Do we have to build the program got from clcreatewithbinary in opencl? - binary

I went through some tutorials to optimize kernal invocation using binary files. I refered the link below,
http://www.fixstars.com/en/opencl/book/OpenCLProgrammingBook/online-offline-compilation/
There it is mentioned that if we use binary files , we don't have to build the created program. I tried that. But it doesn't work as it mentions. When I insert "clBuildProgram(program, 0, NULL, NULL, NULL, NULL)" after the line of creating program from binary files, the program works.
I also went through other references also. Some of them mention we have to insert the "build" line there. I also went through all related questions in this site. But i couldn't get any clear idea about this.
I feel if we really avoid the "build" part, we can reduce the time taken to execution.
If we have to use the "build" part, then my other question is what is the benifit of using binary instead of source.
Thanks in advance.

The specification is your friend. https://www.khronos.org/registry/cl/specs/opencl-1.2.pdf
. clBuildProgram must be called
for program created using either clCreateProgramWithSource or
clCreateProgramWithBinary to build the program executable for one or more devices
associated with program.
So it's explicitly said that you must call the buildprogram even if you are using binary programs.
In most cases the buildprogram is faster for binaryprograms than what they are for text programs. So there is marginal speed benefit.

Related

How do I find where a function is declared in Tcl?

I think this is more of a Tcl configuration question rather than a Tcl coding question...
I inherited a whole series of Tcl scripts that are used within a simulation tool that my company built in-house. In my scripts, I'm finding numerous instances where there are function calls to functions that don't seem to be declared anywhere. How can I trace the path to these phantom functions?
For example, rather than use source, someone build a custom include function that they named INCLUDE. Tclsh obviously balks when I try to run it there, but with my simulation software, it runs fine.
I've tried grep-ing through the entire simulation software for INCLUDE, but I'm not having any luck. Are there any other obvious locations outside the simulation software where a Tcl function might be defined?
The possibilities:
Within your software. (you have checked for this).
Within some other package included by the software.
Check and see if the environment variable TCLLIBPATH is set.
Also check and see if the simulation software sets TCLLIBPATH.
This will be a list of directories to search for Tcl packages, and you
will need to search the packages that are located outside of the
main source tree.
Another possibility is that the locations are specified in the pkgIndex.tcl file.
Check any pkgIndex.tcl files and look for locations outside the main source tree.
Within an unknown command handler. This could be in
your software or within some other package. You should be able to find
some code that processes the INCLUDE statement.
Within a binary package. These are shared libraries that are loaded
by Tcl. If this is the case, there should be some C code used to
build the shared library that can be searched.
Since you say there are numerous instances of unknown functions, my first
guess is that you have
not found all the directories where packages are loaded from. But an
''unknown'' command handler is also a possibility.
Edit:
One more possibility I forgot. Check and see if your software sets the auto_path variable. Check any directories added to the auto_path for
other packages.
This isn't a great answer for you, but I suspect it is the best you're going to get...
The procedure could be defined in a great many places. Your best bet for finding it is to use a tool like findstr (on Windows) or grep -R (on POSIX platforms) to search across all the relevant source files. But that still might not help! It might not be a procedure but instead a general command, which could be implemented in C and not as a procedure, or it could be defined in a packaged application archive (which are usually awkward to look inside). There are also other types of script-implemented command too, which could make things awkward. Generally searching and investigating is your best bet, but it might not work.
Tcl doesn't really differentiate strongly between different types of command except in some introspection operations. If you're lucky, you could find that info body tells you the definition of the procedure (and info args and info default tell you about the arguments) but that won't help with other command types at all. Tcl 8.7 will include a command (info cmdtype) that would help a lot with narrowing down what to do next, but that's no use to you now and it definitely doesn't exist in older versions.

How-to rewrite a binary file or modfiy its control flow graph

Essentially I want to rewrite a binary file to perform additional tasks regarding its actual tasks.
Regarding binary rewriting the process seems to be following:
Create a Control Flow Graph from an existing binary
Create a Code Snippet with the desired changes in an appropriate format
Create a binary file from the modified CFG
I came across a couple of tools, which either won't compile on my ubuntu 12.04, are not available for download or I can not find a decent tutorial / howto on how to hot patch / rewrite a binary. Those tools are:
ParseAPI, Code-Surfer/x86, EEL, LEEL, Jakstab, DynInst, Diablo + Lancet
To be more precise I want to analyze a given binary for its most frequently used functions and change it in such a way that before executing these functions, a given set of instructions are performed.
These instructions comprise of loading an array of stored bytes, reading a byte at a certain position and comparing it with a pre-defined value.
I want to make sure that the binary definitely executes these instructions during every trial.
There are 2 alternative approaches I came across which basically alter standard c functions (like memcpy(), strcpy(), printf(), etc.) since I assume these functions to be part of the binary with high probability:
LD_PRELOAD: Define my own libraries and let them get loaded before the ordinary ones
Compile the binary (of sourcecode is given) with own versions of the standard functions using something like gcc -fno-builtin -o strcpy strcpy.c
Drawback of this approach is that eventhough I subsitute standard c functions they do not necessarily have to get called, hence my instruction will not get executed neither.
Do you guys have experience regarding binary rewriting or do your have clues for accomplishing this rather exotic task?
Best regards!
BAP and Dyninst would help you. You may use BAP (http://bap.ece.cmu.edu/) to get the control flow graph of a binary. It have a very easy to use utility to create control flow graph from binaries. And you may use dyninst to instrument binaries and perform your desired operations. BAP absolutely runs on ubuntu12.04. Dyninst might not compile on 12.04 (there might be some linking problems). A simple walk around is that you do instrumentation on 10.04 and run the rewritten binaries on 12.04. Both tools are free.

Modifying and Saving in IDA

Is it possible to add code to a current binary in IDA and then save then to recompile the binary? I've looked over Google, but no suggestions as to whether IDA can do this. If not, whats the best to add some pretty heavy modifications to obsolete firmware?
Would I have to load in additional classes/functions from a file?
You can't recompile your source data file with IDA (the program's 'Create an EXE file' tool found in its main main doesn't do anything - It's basically stubbed with a message box telling the used that the selected output file type is not supported).
Your only option might be to compile your code with the source file's compiler, add a new segment to the source file's image where you dump your custom (compiled)code and patch the appropriate locations in the original code (.text) segment to call into your code. Have no clue if IDA supports the kind of static patching required for steps #2 and #3, but you'll probably find other tools to help you with that (you could start with OllyDbg).
I haven't ever tried to do anything of that sort before, so take my suggestion with a pinch of salt. I have however seen various binaries that have arbitrary segments attached to them.
EDIT: Take a look at this question while you are at it - IDA pro asm instructions change
when i have to do small updates on my binary, i like hexedit, kinda nice & options are easy. (small updates ;) )

how to create applications with Clozure Common Lisp (on Microsoft Windows)

I am a new one to Common Lisp (using Clozure Common Lisp under Microsoft Windows), who is familiar with c and python before. So maybe the questions are stupid here, but be patient to give me some help.
1) What's is the usual way to run a common lisp script?
Now, I wrote a bat file under windows to call ccl exe(wx86cl.exe) and evaluate (progn (load "my_script_full_path") (ccl:quit)) every time when I want to "run" my script. Is this a standard way to "run" a script for common lisp?
Any other suggestion about this?
2) What's the difference between (require 'cxml) and (asdf:operate 'asdf:load-op :cxml)?
They are seems to be the same for my script, which one should I use?
3) ignore it, not a clear question
4) When I want to load some library (such as require 'cxml), it always takes time(3s or even 5s) to load cxml every time when I "run" my script, there is also much log to standard output I show below, it seems like checking something internal. Does it means I have to spent 3-5s to load cxml every time when I want to run a simple test? It seems like a little inefficient and the output is noisy. Any suggestion?
My Script
(require 'cxml) (some-code-using-cxml)
And the output
; Loading system definition from D:/_play_/lispbox-0.7/quicklisp/dists/quicklisp/software/cxml-20101107-git/cxml.asd into #<Package "ASDF0">
;;; Checking for wide character support... yes, using code points.
; Registering #<SYSTEM "cxml-xml">
......
some my script output
---EDIT TO ADD MORE----
5) I must say that I almost forget the way of dumping image to accelerate the loading speed of lisp library. So, what is the normal process for us to develop a (maybe very simple) lisp script?
Base on the answer of what I got now, I guess maybe
a) edit your script
b) test it via a REPL environment, SLIME is a really good choice, and there should be many loop between a <==> b
c) dump the image to distribute it?( I am no sure about this)
6) Furthermore, what is the common way/form for us to release/distribute the final program?
For a lisp library, we just release our source code, and let someone else can "load/require" them.
For a lisp program, we dump a image to distribute it when we confirm that all functions go well.
Am I right?
What form do we use in a real product? Do we always dump all the thing into a image at final to speed up the loading speed?
1) Yes, the normal way to run a whole programme is to use a launcher script. However, windows has much, much better scripting support these days than just the bat interpreter. Windows Scripting Host and PowerShell ship as standard.
1a) During development, it is usual to simply type things in a the REPL (Read-Eval-Print-Loop, i.e. the lisp command line), or to use something like SLIME (for emacs or xemacs) as a development environment. If you don't know what they are, look them up. You may wish to use Cygwin to install xemacs, which will give you access to a range of linux-ish tools.
2) Require is, IIRC, a part of the standard. ASDF is technically not, it is a library that operates to make libraries work more conveniently. ASDF has a bunch of features that you will eventually want if you really get into writing large Lisp programmes.
3) Question unclear, pass.
4) See 1a) - do your tests and modifications in a running instance, thus avoiding the need to load the library more than once (just as you would in Python - you found the python repl, right?). In addition, when your programme is complete, you can probably dump an image which has all of your libraries pre-loaded.
Edit: additional answers:
5) Yes
6) Once you have dumped the image, you will still need to distribute the lisp binary to load the memory image. To make this transparent to the user, you will also have to have a loader script (or binary) to run the lisp binary with the image.
You don't have to start the lisp from scratch and load everything over again each time you want to run a simple test. For more efficient development, interactively evaluate code in the listener (REPL) of a running lisp environment.
For distribution, I use Zachary Beane's Buildapp tool. Very easy to install and use.
Regarding distribution -
I wrote a routine (it's at home and unavailable at the moment) that will write out the current image as a standard executable and quit. It works for both CLISP and SBCL.
I can rummage it up if you like.

Can I write a program in binary directly ? How can I get the computer to execute it?

I know that may seem weird and looking for troubles but I think experiencing what the ancient programmers experienced before is something interesting. So how can I execute a program written only in binary? (Suppose that I know what I am doing and not using assembly of course.)
I just want to write a series of bits like 111010111010101010101 and execute that. So how can I do that?
Use a hex editor. You'll need to find out the relevant executable format for your operating system, of course - assuming you want to use an operating system... I suppose you could always write your own bootloader and just run the code directly that way, if you want to get all hardcore.
I don't think you'll really be experiencing what programmers experienced back then though - for one thing, you won't be using punch cards, paper tape etc. For another, your context is completely different - you know what computers are like now, so it'll feel painfully primitive to you... whereas back then, it would have been bleeding edge and exciting just on those grounds.
Use a hex editor, write your bits and save it as an executable file (either just with the file extension .exe in Windows or with chmod a+x filename in Linux).
The problem is: You'd also have to write all the OS-specific stuff in binary format, and you'll have to have a table that translates from assembler code to binary stuff.
Why not, if you want to experience low-level programming, give D.E. Knuth's assembler MMIX a try?
It really depends on the platform you are using. But that's sort of irrelevant based on your proposed purpose. The earliest programmers of modern computers as you think of them did not program in binary -- they programmed in assembly.
You will learn nothing trying to program in binary for a specific Operating System and specific CPU type using a hex editor.
If you want to find out how pre-assembly programmers worked (with plain binary data), look up Punch Cards.
.
Use a hex editor to create your file, be sure to use a format that the loader of your respective OS understands and then double click it.
most assemblers (MMIX assembler for instance see www.mmix.cs.hm.edu) dont care if
you write instructions or data.
So instead of wirting
Main ADD $0,$0,3
SUB $1,$0,4
...
you can write
Main TETRA #21000003
TETRA #25010004
...
So this way you can assemble your program by hand and then have the assembler transform it in a form the loader needs. Then you execute it. Normaly you use hex notatition not binary because keeping track of so many digits is difficult. You can also use decimal, but the charts that tell you which instructions have which codes are typically in hex notation.
Good luck! I had to do things like this when I started programming computers. Everybody was glad to have an assembler or even a compiler then.
Martin
Or he is just writing some malicious code.
I've seen some funny methods that use a AVR as a keyboard emulator, open some simple text editor, write the code that's in the AVR eeprom memory, and pipe it to "debug" (in windows systems), and run it. It's a good way to escape some restrictions too ;)
I imagine that by interacting directly with hardware you could write in binary. To flip the proper binary bits, you could use a magnetized needle on your disk drive. Or butterflies.