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[81.2.115.148]) by smtp.gmail.com with ESMTPSA id f17sm42207068wrm.3.2020.03.09.14.58.23 (version=TLS1_3 cipher=TLS_AES_256_GCM_SHA384 bits=256/256); Mon, 09 Mar 2020 14:58:24 -0700 (PDT) DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=linaro.org; s=google; h=from:to:cc:subject:date:message-id:in-reply-to:references :mime-version:content-transfer-encoding; bh=KVtpWgIwwzMF83+VNcjr1nSyeeNlCy4J0V0Nywm5kyY=; b=dH1SrzP49JRlZlJlxMlHH1Xb5v7tPa65U/3XB+bKaDsrLfkjo00LWEYo6VPwfFM4ei aDQlnfEuMbocQCkndl0F+t/4dVngvXNz8iR2x0FcSDGyDF9RQ72hSPDoeR1jPzmu+igr LPkhLSjMKpTJBpz3Rl/T5AlzgHbKX4lXfeVRBTVIz5LIc0F8I1ec+oF2cXbgW8RcDr+k VpblqKG9Y4R/0CTJamfLLcasURFnpMv2twfPydelT6f7LVy5klqZDRnPExzt0kmzqzUh VHZN/DN5pIj8h5Wwsxyxenv9Luw1b333nppSe5ENyWNUj7UXg6XM1lY1WWbTK+Fe22b9 OczQ== X-Google-DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=1e100.net; s=20161025; h=x-gm-message-state:from:to:cc:subject:date:message-id:in-reply-to :references:mime-version:content-transfer-encoding; bh=KVtpWgIwwzMF83+VNcjr1nSyeeNlCy4J0V0Nywm5kyY=; b=Uji7ZRjb7bMLjZjXUtxKiuVR/8WsvnFecAWAXcUOhutTlh/3eV0cydn0l1YIoTYxiJ CfEdd+cYcexPfVjSXmXFQ3EZ4Bi6ghGfcedDPY6+MI9XDWvkNzNXVZ/91VxdR0In/Q0Z uvxh0w0HiB/8qsM5hQTYIZRrTZkBkbqljR78Z6If373UjUxxVTboSwUT/K97vEvpeVzB J4zkupSf2nLqOMvcUerevOrLrC3zWs2f+e/vjENvqG4oKKePyx6dKT5AEMSnmj21p39J 3AVWjKGWaj2ReYryxzIgG1tiU5q5ORwLhjQwkou8L2NmpuAkH7Tz5mlFBELW/GBBMeRH gW3Q== X-Gm-Message-State: ANhLgQ1UJdwJowgqUXMqOoEF469pwmP/1lbmZCRpM2T5+EqJiXMGUOlq G4Nzwgg4rzjP+Lhbb9K7qG5BnA== X-Google-Smtp-Source: ADFU+vuRiC26y16qb8sQM+SwYsQV8qNQqFtL6kBvAZAWWqLE8uFROeiejtniqewPT4rBx4PBd/otGA== X-Received: by 2002:a05:6000:370:: with SMTP id f16mr16801789wrf.9.1583791104553; Mon, 09 Mar 2020 14:58:24 -0700 (PDT) From: Peter Maydell To: qemu-arm@nongnu.org, qemu-devel@nongnu.org Subject: [PATCH 3/5] docs/system/target-arm.rst: Add some introductory text Date: Mon, 9 Mar 2020 21:58:16 +0000 Message-Id: <20200309215818.2021-4-peter.maydell@linaro.org> X-Mailer: git-send-email 2.20.1 In-Reply-To: <20200309215818.2021-1-peter.maydell@linaro.org> References: <20200309215818.2021-1-peter.maydell@linaro.org> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: Genre and OS details not recognized. X-Received-From: 2a00:1450:4864:20::444 X-BeenThere: qemu-devel@nongnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.23 Precedence: list List-Id: List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Cc: Niek Linnenbank Errors-To: qemu-devel-bounces+importer=patchew.org@nongnu.org Sender: "Qemu-devel" X-ZohoMail-DKIM: pass (identity @linaro.org) Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" Now we've moved the various bits of per-board documentation into their own files, the top level document is a little bare. Add some introductory information, including a note that many of the board models we support are currently undocumented. (Most sections of this new text were originally written by me for the wiki page https://wiki.qemu.org/Documentation/Platforms/ARM) Signed-off-by: Peter Maydell Reviewed-by: Alex Benn=C3=A9e Reviewed-by: Niek Linnenbank --- --- docs/system/target-arm.rst | 66 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-- 1 file changed, 64 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) diff --git a/docs/system/target-arm.rst b/docs/system/target-arm.rst index c7df6fc1f97..86ea6f2f568 100644 --- a/docs/system/target-arm.rst +++ b/docs/system/target-arm.rst @@ -1,9 +1,71 @@ .. _ARM-System-emulator: =20 -ARM System emulator +Arm System emulator ------------------- =20 -Use the executable ``qemu-system-arm`` to simulate a ARM machine. +QEMU can emulate both 32-bit and 64-bit Arm CPUs. Use the +``qemu-system-aarch64`` executable to simulate a 64-bit Arm machine. +You can use either ``qemu-system-arm`` or ``qemu-system-aarch64`` +to simulate a 32-bit Arm machine: in general, command lines that +work for ``qemu-system-arm`` will behave the same when used with +``qemu-system-aarch64``. + +QEMU has generally good support for Arm guests. It has support for +nearly fifty different machines. The reason we support so many is that +Arm hardware is much more widely varying than x86 hardware. Arm CPUs +are generally built into "system-on-chip" (SoC) designs created by +many different companies with different devices, and these SoCs are +then built into machines which can vary still further even if they use +the same SoC. Even with fifty boards QEMU does not cover more than a +small fraction of the Arm hardware ecosystem. + +The situation for 64-bit Arm is fairly similar, except that we don't +implement so many different machines. + +As well as the more common "A-profile" CPUs (which have MMUs and will +run Linux) QEMU also supports "M-profile" CPUs such as the Cortex-M0, +Cortex-M4 and Cortex-M33 (which are microcontrollers used in very +embedded boards). For most boards the CPU type is fixed (matching what +the hardware has), so typically you don't need to specify the CPU type +by hand, except for special cases like the ``virt`` board. + +Choosing a board model +=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D + +For QEMU's Arm system emulation, you must specify which board +model you want to use with the ``-M`` or ``--machine`` option; +there is no default. + +Because Arm systems differ so much and in fundamental ways, typically +operating system or firmware images intended to run on one machine +will not run at all on any other. This is often surprising for new +users who are used to the x86 world where every system looks like a +standard PC. (Once the kernel has booted, most userspace software +cares much less about the detail of the hardware.) + +If you already have a system image or a kernel that works on hardware +and you want to boot with QEMU, check whether QEMU lists that machine +in its ``-machine help`` output. If it is listed, then you can probably +use that board model. If it is not listed, then unfortunately your image +will almost certainly not boot on QEMU. (You might be able to +extract the filesystem and use that with a different kernel which +boots on a system that QEMU does emulate.) + +If you don't care about reproducing the idiosyncrasies of a particular +bit of hardware, such as small amount of RAM, no PCI or other hard +disk, etc., and just want to run Linux, the best option is to use the +``virt`` board. This is a platform which doesn't correspond to any +real hardware and is designed for use in virtual machines. You'll +need to compile Linux with a suitable configuration for running on +the ``virt`` board. ``virt`` supports PCI, virtio, recent CPUs and +large amounts of RAM. It also supports 64-bit CPUs. + +Board-specific documentation +=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D= =3D=3D=3D=3D + +Unfortunately many of the Arm boards QEMU supports are currently +undocumented; you can get a complete list by running +``qemu-system-aarch64 --machine help``. =20 .. toctree:: =20 --=20 2.20.1