d6152fa25f8c4a950e28c6fc860a904d87805527
[clinton/Virtual-Jaguar-Rx.git] / docs / vj_HistoryNotes.txt
1 Release 5 (TBA)
2 ---------------
3 0) Added a date creation stamp in the application command line information
4 - This date already appears in the Release 4 executable but was not referenced in his history note
5 1) Added a specific breakpoint for the M68K illegal instruction exception
6 -- Alert box will display a message and then the code will stop
7 2) Added a specific breakpoint for the M68K address error exception
8 -- Alert box will display a message and then the code will stop
9 3) Added a HW registers browser window and set a tab for the Blitter
10 4) Added detection for the unsigned/signed short type
11 -- Will allow the return of a short type variable's value
12 5) Added a specific breakpoint for the M68K Unimplemented instruction, and Exception not referenced exceptions
13 6) Fix potential emulator freeze after an exception has occured
14 7) Fix a random crash when reading the source lines information
15 8) Added ELF & DWARF .debug* types
16 9) Added ELF section types check and new error messages
17 10) Modified the call stack layout window and added source filename from the called source line
18 11) Added a source tab in the main window for step into tracing
19 12) Added the step over for source level tracing
20 13) Set text conversion to Qt/HTML format for the M68K tracing window
21 14) Added a source code file date check when reading DWARF information
22 -- Will avoid source code mismatching with the ELF executable
23 15) Remove Visual Studio 2015 support
24 16) Work around fix for a compilation error on Linux
25 -- EEPROM directory creation allowed only for Windows at the moment
26 17) Show the SR value as a readable form in the M68K CPU browser
27 18) Potential fix to compile on Linux
28 -- Added the relative directory path for the Qt include files
29 19) Merge the Linux build fixes from @richard42
30 -- Jaguar core's makefile and Qt pro file updates, fix filenames case sensitive & fixes for Linux
31 20) Updated the M68K exception catch
32 -- Added a M68K exception catch check in the Alpine tab settings
33 -- Added a specific breakpoint for the M68K bus error exception
34 21) Project has switched to libdwarf 20210305 library 64bits for VS 2017
35 22) Breakpoint list window is now refreshed after a new breakpoint is set
36 23) Handle number of M68K cycles used when tracing in debugger mode
37 -- The cycles are displayed in the emulator status window
38 24) Improve the DWARF source line number reporting
39 25) Added a #line in the call stack window
40 26) Add a search feature in the all watches window
41 27) Added video output display in a specific window
42 28) Fixed potential crash with the debugger tabs reset
43 29) Added a search feature in the All Watch variables window
44 30) Support the structure's members in the Local variables window
45 31) Code refactoring for the variables support in debugger mode
46
47 Release 4a (15th August 2019)
48 -----------------------------
49 Git commit: f04df4f185ed4f3cfc805d0f61b3c019a108ae2c
50 -
51 0) Fix specific breakpoint for ROM cartridge or unknown memory location writing
52
53 Release 4 (10th August 2019)
54 ----------------------------
55 Git commit: 9b25d85d1ea4a9476b83476bcec65e05464f68da
56 -
57 0) The zoom value setting has been fixed in the registry
58 1) Debugger mode now shares the same alpine rom path setting
59 2) Local variables window displays register name now
60 3) Switch to Zlib 1.2.11 static library 64bits for VS 2017
61 4) Switch to SDL 1.2.15 static library 64bits for VS 2017
62 5) Local variables window displays values from function's parameters
63 6) Fixed the typedef's name display in Local and Watch variables window
64 7) Breakpoint may now occur in case of a ROM cartridge writing
65 -- ROM cartridge writing detection follow the alpine "allow writes to cartridge rom"'s flag check
66 -- 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
67 8) Local variables window detects now if a variable is used or not by the code
68 9) The address provided in the debugger memory windows is now verified to prevent crash
69 -- Wrong address will be displayed in red
70 10) UI changes
71 -- Added new icons for the exit and status features
72 -- Modified icons for the SP (Stack) browser
73 -- Unified icons sizes depend on their usage (drop down menu and main menu)
74 -- Underline the active M68K line in the disassembly window
75 -- Allow the up/down navigation on the SP (Stack) browser
76 -- Restart function cleans-up the SP (Stack) browser and the heap allocator system
77 -- Fixed the up navigation on the memory window
78 11) Added some log information for the emulator initialisations
79 12) Breakpoint will happen in case of writing at unknown memory location
80 -- Alert box will display a message and then the code will stop
81 13) Added the DRAM size in the emulator status window
82 14) Debugger sources code clean-up
83 15) Added a call stack feature
84 16) Follow platform requirement to prevent source file reading issue
85 17) UI modifications
86 -- Modified icon for the memory window to make a distinction with the memory browser
87 -- The all watch, and Exception Vector Table windows, can be closed using keyboard
88 -- Renamed the debugger dedicated icons to make a distinction
89 -- Added the call stack window
90 18) Fixed a crash in the all watch window after loading a new binary without ELF/DWARF information
91 -- Previously used ELF/DWARF information was still accessible
92 19) Fixed slash/backslash issue, in the Alpine tab, to follow platform requirement
93 20) Heap allocation window uses the DRAM size limit option and detect if heap allocation shares space with SP (Stack)
94 21) Added a Jaguar model and BIOS configuration tab
95 22) Jaguar model and BIOS configuration integration
96 23) Added LEB128 decoding functions
97 -- It is used for the DWARF decoding information
98 24) Debugger support improvement
99 -- DWARF support for the enum type (partial), structure and subroutine type
100 -- Debugger can report variable's unsigned char value
101 25) UI modifications
102 -- Added a status bar, better status report & information display for the heap allocation window
103 -- Added a status bar, better status report & information display for the local variables window
104 -- Added better information display for the exception vectors table window, and added some missing vectors
105 -- Added a status bar, better status report & information display for the call stack window
106 -- Added a status bar, better status report & information display for the all watches window
107 26) Added screenshot feature
108 -- Not accessible in debugger mode
109 -- Added screenshot editable path in the general tab, and a key binding
110 27) Minor misspellings fixes
111 28) DWARF source code directory path clean-up
112 29) Added a source code files list viewer
113 -- List comes from the DWARF information
114 30) Check potential variables missing/incomplete description found in the DWARF information
115 -- No crash involved but can help to reduce such as variables duplicate or the blank ones
116 31) Added a sorting filter in the all watches window
117 32) Improve source code file reading to avoid additional text/bytes reading
118 33) Help & content texts updates
119 34) Fixed a crash legacy issue when emulator launches in Alpine mode without a valid rom
120 35) Added the support for the used lines source's DWARF structure
121 -- Mostly used to handle missing subprogram's lines information, and missing CU's low/high PC
122 36) Added the Rx version's contact in the help text
123 37) Added search paths in case of missing DWARF directories information
124 -- Used to look for the file(s)
125 38) Setup CU's low/high PC in case of the DWARF structures doesn't have it
126 -- Used mostly to allow display the source assembled with vasm
127 39) Added function name support from ELF structure
128 40) Added the return address information in the call stack
129 41) Added multiple breakpoints feature, and their key bindings, for functions only
130 42) Added timer initialisation for the SDL setup
131 43) Added a cartridge view menu
132 -- Added a window to display my own directory and his files list
133 44) Debugger sources code clean-up
134 45) Fix a crash when emulator, in non-debugger mode, opens the breakpoint UIs at launch
135 46) Fix crash with potential missing DWARF structure tag's type name
136 47) Added ELF sections check so a potential unknown section will stop, or not stop, the decoding
137 48) Project has switched to Qt 5.12.0 library 64bits for VS 2017
138 49) Added a Save Dump As... feature to save a memory zone to a file
139 50) The -d command line option, dedicated to the debugger, has been renamed to avoid duplication with the dsp one
140 -- -d has been renamed by -D because another -d was also used for the dsp command line option
141 51) Removed the sorting filter in the all watches window
142 52) Fix the support of the DRAM size limit option in the heap allocation window
143 53) Set cartridge view menu for debugger mode only
144 54) Prevent crash in case of call stack is out of range
145
146 Release 3 (13th November 2017)
147 ------------------------------
148 Git commit: b1b673a3b0d19e3c2c45b6590b773b11e45bced7
149 -
150 0) Fixed the windows respawning in the next emulator launch within --alpine or --debugger options
151 1) Added an Exception Vector Table window
152 2) Modified the About window to update the credits list in a more appropriate way
153 -- Updated the emulator application credits line
154 3) Added 'Rx' word to the emulator name
155 4) Fixed a crash when reading the DWARF information in the case of the DWARF2 format has not been used
156 5) Added ui, alpine and debugger groups in the settings
157 6) Added the possibility to erase settings
158 7) Added the --es-all, --es-ui, --es-alpine and --es-debugger options to erase specific settings
159 8) Added a key bindings tab and adapted the configuration dialog tabs
160 -- User can modify the key bindings where appropriate
161 -- Key bindings UI is displayed based on the option used (--debugger, -- alpine)
162 9) Fixed a crash, in Release mode, when the HW labels setting is turn on
163 10) Solved an interference between the HW labels setting and the one used by the debugger
164 -- The setting is now only the reference used
165 11) Fixed the SP (Stack) browser UI potential missing data
166 12) Create a directory for EEPROMs (based on the EEPROMs setting) if it doesn't already exist
167 13) Keep the scrollbar position in accordance of the M68K PC pointer
168 -- UI displays the source without the need to move down/up the scrollbar
169 14) Fixed a crash when DWARF information report a source line number exceeding the number of lines present in a source file
170 -- This may come from the linker vlink
171 15) Improved the .heap section detection to avoid a detection error
172 -- Depend vlink version, .heap section may have an Alloc flag
173 16) Fixed a crash when DWARF information does references to missing source code files
174 17) Added a local variables window
175 18) Project has switched to Visual Studio 2017 and Qt 5.9.1 library
176
177 Release 2 (3rd September 2017)
178 ------------------------------
179 0) Added some error detections when reading the ELF executable file
180 1) Added all hardware labels (based on the document scans from the Version 2.4 - June 7, 1995)
181 2) "Step Over" code function for BSR/JSR functions
182 3) Added the .debug_ranges detection to avoid a detection error
183 4) DWARF support
184 -- TAG: Compilation Unit, Subprogram, Variables, Types
185 -- Line numbers, symbols, functions
186 5) Added an All Watch window for non-local variables
187 6) Added a heap allocator window based on my own memory allocation functions
188 7) Added additional 4 memory windows with address input based on hexa, decimal or symbol name
189 8) Windows refreshing executed only if windows is visible
190 9) Added a restart function
191 -- Restart only the 68000 program counter to his original set
192 10) Modified the icons color backgound for the "Step In" and "Step Over" functions
193 11) Updated the About window to update the credits list
194 12) 64 bits Release executable
195 13) Fixed (hacking) the display of the SP (Stack) browser
196 14) Set the emulator in Halt mode when launched in alpine debug mode without a loaded rom
197 -- Otherwise the 68000 program counter will have a 0 value and will execute the code at this address
198 15) Added some information in the --help/-h/-? option
199 16) --debugger option no longer force the log file
200 17) Added a --dram-max option to extend the DRAM size to 8MB
201 18) Added the "enter" key support when setting the BPM (Breapoint)
202 19) Save the windows positions, size and visibilities (show or hide) status
203 -- Such windows will automatically respawn in the next emulator launch
204
205 Release 1 (12th February 2017)
206 ------------------------------
207 0) BPM (Breapoint) now stop at the designated address and no longer stop after executing the code
208 1) Clean-up the tracing / no-tracing flags for better U.I understanding
209 2) Added SP (Stack) browser
210 3) User can change now the number of lines of disassembly displayed in the tracing window
211 4) User can turn on/off the op-codes associated in the disassembly lines displayed in the M68K tracing window
212 5) Added an emulator status window (GPU status, M68K debugger and tracking status)
213 6) Added a GPU disassembly tracing window - Display the current PC pointer
214 7) Added a DSP disassembly tracing window - Display the current PC pointer
215 8) Added possibility to change refresh rate of browsers when emulation is launched
216 9) Display partial hardware labels (Internal Memory and Graphics sub-system address space) in the disassembly lines displayed in the M68K tracing window
217 -- Display first the hardware labels (based from the Jag V8 dev. PDF) and then the ones possibly found in the ELF debug symbol
218 10) Minor U.I cosmetic changes
219 11) User can turn on/off the hardware labels associated in the disassembly lines displayed in the M68K tracing window
220 -- It doesn't apply to the hardware labels possibly found in the ELF debug symbol
221
222 Release 0 (5th January 2017)
223 ----------------------------
224 0) New option --debugger
225 1) ELF format support
226 2) ELF debug symbol support
227 3) "Step Into" code function
228 4) Menus layout dedicated to the debugger
229 5) Added a dedicated main window for tracing (M68K)
230 6) Added a Debugger tab in the config tab
231 7) Visual Studio 2015 project support
232 8) libelf-0.8.13 library support
233 9) 64 bits debug executable only
234
235
236 Known issues
237 ============
238 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
239 2) The BPM (Breapoint) remains stuck on his address when user wants to continue the code execution
240 -- Need to trace over the BPM or unset the BPM
241 -- The issue can be prevented if the code doesn't set IRQ, otherwise the IRQ will need to be traced to get back control
242 3) DWARF 2 support
243 -- With GCC: the code must be compiled with the -gdwarf-2 option
244 4) The Local and Watch variables window may display not available type information or empty information
245 -- Such missing information may be included in future release
246 -- The 'const' type may not be reported correctly in the DWARF information
247 5) The 2MB mirroring is no longer applied in case of --dram-max option usage
248 6) Stack must reflect the --dram-max option usage otherwise the stack may be corrupted
249 -- The application needs to set the SP (Stack) in accordance
250 7) The Exception Vector Table window displays only 65 vectors
251 -- Missing vectors may be added in future release
252 8) User needs to manualy check if the Atari Jaguar executable match his source code files
253 -- Otherwise, source code and assembly may not match or leads to instabilities
254 9) The emulator needs to be restarted in case of the following actions occur
255 -- Key bindings changes
256 -- BIOS selection changes and without new executable load
257 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
258 11) Emulator will crash in case of wrong address value provided in the memory browser
259 12) The RAM access log is limited to the 2MB
260 13) In various occasions, global variables may be duplicated or without name in the DWARF information
261 -- It may come from the Vlink linker and/or GCC 7.1.0 or 8.2.0 compilation with -gdwarf-2 option
262 14) Source code disply only assembled code from vasm with option -dwarf
263 15) After a new breakpoint set, the breakpoint list window is not refreshed
264 -- User must perform an operation, such code tracing, to see the breakpoints list update
265 16) Some ASCII characters may be not displayed correctly
266 -- Probably depend how the text is displayed, this is related to the Qt/HTML encoding done when reading DWARF file
267 17) Potential legacy crash when leaving emulator in pause mode for a long period of time
268 -- Need much investigation
269
270 Cosmetic / UX issues
271 ====================
272 1) The SP (Stack) icon color backgound doesn't look similar with the other ones
273 2) The SP (Stack) browser size always open at a forced size no matter if the size has been changed
274 3) Not every features have associated key bindings
275
276 Legacy issues/hints
277 ===================
278 1) Emulator seems to have easter egg(s)
279 -- The option --yarrr displays a single message and end the application
280 -- Pressing F8, while in the main window, will create an extra message in the log file
281 2) The --alpine option force the log file but it can be override if --no-log option is set after the --alpine option
282
283 Project information
284 ===================
285 1) Code based on the Shamus Hammons source code available via Gethub by the 12th September 2017 (2.1.3 Final)
286 2) Visual Studio 2017 project support for 64 bits
287 3) libelf 0.8.13 library 64bits for VS 2017
288 4) libdwarf 20210305 library 64bits for VS 2017
289 5) Qt 5.12.0 library 64bits for VS 2017
290 6) Zlib 1.2.11 library 64bits for VS 2017
291 7) SDL 1.2.15 library 64bits for VS 2017
292 8) The original make files have been modified to follow the requirements and modifications
293 9) The 'Rx' word has been added to the emulator name to make distinction with the official version
294 10) The project is set at https://github.com/djipi/Virtual-Jaguar-Rx
295 11) GPLv3 file document has been renamed as LICENSE, to fit better the GitHub requirements
296 -- Text / License terms are the same
297 14) The x86 configuration has been removed in the VS 2017 project
298
299
300 Download statistics
301 -------------------
302 jaguar64eu : 15 downloads for the Release 0 on the 12th Feb, 2017
303 jaguar64eu : 18 downloads for the Release 1 on the 21st May, 2017
304 No downloads statistics available for the Release 2
305 No downloads statistics available for the Release 3