5.05c (2001-07-08) with no serial options enabled
+ttyS00 at 0x03f8 (irq = 4) is a 16450
+Uniform Multi-Platform E-IDE driver Revision: 6.31
+ide: Assuming 50MHz system bus speed for PIO modes; override with idebus=xx
+hda: QEMU HARDDISK, ATA DISK drive
+ide0 at 0x1f0-0x1f7,0x3f6 on irq 14
+hda: 12288 sectors (6 MB) w/256KiB Cache, CHS=12/16/63
+Partition check:
+ hda: unknown partition table
+ne.c:v1.10 9/23/94 Donald Becker (becker@scyld.com)
+Last modified Nov 1, 2000 by Paul Gortmaker
+NE*000 ethercard probe at 0x300: 52 54 00 12 34 56
+eth0: NE2000 found at 0x300, using IRQ 9.
+RAMDISK driver initialized: 16 RAM disks of 4096K size 1024 blocksize
+NET4: Linux TCP/IP 1.0 for NET4.0
+IP Protocols: ICMP, UDP, TCP, IGMP
+IP: routing cache hash table of 512 buckets, 4Kbytes
+TCP: Hash tables configured (established 2048 bind 4096)
+NET4: Unix domain sockets 1.0/SMP for Linux NET4.0.
+EXT2-fs warning: mounting unchecked fs, running e2fsck is recommended
+VFS: Mounted root (ext2 filesystem).
+Freeing unused kernel memory: 52k freed
+sh: can't access tty; job control turned off
+#
+@end example
+
+@item
+Then you can play with the kernel inside the virtual serial console. You
+can launch @code{ls} for example. Type @key{Ctrl-a h} to have an help
+about the keys you can type inside the virtual serial console. In
+particular, use @key{Ctrl-a x} to exit QEMU and use @key{Ctrl-a b} as
+the Magic SysRq key.
+
+@item
+If the network is enabled, launch the script @file{/etc/linuxrc} in the
+emulator (don't forget the leading dot):
+@example
+. /etc/linuxrc
+@end example
+
+Then enable X11 connections on your PC from the emulated Linux:
+@example
+xhost +172.20.0.2
+@end example
+
+You can now launch @file{xterm} or @file{xlogo} and verify that you have
+a real Virtual Linux system !
+
+@end enumerate
+
+NOTES:
+@enumerate
+@item
+A 2.5.74 kernel is also included in the archive. Just
+replace the bzImage in qemu.sh to try it.
+
+@item
+vl creates a temporary file in @var{$QEMU_TMPDIR} (@file{/tmp} is the
+default) containing all the simulated PC memory. If possible, try to use
+a temporary directory using the tmpfs filesystem to avoid too many
+unnecessary disk accesses.
+
+@item
+In order to exit cleanly for vl, you can do a @emph{shutdown} inside
+vl. vl will automatically exit when the Linux shutdown is done.
+
+@item
+You can boot slightly faster by disabling the probe of non present IDE
+interfaces. To do so, add the following options on the kernel command
+line:
+@example
+ide1=noprobe ide2=noprobe ide3=noprobe ide4=noprobe ide5=noprobe
+@end example
+
+@item
+The example disk image is a modified version of the one made by Kevin
+Lawton for the plex86 Project (@url{www.plex86.org}).
+
+@end enumerate
+
+@section Invocation
+
+@example
+@c man begin SYNOPSIS
+usage: qemu [options] [disk_image]
+@c man end
+@end example
+
+@c man begin OPTIONS
+@var{disk_image} is a raw hard image image for IDE hard disk 0.
+
+General options:
+@table @option
+@item -hda file
+@item -hdb file
+Use @var{file} as hard disk 0 or 1 image (@xref{disk_images}).
+
+@item -snapshot
+
+Write to temporary files instead of disk image files. In this case,
+the raw disk image you use is not written back. You can however force
+the write back by pressing @key{C-a s} (@xref{disk_images}).
+
+@item -m megs
+Set virtual RAM size to @var{megs} megabytes.
+
+@item -n script
+Set network init script [default=/etc/vl-ifup]. This script is
+launched to configure the host network interface (usually tun0)
+corresponding to the virtual NE2000 card.
+
+@item -initrd file
+Use @var{file} as initial ram disk.
+
+@item -tun-fd fd
+Assumes @var{fd} talks to tap/tun and use it. Read
+@url{http://bellard.org/qemu/tetrinet.html} to have an example of its
+use.
+
+@item -nographic
+
+Normally, QEMU uses SDL to display the VGA output. With this option,
+you can totally disable graphical output so that QEMU is a simple
+command line application. The emulated serial port is redirected on
+the console. Therefore, you can still use QEMU to debug a Linux kernel
+with a serial console.
+
+@end table
+
+Linux boot specific (does not require a full PC boot with a BIOS):
+@table @option
+
+@item -kernel bzImage
+Use @var{bzImage} as kernel image.
+
+@item -append cmdline
+Use @var{cmdline} as kernel command line
+
+@item -initrd file
+Use @var{file} as initial ram disk.
+
+@end table
+
+Debug options:
+@table @option
+@item -s
+Wait gdb connection to port 1234 (@xref{gdb_usage}).
+@item -p port
+Change gdb connection port.
+@item -d
+Output log in /tmp/vl.log
+@end table
+
+During emulation, use @key{C-a h} to get terminal commands:
+
+@table @key
+@item C-a h
+Print this help
+@item C-a x
+Exit emulatior
+@item C-a s
+Save disk data back to file (if -snapshot)
+@item C-a b
+Send break (magic sysrq)
+@item C-a C-a
+Send C-a
+@end table
+@c man end
+
+@ignore
+
+@setfilename qemu
+@settitle QEMU System Emulator
+
+@c man begin SEEALSO
+The HTML documentation of QEMU for more precise information and Linux
+user mode emulator invocation.
+@c man end
+
+@c man begin AUTHOR
+Fabrice Bellard
+@c man end
+
+@end ignore
+
+@end ignore
+@node disk_images
+@section Disk Images
+
+@subsection Raw disk images
+
+The disk images can simply be raw images of the hard disk. You can
+create them with the command:
+@example
+dd if=/dev/zero of=myimage bs=1024 count=mysize
+@end example
+where @var{myimage} is the image filename and @var{mysize} is its size
+in kilobytes.
+
+@subsection Snapshot mode
+
+If you use the option @option{-snapshot}, all disk images are
+considered as read only. When sectors in written, they are written in
+a temporary file created in @file{/tmp}. You can however force the
+write back to the raw disk images by pressing @key{C-a s}.
+
+NOTE: The snapshot mode only works with raw disk images.
+
+@subsection Copy On Write disk images
+
+QEMU also supports user mode Linux
+(@url{http://user-mode-linux.sourceforge.net/}) Copy On Write (COW)
+disk images. The COW disk images are much smaller than normal images
+as they store only modified sectors. They also permit the use of the
+same disk image template for many users.
+
+To create a COW disk images, use the command:
+
+@example
+qemu-mkcow -f myrawimage.bin mycowimage.cow
+@end example
+
+@file{myrawimage.bin} is a raw image you want to use as original disk
+image. It will never be written to.
+
+@file{mycowimage.cow} is the COW disk image which is created by
+@code{qemu-mkcow}. You can use it directly with the @option{-hdx}
+options. You must not modify the original raw disk image if you use
+COW images, as COW images only store the modified sectors from the raw
+disk image. QEMU stores the original raw disk image name and its
+modified time in the COW disk image so that chances of mistakes are
+reduced.
+
+If the raw disk image is not read-only, by pressing @key{C-a s} you
+can flush the COW disk image back into the raw disk image, as in
+snapshot mode.
+
+COW disk images can also be created without a corresponding raw disk
+image. It is useful to have a big initial virtual disk image without
+using much disk space. Use:
+
+@example
+qemu-mkcow mycowimage.cow 1024
+@end example
+
+to create a 1 gigabyte empty COW disk image.
+
+NOTES:
+@enumerate
+@item
+COW disk images must be created on file systems supporting
+@emph{holes} such as ext2 or ext3.
+@item
+Since holes are used, the displayed size of the COW disk image is not
+the real one. To know it, use the @code{ls -ls} command.
+@end enumerate
+
+@node linux_compile
+@section Linux Kernel Compilation
+
+You should be able to use any kernel with QEMU provided you make the
+following changes (only 2.4.x and 2.5.x were tested):
+
+@enumerate
+@item
+The kernel must be mapped at 0x90000000 (the default is
+0xc0000000). You must modify only two lines in the kernel source:
+
+In @file{include/asm/page.h}, replace
+@example
+#define __PAGE_OFFSET (0xc0000000)
+@end example
+by
+@example
+#define __PAGE_OFFSET (0x90000000)
+@end example
+
+And in @file{arch/i386/vmlinux.lds}, replace
+@example
+ . = 0xc0000000 + 0x100000;
+@end example
+by
+@example
+ . = 0x90000000 + 0x100000;
+@end example
+
+@item
+If you want to enable SMP (Symmetric Multi-Processing) support, you
+must make the following change in @file{include/asm/fixmap.h}. Replace
+@example
+#define FIXADDR_TOP (0xffffX000UL)
+@end example
+by
+@example
+#define FIXADDR_TOP (0xa7ffX000UL)
+@end example
+(X is 'e' or 'f' depending on the kernel version). Although you can
+use an SMP kernel with QEMU, it only supports one CPU.
+
+@item
+If you are not using a 2.5 kernel as host kernel but if you use a target
+2.5 kernel, you must also ensure that the 'HZ' define is set to 100
+(1000 is the default) as QEMU cannot currently emulate timers at
+frequencies greater than 100 Hz on host Linux systems < 2.5. In
+@file{include/asm/param.h}, replace:
+
+@example
+# define HZ 1000 /* Internal kernel timer frequency */
+@end example
+by
+@example
+# define HZ 100 /* Internal kernel timer frequency */
+@end example
+
+@end enumerate
+
+The file config-2.x.x gives the configuration of the example kernels.
+
+Just type
+@example
+make bzImage
+@end example
+
+As you would do to make a real kernel. Then you can use with QEMU
+exactly the same kernel as you would boot on your PC (in
+@file{arch/i386/boot/bzImage}).
+
+@node gdb_usage
+@section GDB usage
+
+QEMU has a primitive support to work with gdb, so that you can do
+'Ctrl-C' while the virtual machine is running and inspect its state.
+
+In order to use gdb, launch vl with the '-s' option. It will wait for a
+gdb connection:
+@example
+> vl -s arch/i386/boot/bzImage -hda root-2.4.20.img root=/dev/hda
+Connected to host network interface: tun0
+Waiting gdb connection on port 1234
+@end example
+
+Then launch gdb on the 'vmlinux' executable:
+@example
+> gdb vmlinux
+@end example
+
+In gdb, connect to QEMU:
+@example
+(gdb) target remote locahost:1234
+@end example
+
+Then you can use gdb normally. For example, type 'c' to launch the kernel:
+@example
+(gdb) c
+@end example
+
+WARNING: breakpoints and single stepping are not yet supported.
+
+Here are some useful tips in order to use gdb on system code:
+
+@enumerate
+@item
+Use @code{info reg} to display all the CPU registers.
+@item
+Use @code{x/10i $eip} to display the code at the PC position.
+@item
+Use @code{set architecture i8086} to dump 16 bit code. Then use
+@code{x/10i $cs*16+*eip} to dump the code at the PC position.
+@end enumerate
+
@chapter QEMU Internals
@section QEMU compared to other emulators
-Unlike bochs [3], QEMU emulates only a user space x86 CPU. It means that
-you cannot launch an operating system with it. The benefit is that it is
-simpler and faster due to the fact that some of the low level CPU state
-can be ignored (in particular, no virtual memory needs to be emulated).
+Like bochs [3], QEMU emulates an x86 CPU. But QEMU is much faster than
+bochs as it uses dynamic compilation and because it uses the host MMU to
+simulate the x86 MMU. The downside is that currently the emulation is
+not as accurate as bochs (for example, you cannot currently run Windows
+inside QEMU).
Like Valgrind [2], QEMU does user space emulation and dynamic
translation. Valgrind is mainly a memory debugger while QEMU has no
-support for it (QEMU could be used to detect out of bound memory accesses
-as Valgrind, but it has no support to track uninitialised data as
-Valgrind does). Valgrind dynamic translator generates better code than
-QEMU (in particular it does register allocation) but it is closely tied
-to an x86 host.
-
-EM86 [4] is the closest project to QEMU (and QEMU still uses some of its
-code, in particular the ELF file loader). EM86 was limited to an alpha
-host and used a proprietary and slow interpreter (the interpreter part
-of the FX!32 Digital Win32 code translator [5]).
+support for it (QEMU could be used to detect out of bound memory
+accesses as Valgrind, but it has no support to track uninitialised data
+as Valgrind does). The Valgrind dynamic translator generates better code
+than QEMU (in particular it does register allocation) but it is closely
+tied to an x86 host and target and has no support for precise exceptions
+and system emulation.
+
+EM86 [4] is the closest project to user space QEMU (and QEMU still uses
+some of its code, in particular the ELF file loader). EM86 was limited
+to an alpha host and used a proprietary and slow interpreter (the
+interpreter part of the FX!32 Digital Win32 code translator [5]).
TWIN [6] is a Windows API emulator like Wine. It is less accurate than
Wine but includes a protected mode x86 interpreter to launch x86 Windows
because all the data structures and function parameters exchanged
between the API and the x86 code must be converted.
+User mode Linux [7] was the only solution before QEMU to launch a Linux
+kernel as a process while not needing any host kernel patches. However,
+user mode Linux requires heavy kernel patches while QEMU accepts
+unpatched Linux kernels. It would be interesting to compare the
+performance of the two approaches.
+
+The new Plex86 [8] PC virtualizer is done in the same spirit as the QEMU
+system emulator. It requires a patched Linux kernel to work (you cannot
+launch the same kernel on your PC), but the patches are really small. As
+it is a PC virtualizer (no emulation is done except for some priveledged
+instructions), it has the potential of being faster than QEMU. The
+downside is that a complicated (and potentially unsafe) host kernel
+patch is needed.
+
@section Portable dynamic translation
QEMU is a dynamic translator. When it first encounters a piece of code,
it converts it to the host instruction set. Usually dynamic translators
-are very complicated and highly CPU dependant. QEMU uses some tricks
+are very complicated and highly CPU dependent. QEMU uses some tricks
which make it relatively easily portable and simple while achieving good
performances.
terminated by a jump or by a virtual CPU state change which the
translator cannot deduce statically).
-[Currently, the translated code is not patched if it jumps to another
-translated code].
+@section Direct block chaining
+
+After each translated basic block is executed, QEMU uses the simulated
+Program Counter (PC) and other cpu state informations (such as the CS
+segment base value) to find the next basic block.
+
+In order to accelerate the most common cases where the new simulated PC
+is known, QEMU can patch a basic block so that it jumps directly to the
+next one.
+
+The most portable code uses an indirect jump. An indirect jump makes it
+easier to make the jump target modification atomic. On some
+architectures (such as PowerPC), the @code{JUMP} opcode is directly
+patched so that the block chaining has no overhead.
+
+@section Self-modifying code and translated code invalidation
+
+Self-modifying code is a special challenge in x86 emulation because no
+instruction cache invalidation is signaled by the application when code
+is modified.
+
+When translated code is generated for a basic block, the corresponding
+host page is write protected if it is not already read-only (with the
+system call @code{mprotect()}). Then, if a write access is done to the
+page, Linux raises a SEGV signal. QEMU then invalidates all the
+translated code in the page and enables write accesses to the page.
+
+Correct translated code invalidation is done efficiently by maintaining
+a linked list of every translated block contained in a given page. Other
+linked lists are also maintained to undo direct block chaining.
+
+Although the overhead of doing @code{mprotect()} calls is important,
+most MSDOS programs can be emulated at reasonnable speed with QEMU and
+DOSEMU.
+
+Note that QEMU also invalidates pages of translated code when it detects
+that memory mappings are modified with @code{mmap()} or @code{munmap()}.
@section Exception support
longjmp() is used when an exception such as division by zero is
-encountered. The host SIGSEGV and SIGBUS signal handlers are used to get
-invalid memory accesses.
+encountered.
+
+The host SIGSEGV and SIGBUS signal handlers are used to get invalid
+memory accesses. The exact CPU state can be retrieved because all the
+x86 registers are stored in fixed host registers. The simulated program
+counter is found by retranslating the corresponding basic block and by
+looking where the host program counter was at the exception point.
-[Currently, the virtual CPU cannot retrieve the exact CPU state in some
-exceptions, although it could except for the @code{EFLAGS} register].
+The virtual CPU cannot retrieve the exact @code{EFLAGS} register because
+in some cases it is not computed because of condition code
+optimisations. It is not a big concern because the emulated code can
+still be restarted in any cases.
@section Linux system call translation
endianness and 32/64 bit issues. The IOCTLs are converted with a generic
type description system (see @file{ioctls.h} and @file{thunk.c}).
+QEMU supports host CPUs which have pages bigger than 4KB. It records all
+the mappings the process does and try to emulated the @code{mmap()}
+system calls in cases where the host @code{mmap()} call would fail
+because of bad page alignment.
+
@section Linux signals
Normal and real-time signals are queued along with their information
The virtual x86 CPU atomic operations are emulated with a global lock so
that their semantic is preserved.
+Note that currently there are still some locking issues in QEMU. In
+particular, the translated cache flush is not protected yet against
+reentrancy.
+
@section Self-virtualization
-QEMU was conceived so that ultimately it can emulate itself. Althought
+QEMU was conceived so that ultimately it can emulate itself. Although
it is not very useful, it is an important test to show the power of the
emulator.
Achieving self-virtualization is not easy because there may be address
-space conflicts. QEMU solves this problem by being an ELF shared object
-as the ld-linux.so ELF interpreter. That way, it can be relocated at
-load time.
+space conflicts. QEMU solves this problem by being an executable ELF
+shared object as the ld-linux.so ELF interpreter. That way, it can be
+relocated at load time.
+
+@section MMU emulation
-Since self-modifying code is not supported yet, QEMU cannot self
-virtualize itself in case of translation cache flush. This limitation
-will be suppressed soon.
+For system emulation, QEMU uses the mmap() system call to emulate the
+target CPU MMU. It works as long the emulated OS does not use an area
+reserved by the host OS (such as the area above 0xc0000000 on x86
+Linux).
+
+It is planned to add a slower but more precise MMU emulation
+with a software MMU.
@section Bibliography
@url{http://www.willows.com/}, Windows API library emulation from
Willows Software.
+@item [7]
+@url{http://user-mode-linux.sourceforge.net/},
+The User-mode Linux Kernel.
+
+@item [8]
+@url{http://www.plex86.org/},
+The new Plex86 project.
+
@end table
@chapter Regression Tests
-In the directory @file{tests/}, various interesting x86 testing programs
+In the directory @file{tests/}, various interesting testing programs
are available. There are used for regression testing.
-@section @file{hello}
+@section @file{hello-i386}
Very simple statically linked x86 program, just to test QEMU during a
port to a new host CPU.
+@section @file{hello-arm}
+
+Very simple statically linked ARM program, just to test QEMU during a
+port to a new host CPU.
+
@section @file{test-i386}
This program executes most of the 16 bit and 32 bit x86 instructions and
The Linux system call @code{modify_ldt()} is used to create x86 selectors
to test some 16 bit addressing and 32 bit with segmentation cases.
-@section @file{testsig}
-
-This program tests various signal cases, including SIGFPE, SIGSEGV and
-SIGILL.
-
-@section @file{testclone}
+The Linux system call @code{vm86()} is used to test vm86 emulation.
-Tests the @code{clone()} system call (basic test).
-
-@section @file{testthread}
-
-Tests the glibc threads (more complicated than @code{clone()} because signals
-are also used).
+Various exceptions are raised to test most of the x86 user space
+exception reporting.
@section @file{sha1}
because it mostly tests the ability of the virtual CPU to optimize the
@code{rol} x86 instruction and the condition code computations.
-@section @file{runcom}
-
-A very simple MSDOS emulator to test the Linux vm86() system call
-emulation. The excellent 54 byte @file{pi_10.com} PI number calculator
-can be launched with it. @file{pi_10.com} was written by Bertram
-Felgenhauer (more information at @url{http://www.boo.net/~jasonp/pipage.html}).
projects / qemu.git / blobdiff