opcode-gen/README.txt

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Notes on updating the sets of defined opcodes and instruction formats
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##########

If you want to add, delete, or change opcodes:

* Update the file bytecode.txt, in this directory.

* Run the regen-all script, in this directory. This will regenerate a
  number of tables, definitions, and declarations in the code, in
  dalvik/dx, dalvik/libdex, and libcore/dalvik.

* Implement/update the opcode in C in vm/mterp/c/...
  * Verify new code by running with "dalvik.vm.execution-mode = int:portable"
    or "-Xint:portable".

* Implement/update the instruction in assembly in vm/mterp/{arm*,x86*}/...
  * Verify by enabling the assembly (e.g. ARM) handler for that instruction
    in mterp/config-* and running "int:fast" as above.

* Implement/update the instruction in
  vm/compiler/codegen/{arm,x86}/CodegenDriver.c.

* Rebuild the interpreter code. See the notes in vm/mterp/ReadMe.txt for
  details.

* Look in the directory vm/analysis at the files CodeVerify.c,
  DexVerify.c, and Optimize.c. You may need to update them to account
  for your changes.
  * If you change anything here, be sure to try running the system with
    the verifier enabled (which is in fact the default).

##########

If you want to add, delete, or change instruction formats:

This is a more manual affair than changing opcodes.

* Update the file bytecode.txt, and run regen-all, as per above.

* Update the instruction format list in libdex/InstrUtils.h.

* Update dexDecodeInstruction() in libdex/InstrUtils.c.

* Update dumpInstruction() and its helper code in dexdump/DexDump.c.

* Update the switch inside dvmCompilerMIR2LIR() in
  vm/compiler/codegen/{arm,x86}/CodegenDriver.c. (There may be other
  architectures to deal with too.)

##########

Testing your work:

The Dalvik VM tests (in the vm/tests directory) provide a convenient
way to test most of the above without doing any rebuilds. In
particular, test 003-omnibus-opcodes will exercise most of the
opcodes.