This article was originally published by Ampere Computing.
The demand for efficient software porting solutions is increasing. With the transition from legacy x86 to AArch64 and particularly Ampere processors gaining momentum, developers are looking for ways to expedite the migration for existing codebases. Today, we are announcing the Ampere Porting Advisor, a new software porting advisor via our GitHub page promising to simplify this process.
The Ampere Porting Advisor offers a streamlined migration process, allowing developers to save time and effort. It automates many of the manual steps involved in porting code, reducing the risk of errors, and ensuring consistency throughout the migration. By analyzing the source code, the advisor provides detailed insights into the required changes, highlighting potential pitfalls, and recommending optimal modifications. This guidance enables developers to navigate the intricacies of transitioning between architectures more efficiently, accelerating the overall migration process.
The AArch64 architecture has gained significant traction across various software packages. By leveraging the software porting advisor, developers can tap into this expanding ecosystem and take advantage of the benefits offered by AArch64-based platforms. The advisor is a static command line tool that analyzes the make environment and source code for known code patterns and dependency libraries and generates a report with incompatibilities and recommendations. The advisor includes the following features:
- Language support: Python 3+, Java 8+, Go 1.11+, C, C++, Fortran.
- Architecture specific code detection: missing corresponding AAarch64 assembly, architecture specific instructions, architecture specific flags in make files.
- Dependency checks: for versioning, JAR scanning, and dependency files.
- Easy to run: via Python script, binary, or containers.
- Multiple output formats: terminal for quick checks, HTML for easy distribution, and CSV for post-processing.
The advisor will not make code modifications, nor API level recommendations, and it will not send data back to Ampere.
Migrating code from x86 to AArch64 architecture does not have to be an intimidating process. The software porting advisor significantly reduces development costs by automating various tasks involved in the migration. By minimizing the need for manual intervention, developers can allocate their time and resources to other critical aspects of the project. Furthermore, the advisor’s comprehensive analysis and recommendations reduce the risk of post-migration issues, eliminating the need for costly debugging and rework.
The introduction of the new Ampere Porting Advisor provides a significant advancement in simplifying the migration of x86 code to AArch64 architecture. By streamlining the migration process, reducing development costs, and enabling access to a wider ecosystem, the advisor empowers developers to embrace the benefits of the AArch64 architecture more quickly and effectively. We invite you to learn more about our developer efforts, find best practices, insights, and join the conversation at developer.amperecomputing.com and community.amperecomputing.com.
Built for sustainable cloud computing, Ampere’s first Cloud Native Processors deliver predictable high performance, platform scalability, and power efficiency unprecedented in the industry.
Download and try the Ampere Porting Advisor from Ampere’s GitHub, and join fellow developer conversations at the Ampere Developer Community.
Pete BakerPete is a computer engineer and technology leader with experience at Fortune 500 companies and startups. He has expertise in software ecosystem creation, software products development, and hardware productization. He has led teams responsible for developer relations, software optimization and enabling application and service software for all types of platforms including phones, tablet, PC, server, and technical computing products.
