NAME
amldb —
executing and debugging AML
interpreter (with DSDT files)
SYNOPSIS
amldb |
[-dhst]
dsdt_file ... |
DESCRIPTION
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;
- Value
- Region type
- 0
- SystemMemory
- 1
- SystemIO
- 2
- PCI_Config
- 3
- EmbeddedControl
- 4
- SMBus
Interactive commands are described below:
-
-
- s
- Single step: Performs single-step
execution of the current Control Method. If the next instruction is an
invocation of another Control Method, the step execution will continue in
the following Control Method.
-
-
- n
- Step program: Performs single-step
execution of the current Control Method. Even if the next instruction is
an invocation of another Control Method, the step execution will not
continue.
-
-
- c
- Continue program being debugged: Resumes
execution of the AML interpreter. Because the current
amldb has no way of breakpoint, this command might not
so much useful.
-
-
- q
- Quit method execution: Terminates
execution of the current Control Method. If 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
- Show local name space tree and variables:
Displays the structure of the ACPI namespace tree. If
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
- Toggle region input prompt: Switches
whether the prompt for modifying the value read from the
region contents be showed or not. Default is On.
-
-
- o
- Toggle region output prompt: Switches
whether the prompt for modifying the value to be written to the region
contents will be shown or not. The default is Off.
-
-
- m
- Show memory management statistics:
Displays the current statistics of the memory management system on the AML
interpreter.
-
-
- r
method
- Run specified method: Executes the
specified Control Method. If it requires one or more arguments, a prompt
such as the following appears;
Method: 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:
-
-
- f
string
- Find named objects from namespace: Lists
the named objects that includes the specified string as the terminate
elements searching from the ACPI namespace. For the namespace is expressed
as the sequence of four-character elements, appropriate number of
additional underscore (‘
_
’) 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
- Show help messsage: Displays the command
summary of amldb.
OPTIONS
Exactly one of the following options must be specified. Otherwise,
amldb shows its usage and terminates.
-
-
- -d
- Dump the final status of all of the region
contents in the ACPI Virtual Machine to the file
region.dmp.
-
-
- -h
- Terminate with the usage of this command.
-
-
- -s
- Display the statistics of the memory management system on
the AML interpreter when amldb terminates.
-
-
- -t
- Display the tree structure of ACPI namespace after the DSDT
data file is read.
FILES
- region.ini
-
- region.dmp
-
EXAMPLES
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
%
SEE ALSO
acpi(4),
acpidump(8)
HISTORY
The
amldb utility appeared in
FreeBSD
5.0.
AUTHORS
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>.
BUGS
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.