AMLDB(8) | System Manager's Manual | AMLDB(8) |
amldb
— executing
and debugging AML interpreter (with DSDT files)
amldb |
[-dhst ] dsdt_file ... |
The amldb
utility parses the DSDT
(Differentiated System Description Table) files, which usually are acquired
from ACPI BIOS, and executes the sequence of ACPI Control Methods described
in AML (ACPI Machine Language) with its AML interpreter. The
amldb
utility also has a simple ACPI virtual
machine. During execution of the Control Methods each access to the region,
such as SystemMemory, SystemIO, PCI_Config, does not affect the real
hardware but only the virtual machine. Because the sequence of virtual
accesses is maintained in user space, AML interpreter developers need not
worry about any effect on hardware when they analyze DSDT data files. They
can develop and debug the interpreter, even if the machine has no ACPI
BIOS.
The developer will need to acquire a DSDT data file from any
machine with ACPI BIOS through
acpidump(8). The DSDT is a
table, a part of the whole ACPI memory table located in somewhere in the
BIOS area (0xa0000 - 0x100000
). It includes such
information as the detailed hardware information for PnP, and the set of
procedures which perform power management from the OS. The information is
stored in AML format.
The AML interpreter can execute any of the Control Methods specified by users. When executed, it interprets the byte sequence in the Control Method of DSDT, and disassembles the opcodes that it recognizes into ASL (ACPI Source Language) format to be displayed.
If it encounters one of more accesses to the region such as SystemMemory in executing the Control Methods, its ACPI Virtual Machine simulates the input/output operations to the resources in the region. In writing to a certain region, the ACPI Virtual Machine prepares a piece of memory corresponding to its address, if necessary, and holds the specified value in the memory as the region contents. In reading from a certain region, it fetches the value in the memory (region contents), prompts with it as the following:
DEBUG[read(0, 0x100b6813)&mask:0x1](default: 0x1 / 1) >>
for users to have the opportunity to modify it, and hands it to the AML interpreter. In case that there is no corresponding region in the AML Virtual Machine, the value zero is handed.
The interpreter continues to maintain all of the
region contents until amldb
terminates. You can specify their initial values with the file
region.ini in the current directory. If it is
executed with -d
option, it dumps the final status
of all of its region contents to the file
region.dmp when it terminates. Each line of there
files consists of the following fields, separated by tabs; region type,
address, and value. Region types are specified as follows;
Interactive commands are described below:
s
n
c
amldb
has no way of
breakpoint, this command might not so much useful.q
amldb
is not in execution, this command causes to
input the next DSDT data file. If there are no next DSDT data files, it
terminates amldb
itself.t
amldb
is in execution, this
command displays the structure that relates to the objects, arguments, and
local variables below the scope of the current Control Method.i
o
m
r
methodMethod: Arg 1 From 0x280626ce To 0x28062775 Enter argument values (ex. number 1 / string foo). 'q' to quit. Arg0 ?
For each argument, a pair of type string and value delimited
by one or more spaces can be entered. Now only
number
and string
can be
specified as the type string. In the current implementation, only the
first character of the type string, such as n
or
s
, is identified. For example, we can enter as
follows:
Arg0 ? n 1
f
string_
’) characters are necessary for
specifying objects which have less than four character string. Unless
additional underscores specified, matching occurs as the beginning of word
with the specified number of characters.h
amldb
.Exactly one of the following options must be specified. Otherwise,
amldb
shows its usage and terminates.
-d
-h
-s
amldb
terminates.-t
The following is an example including, invoking the
amldb
, searching _PRS
(Possible Resource Settings) objects, and executing the
_PTS
(Prepare To Sleep) Control Method by the AML
interpreter.
% amldb p2b.dsdt.dat Loading p2b.dsdt.dat...done AML>f _PRS \_SB_.PCI0.ISA_.PS2M._PRS. \_SB_.PCI0.ISA_.IRDA._PRS. \_SB_.PCI0.ISA_.UAR2._PRS. \_SB_.PCI0.ISA_.UAR1._PRS. \_SB_.PCI0.ISA_.ECP_._PRS. \_SB_.PCI0.ISA_.LPT_._PRS. \_SB_.PCI0.ISA_.FDC0._PRS. \_SB_.LNKD._PRS. \_SB_.LNKC._PRS. \_SB_.LNKB._PRS. \_SB_.LNKA._PRS. AML>r _PTS Method: Arg 1 From 0x2805f0a3 To 0x2805f0db Enter argument values (ex. number 1 / string foo). 'q' to quit. Arg0 ? n 5 ==== Running _PTS. ==== AML>s [\_PTS. START] If(LNot(LEqual(Arg0, 0x5))) AML> If(LEqual(Arg0, 0x1)) AML> If(LEqual(Arg0, 0x2)) AML> Store(One, TO12) [aml_region_write(1, 1, 0x1, 0xe42c, 0x18, 0x1)] amldb: region.ini: No such file or directory [1:0x00@0xe42f]->[1:0x01@0xe42f] [write(1, 0x1, 0xe42f)] [aml_region_read(1, 1, 0xe42c, 0x18, 0x1)] [1:0x01@0xe42f] DEBUG[read(1, 0xe42f)&mask:0x1](default: 0x1 / 1) >> [read(1, 0xe42f)->0x1] AML> Or(Arg0, 0xf0, Local2)[Copy number 0xf5] AML>t _PTS Method: Arg 1 From 0x2805f0a3 To 0x2805f0db Arg0 Num:0x5 Local2 Num:0xf5 AML>s Store(Local2, DBG1) [aml_region_write(1, 1, 0xf5, 0x80, 0x0, 0x8)] [1:0x00@0x80]->[1:0xf5@0x80] [write(1, 0xf5, 0x80)] [aml_region_read(1, 1, 0x80, 0x0, 0x8)] [1:0xf5@0x80] DEBUG[read(1, 0x80)&mask:0xf5](default: 0xf5 / 245) >> [read(1, 0x80)->0xf5] AML> [\_PTS. END] _PTS Method: Arg 1 From 0x2805f0a3 To 0x2805f0db NO object ==== _PTS finished. ==== AML>q %
The amldb
utility appeared in
FreeBSD 5.0.
Takanori Watanabe
<takawata@FreeBSD.org>
Mitsuru IWASAKI
<iwasaki@FreeBSD.org>
Yasuo YOKOYAMA
<yokoyama@jp.FreeBSD.org>
Some contributions made by
Chitoshi Ohsawa
<ohsawa@catv1.ccn-net.ne.jp>,
Takayasu IWANASHI
<takayasu@wendy.a.perfect-liberty.or.jp>,
Norihiro KUMAGAI
<kumagai@home.com>,
Kenneth Ingham
<ingham@I-pi.com>, and
Michael Lucas
<mwlucas@blackhelicopters.org>.
The ACPI virtual machine does not completely simulate the behavior of a machine with an ACPI BIOS. In the current implementation, the ACPI virtual machine only reads or writes the stored values by emulating access to regions such as SystemMemory.
Because the AML interpreter interprets and disassembles simultaneously, it is impossible to implement such features as setting breakpoints with the specified line number in ASL. Setting breakpoints at certain Control Methods, which is not very difficult, has not yet implemented because nobody has ever needed it.
August 31, 2000 | NetBSD 10.99 |