website: Document supported dependency and compiler versions

_pages/documentation/general_docs/building/index.md

@@ -18,9 +18,8 @@ dependencies are installed**. We ensure that gem5 is compilable with both gcc
 and clang (see [Dependencies](#dependencies)  below for compiler version
 information).
 
-As of gem5 21.0, **we support building and running gem5 with Python 3.6+
-only**. gem5 20.0 was our last version of gem5 to provide support for Python
-2.
+We support building and running gem5 with Python 3.10 or newer only. gem5
+20.0 was our last version of gem5 to provide support for Python 2.
 
 If running gem5 in a suitable OS/environment is not possible, we have provided
 pre-prepared [Docker](https://www.docker.com/) images which may be used to
@@ -29,18 +28,45 @@ information on this.
 
 ## Dependencies
 
-* **git** : gem5 uses git for version control.
-* **gcc**: gcc is used to compiled gem5. **Version >=10 must be used**. We
-support up to gcc Version 13.
-* **Clang**: Clang can also be used. At present, we support Clang 7 to
-Clang 16 (inclusive).
-* **SCons** : gem5 uses SCons as its build environment. SCons 3.0 or greater
+* **git 2.34+** : gem5 uses git for version control.
+* **gcc**: gcc is used to compile gem5. We support GCC major versions 11
+through 16.
+* **Clang**: Clang can also be used. At present, we support Clang major
+versions 14 through 22.
+* **SCons** : gem5 uses SCons as its build environment. SCons 4.0 or greater
 must be used.
-* **Python 3.6+** : gem5 relies on Python development libraries. gem5 can be
-compiled and run in environments using Python 3.6+.
-* **protobuf 2.1+** (Optional): The protobuf library is used for trace
+* **Python 3.10+** : gem5 relies on Python development libraries. gem5 can be
+compiled and run in environments using Python 3.10+.
+* **Python venv and Tk 3.10+** (Optional): Python virtual environment and Tk
+packages support Python tooling and optional graphical configuration tools.
+* **zlib 1.2+** : gem5 uses zlib for compression support.
+* **GNU m4 1.4+** : gem5 uses GNU m4 to generate libelf sources.
+* **pkg-config 0.29+** (Optional): gem5 uses pkg-config to discover optional
+libraries when they are installed.
+* **libpng 1.6+** (Optional): libpng enables PNG framebuffer output.
+* **elfutils libelf 0.186+** (Optional): libelf provides ELF development files
+on Linux distributions.
+* **Capstone 4.0+** (Optional): Capstone enables optional instruction
+disassembly support.
+* **HDF5 1.10+** (Optional): HDF5 enables optional HDF5 statistics output.
+* **google-perftools 2.9+** (Optional): google-perftools provides tcmalloc,
+which gem5 can link against for improved performance.
+* **CMake 3.25+** (Optional): CMake is required when building the optional
+DRAMSys integration.
+* **Doxygen 1.9+** (Optional): Doxygen is used to generate source
+documentation.
+* **wget 1.21+** (Optional): wget is used by setup, Docker, and tutorial
+download flows.
+* **pydot 1.4+** (Optional): pydot enables optional dot graph generation.
+* **mypy 0.942+** (Optional): mypy is used by Python type-checking and stub
+generation tooling.
+* **pre-commit 2.17+** (Optional): pre-commit runs gem5's local style and
+commit hooks.
+* **clang-format 14+** (Optional): clang-format is used by gem5's formatting
+hook.
+* **protobuf 3.12+** (Optional): The protobuf library is used for trace
 generation and playback.
-* **Boost** (Optional): The Boost library is a set of general purpose C++
+* **Boost 1.74+** (Optional): The Boost library is a set of general purpose C++
 libraries. It is a necessary dependency if you wish to use the SystemC
 implementation.
 
@@ -52,7 +78,7 @@ install all these dependencies using APT:
 ```bash
 sudo apt install build-essential scons python3-dev git pre-commit zlib1g zlib1g-dev \
     libprotobuf-dev protobuf-compiler libprotoc-dev libgoogle-perftools-dev \
-    libboost-all-dev  libhdf5-serial-dev python3-pydot python3-venv python3-tk mypy \
+    libboost-all-dev libhdf5-dev python3-pydot python3-venv python3-tk mypy \
     m4 libcapstone-dev libpng-dev libelf-dev pkg-config wget cmake doxygen clang-format
 ```
 
@@ -64,51 +90,16 @@ install all these dependencies using APT:
 ```bash
 sudo apt install build-essential git m4 scons zlib1g zlib1g-dev \
     libprotobuf-dev protobuf-compiler libprotoc-dev libgoogle-perftools-dev \
-    python3-dev libboost-all-dev pkg-config python3-tk clang-format-15
-```
-
-You may need to configure `clang-format-15` as the default
-`clang-format` for your system.
-
-```bash
-# Configure clang-format-15 and git-clang-format-15 as the system defaults.
-sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/clang-format clang-format /usr/bin/clang-format-15 150 \
-        --slave /usr/bin/clang-format-diff clang-format-diff /usr/bin/clang-format-diff-15 \
-        --slave /usr/bin/git-clang-format git-clang-format /usr/bin/git-clang-format-15
-
-# [Optional] Add other alternative versions, and select version 15 as the default version.
-sudo update-alternatives --config clang-format
-```
-
-### Setup on Ubuntu 20.04 (gem5 >= v21.0)
-
-If compiling gem5 on Ubuntu 20.04, or related Linux distributions, you may
-install all these dependencies using APT:
-
-```bash
-sudo apt install build-essential git m4 scons zlib1g zlib1g-dev \
-    libprotobuf-dev protobuf-compiler libprotoc-dev libgoogle-perftools-dev \
-    python3-dev python-is-python3 libboost-all-dev pkg-config gcc-10 g++-10 \
-    python3-tk clang-format-18
-```
-
-You may need to configure `clang-format-18` as the default
-`clang-format` for your system.
-
-```bash
-# Configure clang-format-18 and git-clang-format-18 as the system defaults.
-sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/clang-format clang-format /usr/bin/clang-format-18 180 \
-        --slave /usr/bin/clang-format-diff clang-format-diff /usr/bin/clang-format-diff-18 \
-        --slave /usr/bin/git-clang-format git-clang-format /usr/bin/git-clang-format-18
-
-# [Optional] Add other alternative versions, and select version 18 as the default version.
-sudo update-alternatives --config clang-format
+    libboost-all-dev libhdf5-dev python3-pydot python3-venv python3-tk mypy \
+    python3-dev libcapstone-dev libpng-dev libelf-dev pkg-config wget cmake \
+    doxygen pre-commit clang-format
 ```
 
 ### Docker
 
 For users struggling to setup an environment to build and run gem5, we provide
-the following Docker Images:
+the following Docker images. For current gem5 checkouts, use an image with
+Python 3.10 or newer.
 
 Ubuntu 24.04 with all optional dependencies:
 [ghcr.io/gem5/ubuntu-24.04_all-dependencies:v24-0](
@@ -120,6 +111,9 @@ Ubuntu 24.04 with minimum dependencies:
 https://ghcr.io/gem5/ubuntu-24.04_min-dependencies:v24-0)
 ([source Dockerfile](https://github.com/gem5/gem5/blob/v24.0.0.0/util/dockerfiles/ubuntu-24.04_min-dependencies/Dockerfile)).
 
+The following older images are intended for older gem5 releases whose tags
+match the image tags.
+
 Ubuntu 22.04 with all optional dependencies:
 [ghcr.io/gem5/ubuntu-22.04_all-dependencies:v23-0](
 https://ghcr.io/gem5/ubuntu-22.04_all-dependencies:v23-0) ([source Dockerfile](
@@ -141,10 +135,10 @@ To obtain a docker image:
 docker pull <image>
 ```
 
-E.g., for Ubuntu 20.04 with all optional dependencies:
+E.g., for Ubuntu 24.04 with all optional dependencies:
 
 ```bash
-docker pull ghcr.io/gem5/ubuntu-20.04_all-dependencies:v23-0
+docker pull ghcr.io/gem5/ubuntu-24.04_all-dependencies:v24-0
 ```
 
 Then, to work within this environment, we suggest using the following:
@@ -155,7 +149,7 @@ docker run -u $UID:$GID --volume <gem5 directory>:/gem5 --rm -it <image>
 
 Where `<gem5 directory>` is the full path of the gem5 in your file system, and
 `<image>` is the image pulled (e.g.,
-ghcr.io/gem5/ubuntu-22.04_all-dependencies:v23-0`).
+`ghcr.io/gem5/ubuntu-24.04_all-dependencies:v24-0`).
 
 From this environment, you will be able to build and run gem5 from the `/gem5`
 directory.

_pages/documentation/learning_gem5/part1/part1_1_building.md

@@ -28,11 +28,11 @@ On Ubuntu, you can install all of the required dependencies with the
 following command. The requirements are detailed below.
 
 ```bash
-sudo apt install build-essential git m4 scons zlib1g zlib1g-dev libprotobuf-dev protobuf-compiler libprotoc-dev libgoogle-perftools-dev python-dev python
+sudo apt install build-essential git m4 scons zlib1g zlib1g-dev libprotobuf-dev protobuf-compiler libprotoc-dev libgoogle-perftools-dev python3-dev
 ```
 
 1. git ([Git](https://git-scm.com/)):
-    :   The gem5 project uses [Git](https://git-scm.com/) for version
+    :   The gem5 project uses [Git](https://git-scm.com/) 2.34+ for version
         control. [Git](https://git-scm.com/) is a distributed version
         control system. More information about
         [Git](https://git-scm.com/) can be found by following the link.
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ sudo apt install build-essential git m4 scons zlib1g zlib1g-dev libprotobuf-dev
     sudo apt install git
     ```
 
-2. gcc 10+
+2. GCC 11 through 16
     :   You may need to use environment variables to point to a
         non-default version of gcc.
 
@@ -53,9 +53,9 @@ sudo apt install build-essential git m4 scons zlib1g zlib1g-dev libprotobuf-dev
         sudo apt install build-essential
         ```
 
-       **We support GCC Versions >=10, up to GCC 13**
+       **We support GCC major versions 11 through 16.**
 
-3.  [SCons 3.0+](http://www.scons.org/)
+3.  [SCons 4.0+](http://www.scons.org/)
     :   gem5 uses SCons as its build environment. SCons is like make on
         steroids and uses Python scripts for all aspects of the build
         process. This allows for a very flexible (if slow) build system.
@@ -66,15 +66,30 @@ sudo apt install build-essential git m4 scons zlib1g zlib1g-dev libprotobuf-dev
     sudo apt install scons
     ```
 
-4.  Python 3.6+
-    :   gem5 relies on the Python development libraries. To install
-        these on Ubuntu use
+4.  Python 3.10+
+    :   gem5 relies on the Python development libraries. On Ubuntu, install
+        the development headers for Python 3.10 or newer. On distributions
+        where `python3` is Python 3.10 or newer, use
 
     ```bash
     sudo apt install python3-dev
     ```
 
-5.  [protobuf](https://developers.google.com/protocol-buffers/) 2.1+ (**Optional**)
+5.  [zlib](https://zlib.net/) 1.2+
+    :   gem5 uses zlib for compression support.
+
+    ```bash
+    sudo apt install zlib1g zlib1g-dev
+    ```
+
+6.  [GNU m4](https://www.gnu.org/software/m4/) 1.4+
+    :   gem5 uses GNU m4 to generate libelf sources.
+
+    ```bash
+    sudo apt install m4
+    ```
+
+7.  [protobuf](https://developers.google.com/protocol-buffers/) 3.12+ (**Optional**)
     :   "Protocol buffers are a language-neutral, platform-neutral
         extensible mechanism for serializing structured data." In gem5,
         the [protobuf](https://developers.google.com/protocol-buffers/)
@@ -87,7 +102,7 @@ sudo apt install build-essential git m4 scons zlib1g zlib1g-dev libprotobuf-dev
     sudo apt install libprotobuf-dev protobuf-compiler libgoogle-perftools-dev
     ```
 
-6. [Boost](https://www.boost.org/) (**Optional**)
+8. [Boost](https://www.boost.org/) 1.74+ (**Optional**)
     :   The Boost library is a set of general purpose C++ libraries. It is a
         necessary dependency if you wish to use the SystemC implementation.
         ```
@@ -186,6 +201,7 @@ The output should look something like below (For gem5 >= 24.1):
     Checking Python version... (cached) 3.12.3
     Checking for accept(0,0,0) in C++ library None... (cached) yes
     Checking for zlibVersion() in C++ library z... (cached) yes
+    Checking zlib version... (cached) yes
     Checking for C library tcmalloc_minimal... (cached) yes
     Building in /home/bees/gem5-4th-worktree/build/ALL
     "build_tools/kconfig_base.py" "/home/bees/gem5-4th-worktree/build/ALL/gem5.build/Kconfig" "/home/bees/gem5-4th-worktree/src/Kconfig" 
@@ -251,8 +267,8 @@ Common errors
 ### Wrong gcc version
 
 ```txt
-    Error: gcc version 5 or newer required.
-           Installed version: 4.4.7
+    Warning: Detected GCC version 10.5.0 is not officially supported.
+    gem5 supports GCC major versions 11 through 16.
 ```
 
 Update your environment variables to point to the right gcc version, or

_pages/documentation/learning_gem5/part1/part1_3_more_complex_config.md

@@ -773,7 +773,7 @@ configuration script is just Python, you can use the Python libraries
 that support argument parsing. Although pyoptparse is officially
 deprecated, many of the configuration scripts that ship with gem5 use it
 instead of pyargparse since gem5's minimum Python version used to be
-2.5. The minimum Python version is now 3.6, so Python's argparse is a better
+2.5. The minimum Python version is now 3.10, so Python's argparse is a better
 option when writing new scripts that don't need to interact with the
 current gem5 scripts. To get started using :pyoptparse, you can consult
 the online Python documentation.