The Design and Implementation of an Extendible Instruction Set Simulator

This thesis describes the design of a system-level instruction set simulator, a software tool that emulates enough software-visible aspects of a computer system to allow direct execution of an unmodified operating system in a controlled, transparent environment. Instruction set (ISA) simulation is an established technique used for debugging, profiling and validation of computer systems since the introduction of the first EDSAC ISA in 1949. To date, all such simulators have been designed in an ad hoc fashion, targeted for a particular combination of the target architecture, operating system and simulation technique. This approach leaves little room for code reuse, and is unsatisfactory as instruction set simulators represent a substantial code investment, but are typically employed in a research or a development environment as short-lived, project-specific tools. Therefore, there exists a clear need for a robust framework for sharing and reusing simulator components. Sulima is a result of my attempt to design such a framework, in which systemleve