dvcenv – A Device Model Test Environment for a Full Computer System Simulator

A full computer system simulator models processors, memories and all other hardware observable by software. Implementing device models for such a simulator is time consuming and error prone. Documentation for devices tends to be less accurate than documentation for microprocessors. This master thesis presents a device model test framework, developed to make testing of such models against real hardware possible, and to allow an extensive test approach. A Linux kernel module gives the tests access to physical memory, I/O and PCI configuration space, and make it possible to catch interrupts and wait for DMA transfers. Tests are written in a custom test language, and are compiled to be interpreted by the kernel module. The same tests were performed on the simulated device model and the real hardware. The kernel module together with some utility programs makes it possible to save traces of the tests and compare differences between the tests with different levels of granularity to find and report errors. The device model test environment has turned out to be good for testingand implementation of device models, but also as a support tool for device driver writers. The system is easy to extend with new device standards and to port to other architectures.