a³ Release 10.08
----------------
New target
----------
StackAnalyzer module now available for H8.
Qualification Support Kits (QSKs)
---------------------------------
* New QSK available for the aiT module of a³ for LEON3 (gcc-3.4.4).
* New QSK available for the StackAnalyzer module of H8 (including measurements).
* Extended WCET QSK for MPC603e: added tests for local loop-bound specifications
via source-file references.
* Extended Stack QSK for M68020 by measurements.
* Improvemens to all QSKs:
* The QSK test procedures are now supported by a graphical user interface.
* Extended QSKs by new tests for recently added AIS features.
* Extended QSKs by new tests for recently added a³ GUI options.
* All QSKs are now shipped with an additional report called "Software
Verification Results". This report is an acknowledgement that all tests
have been successfully executed before the delivery.
a³ toolchain
------------
* zlib compression tuned for speed.
* Improved speed of prediction-file base toolchain.
XTC handling
------------
Fixed the issue with the very first XTC request not being answered
under certain circumstances.
Visualization
-------------
* Folding all nodes will no longer cause the graph to be hidden.
* Nodes found via the search dialog can now be made visible by double-clicking
on the search result.
* The number of graph folding operations has been reduced to a minimum.
* Empty tooltips are no longer displayed.
a³ GUI
------
* Improved reading of large DWARF debug info inside the GUI.
* DWARF debug info and Sections info only created and loaded on demand.
* Better cleanup of temporary files.
* Better message handling for background threads such as disassembly writer.
* Fixed disassembly problem that resulted in some routines not being shown
in the GUI.
* Added graphical visualization of the WCET contributions.
* Show which analysis are to be run in the summary view.
* Show error if specified machine description file does not exist.
* Each information view uses the same filter dialog.
* Highlighted errors in editor view are cleared upon re-running an analysis.
* Improved integration of search in the visualized graph.
* Added overwrite mode in the text editor.
* Improved analysis overview: analyses can now be re-sorted via drag-and-drop.
* All editor, message, and disassembly views can now be detached from the a³ GUI.
* In the debug views, type information is now displayed in cases for which
it was missing before.
* Improved Disassembly view.
* Fixed problem with Windows filenames and "Display source".
* In the WCET Contributions view, missing or unavailable analysis results
are now marked as "n/a" rather than as "-1".
* The message window is no longer cleared upon analysis start unless expressly
configured that way.
* Improved the "Show applied annotation" feature. If the same AIS annotation
is valid for several subsequent source-code lines, their buttons for jumping
to the annotation are combined into a single one.
* Code view has been renamed into Disassembly view for improved consistency.
* "Disable visualization" applies to batch mode only.
* H8: "CPU Variant" has been renamed into "Instruction Set".
* HCS12: clarified that register contents (not register addresses) have to be
specified in the machine configuration dialog.
* Minor general cleanups.
AIS
---
* New annotation "skip target check" replaces the annotation
"computed_target_feasible=1".
* Targets of indirect function calls can now be specified.
* AIS expressions can now produce and process modulo information.
* New operators "uint" and "sint" for casting arbitrary values to unsigned
and signed integers of given bit width.
* New operator "exactly ==" for comparing two sets of possible values.
* New operator "exact" to test if a value is exact.
* Special value NaN is replaced by (-inf .. inf).
* The predicate "defined" that tested for NaN has been removed.
* The "round" operation is now called "int".
* HC11/HCS12: annotations describing the effect of the swi instruction
on stack and timing have been replaced by more generic ones.
* V850: new annotations for software exceptions.
* ARM7: flashes (with description in AIS) are supported again.
* a³ with contexts: there can be more than one interproc specification.
Features that already existed in 10.04, but weren't documented
--------------------------------------------------------------
* a³ with timing and daan: execution times of code snippets excluded
from analysis may be expressions.
* a³ with timing: loops may have time bounds.
* Annotations concerning memory areas:
* New short form "position .. + n bytes".
* New form "position align + n bytes".
* New annotation "might contain data" for memory areas.
* a³ where memory accesses are of importance: clarification
about "ARRAY + 0 bytes".
Decoding
--------
* Reduced memory usage during DWARF debug info extraction.
* GHS compiler: improved handling of data symbols containing path names.
The symbols are now transformed in the same manner as routine symbols.
* The decoder now warns about relocations (non-statically linked binaries
or presence of dynamic link info).
* Improved detection of read-only memory areas and the "is copied from"
annotation.
* Improved handling of the program-point annotation
"<name> + <n> branch/conditional".
* Fixed issue with include paths for finding source files,
if the path separators don't match the ones of the used
operating system or are mixed (/ vs. \).
* C16x: fixed mnemonic for addresses in bit-addressable modes.
* H8:
* Improved decoding of jsr/jmp @@a8 with zeropage address indirection.
* Improved mnemonics of several instructions.
* HCS12:
* Improved decoding of CPS instruction.
* Improved switch table patterns.
* Improved readability by using alias mnemonics for assembly instructions.
* Support for xb-byte encodings for call instruction with computed
call target.
* M32: improved decoding of several instructions and their representation
in the disassembly.
* M68020: improved decoding of switch tables (XD Ada).
* PCP2:
* Support for DWARF line info.
* Correct order of operands for exit instruction in decoded assembly string.
* Improved decoding of load/store instructions.
* Improved decoding of control-flow instructions.
* Consistent assembly strings for immediate constants.
* PPC:
* Extension for switch table detection.
* Improved decoding of switch tables for GCC.
* MPC55xx: extended VLE instruction set to support the following instructions
intended to improve the interrupt handler efficiency:
* e_lmvgprw
* e_stmvgprw
* e_lmvsprw
* e_stmvsprw
* e_lmvsrrw
* e_stmvsrrw
* e_lmvcsrrw
* e_stmvcsrrw
* e_lmvdsrrw
* e_stmvdsrrw
* SPARC:
* The annotations "condition ... is false if ..." and "condition ... is false
make infeasible" now work for conditional branches with delay slots.
This improves the analysis precision.
* Improved decoding of switch tables (GNAT Ada compiler).
* Improved handling of tail calls.
* V850:
* General improvements to decoding of V850 binaries.
* Improved decoding of binaries comprising code holes.
* Better decoding of computed branches and tail calls.
* Handle "fetrap", "syscall", and "rie" as trap.
* Improved resolving of indirect function pointers.
* Improved detection of size information for stack frames
embedded in the code segment for StackAnalyzer for V850/GHS.
Stack and value analysis
------------------------
* Value analysis is less strict with asserts annotations evaluated
in speculative analysis contexts.
* H8:
* Improved precision for instructions such as "sub.w".
* General improvements.
* HCS12: the value analysis now aborts when no memory map is specified.
This check was previously done by the pipeline analysis.
* V850:
* Stack analysis now available for generic V850 E1/ES and E2 targets.
* Improved handling of computed calls in stack analysis.
* M68020: stack analysis now supports the STOP instruction.
* PowerPC: improved precision of value analysis thanks to ranges
for loop variables calculated by loop analysis.
Path analysis
-------------
* New, improved implementation of the prediction-file based path analysis.
The analysis is now faster, consumes less memory, and uses no swap files.
* New, improved implementation of the prediction-file based path analysis
using ILP which allows additional user constraints and persistence analysis.
* Correct handling of address ranges above 0x8000000 in the count-accesses
annotations.
* Prediction-file based path analyses now support the TLB miss penalties.
* Improve persistence analysis for not fully unrolled examples.
Cache and pipeline analysis
---------------------------
* Improved May-Cache analysis.
* Improved persistence analysis if multiple caches are used.
* Local best case added to multiple targets.
* The unrolling-consistency check for user-provided loop bounds is now also
performed for default loop bounds, possibly resulting in more warnings
such as "loop seems to have more iterations than specified".
* C16x:
* Added support for C165UTAH.
* The report file now includes the bus configuration.
* PPC750: improved handling of write-triggered reads on write-back
memory areas.
* TriCore: improved handling of writes into external memory.
* V850:
* More user-friendly handling of memory accesses that target unknown
memory regions (i.e. memory regions that are not specified in the AIS file).
* Improved timing model with regard to prepare and dispose instructions.
* Minor fix for memory map generation for V850E/FK3-H: the area
0x3fec664…0x3fec665 now correctly contains CAN1 module transmit
history list register instead of being classified as a general programmable
peripheral area.
* Significantly improved performance and reduced memory consumption
of the pipeline analysis.
Visualization and reporting
---------------------------
* Output UCB results per "evaluated as" annotation.
Trace validation (used for QSKs)
--------------------------------
* Added optional validation by means of NEXUS-like measurements.
* The user may now specify an address range for bus and queue event traces,
limiting the scope of validation to events contained in that specific
address range.
==============================================================================
Last modified on 11 August 2010 by alex@absint.com.
Copyright 2010 AbsInt. http://www.absint.com/
==============================================================================
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http://www.absint.com/releasenotes/a3/10.08/