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<a href="../../html/index.html">Home</a> » Running
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<h1><a name="NAME"
>NAME</a></h1>
<p>Parrot - Running</p>
<h1><a name="VERSION"
>VERSION</a></h1>
<p>$Revision: 39413 $</p>
<h1><a name="OVERVIEW"
>OVERVIEW</a></h1>
<p>This document describes Parrot's command line options.</p>
<h1><a name="SYNOPSIS"
>SYNOPSIS</a></h1>
<pre> parrot [-options] <file> [arguments ...]</pre>
<h1><a name="ENVIRONMENT"
>ENVIRONMENT</a></h1>
<dl>
<dt><a name="PARROT_RUNTIME"
>PARROT_RUNTIME</a></dt>
If this environment variable is set, parrot will use this path as its runtime prefix instead of the compiled in path.
<dt><a name="PARROT_GC_DEBUG"
>PARROT_GC_DEBUG</a></dt>
Turn on the <i>--gc-debug</i> flag.</dl>
<h1><a name="OPTIONS"
>OPTIONS</a></h1>
<h2><a name="Assembler_options"
>Assembler options</a></h2>
<dl>
<dt><a name="-a,_--pasm"
>-a, --pasm</a></dt>
Assume PASM input on stdin.
<dt><a name="-c,_--pbc"
>-c, --pbc</a></dt>
Assume PBC file on stdin, run it.
<dt><a name="-d,_--imcc-debug_[hexbits]"
>-d, --imcc-debug [hexbits]</a></dt>
The <b>-d</b> switch takes an optional argument which is considered to hold a hex value of debug bits. Without a value, debug is set to 1.The individual bits can be listed on the command line by use of the <b>--help-debug</b> switch.To produce really huge output on <em>stderr</em> run <code>"parrot <b>-d 0ffff</b> ..."</code>. Note: If the argument is separated by whitespace from the <b>-d</b> switch, it has to start with a number.
<dt><a name="-h,_--help"
>-h, --help</a></dt>
Print command line option summary.
<dt><a name="--help-debug"
>--help-debug</a></dt>
Print debugging and tracing flag bits summary.
<dt><a name="-o_outputfile,_--output=outputfile"
>-o outputfile, --output=outputfile</a></dt>
Act like an assembler. Don't run code, unless <b>-r</b> is given too. If the outputfile ends with <em>.pbc</em>, a PBC file is written. If it ends with <em>.pasm</em>, a PASM output is generated, even from PASM input. This can be handy to check various optimizations, including <code>-Op</code>.
<dt><a name="--output-pbc"
>--output-pbc</a></dt>
Act like an assembler, but always output bytecode, even if the output file does not end in <em>.pbc</em>
<dt><a name="-r,_--run-pbc"
>-r, --run-pbc</a></dt>
Only useful after <code>-o</code> or <code>--output-pbc</code>. Run the program from the compiled in-memory image. If two <code>-r</code> options are given, the <em>.pbc</em> file is read from disc and run. This is mainly needed for tests.
<dt><a name="-v,_--verbose"
>-v, --verbose</a></dt>
One <code>-v</code> shows which files are worked on and prints a summary over register usage and optimization stats per <i>subroutine</i>. With two <code>-v</code> switches, <code>parrot</code> prints a line per individual processing step too.
<dt><a name="-y,_--yydebug"
>-y, --yydebug</a></dt>
Turn on yydebug in <em>yacc</em>/<em>bison</em>.
<dt><a name="-V,_--version"
>-V, --version</a></dt>
Print version information and exit.
<dt><a name="-Ox"
>-Ox</a></dt>
Optimize
<pre> -O0 no optimization (default)
-O1 optimizations without life info (e.g. branches)
-O same
-O2 optimizations with life info
-Op rewrite I and N PASM registers most used first
-Ot select fastest runcore (default with -O1 and -O2)
-Oc turns on the optional/experimental tail call optimizations</pre>
See <em><a href="dev/optimizer.pod.html">docs/dev/optimizer.pod</a></em> for more information on the optimizer. Note that optimization is currently experimental and these options are likely to change.
<dt><a name="-E,_--pre-process-only"
>-E, --pre-process-only</a></dt>
Preprocess source file (expand macros) and print result to stdout:
<pre> $ parrot -E t/op/macro_10.pasm
$ parrot -E t/op/macro_10.pasm | parrot -- -</pre>
</dl>
<h2><a name="Runcore_Options"
>Runcore Options</a></h2>
<p>These options select the runcore, which is useful for performance tuning and debugging. See <a href='#About_runcores'>"About runcores"</a> for details.</p>
<dl>
<dt><a name="-R,_--runcore_CORE"
>-R, --runcore CORE</a></dt>
Select the runcore. The following cores are available in Parrot, but not all may be available on your system:
<pre> slow, bounds bounds checking core (default)
cgoto computed goto core
cgp computed goto-predereferenced core
cgp-jit computed goto-predereferenced core with JIT
exec exec core (uses JIT at compile time to generate native code)
fast fast core (no bounds checking, profiling, or tracing)
gcdebug performs a full GC run before every op dispatch (good for
debugging GC problems)
jit JIT core
switch switch core
switch-jit switch core with JIT
trace bounds checking core w/ trace info (see 'parrot --help-debug')</pre>
<dt><a name="-p,_--profile"
>-p, --profile</a></dt>
Run with the slow core and print an execution profile.
<dt><a name="-t,_--trace"
>-t, --trace</a></dt>
Run with the slow core and print trace information to <b>stderr</b>. See <code>parrot --help-debug</code> for available flag bits.</dl>
<h2><a name="VM_Options"
>VM Options</a></h2>
<dl>
<dt><a name="-w,_--warnings"
>-w, --warnings</a></dt>
Turn on warnings. See <code>parrot --help-debug</code> for available flag bits.
<dt><a name="-D,_--parrot-debug"
>-D, --parrot-debug</a></dt>
Turn on interpreter debug flag. See <code>parrot --help-debug</code> for available flag bits.
<dt><a name="--gc-debug"
>--gc-debug</a></dt>
Turn on GC (Garbage Collection) debugging. This imposes some stress on the GC subsystem and can slow down execution considerably.
<dt><a name="-G,_--no-gc"
>-G, --no-gc</a></dt>
This turns off GC. This may be useful to find GC related bugs. Don't use this option for longer running programs: as memory is no longer recycled, it may quickly become exhausted.
<dt><a name="--leak-test,_--destroy-at-end"
>--leak-test, --destroy-at-end</a></dt>
Free all memory of the last interpreter. This is useful when running leak checkers.
<dt><a name="-.,_--wait"
>-., --wait</a></dt>
Read a keystroke before starting. This is useful when you want to attach a debugger on platforms such as Windows.
<dt><a name="--runtime-prefix"
>--runtime-prefix</a></dt>
Print the runtime prefix path and exit.</dl>
<h2><a name="<file>"
><file></a></h2>
<p>If the file ends in <em>.pbc</em> it will be interpreted immediately.</p>
<p>If the file ends in <em>.pasm</em>, then it is parsed as PASM code. Otherwise, it is parsed as PIR code. In both cases, it will then be run, unless the <code>-o</code> flag was given.</p>
<p>If the <code>file</code> is a single dash, input from <code>stdin</code> is read.</p>
<h2><a name="[arguments_...]"
>[arguments ...]</a></h2>
<p>Optional arguments passed to the running program as ARGV. The program is assumed to know what to do with these.</p>
<h1><a name="Generated_files"
>Generated files</a></h1>
<p>If JIT debugging is enabled (e.g. via <code>--parrot-debug 04</code>), the following additional output files are generated:</p>
<pre> F<file.stabs.s> stabsfile for the program
F<file.o> object file with debug information
F<EVAL_n> source of C<compile> op number I<n>
F<EVAL_n.stabs.s> stabsfile for this block
F<EVAL_n.o> object file with debug information</pre>
<p>See <em><a href="jit.pod.html">docs/jit.pod</a></em> for further information.</p>
<h1><a name="About_runcores"
>About runcores</a></h1>
<p>The runcore (or runloop) tells Parrot how to find the C code that implements each instruction. Parrot provides more than one way to do this, partly because no single runcore will perform optimally on all architectures (or even for all problems on a given architecture), and partly because some of the runcores have specific debugging and tracing capabilities.</p>
<p>In the default "slow" runcore, each opcode is a separate C function. That's pretty easy in pseudocode:</p>
<pre> slow_runcore( op ):
while ( op ):
op = op_function( op )
check_for_events()</pre>
<p>The GC debugging runcore is similar:</p>
<pre> gcdebug_runcore( op ):
while ( op ):
perform_full_gc_run()
op = op_function( op )
check_for_events()</pre>
<p>Of course, this is much slower, but is extremely helpful for pinning memory corruption problems that affect GC down to single-instruction resolution. See <a href='http://www.oreillynet.com/onlamp/blog/2007/10/debugging_gc_problems_in_parro.html'><a href="http://www.oreillynet.com/onlamp/blog/2007/10/debugging_gc_problems_in_parro.html">http://www.oreillynet.com/onlamp/blog/2007/10/debugging_gc_problems_in_parro.html</a></a> for more information.</p>
<p>The trace and profile cores are also based on the "slow" core, doing full bounds checking, and also printing runtime information to stderr.</p>
<p>The switched core eschews these tiny op functions in favor of cases in a large switch statement:</p>
<pre> switch_runcore( op ):
while ( op ):
switch *op:
case NOP:
...
case STORE:
...
...</pre>
<p>Depending on the C compiler implementation, this may be faster than function calling. On older systems, it may fail to compile altogether.</p>
<p>The computed-goto ("cgoto") runcore avoids the overhead of function calls by jumping directly to the address where each opcode's function starts. The computed-goto-prederef ("CGP") core takes this one step further by replacing opcode numbers in the bytecode with those opfunc addresses. See "Predereferencing" in <em><a href="glossary.pod.html">docs/glossary.pod</a></em> for a fuller explanation.</p>
<p>Finally, the JIT runcore uses the "slow" core, but also creates and jumps to JIT-compiled native code for supported opcodes. "cgp-jit" and "switched-jit" are variations that use the CGP or switched core but run JIT code when possible.</p>
<h1><a name="Operation_table"
>Operation table</a></h1>
<pre> Command Line Action Output
---------------------------------------------
parrot x.pir run
parrot x.pasm run
parrot x.pbc run
-o x.pasm x.pir ass x.pasm
-o x.pasm y.pasm ass x.pasm
-o x.pbc x.pir ass x.pbc
-o x.pbc x.pasm ass x.pbc
-o x.pbc -r x.pasm ass/run pasm x.pbc
-o x.pbc -r -r x.pasm ass/run pbc x.pbc
-o x.o x.pbc obj</pre>
<p>... where the possible actions are:</p>
<pre> run ... yes, run the program
ass ... assemble sourcefile
obj .. produce native (ELF) object file for the EXEC subsystem</pre>
<h1><a name="FILES"
>FILES</a></h1>
<p><em>main.c</em></p>
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distrib
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Mandriva
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2010.0
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i586
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media
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contrib-release
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by-pkgid
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cd14cddf3b3ceaf1193157472227757a
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files
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