iec(1) General Commands Manual iec(1)
NAME
iec - Instruction Emulator Control
SYNOPSIS
iec p | s [value]
iec p | s [keyword]
OPTIONS
The following options are used with the iec command: Sets or displays the current option setting for the parent process. Sets or displays
the current option setting for the system.
The following keywords are used with the p option: Resets the current option settings to the default settings for the parent process. Does
not print the instruction emulation warning message for the parent process. Disables instruction emulation. Any programs that attempt to
execute instructions that are not implemented in the host processor will receive the SIGILL (illegal instruction) signal. Prints the
instruction emulation warning messages for all instances of instruction emulation. By default, a message is only printed for the first
instance.
The following keywords are used with the s option: Resets the current option settings to the default settings for the system. Does not
print the instruction emulation warning message for the system.
If value is not specified, the current option setting is displayed. You can specify value as either 0 (zero) or 1 (one). If value is 0
(zero), the option is turned on and messages are not displayed. If value is 1 (one), the option is turned off and messages are displayed.
Keywords can be used singly or in any combination. However, the reset keyword overrides any other keywords that it is used with.
Usually, the parent process is the shell.
DESCRIPTION
Some processors in the Alpha processor family do not implement all of the instructions defined in the Alpha architecture. The operating
system provides an instruction emulator that permits all programs written for the Alpha architecture to run, regardless of the Alpha pro-
cessor being used.
When the operating system encounters an instruction that is not implemented by the host processor, the default action is to emulate the
instruction and print a message informing the user process that the emulation has occurred. By default, the operating system prints a mes-
sage only for the first instance of emulation, although it continues to emulate any other non-implemented instructions that it encounters.
The message has the form: "inst emulated pid=nnn <prog_name> va=0xvirtual_addrpc=0xpc_addr inst=0xactual_instr". Receiving this message
tells you that your application will run at less than its optimal level of performance. You may wish to recompile your program to get bet-
ter performance. For information on how to compile for a specific hardware platform, see the compiler manpage for the language you are
using.
In addition, the default action for the operating system is to not deliver a SIGILL signal to the parent process when an emulated instruc-
tion is encountered.
These defaults are satisfactory for most users, but some users require a different behavior and want to specify their own Instruction Emu-
lator Control (IEC).
The iec command enables or disables the display of "inst emulated" messages. The command sets or displays the IEC_NOPRINT, IEC_NOEMUL, and
IEC_VERBOSE flags, as defined in setsysinfo(2).
RESTRICTIONS
You must be superuser to set the system option.
EXAMPLES
Both of the following commands disable messages for the parent process: # iec p 0
# iec p noprint Both of the following commands enable messages for the system: # iec s 1
# iec s reset The following command enables the printing of a message for each emulated instruction: # iec p verbose
SEE ALSO
getsysinfo(2), setsysinfo(2)
iec(1)