The gem5 Simulator: Version 20.0+
Abstract
The open-source and community-supported gem5 simulator is one of the most popular tools for computer architecture research. This simulation infrastructure allows researchers to model modern computer hardware at the cycle level, and it has enough fidelity to boot unmodified Linux-based operating systems and run full applications for multiple architectures including x86, Arm, and RISC-V. The gem5 simulator has been under active development over the last nine years since the original gem5 release. In this time, there have been over 7500 commits to the codebase from over 250 unique contributors which have improved the simulator by adding new features, fixing bugs, and increasing the code quality. In this paper, we give and overview of gem5's usage and features, describe the current state of the gem5 simulator, and enumerate the major changes since the initial release of gem5. We also discuss how the gem5 simulator has transitioned to a formal governance model to enable continued improvement and community support for the next 20 years of computer architecture research.
Authors 73
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University of California, Davis
Affiliation as printed
University of California, Davis, Davis, United States
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University of Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, Germany
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Barcelona Supercomputing Center
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Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Barcelona, Spain
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University of Virginia, Charlottesville, United States
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Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, United States
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Bandung Institute of Technology
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Bandung Institute of Technology, Bandung, Indonesia
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Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology
Affiliation as printed
Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, Hanoi, Vietnam
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Technische Universität Dresden
Affiliation as printed
TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany
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Affiliation as printed
University of Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, Germany
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Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies du numérique
Affiliation as printed
Institut national de recherche en informatique et en automatique, Le Chesnay-Rocquencourt, France
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Affiliation as printed
Fraunhofer Society, Munich, Germany
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University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
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University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, United States
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Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
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University of Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, Germany
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Giacomo Travaglini Aachen
Affiliation as printed
RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
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Georgia Institute of Technology
Affiliation as printed
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, United States
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