ACPI Component Architecture Downloads (Previous Releases 2015)

18 December 2015. Summary of changes for version 20151218:

This release is available at https://acpica.org/downloads

1) ACPICA kernel-resident subsystem:

Implemented per-AML-table execution of "module-level code" as individual ACPI tables are loaded into the namespace during ACPICA initialization. In other words, any module-level code within an AML table is executed immediately after the table is loaded, instead of batched and executed after all of the tables have been loaded. This provides compatibility with other ACPI implementations. ACPICA BZ 1219. Bob Moore, Lv Zheng, David Box.

To fully support the feature above, the default operation region handlers for the SystemMemory, SystemIO, and PCI_Config address spaces are now installed before any ACPI tables are loaded. This enables module-level code to access these address spaces during the table load and module-level code execution phase. ACPICA BZ 1220. Bob Moore, Lv Zheng, David Box.

Implemented several changes to the internal _REG support in conjunction with the changes above. Also, changes to the AcpiExec/AcpiNames/Examples utilities for the changes above. Although these tools were changed, host operating systems that simply use the default handlers for SystemMemory, SystemIO, and PCI_Config spaces should not require any update. Lv Zheng.

For example, in the code below, DEV1 is conditionally added to the namespace by the DSDT via module-level code that accesses an operation region. The SSDT references DEV1 via the Scope operator. DEV1 must be created immediately after the DSDT is loaded in order for the SSDT to successfully reference DEV1. Previously, this code would cause an AE_NOT_EXIST exception during the load of the SSDT. Now, this code is fully supported by ACPICA.

DefinitionBlock ("", "DSDT", 2, "Intel", "DSDT1", 1)
{
OperationRegion (OPR1, SystemMemory, 0x400, 32)
Field (OPR1, AnyAcc, NoLock, Preserve)
{
FLD1, 1
}
If (FLD1)
{
Device (\DEV1)
{
}
}
}
DefinitionBlock ("", "SSDT", 2, "Intel", "SSDT1", 1)
{
External (\DEV1, DeviceObj)
Scope (\DEV1)
{
}
}

Fixed an AML interpreter problem where control method invocations were not handled correctly when the invocation was itself a SuperName argument to another ASL operator. In these cases, the method was not invoked. ACPICA BZ 1002. Affects the following ASL operators that have a SuperName argument:
Store
Acquire, Wait
CondRefOf, RefOf
Decrement, Increment
Load, Unload
Notify
Signal, Release, Reset
SizeOf

Implemented automatic String-to-ObjectReference conversion support for packages returned by predefined names (such as _DEP). A common BIOS error is to add double quotes around an ObjectReference namepath, which turns the reference into an unexpected string object. This support detects the problem and corrects it before the package is returned to the caller that invoked the method. Lv Zheng.

Implemented extensions to the Concatenate operator. Concatenate now accepts any type of object, it is not restricted to simply Integer/String/Buffer. For objects other than these 3 basic data types, the argument is treated as a string containing the name of the object type. This expands the utility of Concatenate and the Printf/Fprintf macros. ACPICA BZ 1222.

Cleaned up the output of the ASL Debug object. The timer() value is now optional and no longer emitted by default. Also, the basic data types of Integer/String/Buffer are simply emitted as their values, without a data type string -- since the data type is obvious from the output. ACPICA BZ 1221.

Example Code and Data Size: These are the sizes for the OS-independent acpica.lib produced by the Microsoft Visual C++ 9.0 32-bit compiler. The debug version of the code includes the debug output trace mechanism and has a much larger code and data size.

Current Release:
Non-Debug Version: 102.6K Code, 28.4K Data, 131.0K Total
Debug Version: 200.3K Code, 81.9K Data, 282.3K Total
Previous Release:
Non-Debug Version: 102.0K Code, 28.3K Data, 130.3K Total
Debug Version: 199.6K Code, 81.8K Data, 281.4K Total

2) iASL Compiler/Disassembler and Tools:

iASL: Fixed some issues with the ASL Include() operator. This operator was incorrectly defined in the iASL parser rules, causing a new scope to be opened for the code within the include file. This could lead to several issues, including allowing ASL code that is technically illegal and not supported by AML interpreters. Note, this does not affect the related #include preprocessor operator. ACPICA BZ 1212.

iASL/Disassembler: Implemented support for the ASL ElseIf operator. This operator is essentially an ASL macro since there is no AML opcode associated with it. The code emitted by the iASL compiler for ElseIf is an Else opcode followed immediately by an If opcode. The disassembler will now emit an ElseIf if it finds an Else immediately followed by an If. This simplifies the decoded ASL, especially for deeply nested If..Else and large Switch constructs. Thus, the disassembled code more closely follows the original source ASL. ACPICA BZ 1211. Example:

Old disassembly:
Else
{
If (Arg0 == 0x02)
{
Local0 = 0x05
}
}

New disassembly:
ElseIf (Arg0 == 0x02)
{
Local0 = 0x05
}

AcpiExec: Added support for the new module level code behavior and the early region installation. This required a small change to the initialization, since AcpiExec must install its own operation region handlers.

AcpiExec: Added support to make the debug object timer optional. Default is timer disabled. This cleans up the debug object output -- the timer data is rarely used.

AcpiExec: Multiple ACPI tables are now loaded in the order that they appear on the command line. This can be important when there are interdependencies/references between the tables.

iASL/Templates. Add support to generate template files with multiple SSDTs within a single output file. Also added ommand line support to specify the number of SSDTs (in addition to a single DSDT). ACPICA BZ 1223, 1225.