* Jacob's simple-soft-float library growing
[Power FP compatibility](http://bugs.libre-riscv.org/show_bug.cgi?id=258)
and python bindings.
+* Kazan, the Vulkan driver Jacob is writing, is getting
+ a [new shader compiler IR](http://bugs.libre-riscv.org/show_bug.cgi?id=161).
* A Conference call with OpenPOWER Foundation Director, Hugh, and Timothy
Pearson from RaptorCS has been established every two weeks.
* The OpenPOWER Foundation is also running some open
# POWER ISA decoder and Simulator
-TODO
+*(kindly written by Michael)*
+
+The decoder we have is based on that of IBM's
+[microwatt reference design](https://github.com/antonblanchard/microwatt).
+As microwatt's decoder is quite regular, consisting of a bunch of large
+switch statements returning fields of a struct, we elected not to
+pursue a direct conversion of the VHDL to nmigen. Instead, we
+extracted the information in the switch statements into several
+[CSV tables](https://libre-riscv.org/openpower/isatables/),
+and leveraged nmigen to construct the decoder from these
+tables. We applied the same technique to extract the subfields
+(register numbers, branch offset, immediates, etc.) from the
+instruction, where Luke converted the information in the POWER ISA
+specification to text, and wrote a module in python to extract those
+fields from an instruction.
+
+To test the decoder, we initially verified it against the tables we
+extracted, and manually against the [POWER ISA
+specification](https://openpowerfoundation.org/?resource_lib=power-isa-version-3-0). Later
+however, we came up with the idea of [verifying the
+decoder](https://git.libre-riscv.org/?p=soc.git;a=blob;f=src/soc/decoder/test/test_decoder_gas.py;h=9238d3878d964907c5569a3468d6895effb7dc02;hb=433ab59cf9b7ab1ae10754798fc1c110e705db76)
+against the output of the GNU assembler. This is done by selecting an
+instruction type (integer reg/reg, integer immediate, load store,
+etc), and randomly selecting the opcode, registers, immediates, and
+other operands. We then feed this instruction to GNU AS to assemble,
+and then the assembled instruction is sent to our decoder. From this,
+we can then verify that the output of the decoder matches what was
+generated earlier.
+
+We also explored using a similar idea to test the functionality of the
+entire SOC. By using the [QEMU](https://www.qemu.org/) PowerPC
+emulator, we can compare the execution of our SOC against that of the
+emulator to verify that our decoder and backend are working correctly.
+We would write snippets of test code (or potentially randomly generate
+instructions) and send the resulting binary to both the SOC and
+QEMU. We would then simulate our SOC until it was finished executing
+instructions, and use Qemu's gdb interface to do the same. We would
+then use Qemu's gdb interface to compare the register file and memory
+with that of our SOC to verify that it is working correctly. I did
+some experimentation using this technique to verify a [rudimentary
+simulator](https://git.libre-riscv.org/?p=soc.git;a=blob;f=src/soc/simulator/test_sim.py;h=aadaf667eff7317b1aa514993cd82b9abedf1047;hb=433ab59cf9b7ab1ae10754798fc1c110e705db76)
+of the SOC backend, and it seemed to work quite well.
+
+*(Note from Luke: this automated approach, taking either other people's
+regularly-written code or actual PDF specifications, not only saves us a
+vast amount of time, it also ensures that our implementation is
+correct and does not contain transcription errors).*
# simple-soft-float Library and POWER FP emulation
-The
-[simple-soft-float](https://salsa.debian.org/Kazan-team/simple-soft-float)
+The [simple-soft-float](https://salsa.debian.org/Kazan-team/simple-soft-float)
library is a floating-point library Jacob wrote with the intention
of being a reference implementation of IEEE 754 for hardware testing
purposes. It's specifically designed to be written to be easier to
much larger set of floating-point status flags and exceptions than most
other ISAs.
-Thanks to RaptorCS for giving us remote access to a Power9 system,
+Thanks to Raptor CS for giving us remote access to a Power9 system,
since that makes it much easier verifying that the test cases are correct
(more on this below).
[simple-soft-float](https://docs.rs/simple-soft-float) and
[algebraics](https://docs.rs/algebraics) are available on docs.rs.
+The algebraics library was chosen as the
+[Crate of the Week for October 8, 2019 on This Week in
+Rust](https://this-week-in-rust.org/blog/2019/10/08/this-week-in-rust-307/#crate-of-the-week).
+
One of the really important things about these libraries: they're not
-specifically coded exclusively for Libre-SOC: like softfloat-3 itself
+specifically coded exclusively for Libre-SOC: like Berkeley softfloat itself
(and also like the [IEEE754 FPU](https://git.libre-riscv.org/?p=ieee754fpu.git))
they're intended for *general-purpose* use by other projects. These are
exactly the kinds of side-benefits for the wider Libre community that
sponsorship, from individuals, Foundations (such as NLNet) and Companies
(such as Purism and Raptor CS) brings.
+# Kazan Getting a New Shader Compiler IR
+
+After spending several weeks only to discover that translating directly from
+SPIR-V to LLVM IR, Vectorizing, and all the other front-end stuff all in a
+single step is not really feasible, Jacob has switched to [creating a new
+shader compiler IR](http://bugs.libre-riscv.org/show_bug.cgi?id=161) to allow
+decomposing the translation process into several smaller steps.
+
+The IR and
+SPIR-V to IR translator are being written simultaneously, since that allows
+more easily finding the things that need to be represented in the shader
+compiler IR. Because writing both of the IR and SPIR-V translator together is
+such a big task, we decided to pick an arbitrary point ([translating a totally
+trivial shader into the IR](http://bugs.libre-riscv.org/show_bug.cgi?id=177))
+and split it into tasks at that point so Jacob would be able to get paid
+after several months of work.
+
+The IR uses structured control-flow inspired by WebAssembly's control-flow
+constructs as well as
+[SSA](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Static_single_assignment_form) but, instead
+of using traditional phi instructions, it uses block and loop parameters and
+return values (inspired by [Cranelift's EBB
+parameters](https://github.com/bytecodealliance/wasmtime/blob/master/cranelift/docs/ir.md#static-single-assignment-form)
+as well as both of the [Rust](https://www.rust-lang.org/) and [Lua](https://www.lua.org/) programming languages).
+
+The IR has a single pointer type for all data pointers (`data_ptr`), unlike LLVM IR where pointer types have a type they point to (like `* i32`, where `i32` is the type the pointer points to).
+
+Because having a serialized form of the IR is important for any good IR, like
+LLVM IR, it has a user-friendly textual form that can be both read and
+written without losing any information (assuming the IR is valid, comments are
+ignored). A binary form may be added later.
+
+Some example IR is [available in the Kazan repo](https://salsa.debian.org/Kazan-team/kazan/-/blob/master/docs/Shader%20Compiler%20IR%20Example.md).
+
# OpenPOWER Conference calls
-TODO
+We've now established a routine two-week conference call with Hugh Blemings,
+OpenPOWER Foundation Director, and Timothy Pearson, CEO of Raptor CS. This
+allows us to keep up-to-date (each way) on both our new venture and also
+the newly-announced OpenPOWER Foundation effort as it progresses.
+
+One of the most important things that we, Libre-SOC, need, and are
+discussing with Hugh and Tim is: a way to switch on/off functionality
+in the (limited) 32-bit opcode space, so that we have one mode for
+"POWER 3.0B compliance" and another for "things that are absolutely
+essential to make a decent GPU". With these two being strongly
+mutually exclusively incompatible, this is just absolutely critical.
+
+Khronos Vulkan Floating-point Compliance is, for example, critical not
+just from a Khronos Trademark Compliance perspective, it's essential
+from a power-saving and thus commercial success perspective. If we
+have absolute strict compliance with IEEE754 for POWER 3.0B, this will
+result in far more silicon than any commercially-competitive GPU on
+the market, and we will not be able to sell product. Thus it is
+*commercially* essential to be able to swap between POWER Compliance
+and Khronos Compliance *at the silicon level*.
+
+POWER 3.0B does not have c++ style LR/SC atomic operations for example,
+and if we have half a **million** 3D GPU data structures **per second**
+that need SMP-level inter-core mutexes, and the current POWER 3.0B
+multi-instruction atomic operations are used - conforming strictly to
+the standard - we're highly likely to use 10 to 15 **percent** processing
+power consumed on spin-locking. Finding out from Tim on one of these
+calls that this is something that c++ atomics is something that end-users
+have been asking about is therefore a good sign.
+
+Adding new and essential features that could well end up in a future version
+of the POWER ISA *need* to be firewalled in a clean way, and we've been
+asked to [draft a letter](https://libre-riscv.org/openpower/isans_letter/)
+to some of the (very busy) engineers with a huge amount of knowledge
+and experience inside IBM, for them to consider. Some help in reviewing
+it would be greatly appreciated.
+
+These and many other things are why the calls with Tim and Hugh are a
+good idea. The amazing thing is that they're taking us seriously, and
+we can discuss things like those above with them.
+
+Other nice things we learned (more on this below) is that Epic Games
+and RaptorCS are collaborating to get POWER9 supported in Unreal Engine.
+And that the idea has been very tentatively considered to use our design
+for the "boot management" processor, running
+[OpenBMC](https://github.com/openbmc/openbmc). These are early days,
+it's just ideas, ok! Aside from anything, we actually have to get a chip
+done, first.
# OpenPower Virtual Coffee Meetings
# Georgia Tech CREATE-X
-TODO
+(*This section kindly written by Yehowshua*)
+
+Yehowshua is a student at Georgia Tech currently pursuing a Masters in
+Computer Engineering - to graduate this summer. He had started working
+on Libre-SOC in December and wanted to to get Libre-SOC more funding so
+I could work on it full time.
+
+He originally asked if the ECE Chair at Georgia Tech would be willing
+to fund an in-department effort to deliver an SOC in collaboration
+with Libre-SOC(an idea to which he was quite receptive). Through Luke,
+Yehowshua got in contact with Chistopher Klaus who suggested Yehowshua
+should look into Klaus's startup accelerator program Create-X and perhaps
+consider taking Libre-SOC down the startup route. Robert Rhinehart, who
+had funded Libre-SOC a little in the past (*note from Luke: he donated
+the ZC706 and also funded modernisation of Richard Herveille's excellent
+[vga_lcd](https://github.com/RoaLogic/vga_lcd) Library*)
+also suggested that Yehowshua
+incorporate Libre-SOC with help from Create-X and said he would be willing
+to be a seed investor. All this happened by February.
+
+As of March, Yehowshua has been talking with Robert about what type of
+customers would be interested in Libre-SOC. Robert is largely interested in
+biological applications. Yehowshua also had a couple meetings with Rahul
+from Create-X. Yehowshua has started the incorporation of Libre-SOC. The
+parent company will probably be called Systèmes-Libres with Libre-SOC
+simply being one of the products we will offer. Yehowshua also attended
+HPCA in late February and had mentioned Libre-SOC during his talk. People
+seemed to find the idea quite interesting
+
+He will later be speaking with some well know startup lawyers that have
+an HQ in Atlanta to discuss business related things such as S Corps,
+C corps, taxes, wages, equity etc…
+
+Yehowshua plans for Systèmes-Libres to hire full time employees. Part
+time work on Libre-SOC will still be possible through donations and
+support from NL Net and companies like purism.
+
+Currently, Yehowshua plans to take the Create-X summer launch program
+and fund Systèmes-Libres by August. Full time wages would probably be
+set around 100k USD.
# LOAD/STORE Buffer and 6600 design documentation
many - layers of NDAs and reducing NREs and unnecessary and artificial
barriers for ASIC development: I helped him put in the submission, and
he was really happy to do the Cell Libraries that we will be using for
-LibreSOC's 180nm test tape-out in October 2020.)
+Libre-SOC's 180nm test tape-out in October 2020.)
# Public-Inbox and Domain Migration
This leaves me wondering, as I mention on the HDL list, if we can do the same
thing with large sections of the POWER Spec.
-# Build Servers
-
-TODO
+# Build Servers, Process Automation, and Reducing Cognitive Load
+
+(*written kindly by Cole*)
+
+Over the past month, Jacob, and a new project member Cole, set up a new
+build server for the project. The build server is an old computer that
+Jacob wasn't using anymore, that he decided to make available to the
+project for running continuous integration (CI) testing for the many
+modules and submodules of the project. The build server is a gitlab test
+runner instance using a Docker backend. As Luke has taken pains to make
+clear
+[many times](https://libre-riscv.org/HDL_workflow/),
+very large and complex python projects are guaranteed
+to fail without proper, extensive test coverage. This new build server
+will allow us to
+[automate](http://lists.libre-riscv.org/pipermail/libre-riscv-dev/2020-April/005687.html)
+the running, monitoring, and reporting of these
+tests, giving us the ability to push a commit and have it automatically
+"verified" as cohesive with the existing codebase. Automating feedback,
+will help provide more confidence to the engineers that their code isn't
+breaking some other functionality in a codebase they are working on,
+and should also help improve the ease of long-term maintainability
+of the code. The more we can automate the menial tasks that have to
+be repeated frequently, and are important for success of the project
+but are not related to progressing the engineering of the Libre-SOC,
+the more productive project members can be.
+
+To help continue to ease such administrative burdens on the engineers,
+Cole is also working on a repository of setup automation scripts. The first
+script is one that will replicate the setup of Jacob's build server,
+so that others who want to contribute computational resources to the
+project may do so easily. Cole is also working on a collection of modular
+scripts to automate the setup of the development environment for the
+HDL workflow and the layout of the SOC, including the installation of
+development branches of a substainal number of very complex pieces of
+software. This should help ease the process of onboarding new members
+to the project, especially some interns that we have coming onboard in
+the next few months to do the layout of the chip. These scripts will be
+available via the git.libre-riscv.org repository dev-env-setup, at the
+[following link](http://git.libre-riscv.org/?p=dev-env-setup.git)
# Conclusion
projects / crowdsupply.git / blobdiff