Updated for SPEC CPU2006 (new features are highlighted)
Last updated: 23 Jul 2006 jlh
(To check for possible updates to this document, please see http://www.spec.org/cpu2006/Docs/.)
Contents
1 Introduction
1.1 Who Needs runspec?
1.2 About Config Files
1.2.1 Finding a config file
1.2.2 Naming your config file
1.2.3 If you change only one thing...
1.3 About Defaults
1.4 About Disk Usage and Support for Multiple Users
1.4.1 Directory tree
1.4.2 Hey! Where did all my disk space go?
1.5 Multi-user support
1.5.1 Recommended sharing method: output_root
1.5.2 Alternative sharing methods
2 Before Using runspec
2.1 Install kit
2.2 Have a config file
2.3 Undefine SPEC
2.4 Set your path: Unix
2.5 Set your path: Windows
2.6 Check your disk space
3 Using runspec
3.1 Simplest usage
3.1.1 Reportable run
3.1.2 Running selected benchmarks
3.1.3 Output files
3.2 Syntax
3.3 Actions
3.4 Commonly used options
--action --check_version --config --copies --flagsurl --help --ignore_errors --iterations --loose --output_format --rate --rawformat --rebuild --reportable --tune
3.5 Less commonly used options
--basepeak --nobuild --comment --define --delay --deletework --extension --fake --fakereport --fakereportable --[no]feedback --[no]graph_auto --graph_max --graph_min --http_proxy --http_timeout --info_wrap_column --machine --make_no_clobber --maxcompares --notes_wrap_column --reportonly --review --[no]setprocgroup --size --test --[no]table --undef --update_flags --username --verbose --version
4 Quick reference
Everyone who uses SPEC CPU2006 needs runspec. It is the primary tool in the suite. It is used to build the benchmarks, run them, and report on their results. All users of CPU2006 should read this document.
If you are a beginner, please start out by reading from the beginning through section 3.1 Simplest Usage. That will probably be enough to get you started.
In order to use runspec, you need a "config file", which contains detailed instructions about how to build and run the benchmarks. You may not have to learn much about config files in order to get started. Typically, you start off using a config file that someone else has previously written.
Where can you find such a config file? There are various sources:
Look in the directory $SPEC/config/ (Unix) or %SPEC%\config\ (Windows). You may find that there is a already a config file there with a name that indicates that it is appropriate for your system. You may even find that default.cfg already contains settings that would be a good starting place for your system.
Look at the SPEC web site (http://www.spec.org/cpu2006/) for a CPU2006 result submission that used your system, or a system similar to yours. You can download the config file from that submission.
Alternatively, you can write your own, using the instructions in config.html
Note: links to SPEC CPU2006 documents on this web page assume that you are reading the page from a directory that also contains the other SPEC CPU2006 documents. If by some chance you are reading this web page from a location where the links do not work, try accessing the referenced documents at one of the following locations:
Once you have found a config file that you would like to use as a starting point, you will probably find it convenient to copy it and modify it according to your needs. There are various options:
You can copy the config file to default.cfg. Doing so means that you won't even need to mention --config on your runspec command line.
You might find it useful to name config files after the date and the test attempt: jan07a.cfg, jan07b.cfg, and so forth. This is alleged to make it easier to trace the history of an experiment set.
If you are sharing a testbed with other users, it is probably wise to name the config file after yourself. For example, if Yusuf is trying out the new Solaris Fortran95 compiler, he might say:
and edit the new config file to add whatever options he wishes to try out in the new compiler.
At first, you may hesitate to change settings in config files, until you have a chance to read config.html. But there is one thing that you might want to change right away. Look for a line that says:
That line determines what extension will be added to your binaries. If there are comments next to that line giving instructions ("# set ext to A for this, or to B for that"), then set it accordingly. But if there are no such instructions, then usually you are free to set the extension to whatever you like, which can be very useful to ensure that your binaries are not accidentally over-written. You might add your name in the extension, if you are sharing a testbed with others. Or, you may find it convenient to keep binaries for a series of experiments, to facilitate later analysis; if you're naming your config files with names such as jan07a.cfg, you might choose to use "ext=jan07a" in the config file.
The SPEC tools have followed two principles regarding defaults:
This means (the good news) that something sensible will usually happen, even when you are not explicit about what you want. But it also means (the bad news) that if something unexpected happens, you may have to look in several places in order to figure out why it behaves differently than you expect.
The order of precedence for settings is:
| Highest precedence: | runspec command |
| Middle: | config file |
| Lowest: | the tools as shipped by SPEC |
Therefore, when this document tells you that something is the default, bear in mind that your config file may have changed that setting. With luck, the author of the config file will tell you so (perhaps in the comments to the config file).
The structure of the CPU2006 directory tree is:
$SPEC or %SPEC% - the root directory
benchspec - some suite-wide files
CPU2006 - the benchmarks
bin - tools to run and report on the suite
config - config files
result - log files and reports
tools - sources for the CPU2006 tools
Within each of the individual benchmarks, the structure is:
nnn.benchmark - root for this benchmark
Spec - SPEC metadata about the benchmark
data
all - data used by all runs (if needed by the benchmark)
ref - the real data set, required for all result reporting
test - data for a simple test that an executable is functional
train - data for feedback-directed optimization
exe - compiled versions of the benchmark
run - all builds and runs take place here
src - the sources for the benchmark
When you find yourself wondering "Where did all my disk space go?", the answer is "The run directories." All build and run activity takes place in automatically created subdirectories of $SPEC/benchspec/CPU2006/*/run/ (Unix) or %SPEC%\benchspec\CPU2006\*\run\ (Windows).
For example, suppose Bob has a config file that he is using to test some new memory optimizations, and has set
in his config file. In that case, the tools would create directories such as these:
$ pwd /Users/bob/cpu2006/benchspec/CPU2006/401.bzip2/run $ ls build_base_BobMemoryOpt.0001 build_peak_BobMemoryOpt.0001 list run_base_test_BobMemoryOpt.0001 run_base_train_BobMemoryOpt.0001 run_base_ref_BobMemoryOpt.0001 run_peak_test_BobMemoryOpt.0001 run_peak_train_BobMemoryOpt.0001 run_peak_ref_BobMemoryOpt.0001 $
To get your disk space back, see the documentation of the various cleaning options, below; or issue a command such as the following (on Unix systems; Windows users can select the files with Explorer):
rm -Rf $SPEC/benchspec/C*/*/run/run*BobMemory*
The effect of the above command would be to delete all the run directories associated with the benchmarks which
used extension *BobMemory*. Note that the command did not delete the directories where the
benchmarks were built (*/run/build_*); sometimes it can come in handy to keep the build
directories, perhaps to assist with debugging.
(New for CPU2006 is the fact that directory names include the string "build" or "run" followed
by the extension; in CPU2000, they simply used numbers.)
(If you are not sharing a SPEC CPU2006 installation with other users, you can skip ahead to section 2.)
The SPEC CPU2006 toolset provides support for multiple users of a single installation, but the tools also rely upon users to make appropriate choices regarding setup of operating-system file protections. This section describes the multi-user features and describes ways of organizing protections. First, to the features that are always enabled:
The SPEC-distributed source directories and data directories are not changed during testing. Instead, working directories are created as needed for builds and runs.
Each user's build and run directories are tagged with the name of the user that they belong to (in the file nnn.benchmark/run/list). Directories created for one user are not re-used for a different user.
Multiple users can run tests at the same time. (Of course, if the jobs compete with each other for resources, it is likely that they will run more slowly.)
Multiple users can even run the "same" test at the same time, and they will automatically be given separate run directories.
If you have more than one user of SPEC CPU2006, you can use additional features and choose from several different ways to organize the on-disk layout to share usage of the product. The recommended way is described first.
The recommended method for sharing a SPEC CPU2006 installation among multiple users has 4 steps:
Set output_root in the config files to change the destinations of nearly all the outputs. For example, if $SPEC is set to /cs403 and if ext=feb27a, then normally the build directory for 456.hmmer with base tuning would be:
But if the config files include (near the top, before any occurrence of a section marker, such as default=base=default:)
output_root=/home/${username}/spec
ext=feb27a
then Alan's build directory for 456.hmmer will be
and Wendy's will be
With the above setting of output_root, log files and reports that would normally go to /cs403/result instead will go to /home/alan/spec/result and /home/wendy/spec/result. Alan will find hmmer executables underneath /home/alan/spec/benchspec/CPU2006/456.hmmer/exe. And so forth.
Therefore, most of the installed CPU2006 tree can be protected read-only. For example, on a Unix system, you might set protections with:
chmod -R ugo-w $SPEC
The one exception is config files themselves, which cannot be shared. The above example, then, might have been produced by the following sequence of commands:
Alan enters:
cd /cs403 . ./shrc cp config/assignment1.cfg config/alan1.cfg chmod u+w config/alan1.cfg runspec --config alan1 --action build 456.hmmer
Wendy enters:
cd /cs403 . ./shrc cp config/assignment1.cfg config/wendy1.cfg chmod u+w config/wendy1.cfg runspec --config wendy1 --action build 456.hmmer
Therefore, $SPEC/config/ (Unix) or %SPEC%\config\ (Windows) needs to be a read/write directory that still must be shared by all the users. It is written to by users when they create config files, and by the tools themselves: config files are updated after successful builds to associate them with their binaries.
On Unix, the above protection command needs to be supplemented with:
chmod 1777 $SPEC/config
which will have the effect (on most Unix systems) of allowing users to create config files which they can choose to protect to allow access only by themselves. For example, if Alan says
cp /cs403/config/assignment1.cfg /cs403/config/alan1.cfg chmod u+w alan1.cfg chmod go-rw /cs403/config/alan1.cfg
then other users will not be able to access alan1.cfg.
Summary: output_root is the recommended way to separate users. Set the protection on the original tree to read-only, except for the config directory, which should be set to allow users to write, and protect, their own config files.
(The output_root feature is new with CPU2006.)
An alternative is to keep all the files in a single directory tree. In this case:
The directory tree must be writable by each of the users, which means that they have to trust each other not to modify or delete each others' files.
Directories such as result, nnn.benchmark/exe and nnn.benchmark/run are not segregated by user, so you can only have one version of (for example) benchspec/CPU2006/400.perlbench/exe/perlbench_base.jan07a
Note that user names do not appear in the directory names. For example, if Lizy, Aashish, and Ajay are sharing a directory tree on a Windows system, and each of them runs the ref workload for 401.bzip2 with base tuning and a config file that sets ext=wwc9, there will be three directories created:
To discover which 401.bzip2 run directories belong to Lizy:
F:\> cd %SPEC%\benchspec\CPU2006\401.bzip2\run
F:\cpu2006\benchspec\CPU2006\401.bzip2\run> findstr lizy list
To discover which result files belong to Aashish:
F:\cpu2006> cd %SPEC%\result
F:\cpu2006\result> findstr aashish *log
(Of course, on Unix, that would be grep instead of findstr).
Name convention: Users sharing a tree can adopt conventions to make their files more readily identifiable. As mentioned above, you can set your config file name to match your own name, and do the same for the extension.
Expid convention: Another alternative is to tag directories with labels that help to identify them based on an "experiment ID", with the config file feature expid, as described in config.html. (The expid is a new feature of CPU2006.)
Spend the disk space: A final alternative, of course, is to not share. You can simply give each user their own copy of the entire SPEC CPU2006 directory tree. This may be the easiest way to ensure that there are no surprises (at the expense of extra disk space.)
Before using runspec, you need to:
The runspec tool uses perl version 5.8.7, which is installed as specperl when you install CPU2006. If you haven't already installed the suite, then please see system-requirements.html followed by:
You won't get far unless you have a config file, but fortunately you can get started by using a pre-existing config file. See About Config Files, above.
If the environment variable SPEC is already defined (e.g. from a run of some other SPEC benchmark suite), it may be wise to undefine it first, e.g. by logging out and logging in, or by using whatever commands your system uses for removing definitions (such as unset).
To check whether the variable is already defined, type
echo $SPEC (Unix) or
echo %SPEC% (Windows)
On Unix systems, the desired output is nothing at all; on Windows systems, the desired output is %SPEC%.
Similarly, if your PATH includes tools from some other SPEC suite, it may be wise to remove them from your path.
Next, you need to
set your path appropriately for your system type.
See section 2.4 for Unix
or section 2.5 for Windows.
If you are using a Unix system, change your current directory to the top-level SPEC directory and source either shrc or cshrc:
If you are using a Microsoft Windows system, start a Command Prompt Window (previously known as an "MSDOS window"). Change to the directory where you have installed CPU2006, then edit shrc.bat, following the instructions contained therein. For example:
C:\> f:
F:\> cd diego\cpu2006
F:\diego\cpu2006\> copy shrc.bat shrc.bat.orig
F:\diego\cpu2006\> notepad shrc.bat
and follow the instructions in shrc.bat to make the appropriate edits for your compiler paths.
Caution: you may find that the lines are not correctly formatted (the text appears to be all run together) when you edit this file. If so, see the section "Using Text Files on Windows" in the Windows installation guide.
Then set the path using your edited shrc.bat, for example:
F:\diego\cpu2006> shrc
Presumably, you checked to be sure you had enough space when you read system-requirements.html, but now might be a good time to double check that you still have enough. Typically, you will want to have at least 8 GB free disk space at the start of a run. Windows users can say "dir", and will find the free space at the bottom of the directory listing. Unix users can say "df -k ." to get a measure of freespace in KB.
If you have done some runs, and you are wondering where your space has gone, see section 1.4.2.
It is easiest to use runspec when:
Some kind person has already compiled the benchmarks.
That kind person provides both the compiled images and their corresponding config file (see About Config Files above).
The config file does not change the defaults in surprising or esoteric ways (see About Defaults above).
In this lucky circumstance, all that needs to be done is to name the config file, select which benchmark suite is to be run: int for the SPECint2006 benchmarks or fp for the SPECfp2006 benchmarks, and say --reportable to attempt a full run.
For example, suppose that Wilfried wants to give Ryan a config file and compiled binaries with some new integer optimizations for a Unix system. Wilfried might type something like this:
[/usr/wilfried]$ cd $SPEC [/bigdisk/cpu2006]$ spectar -cvf - be*/C*/*/exe/*newint* config/newint.cfg | specbzip2 > newint.tar.bz2
and then Ryan might type something like this:
ryan% cd /usr/ryan/cpu2006 cpu2006% bash bash-2.05$ . ./shrc bash-2.05$ specbzip2 -dc newint.tar.bz2 | spectar -xf - bash-2.05$ runspec --config newint.cfg --nobuild --reportable int
In the example above, the --nobuild emphasizes that the tools should not attempt to build the binaries; instead, the prebuilt binaries should be used. If there is some reason why the tools don't like that idea (for example: the config file does not match the binaries), they will complain and refuse to run, but with --nobuild they won't go off and try to do a build.
As a another example, suppose that Reinhold has given Kaivalya a Windows config file with changes from 12 August, and Kaivalya wants to run the floating point suite. He might say something like this:
F:\kaivalya\cpu2006\> shrc F:\kaivalya\cpu2006\> specbzip2 -dc reinhold_aug12a.tar.bz2 | spectar -xf - F:\kaivalya\cpu2006\> runspec --config reinhold_aug12a --reportable fp
If you want to run a subset of the benchmarks, rather than running the whole suite, you can name them. Since a reportable run uses an entire suite, you will need to turn off reportable:
[/usr/mat/cpu2006]$ runspec --config mat_dec25j.cfg --noreportable 482.sphinx3
Look for the output of your runspec command in the directory $SPEC/result (Unix) or %SPEC%\result (Windows). There, you will find log files and result files. More information about log files can be found in config.html.
The format of the result files depends on what was selected in your config file, but will typically include at least .txt for ASCII text, and will always include .rsf, for raw (unformatted) run data. More information about result formats can be found below, under --output_format. Note that you can always re-generate the output, using the --rawformat option, also documented below.
This concludes the section on simplest usage.
If simple commands such as the above are not enough to meet your needs,
you can find out about commonly used options by continuing to read the next 3 sections (3.2, 3.3, and 3.4).
The syntax for the runspec command is:
runspec [options] [list of benchmarks to run]
Options are described in the following sections. There, you will notice that many options have both long and short names. The long names are invoked using two dashes, and the short names use only a single dash. For long names that take a parameter, you can optionally use an equals sign. Long names can also be abbreviated, provided that you still enter enough letters for uniqueness. For example, the following commands all do the same thing:
runspec --config=dianne_july25a --debug=99 fp runspec --config dianne_july25a --debug 99 fp runspec --conf dianne_july25a --deb 99 fp runspec -c dianne_july25a -v 99 fp
The list of benchmarks to run can be either an entire suite ("int" or "fp") or one or more individual benchmarks. Individual benchmarks can be named, numbered, or both; and they can be abbreviated, as long as you enter enough characters for uniqueness. For example, each of the following commands does the same thing:
runspec -c jason_july09d --noreportable 459.GemsFDTD 465.tonto runspec -c jason_july09d --noreportable 459 465 runspec -c jason_july09d --noreportable GemsFDTD tonto runspec -c jason_july09d --noreportable Gem ton
It is also possible to exclude a benchmark, using a hat (^, also known as carat, typically found as shift-6). For example, suppose your system lacks a C++ compiler, and you therefore cannot run the integer benchmarks 471.omnetpp, 473.astar, and 483.xalancbmk. You could run all of the integer benchmarks except these by entering a command such as this one:
runspec --noreportable -c kathy_sep14c int ^omnet ^astar ^xalanc
Note that if hat has significance to your shell, you may need to protect it from interpretation by the shell, for example by putting it in single quotes. On Windows, you will need to use both a hat and double quotes for each benchmark you want to exclude, like this:
E:\cpu2006> runspec --noreportable -c cathy_apr21b int "^omnet" "^astar" "^xalanc"
Every time runspec is used, it normally takes some kind of action for the set of benchmarks specified at the end of the command line (or defaulted from the config file). The default action is validate, which means that the benchmarks will be built if necessary, the run directories will be set up, the benchmarks will be run, and reports will be generated.
If you want to cause a different action, then you can enter one of the following runspec options:
| --action build | Compile the benchmarks. More information about compiling may be found in config.html, including information about additional files that are output during a build. |
| --action buildsetup | Set up build directories for the benchmarks, but do not attempt to compile them. (The buildsetup action is new with CPU2006) |
| --action configpp | Preprocess the config file and dump it to stdout (Config file preprocessing is a new feature of CPU2006) |
| --action onlyrun | Run the benchmarks but do not bother to verify that they got the correct answers. Reports are always marked "invalid", since the correctness checks are skipped. Therefore, this option is rarely useful, but it can be selected if, for example, you are generating a performance trace and wish to avoid tracing some of the tools overhead. (For CPU2000, this option was spelled "run", but for CPU2006 the name has been changed to clarify what it does.) |
| --action report | Synonym for --fakereport; see also --fakereportable. |
| --action run | Synonym for --action validate. (CPU2006 changes the meaning of "--action run" in an attempt to better match what users expect "run" to do.) |
| --action runsetup | Set up the run directories. Copy executables and data to work directories. (Synonym: --action setup) |
| --action validate | Build (if needed), run, check for correct answers, and generate reports. |
In addition, the following cleanup actions are available (in order by level of vigor):
| --action clean | Empty all run and build directories for the specified benchmark set for the
current user. For example, if the current OS username is set to jeff and this
command is entered:
D:\cpu2006\> runspec --action clean --config may12a fp
then the tools will remove run directories with username jeff (in nnn.benchmark\run\list) for fp benchmarks generated by config file may12a.cfg. |
| --action trash | Same as clean, but do it for all users of this SPEC directory tree. |
| --action realclean | A synonym for --action trash |
| --action clobber | Clean + remove all executables of the current type for the specified benchmark set. |
| --action scrub | Remove everybody's run and build directories and all executables for the specified benchmark set. |
Alternative cleaning method:
If you prefer, you can clean disk space by entering commands such as the following (on Unix systems):
rm -Rf $SPEC/benchspec/C*/*/run rm -Rf $SPEC/benchspec/C*/*/exe
Windows users can achieve a similar effect using Windows Explorer. Notice that the above commands not only empty the contents of the run and exe directories; they also delete the directories themselves. That's fine; the tools will re-create the run and exe directories if they are needed again later on.
Or if you prefer to do all cleaning by hand (perhaps after reviewing the results of each run), you can ask the tools to never touch a used run directory. Do this by setting the environment variable: SPEC_CPU2006_NO_RUNDIR_DEL
Most users of runspec will want to become familiar with the following options.
runspec --check_version --http_proxy http://webcache.tom.spokewrenchdad.com:8080or, equivalently, for those who prefer to abbreviate to the shortest possible amount of typing:
runspec --ch --http_p http://webcache.tom.spokewrenchdad.com:8080The command downloads a small file (~15 bytes) from www.spec.org which contains information about the most recent release, and compares that to your release. If your version is out of date, a warning will be printed. The ability to check your version vs. www.spec.org is new with CPU2006.
Meaning: Use number copies for a SPECrate run. See also --rate.
Note: specifying the number of copies on the command line will override a config file setting of copies that occurs in the "header section"; but it will not override any per-benchmark settings for copies.
(In CPU2000, "--copies" was called "--users".)
Meaning: A "flags file" provides information about how to interpret and report on the flags (e.g. -O5, -fast, etc.) that are used in a config file. The --flagsurl switch says that a flags file may be found at the specified URL (such as http://myflags.com/flags.xml). URL schemes supported are http, ftp, and file. A URL without a scheme is assumed to be a file or path name. If you need to specify an http proxy, you can do so in your config file, by using the --http_proxy command line switch, or via the environment variable http_proxy.
The special value noflags may be used to cause rawformat to remove a stored flags file when re-formatting a previously run result.
Flags files are required by run rule 4.2.5. If a run is marked "invalid" because some flags are "unknown", you may be able to resolve the invalid marking by finding, or creating, a flags file with proper descriptions and entering commands such as:
cp CINT2006.559.rsf retry rawformat --flagsurl myfixedflags.xml --output_format pdf,raw retry
The first command preserves the original raw file, which is always recommended before doing any operations that create a new raw file. The second command creates retry.rsf and retry.pdf, both of which will include descriptions of flags from myfixedflags.xml. If you are submitting a result to SPEC, the newly-generated rawfile is the one to submit.
Note that saying rawformat is equivalent to saying runspec --rawformat, as described below.
On Windows systems, the first command above would use copy instead of cp. Also, if Windows refuses to accept the syntax with a comma in it, you might have to generate just the rawfile as a first step, then generate other format(s).
You can find out more about how to write flag description files in flag-description.html.
(Flag reporting is new in CPU2006.)
[/usr/mwong/cpu2006]$ runspec --config golden --iterations 1 483.xalancbmkas the SPEC tools will inform you that you cannot change the number of iterations on a reportable run. But either of the following commands will override the config file and just run 483.xalancbmk once:
[/usr/mwong/cpu2006]$ runspec --config golden --iterations 1 --loose 483.xalancbmk [/usr/mwong/cpu2006]$ runspec --config golden --iterations 1 --noreportable 483.xalancbmk
| all | implies all of the following except screen, check, and mail |
|---|---|
| cfg|config|conffile configfile|cfgfile |
config file used for this run (e.g. CINT2006.030.cfg) (New for CPU2006: the config file is adjusted to include any changes you may have made to fields for readers, as described in utility.html.) |
| check|chk|subcheck| subtest|test |
Submission syntax check. This is automatically enabled for reportable runs. (The ability to check syntax locally, prior to submitting a result to SPEC, is new with CPU2006.) |
| csv|spreadsheet | Comma-separated variable (e.g. CINT2006.030.csv). (The CSV format is new with CPU2006 and is strongly recommended if you are planning to use a spreadsheet to do analysis.) |
| default | implies HTML and text |
| flag|flags | Flag report (e.g. CINT2006.030.flags.html). Will also be produced when formats that use it are requested (PDF, HTML). (Flag reporting is new with CPU2006.) |
| html|xhtml|www|web | web page (e.g. CINT2006.030.html) |
| mail|mailto|email | All generated reports will be sent to an address specified in the config file. (The ability to email reports is new with CPU2006.) |
| pdf|adobe | Portable Document Format (e.g. CINT2006.030.pdf). This format is the design center for SPEC CPU2006 reporting. Other formats contain less information: text lacks graphs, postscript lacks hyperlinks, and HTML is less structured. (It does not appear as part of "default" only because some systems may lack the ability to read PDF.) |
| postscript|ps| printer|print |
PostScript (e.g. CINT2006.030.ps) |
| raw|rsf | raw results, e.g. CINT2006.030.rsf. Note: you will automatically get an rsf file for commands that run a test or that update a result (such as rawformat --flagsurl). (In CPU2000, raw results were written to ".raw" files; for CPU2006, they are written to ".rsf" files.) |
| screen|scr|disp| display|terminal|term |
ASCII text output to stdout. (Report generation to stdout is new with CPU2006.) |
| text|txt|ASCII|asc | ASCII text, e.g. CINT2006.030.txt. (For CPU2000, ascii output went to files of type .asc; for CPU2006, the type is .txt.) |
| Many of the synonyms above are newly accepted in CPU2006. | Now, you don't have to scratch your head and try to remember whether to spell your desired output format as "ps" or as "postscript". CPU2006 causes less dandruff than CPU2000. |
/bigdisk/cpu2006$ runspec --config tony_may12a --rate 4 int /bigdisk/cpu2006$ runspec --config tony_may12a --rate --copies 4 intIf you have also entered --rawformat, then the effect of --rate is to format the rawfile for rate even if it was originally a speed run. That is, it is valid to report a single copy run as both speed and rate. (In CPU2000, you could specify that you wanted, say, 4 copies by entering "--rate --users 4"; for CPU2006 the syntax has been simplified to just "--rate 4".)
runspec --rawformat --output_format html,ps $SPEC/result/CPU2006.324.rsfYou can achieve the same effect by using rawformat:
rawformat --output_format html,ps $SPEC/result/CPU2006.324.rsfFor more information about rawformat, please see utility.html
Meaning: Defines a preprocessor macro named SYMBOL (for use in your config file) and optionally gives it the value VALUE. If no value is specified, the macro is defined with no value. This option may be used multiple times. For example if a config file says:
%ifdef %{use_sparc_v9}
ext = darryl.native64
mach = native64
ARCH_SELECT = -xtarget=native64
%else
ext = darryl.native32
mach = default
ARCH_SELECT = -xtarget=native
%endif
default=base:
OPTIMIZE = -O ${ARCH_SELECT}
Then saying runspec --define use_sparc_v9=1 will cause base optimization to be -O -xtarget=native64
(The ability to define symbols for use in the config file is a new feature of CPU2006.)
Meaning: In some cases, such as when doing version checks and loading flag description files, runspec will attempt to fetch a file, using http. If your web browser needs a proxy server in order to access the outside world, then runspec will probably want to use the same proxy server. The proxy server can be set by:
For example, a failure of this form:
$ runspec --rawformat --output_format txt \
--flagsurl http://portlandcyclers.net/evan.xml CFP2006.007.rsf
...
Retrieving flags file (http://portlandcyclers.net/evan.xml)...
ERROR: Specified flags URL (http://portlandcyclers.net/evan.xml) could not be retrieved.
The error returned was: 500 Can't connect to portlandcyclers.net:80
(Bad hostname 'portlandcyclers.net')
improves when a proxy is provided:
$ runspec --rawformat --output_format txt \ --flagsurl http://portlandcyclers.net/evan.xml \ --http_proxy=http://webcache.tom.spokewrenchdad.com:8080 CFP2006.007.rsf
Note that this setting will override the value of the http_proxy environment variable, as well as any setting in the config file.
By default, no proxy is used. The special value none may be used to unset any proxies set in the environment or via config file. Support for proxies is new with CPU2006.
Meaning: The machines to build for or to run. Normally used only if the config file has been written to handle more than one machine type. The config file author should tell you what machines are supported by the config file.
Important note: If you specify multiple machine types, multiple runs will be performed. Because the benchmark binary names contain only the extension, it is quite possible, even easy, to cause binaries built in one run to be overwritten by subsequent runs. In practice, the ability to specify multiple machine types should rarely be used.
Note: The machine name may only consist of alphanumerics, underscores, hyphens, and periods.
Note to Windows users: Because of the command-line preprocessing performed by cmd.exe, it is not possible to run more than one machine type on Windows.
(The ability to run more than one machine type in a single invocation of runspec is a new feature of CPU2006.)
Meaning: Do not delete existing object files before attempting to build. This option should only be used for troubleshooting a problematic compile. It is against the run rules to use it when building binaries for an actual submission.
For a better way of troubleshooting a problematic compile, see the information about specmake in utility.html
(This table is organized alphabetically, without regard to upper/lower case, and without regard to the presence of a leading "no").
| -a | Same as --action |
|---|---|
| --action action | Do: build|buildsetup|clean|clobber|configpp|scrub| report|run|setup|trash|validate |
| --basepeak | Copy base results to peak (use with --rawformat) |
| --nobuild | Do not attempt to build binaries |
| -c | Same as --config |
| -C | Same as --copies |
| --comment "text" | Add a comment to the log and the stored configfile. |
| --config file | Set config file for runspec to use |
| --copies | Set the number of copies for a rate run |
| -D | Same as --rebuild |
| -d | Same as --deletework |
| --debug | Same as --verbose |
| --define SYMBOL[=VALUE] | Define a config preprocessor macro |
| --delay secs | Add delay before and after benchmark invocation |
| --deletework | Force work directories to be rebuilt |
| --dryrun | Same as --fake |
| --dry-run | Same as --fake |
| -e | Same as --extension |
| --ext | Same as --extension |
| --extension ext[,ext...] | Set the extensions |
| -F | Same as --flagsurl |
| --fake | Show what commands would be executed. |
| --fakereport | Generate a report without compiling codes or doing a run. |
| --[no]feedback | Control whether builds use feedback directed optimization |
| --flagsurl url | Location (url or filespec) where to find your flags file |
| --graph_auto | Let the tools pick minimum and maximum for the graph |
| --graph_min N | Set the minimum for the graph |
| --graph_max N | Set the maximum for the graph |
| -h | Same as --help |
| --help | Print usage message |
| -I | Same as --ignore_errors |
| -i | Same as --size |
| --ignore_errors | Continue with benchmark runs even if some fail |
| --ignoreerror | Same as --ignore_errors |
| --info_wrap_column N | Set wrap width for non-notes informational items |
| --infowrap | Same as --info_wrap_column |
| --input | Same as --size |
| --iterations N | Run each benchmark N times |
| -l | Same as --loose |
| --loose | Do not produce a reportable result |
| --noloose | Same as --reportable |
| -m | Same as --machine |
| -M | Same as --make_no_clobber |
| --mach | Same as --machine |
| --machine name[,name...] | Set the machine types |
| --make_no_clobber | Do not delete existing object files before building. |
| --max_active_compares | Same as --maxcompares |
| --maxcompares N | Set the number of concurrent compares to N |
| --mockup | Same as --fakereportable |
| -n | Same as --iterations |
| -N | Same as --nobuild |
| --notes_wrap_column N | Set wrap width for notes lines |
| -noteswrap | Same as --notes_wrap_column |
| -o | Same as --output_format |
| --output_format format[,format...] | Generate: all|cfg|check|csv|flags|html|mail|pdf|ps|raw|screen|text |
| -R | Same as --rawformat |
| -r | Same as --rate |
| --rate [N] | Do a throughput (rate) run, or rawformat as rate |
| --rawformat | Format raw file |
| --rebuild | Force a rebuild of binaries |
| --reportable | Produce a reportable result |
| --noreportable | Same as --loose |
| --reportonly | Same as --fakereport |
| --[no]review | Format results for review |
| -s | Same as --reportable |
| -S SYMBOL[=VALUE] | Same as --define |
| --[no]setprocgroup | [Don't] try to create all processes in one group. |
| --size size[,size...] | Select data set(s): test|train|ref |
| --strict | Same as --reportable |
| --nostrict | Same as --loose |
| -T | Same as --tune |
| --[no]table | Do [not] include a detailed table of results |
| --]test | Run various perl validation tests on specperl |
| --tune | Set the tuning levels to one of: base|peak|all |
| --tuning | Same as --tune |
| --undef SYMBOL | Remove any definition of this config preprocessor macro |
| -U | Same as --username |
| --update_flags | Check www.spec.org for updates to benchmark flag files |
| --username | Name of user to tag as owner for run directories |
| -v | Same as --verbose |
| --verbose | Set verbosity level for messages to N |
| -V | Same as --version |
| --version | Output lots of version information |
| -? | Same as --help |
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