QEMU-UAE PPC Plugin

Amiberry PPC emulation uses an external qemu-uae plugin built from QEMU 11.0.1 plus the UAE PPC patch deck. The plugin is loaded at runtime, so Amiberry can keep the emulator core and the QEMU-derived code in separate build and release pipelines.

Architecture

Plugin Source

The initial plugin work is based on:

The preferred long-term layout is a separate Amiberry-owned plugin repository that tracks the upstream QEMU release, applies the UAE patch deck in order, and publishes per-platform plugin artifacts.

Runtime Placement

Amiberry looks for a plugin named qemu-uae through the existing plugin loader. Platform packages should install the artifact in the normal Amiberry plugin directory:

Android and iOS currently build with PPC plugin support disabled because dynamic plugin loading is not wired for those targets.

Build Notes

Source builds do not download or build QEMU automatically. Build the plugin separately, then place it in the plugin directory or pass -DQEMU_UAE_PLUGIN=/path/to/qemu-uae to bundle a prebuilt artifact into the install/package layout.

Useful Amiberry configure combinations:

cmake -B build -DUSE_PPC=ON -DUSE_QEMU_PPC=ON
cmake -B build -DUSE_PPC=ON -DUSE_QEMU_PPC=ON -DQEMU_UAE_PLUGIN=/path/to/qemu-uae.so
cmake -B build-no-ppc -DUSE_PPC=OFF
cmake -B build-ppc-no-qemu -DUSE_PPC=ON -DUSE_QEMU_PPC=OFF

USE_PPC=ON enables PPC accelerator board support in Amiberry. USE_QEMU_PPC=ON enables runtime loading of the QEMU-UAE PPC implementation. PCem/QEMU device glue remains controlled by USE_PCEM.

QEMU_UAE_PLUGIN is optional. When set, CMake validates that the artifact exists and that QEMU PPC support is enabled, then installs it beside the other Amiberry plugins.

Runtime Behavior

With a compatible plugin installed, selecting a CyberStorm PPC or Blizzard PPC board and enabling PPC CPU emulation should load the QEMU implementation. If the plugin is missing, too old, or missing required symbols, Amiberry logs the plugin error and falls back to another available PPC implementation or the dummy implementation.

Non-PPC builds hide PPC accelerator options, clear stale PPC config state, and do not save PPC-only config keys.

Runtime Smoke Test

Requirements:

Recommended checks:

  1. Start Amiberry with --log.
  2. Select a CyberStorm PPC or Blizzard PPC accelerator board.
  3. Enable PPC CPU emulation and leave the PPC implementation on Automatic, or select QEMU.
  4. Boot the PPC-capable system.
  5. Confirm the log contains PPC: Loading QEmu implementation.
  6. Confirm the log does not fall back to PPC: Loading dummy implementation.
  7. Confirm the guest sees the expected PPC accelerator.

Missing-plugin check:

  1. Remove or rename the qemu-uae plugin.
  2. Boot the same PPC configuration with --log.
  3. Confirm Amiberry reports the plugin load failure and falls back cleanly instead of crashing.

Release Policy

The QEMU-UAE PPC plugin repository should publish artifacts for the desktop platforms that can load Amiberry dynamic plugins:

Linux artifacts should be built from an older baseline such as Ubuntu 22.04 so they remain usable on newer supported distributions. macOS artifacts should be merged into a universal dylib before bundling into the universal app. Windows artifacts should be built with a UCRT/Clang toolchain compatible with Amiberry’s llvm-mingw Windows builds.

Android and iOS remain unsupported for QEMU-UAE PPC until dynamic plugin loading and platform packaging constraints are solved. FreeBSD and Haiku are not release blockers for the first multi-platform plugin artifact set, but the host build must remain clean without bundled plugin artifacts.