rocket-chip/groundtest

groundtest

A memory tester circuit for Rocket Chip's memory system. The generator tile plugs into the existing SoC generator as what looks like a CPU. However, instead of running programs, the tile generates fixed memory requests out to the L2. There are both cached and uncached generators. The cached generator has an intervening L1 cache, the uncached generator sends TileLink requests directly to the L2.

Assertions are set to fail if the wrong data comes back or if a request times out waiting for the response.

Configuring Rocket-Chip with groundtest

The groundtest package defines a GroundTestTile, which extends a rocket-chip Tile. A number of Configs in rocket-chip instantiate GroundTestTile(s) in place of other types of Tiles, (see rocket-chip/src/main/scala/TestConfigs.scala).

Running a ground test can be achieved in rocket-chip by:

cd emulator
make CONFIG=<GroundTestConfigName>
./emulator-Top-<GroundTestConfigName> <other args>

Currently the Configs which include GroundTestTile(s) are:

• GroundTestConfig
• MemtestConfig
• MemtestL2Config
• CacheFillTestConfig
• BroadcastRegressionTestConfig
• CacheRegressionTestConfig
• DmaTestConfig
• DmaStreamTestConfig
• NastiConverterTestConfig
• UnitTestConfig
• TraceGenConfig

The usual Make targets run-asm-tests and run-bmark-tests still work for these configurations, though they don't do much.

Using TraceGenConfig

The trace generator in groundtest (tracegen.scala) has the ability to generate random memory-subsystem traces, i.e. random sequences of memory requests, along with their responses. The idea is that these traces can be validated by an external checker, such as axe.

Putting the generator and the checker together, we can automatically search for invalid traces, i.e. possible bugs in the memory subsystem. This is useful for intensive testing, but also debugging: it is possible to search for simple failing cases.

Quick Reference

The tracegen+check.sh script provides an automated way to run a number of randomized tests. The number of tests, initial seed, and other parameters can be set via environment variables or the command line, see the script for more details.

The examples that follow assume that the groundtest/scripts directory is in your PATH and that rocket-chip/emulator is your current working directory.

> make CONFIG=TraceGenConfig
> tracegen+check.sh
Testing against WMO model:
 
       0: .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 
      50: .......... .......... .......... .......... ..........

OK, passed 100 tests
LR/SC success rate: 2%
Load-external rate: 47%

Running Manually

To run a single test with a specified random seed:

> make CONFIG=TraceGenConfig
> tracegen.py ./emulator-Top-TraceGenConfig 1 > trace.log
> toaxe.py trace.log > trace.axe
> axe check WMO trace.axe
OK

Longer Explanation

Suppose we have built the Rocket Chip emulator with the TraceGenConfig configuration as above. Running it using the tracegen.py wrapper script with a few command-line options gives us a random trace:

  > tracegen.py ./emulator-Top-TraceGenConfig 1
  1: load-req     0x0000000008 #0 @64
  1: store-req  5 0x0000100008 #1 @65
  1: store-req  7 0x0000000010 #2 @66
  0: store-req  2 0x0000000008 #0 @303
  0: load-req     0x0000000008 #1 @304
  0: store-req  6 0x0000100008 #2 @305
  1: resp       0              #0 @96
  0: resp       0              #0 @350
  0: resp       2              #1 @351
  0: load-req     0x0000000010 #3 @353
  1: resp       0              #1 @149
  1: load-req     0x0000000108 #3 @152
  1: resp       0              #3 @184
  0: resp       5              #2 @422
  0: resp       0              #3 @424
  1: resp       0              #2 @226
  ...

Main points:

• the numeric command-line option sets the random seed;
• the first number on each line of the trace is the core id;
• #N denotes a request-id N;
• @T denotes a time T in clock cycles;
• hex numbers denote addresses;
• remaining decimal numbers denote values being loaded or stored;
• the value written by every store is unique (this simplifies trace checking and reasoning);
• this trace contains only loads, stores and responses, but the generator (and axe) also support LR/SC pairs, atomics, and fences.

We convert these traces to axe format using the toaxe.py script.

  > tracegen.py ./emulator-Top-TraceGenConfig 1 | toaxe.py -
  # &M[2] == 0x0000000010
  # &M[0] == 0x0000000008
  # &M[3] == 0x0000000108
  # &M[1] == 0x0000100008
  1: M[0] == 0 @ 64:96
  1: M[1] := 5 @ 65:
  1: M[2] := 7 @ 66:
  0: M[0] := 2 @ 303:
  0: M[0] == 2 @ 304:351
  0: M[1] := 6 @ 305:
  0: M[2] == 0 @ 353:424
  1: M[3] == 0 @ 152:184
  ...

Main points:

• lines begining # are comments, showing the addresses being used;
• after @ are the optional begin and end times of the operation.

Axe traces can be validated using the axe tool (must be downloaded and installed seperately):

> tracegen.py ./emulator-Top-TraceGenConfig 1 | toaxe.py - | axe check WMO -
OK

Axe reports that this trace is valid according to the WMO model.