README revision 9249 
1This is the gem5 simulator.
2
3For detailed information about building the simulator and getting
4started please refer to:
5* The main website:     http://www.gem5.org
6* Documentation wiki:   http://www.gem5.org/Documentation 
7* Doxygen generated:    http://www.gem5.org/docs
8* Tutorials:            http://www.gem5.org/Tutorials
9
10
11Specific pages of interest are:
12http://www.gem5.org/Introduction
13http://www.gem5.org/Build_System
14http://www.gem5.org/Dependencies
15http://www.gem5.org/Running_gem5
16
17Short version:
18External tools and required versions
19
20To build gem5, you will need the following software:
21g++ version 4.3 or newer.
22Python, version 2.4 - 2.7 (we don't support Python 3.X). gem5 links in the 
23    Python interpreter, so you need the Python header files and shared 
24    library (e.g., /usr/lib/libpython2.4.so) in addition to the interpreter
25    executable. These may or may not be installed by default. For example,
26    on Debian/Ubuntu, you need the "python-dev" package in addition to the
27    "python" package. If you need a newer or different Python installation
28     but can't or don't want to upgrade the default Python on your system,
29     see http://www.gem5.org/Using_a_non-default_Python_installation
30SCons, version 0.98.1 or newer. SCons is a powerful replacement for make. 
31    If you don't have administrator privileges on your machine, you can use the
32    "scons-local" package to install scons in your m5 directory, or install SCons
33    in your home directory using the '--prefix=' option.  
34SWIG, version 1.3.34 or newer
35zlib, any recent version. For Debian/Ubuntu, you will need the "zlib-dev" or
36    "zlib1g-dev" package to get the zlib.h header file as well as the library
37    itself.
38m4, the macro processor.
39
40
414. In this directory, type 'scons build/<ARCH>/gem5.opt' where ARCH is one
42of ALPHA, ARM, MIPS, POWER, SPARC, or X86. This will build an optimized version
43of the gem5 binary (gem5.opt) for the the specified architecture.
44
45If you have questions, please send mail to gem5-users@gem5.org
46
47WHAT'S INCLUDED (AND NOT)
48-------------------------
49
50The basic source release includes these subdirectories:
51 - gem5:
52   - configs: example simulation configuration scripts
53   - ext: less-common external packages needed to build gem5
54   - src: source code of the gem5 simulator
55   - system: source for some optional system software for simulated systems
56   - tests: regression tests
57   - util: useful utility programs and files
58
59To run full-system simulations, you will need compiled system firmware
60(console and PALcode for Alpha), kernel binaries and one or more disk images. 
61Please see the gem5 download page for these items at http://www.gem5.org/Download 
62