Tool: mp_epi
Overview
The mp_epi tool provides an interface to generate instruction-based stressmarks. Instruction-based stressmarks are loops with a particular instruction repeated several times. They are ideal to perform energy per instruction characterizations as well as performance profile of the ISA. Users can control the level of instruction-level parallelism and the loop size via configurable parameters.
Basic usage
> mp_epi -T TARGET -D OUTPUT_DIR
where:
Flag/Argument |
Description |
|---|---|
|
Target definition string. Check: Command line target definition scheme. |
|
Output directory. |
The parameters above are the minimum number of parameters required to generate one stressmark with maximum ILP (no dependency) per instruction available in the architecture. There are other parameters to tune the code being generated. Check the rest of this document for details.
Full usage
mp_epi.py: INFO: Processing input arguments...
usage: mp_epi.py [-h] [-P SEARCH_PATH [SEARCH_PATH ...]] [-V] [-v] [-d]
[-c CONFIG_FILE [CONFIG_FILE ...]] [-C FORCE_CONFIG_FILE]
[--dump-configuration-file OUTPUT_CONFIG_FILE]
[--dump-full-configuration-file OUTPUT_CONFIG_FILE]
[-A ARCHITECTURE_PATHS] [-M MICROARCHITECTURE_PATHS]
[-E ENVIRONMENT_PATHS] -T TARGET [--list-architectures]
[--list-microarchitectures] [--list-environments]
[--traceback] [--profile PROFILE_OUTPUT] [-O EPI_OUTPUT_FILE]
[-D EPI_OUTPUT_DIR] [-ins INSTRUCTIONS] [-B BENCHMARK_SIZE]
[-dd DEPENDENCY_DISTANCE] [--data-init {random,zero}] [-R]
[-F] [-p] [-s] [-ie]
Microprobe epi tool
optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-P SEARCH_PATH [SEARCH_PATH ...], --default_paths SEARCH_PATH [SEARCH_PATH ...]
Default search paths for microprobe target definitions
-V, --version Show Microprobe version and exit
-v, --verbosity Verbosity level (Values: [0,1,2,3,4]). Each time this
argument is specified the verbosity level is
increased. By default, no logging messages are shown.
These are the four levels available:
-v (1): critical messages
-v -v (2): critical and error messages
-v -v -v (3): critical, error and warning messages
-v -v -v -v (4): critical, error, warning and info messages
Specifying more than four verbosity flags, will
default to the maximum of four. If you need extra
information, enable the debug mode (--debug or -d
flags).
-d, --debug Enable debug mode in Microprobe framework. Lots of
output messages will be generated
Configuration arguments:
Command arguments related to configuration file handling
-c CONFIG_FILE [CONFIG_FILE ...], --configuration CONFIG_FILE [CONFIG_FILE ...]
Configuration file. The configuration files will be
readed in order of appearance. Values are reset by the
last configuration file in case of non-list values.
List values will be appended (not reset)
-C FORCE_CONFIG_FILE, --force-configuration FORCE_CONFIG_FILE
Force configuration file. Use this configuration file
as the default start configuration. This disables any
system-wide, or user-provided configuration.
--dump-configuration-file OUTPUT_CONFIG_FILE
Dump a configuration file with the actual
configuration used
--dump-full-configuration-file OUTPUT_CONFIG_FILE
Dump a configuration file with the actual
configuration used plus all the configuration options
not set
Target path arguments:
Command arguments related to target paths
-A ARCHITECTURE_PATHS, --architecture-paths ARCHITECTURE_PATHS
Search path for architecture definitions. Microprobe
will search in these paths for architecture
definitions
-M MICROARCHITECTURE_PATHS, --microarchitecture-paths MICROARCHITECTURE_PATHS
Search path for microarchitecture definitions.
Microprobe will search in these paths for
microarchitecture definitions
-E ENVIRONMENT_PATHS, --environment-paths ENVIRONMENT_PATHS
Search path for environment definitions. Microprobe
will search in these paths for environment definitions
Target arguments:
Command arguments related to target specification and queries
-T TARGET, --target TARGET
Target tuple. Microprobe follows a GCC-like target
definition scheme, where a target is defined by a
tuple as following:
<arch-name>-<uarch-name>-<env-name>
where:
<arch-name>: is the name of the architecture
<uarch-name>: is the name of the microarchitecture
<env-name>: is the name of the environment
One can use --list-* options to get the list of
definitions available in the default search paths or
the paths specified by the different --*-paths options
--list-architectures Generate a list of architectures available in the
defined search paths and exit
--list-microarchitectures
Generate a list of microarchitectures available in the
defined search paths and exit
--list-environments Generate a list of environments available in the
defined search paths and exit
Debug arguments:
Command arguments related to debugging facilities
--traceback show a traceback and starts a python debugger (pdb)
when an error occurs. 'pdb' is an interactive python
shell that facilitates the debugging of errors
--profile PROFILE_OUTPUT
dump profiling information into given file (see
'pstats' module)
EPI arguments:
Command arguments related to EPI generation
-O EPI_OUTPUT_FILE, --epi-output-file EPI_OUTPUT_FILE
Output file name
-D EPI_OUTPUT_DIR, --epi-output-dir EPI_OUTPUT_DIR
Output directory name
-ins INSTRUCTIONS, --instructions INSTRUCTIONS
Comma separated list of instructions to generate a
benchmark with
-B BENCHMARK_SIZE, --benchmark-size BENCHMARK_SIZE
Size in instructions of the microbenchmark. If more
instruction are needed, nested loops are automatically
generated
-dd DEPENDENCY_DISTANCE, --dependency-distance DEPENDENCY_DISTANCE
Average dependency distance between instructions. A
value below 1 means not dependency between
instructions. A value of 1 means a chain of dependent
instructions.
--data-init {random,zero}
Data initialization values (memory and registers). It
can be set to zero (all zeros) or to random. . Valid
values: random, zero
-R, --reset Reset the register contents on each loop iteration
-F, --all Generate all instructions. By default only user level
instructions are generated.
-p, --parallel Generate benchmarks in parallel
-s, --skip Skip benchmarks already generated
-ie, --ignore-errors Ignore error during code generation (continue in case
of an error in a particular parameter combination)
Environment variables:
MICROPROBETEMPLATES Default path for microprobe templates
MICROPROBEDEBUG If set, enable debug
MICROPROBEDEBUGPASSES If set, enable debug during passes
MICROPROBEASMHEXFMT Assembly hexadecimal format. Options:
'all' -> All immediates in hex format
'address' -> Address immediates in hex format (default)
'none' -> All immediate in integer format