doc: update the quickstart guide and make it easier to follow

[Charlie-XIAO]

This PR is in preparation for the cache competition of Harvard CS2640 (Spring 2026)

[gemini-code-assist]

Summary of Changes

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This pull request focuses on enhancing the user experience for plugin development by updating and clarifying the quickstart documentation. The changes aim to provide a more guided and robust process for building and integrating custom cache plugins, making it simpler for new users to get started and for existing users to understand the underlying mechanisms. The updates include a practical C++ FIFO example, improved build configurations, and streamlined installation instructions.

Highlights

• Documentation Clarity: The quickstart guide for plugin development has been significantly updated to be clearer and easier to follow, including corrected heading formats and important prerequisite notes.
• C++ Plugin Example Update: The generic C++ plugin skeleton has been replaced with a concrete FIFO cache implementation, providing a more practical starting point for developers.
• Build Process Refinements: CMake build instructions for plugins have been improved, including a more robust CMakeLists.txt example that supports multiple plugins and clearer command-line steps.
• Installation Script Improvement: The one-line installation command in the main README has been updated to use source (.) and direct execution (./) for scripts, ensuring proper environment inheritance.
• Example Project Updates: The example/plugin_v2 project's CMakeLists.txt and README.md were adjusted to better locate libCacheSim dependencies and simplify build/test commands.

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Changelog

• README.md
  • Updated the one-line install command to use source (.) and direct execution (./) for scripts, improving execution context.
• doc/quickstart_plugin.md
  • Corrected heading formatting from '1 .' to '1.' for consistency.
  • Added important notes ([!IMPORTANT]) regarding libCacheSim installation prerequisites for C/C++ and Python plugin development sections.
  • Replaced the generic C++ MyPolicy plugin skeleton with a complete FifoCache implementation.
  • Updated the sample CMakeLists.txt for C++ plugins to support multiple plugins and include PkgConfig for glib-2.0.
  • Refined build commands for C++ plugins to use mkdir -p build && cd build/ and cmake -G Ninja .. && ninja.
  • Adjusted cachesim execution command for C++ plugins to reflect relative paths from the build directory and clarified plugin_path usage.
• example/plugin_v2/CMakeLists.txt
  • Adjusted find_library and find_path calls to include ../../_build and ../../libCacheSim/include respectively, for better libCacheSim discovery.
  • Corrected the formatting of compiler flags (-Wall -Wextra) by removing an extra space.
• example/plugin_v2/README.md
  • Removed redundant dependency section, directing users to the root README for setup.
  • Simplified build commands to mkdir -p build && cd build/ and cmake -G Ninja .. && ninja.
  • Updated the cachesim execution command to use relative paths appropriate for the example's build structure.
  • Removed the cd build step from the plugin testing instructions.
  • Clarified the note about using absolute paths for plugin_path if relative paths fail.

Activity

• The pull request is currently marked as 'Work In Progress' and not yet ready for merge, as indicated by the author.

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[gemini-code-assist]

Code Review

This pull request significantly improves the quickstart guide for plugins by providing a complete, step-by-step example. The changes make the documentation much easier to follow for new users. I've found a critical issue with the updated one-line install command that could cause a user's shell to exit unexpectedly. I've also noted a minor issue in the new C++ plugin example where the on_remove hook is not correctly implemented, which could be confusing. My detailed feedback is in the comments.

[1a1a11a]

LGTM