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Initial implementation of cross-compilation to Knuth's MMIX #102766

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merged 1 commit into from Nov 14, 2020
Merged

Initial implementation of cross-compilation to Knuth's MMIX #102766

merged 1 commit into from Nov 14, 2020

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siraben
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@siraben siraben commented Nov 4, 2020 •
edited

Motivation for this change

Let's make Nix one of the first Linux package managers to have cross-compile support for MMIX!

The following command cross-builds GNU Hello and runs it in Knuth's mmixware simulator for MMIX showing that indeed it works.

$ nix-shell -E 'with import ./. { }; runCommand "" { buildInputs = [ pkgsCross.mmix.hello mmixware ]; } ""' \                            
            --run 'mmix $(which hello)'
Hello, world!

Some variations I'm trying (failed ones are strikethroughed)

  • mmix-unknown-mmixware libc = newlib
  • mmix-unknown-linux-uclib
  • mmix-unknown-elf
  • mmix-none-elf
  • mmix-elf
  • mmix

Looks like we will only be able to use newlib, as it has mmixware support.

Things done
  • Tested using sandboxing (nix.useSandbox on NixOS, or option sandbox in nix.conf on non-NixOS linux)
  • Built on platform(s)
    • NixOS
    • macOS
    • other Linux distributions
  • Tested via one or more NixOS test(s) if existing and applicable for the change (look inside nixos/tests)
  • Tested compilation of all pkgs that depend on this change using nix-shell -p nixpkgs-review --run "nixpkgs-review wip"
  • Tested execution of all binary files (usually in ./result/bin/)
  • Determined the impact on package closure size (by running nix path-info -S before and after)
  • Ensured that relevant documentation is up to date
  • Fits CONTRIBUTING.md.

@siraben siraben changed the title Initial implementation of cross-compilation of Knuth's MMIX Initial implementation of cross-compilation to Knuth's MMIX Nov 4, 2020
@veprbl veprbl added the 6.topic: cross-compilation Building packages on a different sort platform than than they will be run on label Nov 4, 2020
@SuperSandro2000
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Result of nixpkgs-review pr 102766 run on x86_64-linux 1

1 package built:
  • mmixware

Ericson2314
Ericson2314 reviewed Nov 5, 2020
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lib/systems/parse.nix Outdated Show resolved Hide resolved
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Ericson2314 commented Nov 5, 2020 •
edited

There are these two nones left over. Note you will also need to make mmixware a "kernel". (We should really rename "kernel" to something better!!)

@siraben
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siraben commented Nov 5, 2020 •
edited

Where's the two nones? I found one in doubles.nix (answered on IRC)

@vikanezrimaya
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Please clarify: can this architecture run the Linux kernel or is it just bare-metal for now?

@siraben
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siraben commented Nov 5, 2020

Currently bare metal. I'll adjust the top comment with variations tried.

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siraben commented Nov 5, 2020 •
edited

It appears possible to boot a patched Linux kernel, see http://mmix.cs.hm.edu/examples/Linux/index.html

vikanezrimaya
vikanezrimaya suggested changes Nov 5, 2020
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I am unable to reproduce the nix-shell example above. Maybe I'm doing something wrong?

pkgs/development/tools/mmixware/default.nix Outdated Show resolved Hide resolved
pkgs/development/tools/mmixware/default.nix Outdated Show resolved Hide resolved
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siraben commented Nov 5, 2020

@kisik21 Please try again.

@vikanezrimaya
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@siraben yay, it's compiling!

@siraben
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siraben commented Nov 5, 2020

@Ericson2314 I added this target locally, and it works.

  mmix-embedded = {
    config = "mmix";
    libc = "newlib";
  };

However GNU hello's diff seems to be very small. Are they really different targets?

diff --git a/hello_mmixware.txt b/hello_mmixware-embedded.txt
index 99e4e08..0ca8e94 100644
--- a/hello_mmixware.txt
+++ b/hello_mmixware-embedded.txt
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-00000000: 9809 0101 5fa2 a96c 9801 0002 0000 0000  ...._..l........
+00000000: 9809 0101 5fa3 ea56 9801 0002 0000 0000  ...._..V........
 00000010: 0000 0100 6000 0000 0000 0000 0000 0000  ....`...........
 00000020: 0002 9758 0000 0000 0002 983c 2000 0000  ...X.......< ...
 00000030: 0000 0000 2000 0000 0000 1480 e3ff 0020  .... ..........

vikanezrimaya
vikanezrimaya approved these changes Nov 5, 2020
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Built and run the provided example successfully!

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It looks like ./lib/tests/release.nix needs updating to not see the new architecture as an error.

@siraben
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siraben commented Nov 5, 2020

Looks like

It looks like ./lib/tests/release.nix needs updating to not see the new architecture as an error.

What do you mean by this?

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$ nix-build --arg pkgs 'import ./. {}' ./lib/tests/release.nix
warning: unknown setting 'extra-sandbox-paths'
error: --- ThrownError ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ nix-build
[{"expected":["aarch64-darwin","aarch64-genode","aarch64-linux","aarch64-none","arm-none","armv5tel-linux","armv6l-linux","armv6l-none","armv7a-darwin","armv7a-linux","armv7l-linux","avr-none","i686-cygwin","i686-darwin","i686-freebsd","i686-genode","i686-linux","i686-netbsd","i686-none","i686-openbsd","i686-windows","js-ghcjs","mipsel-linux","msp430-none","powerpc-none","powerpc64le-linux","riscv32-linux","riscv32-none","riscv64-linux","riscv64-none","vc4-none","wasm32-wasi","wasm64-wasi","x86_64-cygwin","x86_64-darwin","x86_64-freebsd","x86_64-genode","x86_64-linux","x86_64-netbsd","x86_64-none","x86_64-openbsd","x86_64-redox","x86_64-solaris","x86_64-windows"],"name":"testall","result":["aarch64-darwin","aarch64-genode","aarch64-linux","aarch64-none","arm-none","armv5tel-linux","armv6l-linux","armv6l-none","armv7a-darwin","armv7a-linux","armv7l-linux","avr-none","i686-cygwin","i686-darwin","i686-freebsd","i686-genode","i686-linux","i686-netbsd","i686-none","i686-openbsd","i686-windows","js-ghcjs","mipsel-linux","mmix-mmixware","msp430-none","powerpc-none","powerpc64le-linux","riscv32-linux","riscv32-none","riscv64-linux","riscv64-none","vc4-none","wasm32-wasi","wasm64-wasi","x86_64-cygwin","x86_64-darwin","x86_64-freebsd","x86_64-genode","x86_64-linux","x86_64-netbsd","x86_64-none","x86_64-openbsd","x86_64-redox","x86_64-solaris","x86_64-windows"]}]

Passing that through jq '.[0].result - .[0].expected' gets me ["mmix-mmixware"] - it means that the lib test suite doesn't expect to see the new double in the list of available doubles.

@ehmry ehmry added the 6.topic: exotic Exotic hardware or software platform label Nov 6, 2020
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Result of nixpkgs-review pr 102766 run on x86_64-darwin 1

1 package built:
  • mmixware

@siraben
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siraben commented Nov 7, 2020

@kisik21 I'm not sure what files I have to change to resolve that error.

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FRidh commented Nov 8, 2020

You need to add the new arch to lib/tests/systems.nix. I suggest having a look at the file's log, because this issue happened more often when new architectures were added.

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@kisik21

Please clarify: can this architecture run the Linux kernel or is it just bare-metal for now?

The simulator supports some basic system calls. So it's like having a basic OS that just read writes out to serial ports or something.

Ericson2314
Ericson2314 approved these changes Nov 14, 2020
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Looks good!

@Ericson2314 Ericson2314 merged commit 86fedc3 into NixOS:master Nov 14, 2020
@siraben siraben deleted the mmix branch November 14, 2020 17:51
This was referenced Jun 16, 2021
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6.topic: cross-compilation Building packages on a different sort platform than than they will be run on 6.topic: exotic Exotic hardware or software platform 8.has: package (new) 10.rebuild-darwin: 1-10 10.rebuild-darwin: 1 10.rebuild-linux: 1-10 10.rebuild-linux: 1 11.by: package-maintainer
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