Vm-dev September 2008

vm-dev@lists.squeakfoundation.org

11 participants
14 discussions

Profiling and delay accuracy
by Andreas Raab 06 Aug '11

06 Aug '11

Hi Folks - For a long time now I had this feeling that MessageTally reports pretty bogus results in many situations without being able to precisely track down why this would be the case. Today I was looking at primitiveResponse() and, much to my surprise, noticed that the checkForInterrupts() that used to be there for years is gone (see Squeak3.6 for example which still has it). The sole reason for this check was to get both high delay accuracy and good profiling behavior. Consider this example: fc := FormCanvas on: Display. MessageTally spyOn:[ 1 to: 100 do:[:i| fc fillColor: Color white. fc printString. ]. ]. Using 3.6 this will be measured correctly as: **Tree** 87.5% {243ms} FormCanvas>>fillColor: |87.5% {243ms} GrafPort>>fillRect:offset: | 87.5% {243ms} GrafPort>>copyBits 12.5% {35ms} FormCanvas(Object)>>printString 12.5% {35ms} FormCanvas(Object)>>printStringLimitedTo: whereas the 3.10 reports it as **Tree** 99.6% {670ms} FormCanvas(Object)>>printString 94.9% {639ms} primitives 4.6% {31ms} FormCanvas(Object)>>printStringLimitedTo: I think you can see the problem and just imagine what this does to any cumulative results. I also wonder what that change does to platforms that don't have high-resolution asynchronous timers. This used to be the one place where we would catch timer changes at high resolution and unless the platform forces high resolution timer interrupts asynchronously (by resetting the interrupt counter) we must be loosing a lot in terms of delay accuracy. (it just so happens that the Windows VM *does* do asynchronous timer interrupts so I never noticed this but I'm very curious about the difference on Linux which typically still has pretty bad timer granularity). Any opinions? My feeling is that the timer check should go back in for all of the above reasons. At the very least a quickCheckForInterrupt() is required but I actually think putting the full check back in is worth it. Cheers, - Andreas

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Joys of Squeak-dev image, VM Compiling on MacIntel and Spoon remote OtherBrowsing
by Ken G. Brown 16 Nov '10

16 Nov '10

MacPro OS X 10.4.9 Xcode 2.4.1 Squeak-dev-114-2, VMMaker 2.8b6.1, Squeak 3.8.15beta6U.app, and version 1657 of svn MacOS VM sources, and Spoon v2a12. Downloaded http://www.squeakvm.org/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/ trunk version 1657 for MacOS Ran squeak-dev-beta-114-2.image on Squeak 3.8.15beta6U.app Loaded VMMaker 3.8b6.1 from dev image Universes. Generated vm sources by following instructions in <http://www.squeakvm.org/cgi-bin/viewcvs.cgi/trunk/platforms/Mac%20OS/vm/Doc…> Fought with Xcode wanting to use MacOSX10.3.9.sdk for ppc which was giving an error which was known and documented in the Readme. Finally figured out what Xcode wanted so built universal app just using 10.4.9 sdk. Couple issues: Exupery references remain in sqnamedPrims.h and sqPlatformSpecific.h from svn version 1657, I just commented them out. Notes said: Info-NPSqueak__Upgraded_.plist was to be found in the Developer directory. I could not find it so scammed a info.plist out of John's Squeak 3.8.15beta6U.app vm. Not sure what impact this has. And much, much diddling about figuring out various things... Finally got a build. It's a lot smaller (3.9MB) than John McIntosh's Squeak 3.8.15beta6U.app (8.1MB), and it looks like it is a PowerPC one but at least it runs. I'll look into the Xcode build process some more. Then: Replaced interp.c with Craig's interp.c for Spoon, rebuilt and got a VM with Spoon client stuff. Downloaded Spoon release 2a12. Moved a copy of Flow plugin from within Craig's naiad.app package into a plugins subdirectory where the new spoon client compatible MacIntel universal VM was run from. Followed Craig's Spoon instructions for loading niaid.st and niaid.pr into the 3.10 image (Squeak-dev-114-2) running on the new VM. Did the run spoon.app thing from Spoon.dmg (version 2a12), needs to be done twice if Safari is not running. Got Spoon processor running. Followed instructions again in the Spoon client and lo! Got OtherBrowser browsing the Spoon memory running on processor. Yay Craig! Who do i get to sign my certificate? :) Ken

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How to use Croquet VMMaker
by Matthew Fulmer 29 Apr '09

29 Apr '09

Hi. In anticipation of working on HydraVM, I am trying to test as close a configuration as possible to HydraVM without being hydra. That is, load the nearest ancestor VMMaker and C sources to hydra, and try to make a working VM. This should help ensure that there are no "normal" bugs once I switch to Hydra, only hydra bugs. So, I did that: Here is my setup: - Fedora core 7 on x86 processor - Release 3.9 image/VM from squeak.org - Load FFI from SqueakMap - Load VMMaker-ar.70 from http://jabberwocky.croquetproject.org:8889/Homebase/ - Checkout http://squeakvm.org/svn/squeak/trunk revision 1796 (The nearest ancestor of HydraVM) I pointed VMMaker at the platforms directory in the checkout, and told it to build source in platforms/unix/src. I selected all plugins to be external, but moved FilePlugin and SocketPlugin to be internal. Then I did mkdir unixbuild cd unixbuild ../platforms/unix/config/configure make make fails linking gnu-interp.o: /bin/sh /home/matthewf/squeak/vm/hydravm-trunk-base/unixbuild/libtool --mode=link gcc -g -O2 -fomit-frame-pointer -DLSB_FIRST=1 -export-dynamic -R/usr/local/lib -o squeak vm/vm.a FilePlugin/FilePlugin.a SocketPlugin/SocketPlugin.a disabledPlugins.o version.o -lutil -ldl -lm -lnsl vm/vm.a gcc -g -O2 -fomit-frame-pointer -DLSB_FIRST=1 -o squeak disabledPlugins.o version.o -Wl,--export-dynamic vm/vm.a FilePlugin/FilePlugin.a SocketPlugin/SocketPlugin.a -lutil -ldl -lm -lnsl vm/vm.a -Wl,--rpath -Wl,/usr/local/lib vm/vm.a(gnu-interp.o): In function `primitiveGetWindowLabel': /home/matthewf/squeak/vm/hydravm-trunk-base/unixbuild/vm/gnu-interp.c:15141: undefined reference to `ioGetWindowLabel' vm/vm.a(gnu-interp.o): In function `primitiveSetWindowLabel': /home/matthewf/squeak/vm/hydravm-trunk-base/unixbuild/vm/gnu-interp.c:18770: undefined reference to `ioSetWindowLabelOfSize' collect2: ld returned 1 exit status Building this VM worked when using the latest VMMaker from SqueakMap (VMMaker-tpr.58), everything else the same. Is there something else I need to do in order to build using the Croquet VMMaker? I want to use it specifically, since the Hydra VMMaker is derived from it. The dev notes on Hydra are at http://squeakvm.org/~sig/hydravm/devnotes.html -- Matthew Fulmer -- http://mtfulmer.wordpress.com/ Help improve Squeak Documentation: http://wiki.squeak.org/squeak/808

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Interpreter>>signed32BitValueOf: and signed64BitValueOf: broken
by Andreas Raab 26 Nov '08

26 Nov '08

Hi - I just noticed hat Interpreter>>signed32BitValueOf: and signed64BitValueOf: are broken for edge cases. The following example will illustrate the problem: array := IntegerArray new: 1. array at: 1 put: 16rFFFFFFFF. "should fail but doesn't" array at: 1. "answers -1 incorrectly" array := IntegerArray new: 1. array at: 1 put: -16rFFFFFFFF. "should fail but doesn't" array at: 1. "answers 1 incorrectly" The problem is that both signed32BitValueOf: as well as signed64BitValueOf: do not test whether the high bit of the magnitude is set (which it mustn't to fit into a signed integer). The fix is trivial in both cases - basically all that's needed at the end of both functions is this: "Filter out values out of range for the signed interpretation such as 16rFFFFFFFF (positive w/ bit 32 set) and -16rFFFFFFFF (negative w/ bit 32 set). Since the sign is implicit in the class we require that the high bit of the magnitude is not set which is a simple test here" value < 0 ifTrue:[^self primitiveFail]. negative ifTrue:[^0 - value] ifFalse:[^value] Cheers, - Andreas

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VMMaker on SqueakSource - status update
by David T. Lewis 27 Sep '08

27 Sep '08

Tim asked me to take administrative responsibility for the VMMaker project that he set up on SqueakSource, and also encouraged me to make contributions to the repository. Here is a brief summary of current status of the project on SqueakSource. Tim uploaded a complete copy of the VMMaker mcz sources, with entries from VMMaker-tpr.2.mcz (Feb 2004) through VMMaker-tpr.85.mcz (July 2008). Since then, I have added entries VMMaker-dtl.86.mcz through VMMaker-dtl.104.mcz. I have made four of the VMMaker versions into "releases" in the SqueakSource project, as follows: 1) The VMMaker 3.8b6 on SqueakMap is equivalent to VMMaker-tpr.58.mcz on SqueakSource. I made VMMaker-tpr.58.mcz a release on SqueakSource to make it easier to find in the SqueakSource project. This is a solid release but somewhat out of date by now. 2) Since VMMaker 3.8b6, Tim has put together a VMMaker version 3.9, but had not yet published it as such. The most up to date version of this is VMMaker-tpr.85.mcz. I added one additional update to Tim's work in order to complete the "32/64 bit clean" series of patches, and made the resulting VMMaker-dtl.102.mcz a release on SqueakSource. This has not been released by Tim, and does not appear on SqueakMap (or Universes), but I am hereby declaring VMMaker-dtl.102.mcz to be Tim's VMMaker 3.9 release. I am not aware of any plans to update SqueakMap or Universes with this (this can be a topic for another discussion). 3) Beyond Tim's 3.9 work, I have added a series of changes that address various Slang code generation issues. Details are in the Montecello updates and the issues are documented on Mantis. I am calling this VMMaker 3.9.1, which is published as VMMaker-dtl.103.mcz on SqueakSource. These changes have not been reviewed or approved, so use this at your own discretion. I think the changes are all solid, so if you trust my word for it, go ahead and use this version. 4) Finally, I made a branch update that adds SlangBrowser and MemoryAccess. This is identified as "VMMaker 3.9.1-dtl", and is SqueakSource release VMMaker-dtl.104.mcz. Again, use this at your own discretion. - Dave

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[ANN] MemoryAccess Slang alternative to sqMemoryAccess.h macros
by David T. Lewis 18 Sep '08

18 Sep '08

MemoryAccess is a small addition to VMMaker that provides a Smalltalk Slang implemention of the memory access macros (or static inline functions) that are normally defined in sqMemoryAccess.h. By implementing these methods in Smalltalk, they may be directly translated to C code by the Slang translator, with Slang inlining providing performance similar to that of traditional C preprocessor macros. The resulting C code is directly visible to C debuggers and profiling tools, and the use of C code rather than macros is helpful in exposing problems such as improper type declarations and 32bit/64bit word size issues. I did my testing only with VMMaker from SqueakSource, but I expect MemoryAccess to work correctly with any of the several VM development projects currently in play, given that a few relevant patches are collected from Mantis. Change set, platform diffs, and a more complete description are at http://wiki.squeak.org/squeak/6081 - Dave (cross-posted to squeak-dev and vm-dev, replies should go to vm-dev if possible)

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help on creating plugin
by Esteban Lorenzano 17 Sep '08

17 Sep '08

Hi, I need some help/advice for a plugin I'm writing. I'm already downloaded VMMaker and managed to compile a new VM in OS/X, and I already write and compile and test a simple plugin (and I have to say the process is very simple, and all my problems were because I never used Xcode before), but now, with the plugin running, comes the "optimization" phase, and there I have many doubts: 1) An external plugin blocks the VM when primitive is called? if so, how do I manage to avoid this? 2) what is the right way to use strings? now, I'm obtaining them as parameters, but the string comes without final zero, so C does not works fine... because of that, I'm copying them into a new variable (memory allocated with malloc and freed after use), but it does not seems to be very performant... is there a better way? 3) in general, what is the best way to return Strings into Squeak? I have to create an instance with interpreterProxy>>instantiateClass: each time? Well, I have many doubts about how to optimize my code... where can I look to see some example code? Thanks, Esteban

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Re: help on creating plugin
by Esteban Lorenzano 17 Sep '08

17 Sep '08

Hi, Thanks for the answers... I'm trying to advance my plugin with your advices, but is a little hard to understand (and no much time available). I have a question, maybe very basic, but I'm a newbie at plugin development: Is there a place where I can see all the Slang defined methods? I'm asking because in some places I see a "self strlen: blah" and I would like to know which ones are available for use, instead of fill my code of "self cCode: 'blah') sentences. Many thanks, Esteban

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Building HydraVM from SVN (on Windows)
by Joshua Gargus 17 Sep '08

17 Sep '08

(also posted to Squeak-dev) Hi, I checked out Hydra from SVN, and tried to build it with the normal Win32 toolchain. When I cd into winbuild/ and type "make", I get the following error: Makefile:42 src/plugins.ext: No such file or directory Makefile:43 src/plugins.int: No such file or directory make: *** No rule to make target 'src/plugins.int'. Stop. I don't have a src/ directory at all, so I guess that I'm supposed to use VMMaker to generate the sources. I assume that I first have to modify VMMaker by applying Win32VMMaker.st, but to which VMMaker? Which image should I start with (Croquet, Squeak-3.10, etc.)? Which repository should I pull VMMaker from? Thanks, Josh

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Differences between olpc and trunk branches
by Damien Cassou 12 Sep '08

12 Sep '08

Hi, what are the differences between olpc and trunk branches? Is it possible/desired to run from olpc branch on a PC? Bye -- Damien Cassou Peter von der Ahé: «I'm beginning to see why Gilad wished us good luck». (http://blogs.sun.com/ahe/entry/override_snafu)

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Vm-dev September 2008