Internships/ProjectIdeas/CacheModelling

TCG Plugin Cache Modelling

Summary: Implement a simple cache modelling plugin for QEMU's TCG plugins.

QEMU's TCG emulation has traditionally avoided doing complex modelling of the processor in favor of running fast. However the recent introduction of TCG plugins we can put some simple cache modelling into a plugin which can be optionally loaded when we want to examine how a program works. With such a plugin we could identify areas of code in either a linux-user program or a whole system that may not be cache optimal. The aim would be to write a plugin that allows you to simply model different icache/dcache configurations rather than actually simulate the micro-architecture of a CPU.

Links:

• See Features/TCGPlugins
• See also the docs
• Example integration of Dinero IV Cache Simulator with a out-of-tree plugin solution

Details:

• Skill level: intermediate with a good understanding of a processor instruction and data caches
• Language: C, Python
• Mentor: Alex Bennée (alex.bennee@linaro.org)
• Suggested by: Alex Bennée