NAME

Module::Build::Xilinx - Perl module to create, build, simulate and program a Xilinx FPGA development board using Xilinx ISE Webpack from the commandline by leveraging Xilinx ISE's Tcl interface.

VERSION

0.13

SYNOPSIS

use strict;
use warnings;
use Module::Build::Xilinx;

my $build = Module::Build::Xilinx->new(
      dist_name => 'fpgasample',
      dist_version => '0.13',
      dist_author => 'Vikas N Kumar <vikas@cpan.org>',
      dist_abstract => 'This is a test',
      proj_params => {
          family => 'spartan3a',
          device => 'xc3s700a',
          package => 'fg484',
          speed => -4,
          language => 'VHDL', # can be Verilog as well
      },
      tcl_script => 'program.tcl',
      #... more parameters if necessary ...
);
$build->create_build_script;
# this creates the file Build which when run will create program.tcl  

## On the command line
## to setup the Xilinx ISE project file
$ ./Build psetup
## to build the project and create the Xilinx bitstream
$ ./Build pbuild
## to simulate the testbench
$ ./Build simulate
## to view the results of the testbench simulation as a waveform
$ ./Build view
## to program the Xilinx development board
$ ./Build program --device=/dev/ttyUSB0
## to clean the project file in case the user wants to remove HDL sources
$ ./Build pclean

DESCRIPTION

WHAT DOES THE MODULE DO ?

Xilinx ISE Webpack allows for commandline project creation, management, build/compile, run, simulation and programming of the device as well. However, Xilinx ISE Webpack only supports Tcl scripts using their custom xtclsh program.

To ease writing of this Tcl script, this module has been written that adds Perl niceties provided by Module::Build along with some custom requirements for the Xilinx ISE Webpack software. The Tcl script template is generic but we modify it to add the HDL (VHDL/Verilog) files that are appropriate for the build that we would like to do.

In versions 0.01 and 0.02 of this module, we generated a Tcl script for the project titled blib/program.tcl which the user had to invoke as follows to continue using it further.

$ xtclsh program.tcl -help

However, version 0.03 onwards we let Perl do this for us using various actions as in ACTIONS. However, the method as in version 0.01 and 0.02 is still supported but as below:

$ xtclsh blib/program.tcl -help

This allows Module::Build::Xilinx to handle various other things such as OS-specific code, handling of failures and similar in Perl instead of doing it in Tcl.

ACTIONS

New actions have been added and some default actions have been modified. The actions that need the Xilinx program xtclsh to control the Xilinx ISE project file are psetup, pbuild and pclean. The other actions are using Xilinx ISE software but are written in perl instead of Tcl. However, the generated Tcl script will also have the same actions written in Tcl in case the user wants to use Tcl as per the versions of Module::Build::Xilinx before 0.04.

build

This default action not only executes the default steps as per Module::Build but also find the HDL (VHDL/Verilog) sources, creates the Tcl script and finds the Xilinx ISE install for later use by other actions. The recommended way to run it is this:

$ ./Build

psetup

This action creates the Xilinx ISE project file and adds the other HDL (VHDL/Verilog) sources to it for both the bitstream and the testbench. The recommended way to run it is:

$ ./Build psetup

This internally finds the xtclsh program and executes the following command:

$ xtclsh blib/program.tcl -setup

pbuild

This action builds the Xilinx ISE project file and creates the bitstream file in the blib directory. The recommended way to run it is:

$ ./Build pbuild

This internally finds the xtclsh program and executes the following command:

$ xtclsh blib/program.tcl -build

pclean

This action cleans the Xilinx ISE project file and removes all the existing HDL (VHDL/Verilog) sources from it. This is useful if the user wants to remove files but not properties from a Xilinx ISE project. The recommended way to run it is:

$ ./Build pclean

This internally finds the xtclsh program and executes the following command:

$ xtclsh blib/program.tcl -clean

simulate

This action creates the testbench executable and runs it. The recommended way to run it is:

$ ./Build simulate

This will run all the testbenches located in the lib/, src/, tb/ or t/ directories. The user may have more than one testbench. To run a specific testbench the user needs to use the --sim_files option.

$ ./Build simulate --sim_files=tb/sim1_tb.vhd
$ ./Build simulate --sim_files=tb/sim2_tb.vhd

This action does not use the generated Tcl script. It will warn the user if the pbuild action has not been run but will not run it for the user since that may take hours for very complex FPGA cores.

test

This is the same as the above simulate action. This over-rides the default Module::Build action.

$ ./Build test --sim_files=tb/sim1_tb.vhd

view

This action runs the ISimGui from Xilinx to view the output/waveforms of the simulation run through the simulate action above. For each test bench, the ISimGui will be run one after the other if no specific testbench is mentioned using --sim_files.

The recommended way to run it is as below for viewing all the testbench outputs one by one.

$ ./Build view

The user may have more than one testbench outupt. To run a specific testbench the user needs to use the --sim_files option.

$ ./Build view --sim_files=tb/sim1_tb.vhd
$ ./Build view --sim_files=tb/sim2_tb.vhd

This action does not use the generated Tcl script.

program [--device=DEVICE]

This action programs the bitstream onto the device given by the --device=DEVICE commandline option. This commandline option is optional for the programming to work. It will try to program each bitstream one by one if there are multiple. The recommended way to run it is:

$ ./Build program --device=/dev/my_device

or if you want Xilinx iMPACT to guess which device to program to,

$ ./Build program

This action does not use the generated Tcl script.

METHODS

new(%options): The new() function is similar to Module::Build except for the fact that it supports some extra properties described below.

THE PROPERTIES SUPPORTED

dist_name

The name of the project. This is also available as the property proj_name.

proj_name

The name of the project. Is a read-only property and is set equal to the value of dist_name.

proj_ext

The extension of the Xilinx ISE Webpack project file. By default it is .xise. We have this just in case the extension changes in the future.

proj_params

A hash reference of project parameters necessary to define the development board or the device for which we are creating the build. It has multiple keys defined below:

family: The family of the FPGA such as spartan3a, spartan6 etc. Refer ISE Webpack's documentation for more information.
device: The name of the FPGA chip such as xc3s700a, xc3s1400a etc.
speed: The speed of the FPGA chip as noted in the chip's documentation. The speed can be a negative number. The word 'speed' is a misnomer here but that is what Xilinx uses.
package: The package type of the FPGA chip which is either fg484 or fg400 or fg256 etc.
language: The language supported in the project is VHDL or Verilog or N/A which is the default. The N/A option allows the Xilinx ISE to determine what to do on its own.
devboard: The development board that we plan to build for to leverage ISE Webpack's internal files for the board. For example, "Spartan-3A Starter Kit". The default is "None Specified".

testbench

A hash-reference of testbench parameters for each testbench. A project may have multiple testbenches for the same set of sources. To handle that scenario, different testbench executables need to be creating mapping the correct HDL (VHDL/Verilog) source to the correct executable. If the user uses parameters that are not the default as per Module::Build::Xilinx this property needs to be set.

To facilitate this we need to provide a hash-reference like shown below. The keys in the hash-reference are optional and will be automatically set if not provided.

my $b = Module::Build::Xilinx->new(
        ## ...
        testbench => {
            'tb/test1_tb.vhd' => {
                toplevel => 'test1_tb',
            },
            'tb/test2_tb.vhd' => {
                toplevel => 'test2_tb',
                srclib => 'mylib',
            },
            ## the below are also the defaults
            'tb/test3_tb.vhd' => {
                toplevel => 'testbench',
                srclib => 'work',
                wdb => 'test3_tb.wdb',
                exe => 'test3_tb.exe',
                prj => 'test3_tb.prj',
                cmd => 'test3_tb.cmd',
            },
        },
        ## ...
        );

toplevel: The top-level name of the entity for the testbench. Default is testbench. This name generally varies from user to user as they have different coding preferences.
srclib: The name of the local source library that the source files will be considered a part of in the test bench. Default is work. The testbench code will refer to the units under test by using this value as a namespace. If the user is using something else apart from work they should set this parameter.
prj: The name of the testbench internal project file. Default is $filename.prj where $filename is the name of the testbench HDL (VHDL/Verilog) source file without the extension. Unless you really want to, this is automatically set by Module::Build::Xilinx and it is better to leave it that way.
exe: The name of the testbench executable file that is created. Default is $filename.exe where $filename is the name of the testbench HDL (VHDL/Verilog) source file without the extension. Unless you really want to, this is automatically set by Module::Build::Xilinx and it is better to leave it that way.
cmd: The filename in which commands to the simulator software will be written to. Default is $filename.cmd where $filename is the name of the testbench HDL (VHDL/Verilog) source file without the extension. Unless you really want to, this is automatically set by Module::Build::Xilinx and it is better to leave it that way.
wdb: The testbench debugger file to which data will be written to by the simulation software. Default is $filename.wdb where $filename is the name of the testbench HDL (VHDL/Verilog) source file without the extension. Unless you really want to, this is automatically set by Module::Build::Xilinx and it is better to leave it that way.

tcl_script

The name of the Tcl script to create for the user. Default is program.tcl.

xilinx

The path to the Xilinx ISE installation that looks like this /opt/Xilinx/13.4/ on Linux or C:\Xilinx\13.2\ on Windows. The user can also set the $ENV{XILINX} variable to point to this path to override the existing values in or found by Build.PL.

If not provided, Module::Build::Xilinx automatically finds the installed Xilinx on the system by looking in common areas such as /usr, /opt, /usr/local and the user's home directory on Linux and in C:\Xilinx, C:\Program Files, C:\Program Files (x86) and the user's home direcotry on Windows.

source_files

This array reference of files that are not present in lib/ or src/ of the current directory to be added to the source. This is useful for adding source files from other projects. NOTE: Maybe should be called extra_source_files.

testbench_files

This array reference of files that are not present in lib/, src/, tb/ or t/ of the current directory to be added to the source. This is useful for adding testbench files from other projects. NOTE: Maybe should be called extra_testbench_files.

EXAMPLES

There is one example present in share/example/ directory that demonstrates a simple D-Flipflop circuit using VHDL and can be used to see how to write and build FPGA code using Module::Build::Xilinx.

EXPORT

None by default since this is an Object Oriented API.

AUTHOR

Vikas Kumar, <vikas@cpan.org>

CONTACT

Find me on IRC: #hardware on irc://irc.perl.org as user name vicash.

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

This library is under the MIT license. Please refer the LICENSE file for more information provided with the distribution.

To install Module::Build::Xilinx, copy and paste the appropriate command in to your terminal.

cpanm

cpanm Module::Build::Xilinx

CPAN shell

perl -MCPAN -e shell
install Module::Build::Xilinx

For more information on module installation, please visit the detailed CPAN module installation guide.

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NAME

VERSION

SYNOPSIS

DESCRIPTION

WHAT DOES THE MODULE DO ?

ACTIONS

METHODS

THE PROPERTIES SUPPORTED

EXAMPLES

EXPORT

SEE ALSO

AUTHOR

CONTACT

COPYRIGHT AND LICENSE

Module Install Instructions