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Objects that are can be serialized are supposed to inherit from the
Serializable class. This class is meant to provide a unified API for
such objects. However, so far it has mainly been used by SimObjects
due to some fundamental design limitations. This changeset redesigns
to the serialization interface to make it more generic and hide the
underlying checkpoint storage. Specifically:
* Add a set of APIs to serialize into a subsection of the current
object. Previously, objects that needed this functionality would
use ad-hoc solutions using nameOut() and section name
generation. In the new world, an object that implements the
interface has the methods serializeSection() and
unserializeSection() that serialize into a named /subsection/ of
the current object. Calling serialize() serializes an object into
the current section.
* Move the name() method from Serializable to SimObject as it is no
longer needed for serialization. The fully qualified section name
is generated by the main serialization code on the fly as objects
serialize sub-objects.
* Add a scoped ScopedCheckpointSection helper class. Some objects
need to serialize data structures, that are not deriving from
Serializable, into subsections. Previously, this was done using
nameOut() and manual section name generation. To simplify this,
this changeset introduces a ScopedCheckpointSection() helper
class. When this class is instantiated, it adds a new /subsection/
and subsequent serialization calls during the lifetime of this
helper class happen inside this section (or a subsection in case
of nested sections).
* The serialize() call is now const which prevents accidental state
manipulation during serialization. Objects that rely on modifying
state can use the serializeOld() call instead. The default
implementation simply calls serialize(). Note: The old-style calls
need to be explicitly called using the
serializeOld()/serializeSectionOld() style APIs. These are used by
default when serializing SimObjects.
* Both the input and output checkpoints now use their own named
types. This hides underlying checkpoint implementation from
objects that need checkpointing and makes it easier to change the
underlying checkpoint storage code.
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them.
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Setup initial timesync event in initState or loadState so that curTick has
been updated to the new value, otherwise the event is scheduled in the past.
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M5 skips over any simulated time where it doesn't have any work to do. When
the simulation is active, the time skipped is short and the work done at any
point in time is relatively substantial. If the time between events is long
and/or the work to do at each event is small, it's possible for simulated time
to pass faster than real time. When running a benchmark that can be good
because it means the simulation will finish sooner in real time. When
interacting with the real world through, for instance, a serial terminal or
bridge to a real network, this can be a problem. Human or network response time
could be greatly exagerated from the perspective of the simulation and make
simulated events happen "too soon" from an external perspective.
This change adds the capability to force the simulation to run no faster than
real time. It does so by scheduling a periodic event that checks to see if
its simulated period is shorter than its real period. If it is, it stalls the
simulation until they're equal. This is called time syncing.
A future change could add pseudo instructions which turn time syncing on and
off from within the simulation. That would allow time syncing to be used for
the interactive parts of a session but then turned off when running a
benchmark using the m5 utility program inside a script. Time syncing would
probably not happen anyway while running a benchmark because there would be
plenty of work for M5 to do, but the event overhead could be avoided.
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