Table of Contents

🔧 RISC-V Spike Installation and Usage Guide
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What is Spike?
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Spike is an official RISC-V simulator used to model the behavior of RISC-V Instruction Set Architecture (ISA). It allows you to simulate RISC-V processors and execute compiled programs, making it a powerful tool for development and testing.

This guide provides a step-by-step walkthrough for installing and using Spike.

Installation
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1. Requirements
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Before installing Spike, ensure the following tools are installed:

Git
GCC and essential build tools (typically provided via build-essential)
Autoconf and Automake

Install on Ubuntu/Debian using:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y git build-essential autoconf automake libtool

2. Cloning Spike Source Code
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Clone the source code:

git clone https://github.com/riscv-software-src/riscv-isa-sim.git
cd riscv-isa-sim

3. Building and Installing Spike
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Use autoconf and automake to build the project:

autoreconf -i
./configure --prefix=/usr/local
make
sudo make install

You may change the --prefix directory if you want to install it elsewhere.

Verify installation:

spike --version

If you encounter errors, check for missing dependencies and install them as needed.

Using Spike
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Spike runs compiled RISC-V binaries (such as ELF files).

1. Compile a RISC-V Program
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Before running anything, you’ll need to compile a RISC-V program. For that, install the RISC-V GNU Toolchain:

git clone https://github.com/riscv-collab/riscv-gnu-toolchain.git
cd riscv-gnu-toolchain
./configure --prefix=/opt/riscv --with-arch=rv64gc --with-abi=lp64d
make

Add to your PATH:

export PATH=/opt/riscv/bin:$PATH

2. Create and Compile a “Hello World” Program
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Create a file hello.c:

#include <stdio.h>

int main() {
    printf("Hello, RISC-V!\n");
    return 0;
}

Compile with:

riscv64-unknown-elf-gcc -o hello hello.c

3. Run with Spike
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Spike requires a proxy kernel (pk) to run ELF programs. Install it:

git clone https://github.com/riscv-software-src/riscv-pk.git
cd riscv-pk
mkdir build
cd build
../configure --prefix=/usr/local --host=riscv64-unknown-elf
make
sudo make install

Then run:

spike pk hello

You should see:

Hello, RISC-V!

Advanced Usage
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1. Log Executed Instructions
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You can enable detailed instruction logging:

spike --log-commits pk hello

2. Simulate Multiple Cores
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Spike supports multicore simulation with the -p flag:

spike -p2 pk hello

This will simulate two cores.

3. Custom Memory and ISA Settings
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Customize ISA and memory settings:

spike --isa=rv64imac --ram-size=2G pk hello

Common Errors and Fixes
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spike: command not found
- Add Spike to your PATH:
```
export PATH=/usr/local/bin:$PATH
```
Missing Toolchain
- Ensure the RISC-V toolchain is installed correctly.
pk not found
- Follow the proxy kernel installation steps.