I want to re-compile the basic extension (e.g., instrumentation-tracer-tool) from its source code in Simics 6.0.185. After installing with ispm packages, I can see a Makefile in the instrumentation-tracer-tool directory that references $(MODULE_MAKEFILE). However, I’m unsure how to use it properly because there is no standalone packageinfo for it, and it’s part of the larger Simics-Base package. Simply re-running create-modcache or create-package after changing the source code does not seem to update instrumentation-tracer-tool.so.
My environment: Ubuntu 20.04, Intel I9-12900K.
~/intel-simics-package-manager-1.8.3$ ./ispm packages --install-bundle ../simics-6-packages-2024-05-linux64.ispm --install-dir /home/noyce20/8tb_ssd/intel-simics-package-manager-1.8.3/ --non-interactive --trust-unsigned-packages --trust-insecure-packages
This creates the following directory structure:
~/intel-simics-package-manager-1.8.3/simics-6.0.185 **<dir structures (simplified)>**
.
├── bin
│ ├── create-modcache #modcache generator
│ ├── create-packages #ispm generator
│ ├── simics #simics binary
...
├── cmake
├── config
├── linux64
│ ├── bin
│ ├── lib
│ │ ├── instrumentation-tracer-tool.so #**Compiled inst.-tracer-tool.**
...
├── packageinfo #consumed by ./bin/create-modcache or create-package
│ └── Simics-Base-linux64 #base package includes 'inst.-tracer-tool'
...
├── src
│ ├── extensions
│ │ ├── instrumentation-tracer-tool #**source code of 'inst. tracer tool'**
│ │ │ ├── instrumentation-tracer-tool.c
│ │ │ ├── instrumentation-tracer-tool.h
│ │ │ ├── Makefile
│ │ │ ├── connection.c # I slightly changed the print format (only a few character changes) in connection.c
...
│ │ │ ├── connection.h
│ │ │ ├── simics_start.py
│ │ │ ├── module_load.py
cat ~/intel-simics-package-manager-1.8.3/simics-6.0.185/src/extensions/instrumentation-tracer-tool/Makefile
# -*- Makefile -*-
# © 2016 Intel Corporation
#
# This software and the related documents are Intel copyrighted materials, and
# your use of them is governed by the express license under which they were
# provided to you ("License"). Unless the License provides otherwise, you may
# not use, modify, copy, publish, distribute, disclose or transmit this software
# or the related documents without Intel's prior written permission.
#
# This software and the related documents are provided as is, with no express or
# implied warranties, other than those that are expressly stated in the License.
# Simics module makefile
PYTHON_FILES = module_load.py simics_start.py
MODULE_CLASSES = tracer_tool tracer_tool_connection
SRC_FILES += instrumentation-tracer-tool.c connection.c
SIMICS_API := latest
THREAD_SAFE = yes
include $(MODULE_MAKEFILE)
I dont know how to use this makefile...
I don’t know how to use this makefile, especially the MODULE_MAKEFILE. also according to simics documents, it seems it is encourage to use bin/create-modcache or bin/create-package. Because ‘instrumentation-tracer-tool’ is a submodule of the basic tool (Simics-Base-linux64), it doesn’t have a separate packageinfo file…
Furthermore, running create-modcache/create-package for this Simics-Base-linux tool after updating the source code of ‘instrumentation-tracer-tool’ doesn’t trigger an update of linux64/lib/instrumentation-tracer-tool.so.
So for the second trial, I manually compiled the instrumentation-tracer-tool.so and copied it to linux64/lib: :
~/intel-simics-package-manager-1.8.3/simics-6.0.185/src/extensions/instrumentation-tracer-tool$ gcc -shared -fPIC instrumentation-tracer-tool.c connection.c -o instrumentation-tracer-tool.so -I/home/my_name/intel-simics-package-manager-1.8.3/simics-6.0.185/src/include -L/home/my_name/intel-simics-package-manager-1.8.3/simics-6.0.185/linux64/bin -lsimics-common -lvtutils -Wl,-z,now
However, after this, Simics displays the following error:
~/intel-simics-package-manager-1.8.3/simics-6.0.185$ ./bin/simics
Intel Simics 6 (build 6275 linux64) © 2025 Intel Corporation
Use of this software is subject to appropriate license.
Type 'copyright' for details on copyright and 'help' for on-line documentation.
simics> load-module instrumentation-tracer-tool
Unexpected error when loading module 'instrumentation-tracer-tool'
I want to re-compile the basic extension (e.g., instrumentation-tracer-tool) from its source code in Simics 6.0.185.
Question:
What is the proper way to re-compile an extension instrumentation-tracer-tool within the Simics environment so that Simics recognizes and loads the updated .so without error?
Here is a session that demonstrates how to create an own version of instrumentation-tracer-tool:
$ .../INSTALL_DIR/simics-6.0.183/bin/project-setup ~/simics_project_dir # create a project directory in ~/simics_project_dir (Simics simulator uses project directories)
Project created successfully
$ cd ~/simics_project_dir/ # go to the created project directory
$ bin/project-setup --copy-device instrumentation-tracer-tool # copy instrumentation-tracer-tool's source to the project directory
$ ls modules/instrumentation-tracer-tool/ # here are source that one can modify
connection.c connection.h instrumentation-tracer-tool.c instrumentation-tracer-tool.h Makefile module_load.py simics_start.py
$ # USER-TODO modify sources in ~/simics_project_dir/modules/instrumentation-tracer-tool
$ make instrumentation-tracer-tool # compile module from ~/simics_project_dir/modules/instrumentation-tracer-tool
...
CCLD instrumentation-tracer-tool.so
$ ./simics # run Simics (from the project directory at ~/simics_project_dir)
Intel Simics 6 (build 6269 linux64) © 2025 Intel Corporation
...
simics> load-module instrumentation-tracer-tool # load module containing user changes
instrumentation-tracer-tool module loaded
simics> list-modules -l -v instrumentation-tracer-tool # check that user module was loaded
┌───────────────────────────┬──────┬───────┬────┬──────┬───┬──────┬───────┬───────┬────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┬─────────┐
│ Name │Status│ Build │ABI │Compat│API│Thread│ User │Package│ Path │Shadowing│
│ │ │ ID │ │ │ │ safe │Version│ │ │ │
├───────────────────────────┼──────┼───────┼────┼──────┼───┼──────┼───────┼───────┼────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┼─────────┤
│instrumentation-tracer-tool│Loaded│project│6269│ 5000│6 │Yes │ │ │/user/......../simics_project_dir/linux64/lib/instrumentation-tracer-tool.so│Yes │
└───────────────────────────┴──────┴───────┴────┴──────┴───┴──────┴───────┴───────┴────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┴─────────┘
simics>
Good luck!