DV Flow LibHDLSim

LibHDLSim is a DV-Flow library that provides tasks for working with HDL simulators. The library defines a set of tasks for compiling, elaborating, and running HDL simulators, as well as specific implementations for a variety of simulators.

Task: SimLib

The SimLib task compiles HDL source into a pre-compiled library. If a specific toolchain does not support the notion of a pre-compiled library, the task propagates the input sources

Example

… code-block:: yaml

package:

name: lib_example

tasks:

  • name: inc uses: std.FileSet with:

    type: verilogIncDir include: “include”

  • name: rtl uses: std.FileSet with:

    type: systemVerilogSource include: “*.sv”

  • name: lib uses: hdlsim.vlt.SimLib with:

    libname: work

    needs: [rtl, inc]

  • name: sim-image uses: hdlsim.vlt.SimImage with:

    top: [top]

    needs: [lib]

Consumes

  • simLib

  • systemVerilogSource

  • verilogIncDir

  • verilogSource

  • hdlsim.SimCompileArgs

Produces

  • simLib

Parameters

  • libname - [Optional] Specifies the logical name of the library.

  • incdirs - [Optional] List of extra include directories

  • defines - [Optional] List of extra defines

Task: SimLibUVM

Most simulators have a built-in mechanism for enabling UVM support. This task shall implement that mechanism and output appropriate data to support downstream compilation and elaboration tasks.

Task: SimLibDPI

The SimLibDPI task compiles a set of provided C/C++ sources and object files into a SystemVerilog DPI library using simulator-specific include directories

Example

Consumes

  • cSource

  • cppSource

Produces

  • systemVerilogDPI

Parameters

  • libname - [Optional] Specifies the base name of the library

  • incdirs - [Optional] List of extra include directories

  • defines - [Optional] List of extra defines

Task: SimLibVPI

The SimLibVPI task compiles a set of provided C/C++ sources and object files into a Verilog VPI library using simulator-specific include directories

Example

Consumes

  • cSource

  • cppSource

Produces

  • verilogVPI

Parameters

  • libname - [Optional] Specifies the base name of the library

  • incdirs - [Optional] List of extra include directories

  • defines - [Optional] List of extra defines

Task: SimImage

The SimImage task elaborates HDL source and/or precompiled libraries into an executable simulation image

Example

Consumes

  • cSource

  • cppSource

  • simLib

  • systemVerilogSource

  • verilogIncDir

  • verilogSource

  • systemVerilogDPI

  • verilogVPI

  • hdlsim.SimCompileArgs

  • hdlsim.SimElabArgs

Produces

  • simDir

Parameters

  • top - [Required] List of top module names

  • args - [Optional] List of extra arguments to pass to the compilation and elaboration commands

  • compargs - [Optional] List of extra arguments to pass to the compilation commands

  • elabargs - [Optional] List of extra arguments to pass to the elaboration command

  • vpilibs - [Optional] List of VPI library paths to specify to the elaboration command

  • dpilibs - [Optional] List of DPI library paths to specify to the elaboration command

  • incdirs - [Optional] List of extra include directories

  • defines - [Optional] List of extra defines

Task: SimRun

The SimRun task executes an elaborated simulation image.

Example

Consumes

  • simDir

  • systemVerilogDPI

  • verilogVPI

  • hdlsim.SimRunArgs

  • simRunData – Files to copy to the run directory

Produces

  • simRunDir

Parameters

  • args - [Optional] List of simulation run command arguments

  • plusargs - [Optional] List of extra include directories

Type: SimCompileArgs

The SimCompileArgs type can be used to provide dataflow compilation arguments.

Parameters

  • args - [Optional] List of extra arguments to pass to the compilation command

  • incdirs - [Optional] List of include directories

  • defines - [Optional] List of defines

Type: SimElabArgs

The SimElabArgs type can be used to provide dataflow elaboration arguments.

Parameters

  • args - [Optional] List of extra arguments to pass to the compilation command

  • dpilibs - [Optional] List of DPI libraries

  • vpilibs - [Optional] List of VPI libraries

Type: SimRunArgs

The SimRunArgs type can be used to provide dataflow run arguments.

Parameters

  • args - [Optional] List of extra arguments to pass to the simulation run

  • plusargs - [Optional] List of plusargs to pass to the simulation run

  • dpilibs - [Optional] List of DPI libraries

  • vpilibs - [Optional] List of VPI libraries

Simulator Support

Tasks that support specific simulators are implemented in simulator-specific packages. The tasks defined in these packages implement the same interface as the generic tasks. For example, the full name of the VCS SimImage task is hdlsim.vcs.SimImage.

  • ivl - Icarus Verilog

  • mti - Siemens Questa Sim

  • vcs - Synopsys VCS

  • vlt - Verilator

  • xcm - Cadence Xcelium

  • xsm - AMD Xilinx Vivado (XSim)

Note

All trademarks are the property of their respective owners

Feature support matrix

The following summarizes supported features by simulator package, based on the current implementation.

ivl (Icarus Verilog)

  • DPI: Not supported (SimRun errors if dpilibs provided)

  • VPI: Not supported

  • Trace: Not exposed

  • Valgrind: Not exposed

  • Incremental compile: Yes (file-dependency cache/memento)

  • Special parameters: None

vlt (Verilator)

  • DPI: Supported (link prebuilt libraries via -LDFLAGS, and/or compile C sources)

  • VPI: Not supported

  • Trace: Supported (SimImage –trace; SimRun adds +verilator+debug when trace=true)

  • Valgrind: Not exposed

  • Incremental compile: Yes (tool reports “Nothing to be done” to skip)

  • Special parameters: None

mti (Siemens Questa/ModelSim)

  • DPI: Supported (compile C sources via vlog; runtime -sv_lib)

  • VPI: Supported (runtime -pli)

  • Trace: Not currently exposed by tasks

  • Valgrind: Supported (-valgrind –tool=memcheck)

  • Incremental compile: Yes (vlog -incr; detected via log parsing)

  • Special parameters: None

vcs (Synopsys VCS)

  • DPI: Not supported by SimImage (building); runtime load of prebuilt libs via -sv_lib supported in SimRun

  • VPI: Supported (+vpi/-debug_access and -load <lib>)

  • Trace: Not currently exposed by tasks

  • Valgrind: Not exposed

  • Incremental compile: Yes (vlogan -incr_vlogan; detected via log parsing)

  • Special parameters: partcomp (bool), fastpartcomp (int)

xsm (AMD Xilinx XSIM)

  • DPI: Supported (xelab –sv_root/–sv_lib)

  • VPI: Not supported

  • Trace: Not currently exposed by tasks

  • Valgrind: Not exposed

  • Incremental compile: Yes (xvlog –incr; detected via log parsing)

  • Special parameters: plusargs passed via –testplusarg at runtime

xcm (Cadence Xcelium)

  • Status: Experimental/incomplete in this repository; functionality may be outdated

  • DPI/VPI/Trace/Valgrind/Incremental: TBD

  • Special parameters: TBD