Documentation/Platforms/SPARC: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 21:25, 29 April 2024

Welcome to the SPARC homepage. This page contains news and resources for users looking to emulate sun4m, sun4u or sun4v systems under QEMU.

Status

The table below gives the status of the SPARC machines available in QEMU and is correct as of the latest release:

Machine	Status
sun4m	Complete, supported
sun4u	Beta, supported
sun4v	Incomplete, unsupported
niagara	Complete, supported

Installation

Debian/RedHat packages

Users should install the qemu-system-sparc package in order the use the SPARC system emulators provided by their distribution.

Building from source

By default QEMU will build both the qemu-system-sparc and qemu-system-sparc64 system emulators unless QEMU has been configured with a specific target list. If you are looking to build just the SPARC system emulators from source yourself, then pass the options --target-list="sparc-softmmu sparc64-softmmu" to QEMU's configure script.

Getting started

The most common ways to start qemu-system-sparc and qemu-system-sparc64 are shown below:

sun4m with HD and CD (boot from CD)

qemu-system-sparc \
  -drive file=hd.qcow2,if=scsi,bus=0,unit=0,media=disk \
  -drive file=cdrom.iso,format=raw,if=scsi,bus=0,unit=2,media=cdrom,readonly=on \
  -boot d

sun4m with HD only

qemu-system-sparc \
  -drive file=hd.qcow2,if=scsi,bus=0,unit=0,media=disk

sun4u with HD and CD (boot from CD)

qemu-system-sparc64 \
  -drive file=hd.qcow2,if=ide,bus=0,unit=0 \
  -drive file=cdrom.iso,format=raw,if=ide,bus=1,unit=0,media=cdrom,readonly=on \
  -boot d

sun4u with HD only

qemu-system-sparc64 \
  -drive file=hd.qcow2,if=ide,bus=0,unit=0

sun4u with virtio HD and CD (boot from CD, requires QEMU >= 3.1)

qemu-system-sparc64 \
  -drive file=hd.qcow2,if=none,id=hd \
  -drive file=cdrom.iso,format=raw,if=ide,bus=1,unit=0,media=cdrom,readonly=on \
  -device virtio-blk-pci,bus=pciB,drive=hd
  -boot d

sun4u with virtio HD (requires QEMU >= 3.1)

qemu-system-sparc64 \
  -drive file=hd.qcow2,if=none,id=hd \
  -device virtio-blk-pci,bus=pciB,drive=hd,bootindex=0

Changes to sun4u machine from 2.11 onwards

In order to improve the compatibility of QEMU's sun4u machine, there have been a number of changes that have been made during the 2.11 development cycle which in some cases will require changes to the command line to start qemu-system-sparc64.

Default network card changed from ne2k_pci to sunhme (Happy Meal Ethernet)

Many OSs either don't have drivers for other network cards, don't build other network cards for SPARC architecture or even have faulty drivers because they have never been tested on big-endian machines. Implementing the real onboard sunhme enables networking for just about every OS.

Example: using ne2k_pci (the previous default) as for QEMU <= 2.10:

qemu-system-sparc64 -net nic,model=ne2k_pci -net user

All PCI devices are attached behind one of the simba PCI bridges

Previous versions of QEMU attached all PCI devices to the sabre PCI bus which does not match the PCI topology of a real Ultra 5. On a real Ultra 5 all PCI devices are attached behind the two simba bridges; in-built devices are attached to bus A whilst bus B has 4 free PCI slots for use.

In order to support this topology QEMU included some hacks to enable PCI devices to be connected directly to the sabre PCI bus and re-work the interrupt routing. Typically this is visible during Linux boot as a set of warnings about overlapping PCI window ranges, and it is up to the OS to attempt to resolve the clashes itself.

By correctly modelling these bridges, the PCI topology and interrupt routing are now implemented correctly as per the available documentation which removes all visible guest OS warnings in my tests and allows these hacks to be removed.

IMPORTANT: as it is now impossible to plug PCI devices into the sabre PCI bus then it is necessary to make a slight change to the command line used to plug additional PCI devices into QEMU.

Example: adding a virtio block device

qemu-system-sparc64 -drive id=hd,if=none,file=hd.qcow2 -device virtio-blk-pci,bus=pciB,drive=hd

Note that the important part of the -device parameter is the bus=pciB which ensures that the virtio-blk-pci device is plugged into the correct simba bus.

If by accident this is omitted (as typically when using QEMU <= 2.10) then QEMU will exit with a message similar to the following:

qemu-system-sparc64: -device virtio-blk-pci,drive=hd: PCI: no slot/function available for virtio-blk-pci, all in use or reserved

Compatibility

The tables below show the results of testing various SPARC and SPARC64 guests in QEMU in the latest release:

SPARC32:

Machine	OS	Image	Status	Notes
sun4m	Aurora Linux 1.0 (Ansel)	aurora-1.0-sparc-disc1.iso	Working	Requires -vga cg3 for graphics (default TCX adapter not supported)
sun4m	Aurora Linux 2.0 (Kashmir FC3)	aurora-2.0-sparc-DVD.iso	Working	-
sun4m	Bobware 10.2	bobware-10.2.rc7-disk1.iso	Working	Requires -vga cg3 for graphics (default TCX adapter not supported)
sun4m	Debian Sarge	debian-31r1a-sparc-businesscard.iso	Working	Requires -vga cg3 for graphics (default TCX adapter not supported)
sun4m	Debian Etch	debian-40r4a-sparc-netinst.iso	Working	-
sun4m	Mandrake 7.1 (Hydrogen)	Mandrake71-inst.sparc.iso	Working	Requires -vga cg3 for graphics (default TCX adapter not supported) DHCP autoconfiguration fails. Shutdown freezes at unloading cs4231 kernel module.
sun4m	MirOS #10semel	MIR80316.ISO	Broken	Panic: NMI
sun4m	NetBSD 6.1.3	NetBSD-6.1.3-sparc.iso	Working	-
sun4m	NetBSD 7.99.1 (7.0 pre-release)	NetBSD-7.99.1-sparc.iso	Working	Works fine, although intermittent ESP DMA errors appear on the console.
sun4m	NetBSD 7.1	NetBSD-7.1-sparc.iso	Working	-
sun4m	NextSTEP 3.3	?	Partially working	Tends to hang during disk access, possible ESP emulation bug or interrupt delay required. Some success has been reported using a non-SMP host kernel suggesting a buggy interrupt race in the NS guest drivers.
sun4m	OpenADK (modern Linux kernel)	http://www.openadk.org	Working	-
sun4m	OpenBSD 5.2	install52.iso	Working	-
sun4m	OpenBSD 5.8	install58.iso	Working	Requires -nographic to boot
sun4m	OpenSTEP 4.2	?	Partially working	Tends to hang during disk access, possible ESP emulation bug or interrupt delay required. Some success has been reported using a non-SMP host kernel suggesting a buggy interrupt race in the NS guest drivers.
sun4m	RedHat 6.2 (Zoot)	redhat-6.2-sparc.iso	Working	Requires -vga cg3 for graphics (default TCX adapter not supported)
sun4m	Solaris 1.1.2	?	Working	-
sun4m	Solaris 2.6	?	Working	-
sun4m	Solaris 7 32-bit	?	Working	-
sun4m	Solaris 8 32-bit	?	Working	-
sun4m	Splack 8.0	splack-24oct2k3.iso	Working	Requires -vga cg3 for graphics (default TCX adapter not supported)

SPARC64:

Machine	OS	Image	Status	Notes
sun4u	Debian Wheezy	debian-7.8.0-sparc-netinst.iso	Working	Requires -nographic in order to boot
sun4u	Debian Stretch	debian-9.0-sparc64-NETINST-1.iso	Working	Requires -nographic in order to boot
sun4u	FreeBSD 10.3	FreeBSD-10.3-RELEASE-sparc64-disc1.iso	Working	Requires -nographic in order to boot. Due to a restriction in reading the psycho device properties, kernels < 10.3 panic on boot. A fix for this has been merged into both 10.3 and the up-and-coming 11.0 release.
sun4u	HelenOS 0.7.0	HelenOS-0.7.0-sparc64-ultra.iso	Working	QEMU < 2.11: Requires -nographic -prom-env boot-args="console=devices/\\hw\\pci0\\00:03.0\\com1\\a" to boot. QEMU >= 2.11: Requires -nographic -prom-env boot-args="console=devices/\\hw\\pci0\\01:01.0\\com1\\a" to boot.
sun4u	Milax 0.3.2 (OpenSolaris)	milax032sparc.iso	Broken	Requires -nographic to boot. Reaches userspace console then freezes.
sun4u	NetBSD 7.0	NetBSD-7.0-sparc64.iso	Working	-
sun4u	OpenADK (modern Linux kernel)	http://www.openadk.org	Working	-
sun4u	OpenBSD 5.5	install55.iso	Working	Requires -nographic to boot. Due to hard-coded device tree paths for the cmd646-ide device, the root device must be entered on boot.

Machine	OS	Image	Status	Notes
niagara	HelenOS 0.7.0	HelenOS-0.7.0-sparc64-niagara.iso	Working	Tested with the command line: qemu-system-sparc64 -M niagara -m 256 -L /usr/local/opensparc/image/ -drive file=hdisk.img,index=0,media=disk,format=raw -drive if=pflash,readonly=on,file=HelenOS-0.7.0-sparc64-niagara.iso -nographic
niagara	OpenSPARC T1 Solaris 10 image	OpenSPARCT1_Arch.1.5.tar.bz2	Working	Tested with the command line: qemu-system-sparc64 -M niagara -L /path-to/S10image/ -nographic -m 256 -drive if=pflash,readonly=on,file=/S10image/disk.s10hw2

Timeline

SPARC emulation is gradually improving over time and newer versions of QEMU will run significantly better than older ones. For more detailed information, check your QEMU version against the table below:

Version	Machine	Feature
9.0	sun4m	Fix ASI_USERTXT access which caused the Solaris kernel to panic when using mdb/gdb/adb within the guest
8.2	*	Convert SPARC instruction decoder to use decodetree
8.1	sun4v	Fix block device error when trying to boot niagara machine
8.1	sun4m	Allow keyboard language DIP switches to be set via the -global escc.chnA-sunkbd-layout option
8.1	*	Update target/sparc to use tcg_gen_lookup_and_goto_ptr() for improved performance
6.2	sun4m	Fix for booting sun4m machines with more than 1 CPU
5.2	sun4u	Fix for sabre PCI IRQs being lost due to memory overflow
5.2	sun4m	Fix panic when booting NetBSD with the TCX framebuffer (LP:1892540)
5.1	sun4u	Fix booting of SPARC64 kernels directly from the command line via -kernel and booting from virtio-blk-pci devices
4.2	sun4u	Implementation of sun4u MMU IE (Invert Endian) bit (Tony Nguyen)
4.1	sun4u	Fix console when running with -vga none, sunhme fixes when running on a TAP network interface
4.1	sun4m	Fix console when running with -vga none
4.0	sun4m	Fix Solaris boot on SS-10/SS-20 machines with OpenBIOS (OpenBIOS)
3.1	sun4u	Add support for boot from virtio-blk-pci block devices (QEMU/OpenBIOS)
3.0	sun4u	Add icount support
2.12	*	Add "power-off" command to OpenBIOS (including implementing power device and SUNW,power-off CIF service for sun4u)
2.12	sun4u	Convert APB, IOMMU and ebus devices to use QOM/qdev, add trace-events support, split out sun4u-iommu into a separate device, split apb.c into separate Simba and Sabre devices
2.11	sun4u	Include Simba PCI bridges in sun4u PCI topology
2.11	sun4u	Add support for Sun Happy Meal Ethernet NIC and make it the default for the sun4u machine
2.11	sun4m	Rework sun4m DMA/IOMMU to use QEMU's DMA/IOMMU APIs rather than using existing legacy code
2.10	sun4m	Fix for panic when booting 32-bit Solaris 2.6 (OpenBIOS)
2.10	sun4m	Fix for Solaris terminal console colors (OpenBIOS)
2.9	niagara	Complete rewrite from Artyom now able to boot OpenSPARC reference image (see the docs at https://qemu.weilnetz.de/doc/qemu-doc.html#Sparc64-System-emulator for more info)
	sun4m	Fix for SS-20 regression with original PROM bug.
2.8	*	More TCG improvements from Richard.
2.7	sun4m	Updated ldstub fix for latest TCG improvements and updated OpenBIOS boot path fix Solaris 9 boot regression
2.6	sun4m	Fix for ldstub instruction resolves several 32-bit Solaris bugs (MUTEX_HELD hang, libC error, Java WebStart segfault)
2.6	sun4u	FreeBSD 10.3+ can now run under qemu-system-sparc64 in -nographic mode
2.5	sun4u	Fixes in OpenBIOS fix EBus enumeration under FreeBSD sparc64 in -nographic mode
2.5	*	Significantly improved TCG performance for software TLB systems (including SPARC)
2.3	sun4m	Fix Solaris 1.1.2 boot in OpenBIOS and multi-user mode in Solaris 9
	sun4u	Fix m48t59 MMIO access to allow guests to read the NVRAM clock correctly
2.2	sun4u	Add ability to boot NetBSD sparc64 and OpenBSD sparc64 in -nographic mode
2.1	sun4u	Fixes for APB PCI bridge and added IOMMU implementation
2.0	sun4m	Add cg3 framebuffer implementation primarily to support older Solaris versions
1.7	sun4m	Add TCX FCode ROM for framebuffer (allows TCX adapter to boot Sun PROM in graphics mode)

Useful links

Aurelien Jarno's Debian SPARC page - http://www.aurel32.net/info/debian_sparc_qemu.php

This page details how to set up a basic Debian SPARC image in QEMU.

Artyom Tarasenko's blog - http://tyom.blogspot.com

Artyom has contributed several patches to improve SPARC emulation under QEMU and has lot of related information, particularly for users trying to run Solaris images under emulation. Some of the content is a little out of date (OpenBIOS should work with practically all Solaris versions now) but the FAQ is very helpful indeed.

Torbjörn Granlund's QEMU page - https://gmplib.org/~tege/qemu.html

Torbjörn uses QEMU to build and test the GNU GMP libraries on various platforms, and while the information is a little out of date, there are some useful configurations listed on the page.

NSS blog on Sparc Virtualisation - http://kb.networksystemssolutions.info/index.php/Sparc_Virtualization

This page contains a description of how to take an SS-20 Solaris image from a physical machine and run it under QEMU.

TemLib, a sun4m machine in an FPGA - http://temlib.org

Olivier Danet has implemented a sun4m machine in an FPGA which is capable of booting many SPARC32 OSs, and as a consequence has provided several patches to fix bugs in SPARC32 emulation (and also OpenBIOS)

OpenBIOS - http://www.openfirmware.info/OpenBIOS

OpenBIOS is the Open Firmware implementation used by QEMU for SPARC32/SPARC64 (and indeed also for PPC)

Fun with virtualisation - https://virtuallyfun.com/

Neozeed's fun with virtualisation blog has several useful articles on booting various OSs (including SPARC) under QEMU.

MVoloshin's 4pda page for Limbo SPARC emulator (Russian) - http://4pda.ru/forum/index.php?showtopic=840418

The forum page contains several screen shots and links to the associated QEMU SPARC disk images.

Pictures

Contact

Mark Cave-Ayland <mark.cave-ayland@ilande.co.uk>