rvcat

RISC-V Code Analysis Tool

Overview

This is a RISC-V assembly code execution simulation tool for the performance analysis of small programs from a computer architecture educational standpoint.

One of the major similar projects is the llvm-mca tool, from the LLVM project.

Commands

One of the main ways to use the tool will be an interactive shell. This shell will proportionate a custom set of commands.

Note: Commands marked with * are not yet implemented and can be considered proposals, even though all of them can be susceptible to change.

load

• load program <file> loads the file containing the assembly code

• load processor <file> loads the processor configuration file

• load isa <file> loads an isa csv file with instructions to the working ISA

show

• show program [-a, --annotate | -d, --dependencies] shows the loaded program's instructions (no flag), and optionally, it's annotated (-a, --annotate) or dependency (-d, --dependencies) form

• show processor shows the processor's attributes

• show isa shows the current working ISA instructions

info

• info <mnemonic> informs about a certain instruction given its mnemonic

run

• run [-i, --iterations n] [-w, --window_size s] timeline runs the program and shows a timeline view of the execution, optionally specifying the number of iterations n (-i, --iterations) and execution window size (-w, --window_size).

• run [-i, --iterations n] [-w, --window_size s] analysis runs the program and analyzes the execution, showing performance counters and stats, optionally specifying the number of iterations n (-i, --iterations) and execution window size s (-w, --window_size) in number of instructions.

Arguments

Although it's supposed that the main way to execute actions will be via the interactive shell, the tool will also proportionate equivalent arguments to the former's commands.

Requirements

• Python 3.8 or higher
• cmd2 package (pip install cmd2)

Installation and sample usage

git clone https://github.com/smarco/rvcat.git
cd rvcat
./rvcat                       # gives shell
load program vectoradd        # load program
show program                  # show instructions
show program -a               # show annotated program
show program -d               # show execution properties
run -i 4 -w 30 timeline       # run in timeline mode for 4 iterations with a 30 instruction window
run -i 1000 -w 100 analysis   # run in analysis mode for 1000 iterations with a 100 instruction window

Alternatively, one can also save commands to a file (e.g. a script file), for later input redirection without going on interactive mode:

./rvcat examples/arraysum.s < script

Authors

Saúl Adserias Valero

Juan Carlos Moure

Santiago Marco-Sola