Added the support for the used lines source's DWARF structure.
[clinton/Virtual-Jaguar-Rx.git] / docs / vj_ReleaseNotes.txt
1 Release 4 (TBD)
2 ---------------
3 Git commit: TBD
4 -
5 0) The zoom value setting has been fixed in the registry
6 1) Debugger mode now shares the same alpine rom path setting
7 2) Local variables window displays register name now
8 3) Switch to Zlib 1.2.11 static library 64bits for VS 2017
9 4) Switch to SDL 1.2.15 static library 64bits for VS 2017
10 5) Local variables window displays values from function's parameters
11 6) Fixed the typedef's name display in Local and Watch variables window
12 7) Breakpoint may now occur in case of a ROM cartridge writing
13 -- ROM cartridge writing detection follow the alpine "allow writes to cartridge rom"'s flag check
14 -- Alert box will display a message with possibility to pass or not the breakpoint only if this is related to a 8 or 16 bits ROM access
15 8) Local variables window detects now if a variable is used or not by the code
16 9) The address provided in the debugger memory windows is now verified to prevent crash
17 -- Wrong address will be displayed in red
18 10) UI changes
19 -- Added new icons for the exit and status features
20 -- Modified icons for the SP (Stack) browser
21 -- Unified icons sizes depend on their usage (drop down menu and main menu)
22 -- Underline the active M68K line in the disassembly window
23 -- Allow the up/down navigation on the SP (Stack) browser
24 -- Restart function cleans-up the SP (Stack) browser and the heap allocator system
25 -- Fixed the up navigation on the memory window
26 11) Added some log information for the emulator initialisations
27 12) Breakpoint will happen in case of writing at unknown memory location
28 -- Alert box will display a message and then the code will stop
29 13) Added the DRAM size in the emulator status window
30 14) Debugger sources code clean-up
31 15) Added a call stack feature
32 16) Follow platform requirement to prevent source file reading issue
33 17) UI modifications
34 -- Modified icon for the memory window to make a distinction with the memory browser
35 -- The all watch, and Exception Vector Table windows, can be closed using keyboard
36 -- Renamed the debugger dedicated icons to make a distinction
37 -- Added the call stack window
38 18) Fixed a crash in the all watch window after loading a new binary without ELF/DWARF information
39 -- Previously used ELF/DWARF information was still accessible
40 19) Fixed slash/backslash issue, in the Alpine tab, to follow platform requirement
41 20) Heap allocation window uses the DRAM size limit option and detect if heap allocation shares space with SP (Stack)
42 21) Added a Jaguar model and BIOS configuration tab
43 22) Jaguar model and BIOS configuration integration
44 23) Added LEB128 decoding functions
45 -- It is used for the DWARF decoding information
46 24) Debugger support improvement
47 -- DWARF support for the enum type (partial), structure and subroutine type
48 -- Debugger can report variable's unsigned char value
49 25) UI modifications
50 -- Added a status bar, better status report & information display for the heap allocation window
51 -- Added a status bar, better status report & information display for the local variables window
52 -- Added better information display for the exception vectors table window, and added some missing vectors
53 -- Added a status bar, better status report & information display for the call stack window
54 -- Added a status bar, better status report & information display for the all watches window
55 26) Added screenshot feature
56 -- Not accessible in debugger mode
57 -- Added screenshot editable path in the general tab, and a key binding
58 27) Minor misspellings fixes
59 28) DWARF source code directory path clean-up
60 29) Added a source code files list viewer
61 -- List comes from the DWARF information
62 30) Check potential variables missing/incomplete description found in the DWARF information
63 -- No crash involved but can help to reduce such as variables duplicate or the blank ones
64 31) Added a sorting filter in the all watches window
65 32) Improve source code file reading to avoid additional text/bytes reading
66 33) Help & content texts updates
67 34) Fixed a crash legacy issue when emulator launches in Alpine mode without a valid rom
68 35) Added the support for the used lines source's DWARF structure
69 -- Mostly used to handle missing subprogram's lines information, and missing CU's low/high PC
70 36) Added the Rx version's contact in the help text
71
72 Release 3 (13th November 2017)
73 ------------------------------
74 Git commit: b1b673a3b0d19e3c2c45b6590b773b11e45bced7
75 -
76 0) Fixed the windows respawning in the next emulator launch within --alpine or --debugger options
77 1) Added an Exception Vector Table window
78 2) Modified the About window to update the credits list in a more appropriate way
79 -- Updated the emulator application credits line
80 3) Added 'Rx' word to the emulator name
81 4) Fixed a crash when reading the DWARF information in the case of the DWARF2 format has not been used
82 5) Added ui, alpine and debugger groups in the settings
83 6) Added the possibility to erase settings
84 7) Added the --es-all, --es-ui, --es-alpine and --es-debugger options to erase specific settings
85 8) Added a key bindings tab and adapted the configuration dialog tabs
86 -- User can modify the key bindings where appropriate
87 -- Key bindings UI is displayed based on the option used (--debugger, -- alpine)
88 9) Fixed a crash, in Release mode, when the HW labels setting is turn on
89 10) Solved an interference between the HW labels setting and the one used by the debugger
90 -- The setting is now only the reference used
91 11) Fixed the SP (Stack) browser UI potential missing data
92 12) Create a directory for EEPROMs (based on the EEPROMs setting) if it doesn't already exist
93 13) Keep the scrollbar position in accordance of the M68K PC pointer
94 -- UI displays the source without the need to move down/up the scrollbar
95 14) Fixed a crash when DWARF information report a source line number exceeding the number of lines present in a source file
96 -- This may come from the linker vlink
97 15) Improved the .heap section detection to avoid a detection error
98 -- Depend vlink version, .heap section may have an Alloc flag
99 16) Fixed a crash when DWARF information does references to missing source code files
100 17) Added a local variables window
101 18) Project has switched to Visual Studio 2017 and QT 5.9.1 library
102
103 Release 2 (3rd September 2017)
104 ------------------------------
105 0) Added some error detections when reading the ELF executable file
106 1) Added all hardware labels (based on the document scans from the Version 2.4 - June 7, 1995)
107 2) "Step Over" code function for BSR/JSR functions
108 3) Added the .debug_ranges detection to avoid a detection error
109 4) DWARF support
110 -- TAG: Compilation Unit, Subprogram, Variables, Types
111 -- Line numbers, symbols, functions
112 5) Added an All Watch window for non-local variables
113 6) Added a heap allocator window based on my own memory allocation functions
114 7) Added additional 4 memory windows with address input based on hexa, decimal or symbol name
115 8) Windows refreshing executed only if windows is visible
116 9) Added a restart function
117 -- Restart only the 68000 program counter to his original set
118 10) Modified the icons color backgound for the "Step In" and "Step Over" functions
119 11) Updated the About window to update the credits list
120 12) 64 bits Release executable
121 13) Fixed (hacking) the display of the SP (Stack) browser
122 14) Set the emulator in Halt mode when launched in alpine debug mode without a loaded rom
123 -- Otherwise the 68000 program counter will have a 0 value and will execute the code at this address
124 15) Added some information in the --help/-h/-? option
125 16) --debugger option no longer force the log file
126 17) Added a --dram-max option to extend the DRAM size to 8MB
127 18) Added the "enter" key support when setting the BPM (Breapoint)
128 19) Save the windows positions, size and visibilities (show or hide) status
129 -- Such windows will automatically respawn in the next emulator launch
130
131 Release 1 (12th February 2017)
132 ------------------------------
133 0) BPM (Breapoint) now stop at the designated address and no longer stop after executing the code
134 1) Clean-up the tracing / no-tracing flags for better U.I understanding
135 2) Added SP (Stack) browser
136 3) User can change now the number of lines of disassembly displayed in the tracing window
137 4) User can turn on/off the op-codes associated in the disassembly lines displayed in the M68K tracing window
138 5) Added an emulator status window (GPU status, M68K debugger and tracking status)
139 6) Added a GPU disassembly tracing window - Display the current PC pointer
140 7) Added a DSP disassembly tracing window - Display the current PC pointer
141 8) Added possibility to change refresh rate of browsers when emulation is launched
142 9) Display partial hardware labels (Internal Memory and Graphics sub-system address space) in the disassembly lines displayed in the M68K tracing window
143 -- Display first the hardware labels (based from the Jag V8 dev. PDF) and then the ones possibly found in the ELF debug symbol
144 10) Minor U.I cosmetic changes
145 11) User can turn on/off the hardware labels associated in the disassembly lines displayed in the M68K tracing window
146 -- It doesn't apply to the hardware labels possibly found in the ELF debug symbol
147
148 Release 0 (5th January 2017)
149 ----------------------------
150 0) New option --debugger
151 1) ELF format support
152 2) ELF debug symbol support
153 3) "Step Into" code function
154 4) Menus layout dedicated to the debugger
155 5) Added a dedicated main window for tracing (M68K)
156 6) Added a Debugger tab in the config tab
157 7) Visual Studio 2015 project support
158 8) libelf-0.8.13 library support
159 9) 64 bits debug executable only
160
161
162 Known issues
163 ============
164 1) Video output is not displayed due to my OpenGL / QT5 5.5.1 integration with VS 2015 but solved when using the QT 5.9.1 package for VS 2017
165 2) The BPM (Breapoint) remains stuck on his address when user wants to continue the code execution
166 -- Need to trace over the BPM or unset the BPM
167 -- The issue can be prevented if the code doesn't set IRQ, otherwise the IRQ will need to be traced to get back control
168 3) To support DWARF 2
169 -- With GCC: the code must be compiled with the -gdwarf-2 option
170 4) The Local and Watch variables window may display not available type information or empty information
171 -- Such missing information may be included in future release
172 -- The 'const' type may not be reported correctly in the DWARF information
173 5) The 2MB mirroring is no longer applied in case of --dram-max option usage
174 6) Stack must reflect the --dram-max option usage otherwise the stack may be corrupted
175 -- The application needs to set the SP (Stack) in accordance
176 7) The Exception Vector Table window displays only 65 vectors
177 -- Missing vectors may be added in future release
178 8) User needs to manualy check if the Atari Jaguar executable match his source code files
179 -- Otherwise, source code and assembly may not match or leads to instabilities
180 9) The emulator needs to be restarted in case of the following actions occur
181 -- Key bindings changes
182 -- BIOS selection changes and without new executable load
183 10) In the case of a ROM cartridge writing, and with occuring breakpoint, the PC pointer will point at the next instruction and not at the instruction causing the breakpoint
184 11) Emulator will crash in case of wrong address value provided in the memory browser
185 12) The RAM access log is limited to the 2MB
186 13) In various occasions, global variables may be duplicated or without name in the DWARF information
187 -- It may come from the Vlink linker and/or GCC 7.1.0 or 8.2.0 compilation with -gdwarf-2 option
188
189 Cosmetic / UX issues
190 ====================
191 1) The SP (Stack) icon color backgound doesn't look similar with the other ones
192 2) The SP (Stack) browser size always open at a forced size no matter if the size has been changed
193 3) Not every features have associated key bindings
194
195 Legacy issues/hints
196 ===================
197 1) Emulator seems to have easter egg(s)
198 -- The option --yarrr displays a single message and end the application
199 -- Pressing F8, while in the main window, will create an extra message in the log file
200 2) The --alpine option force the log file but it can be override if --no-log option is set after the --alpine option
201
202 Project information
203 ===================
204 1) Code based on the Shamus Hammons source code available via Gethub by the 12th September 2017 (2.1.3 Final)
205 2) Visual Studio 2015/2017 project support for 64 bits
206 3) libelf 0.8.13 library 64bits for VS 2015/2017
207 4) libdwarf 1.41 library 64bits for VS 2015, cygwin64 and Msys2/MinGW64
208 5) QT 5.5.1 library 64bits for VS 2015
209 6) QT 5.9.1 library 64bits for VS 2017
210 7) Zlib 1.2.8 library 64bits for VS 2015
211 8) Zlib 1.2.11 library 64bits for VS 2017
212 9) SDL 1.2.15 library 64bits for VS 2015/2017
213 10) The original make files have been modified to follow the requirements and modifications
214 11) The 'Rx' word has been added to the emulator name to make distinction with the official version
215 12) The project is set at https://github.com/djipi/Virtual-Jaguar-Rx
216 13) GPLv3 file document has been renamed as LICENSE, to fit better the GitHub requirements
217 -- Text / License terms are the same
218
219
220 Download statistics
221 -------------------
222 jaguar64eu : 15 downloads for the Release 0 on the 12th Feb, 2017
223 jaguar64eu : 18 downloads for the Release 1 on the 21st May, 2017
224 No downloads statistics available for the Release 2
225 No downloads statistics available for the Release 3