5 Advanced Installation Options

This section provides additional information for users who need deeper information about some issues.

5.1 Manual Package Management

The Intel® Simics® Package Manager (ISPM) works well for many advanced use cases. However, sometimes it is necessary to use the addon-manager or the project-setup programs.

The examples are run on Linux but everything works the same on Windows, except file paths and file suffixes.

Packages are not installed on top of any other package. Instead each package, and different versions of it, stay in separate directories. Each user project is bound to a particular installation of Simics Base, and it keeps its own list of paths to selected add-on packages that makes them available to the simulation engine at run-time. To manually configure this list or bind to another installation of Simics Base, use the addon-manager and project-setup programs.

Here are a few examples of what those programs can do:

5.1.1 Listing Add-on Packages

This example will list the add-on packages configured for the particular user project.

[project]$ bin/addon-manager
=== Using the package list in project ([project]) ===

Configured add-on packages:
   QSP-x86  7.0.0  ../simics-qsp-x86-7.0.0

If there are any invalid entries (their paths do not exist anymore, or the necessary information files are invalid), the addon-manager will suggest removing them right away.

5.1.2 Adding Add-on Packages

This example will add a package to the list for the particular user project.

[project]$ bin/addon-manager -s [simics]/simics-gdb-7.0.0

...
Configured add-on packages:
   QSP-x86  7.0.0   ../simics-qsp-x86-7.0.0

The following operations will be performed:
   -> Add  GDB  7.0.0  ../simics-gdb-7.0.0

New package list:
   GDB      7.0.0  ../simics-gdb-7.0.0
   QSP-x86  7.0.0  ../simics-qsp-x86-7.0.0

Do you want to update the package list? (y/n) [y] <ENTER>
Package list updated
Do you want to update the project? (y/n) [y] <ENTER>
Project updated successfully

5.1.3 Removing Add-on Packages

This example will remove an add-on package from the list for the particular user project.

[project]$ bin/addon-manager -d ../simics-gdb-7.0.0/

...
Configured add-on packages:
   GDB      7.0.0  ../simics-gdb-7.0.0
   QSP-x86  7.0.0  ../simics-qsp-x86-7.0.0

The following operations will be performed:
   -> Remove  GDB 7.0.0  ../simics-gdb-7.0.0

New package list:
   QSP-x86  7.0.0  ../simics-qsp-x86-7.0.0

Do you want to update the package list? (y/n) [y] <ENTER>
...

5.1.4 Upgrade Version of Simics Base

To manually change which installation of Simics Base a user project is bound to, use the project-setup program of the installation to bind to.

[project]$ [simics]/bin/project-setup .
Project-local package list updated successfully.
Project updated successfully

The program will save any edited files it wants to update into the project’s .backup directory.

When building custom modules or extensions on Windows, bin\make.bat must be setup to find the executables of MinGW. If needed it can be updated by using project-setup with the –mingw-dir option.

For more options and information about the addon-manager and project-setup programs, see the Simics Reference Manual.

5.2 Multi-user Installations

5.2.1 Shared Installations

By default, the simulator is organized so that the installed packages can be left read-only in a common location accessible to all users. And users create custom Intel® Simics® project areas, as described in our manuals.

5.2.2 Shared Configuration

Historically each installation of Simics Base kept its own list of paths to all installed add-on packages. Some organizations tweaked the list to create a “shared configuration” of selected add-on packages.

It is now recommended to use ISPM and instead share manifest files with the users.

However, if necessary an installation of Simics Base can be configured with specific add-on packages in the same way as manually managing user projects as described in a previous section of this chapter. For more information, see about the addon-manager in the Simics Reference Manual.

5.3 Third-Party Products (Windows)

On Windows some functionality of the simulator requires support from third-party products. This section describes those products.