SPEC 2017

This document aims to provide instructions to create a gem5-compatible disk image containing the SPEC 2017 benchmark suite and also to provide necessary configuration files.

Building the Disk Image

Creating a disk-image for SPEC 2017 requires the benchmark suite ISO file. More info about SPEC 2017 can be found at https://www.spec.org/cpu2017/.

In this tutorial, we assume that the file cpu2017-1.1.0.iso contains the SPEC benchmark suite, and we provide the scripts that are made specifically for SPEC 2017 version 1.1.0. Throughout the this document, the root folder is src/spec-2017/. All commands should be run from the assumed root folder.

The layout of the folder after the scripts are run is as follows,

spec-2017/
  |___ gem5/                                   # gem5 folder
  |
  |___ disk-image/
  |      |___ shared/
  |      |___ spec-2017/
  |             |___ spec-2017-image/
  |             |      |___ spec-2017          # the disk image will be generated here
  |             |___ spec-2017.json            # the Packer script
  |             |___ cpu2017-1.1.0.iso         # SPEC 2017 ISO (add here)
  |
  |___ configs
  |      |___ system/
  |      |___ run_spec.py                      # gem5 run script
  |
  |___ vmlinux-4.19.83                         # Linux kernel, link to download provided below
  |
  |___ README.md

First, to build m5 (required for interactions between gem5 and the system under simuations):

git clone https://gem5.googlesource.com/public/gem5
cd gem5
cd util/m5
scons build/x86/out/m5

We use Packer, an open-source automated disk image creation tool, to build the disk image. In the root folder,

cd disk-image
wget https://releases.hashicorp.com/packer/1.6.0/packer_1.6.0_linux_amd64.zip # download the packer binary
unzip packer_1.6.0_linux_amd64.zip
./packer validate spec-2017/spec-2017.json # validate the Packer script
./packer build spec-2017/spec-2017.json

gem5 Configuration Scripts

gem5 scripts which configure the system and run the simulation are available in configs/. The main script run_spec.py expects following arguments:

usage: run_spec.py [-h] [-l] [-z] kernel disk cpu benchmark size

-h: show this help message and exit.

-l, --no-copy-logs: optional, to not copy SPEC run logs to the host system, logs are copied by default, and are available in the result folder.

-z, --allow-listeners: optional, to turn on GDB listening ports, the ports are off by default.

kernel: required, a positional argument specifying the path to the Linux kernel. This has been tested with version 4.19.83, available at http://dist.gem5.org/dist/v20-1/kernels/x86/static/vmlinux-4.19.83. Info on building Linux kernels can be found in src/linux-kernels.

disk: required, a positional argument specifying the path to the disk image containing SPEC 2017 benchmark suite.

cpu: required, a positional argument specifying the name of either a detailed CPU model or KVM CPU model.

The available CPU models are,

cpuCorresponding CPU model in gem5
kvm
o3DerivO3CPU
atomicAtomicSimpleCPU
timingTimingSimpleCPU

benchmark: required, a positional argument specifying the name of the SPEC 2017 to run. Listed below are valid options:

  • 500.perlbench_r
  • 502.gcc_r
  • 503.bwaves_r
  • 505.mcf_r
  • 507.cactuBSSN_r
  • 508.namd_r
  • 510.parest_r
  • 511.povray_r
  • 519.lbm_r
  • 520.omnetpp_r
  • 521.wrf_r
  • 523.xalancbmk_r
  • 525.x264_r
  • 526.blender_r
  • 527.cam4_r
  • 531.deepsjeng_r
  • 538.imagick_r
  • 541.leela_r
  • 544.nab_r
  • 548.exchange2_r
  • 549.fotonik3d_r
  • 554.roms_r
  • 557.xz_r
  • 600.perlbench_s
  • 602.gcc_s
  • 603.bwaves_s
  • 605.mcf_s
  • 607.cactuBSSN_s
  • 619.lbm_s
  • 620.omnetpp_s
  • 621.wrf_s
  • 623.xalancbmk_s
  • 625.x264_s
  • 627.cam4_s
  • 628.pop2_s
  • 631.deepsjeng_s
  • 638.imagick_s
  • 641.leela_s
  • 644.nab_s
  • 648.exchange2_s
  • 649.fotonik3d_s
  • 654.roms_s
  • 657.xz_s
  • 996.specrand_fs
  • 997.specrand_fr
  • 998.specrand_is
  • 999.specrand_ir

size: required, a positional argument specifying the input data size. Valid values are test, train, and ref.

As a minimum the following parameters must be specified:

<gem5 X86 binary> --outdir <output directory> configs/run_spec.py <kernel> <disk> <cpu> <mem_sys> <benchmark> <size>

Note: --outdir is a required argument when running the gem5 binary with SPEC 2006.

Working Status

Status of these benchmarks runs with respect to gem5-20, linux kernel version 4.19.83 and gcc version 7.5.0 can be found here