AMLDB(8) | System Manager's Manual | AMLDB(8) |
amldb
—
amldb |
[-dhst ] dsdt_file ... |
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
.amldb
shows its usage and terminates.
-d
-h
-s
amldb
terminates.-t
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 %
amldb
utility appeared in FreeBSD
5.0.
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>.
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 9.4 |