With the MyHDL release 0.6 VHDL conversion is supported. At the
time of the release it was not known if there was an open-source
VHDL simulator that supported foreign interface for Cosimulation.
This page was created to capture information needed to implemented the
foreign interface for GHDL.
GHDL is a VHDL compiler / simulator built on top of gcc. It is actively supported and developed which makes it an ideal choice for a open-source VHDL simulator to integrate with MyHDL.
The first item that needs to be determined is which foreign interface to use VPI or VHPI.
VPI or VHPI
This is an ongoing investigation below is essentially a log of recent information.
03-Feb-2010
VPI is part of the Verilog PLI standard and a subset of VPI has been added to GHDL to support IVI. According to a newsgroup post VPI might not be the best option because VPI has not been maintained in many years. But on the GHDL website there are some examples of the VPI interface available. And using the examples as a template the cver VPI implementation can be compiled and loaded into GHDL. Nothing interesting was done with the interface other than compiling and loading in a simulation.
Here are the code modifications to compile the MyHDL VPI interface and load it in GHDL.
VHPI is the VHDL standard equivalent of VPI. There is some mention of VHPI but I have not come across any examples or created a working example.
At this point it is unclear which interface to use. More information will be posted to this page as it is available.
Cver VPI Functions and GHDL Support
The following is a table of the VPI functions used as part of the cver implementation and the known status in GHDL.
| VPI Function | GHDL Status | MyHDL Usage | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
| vpi_printf | supported | Demonstrated in vpi1.c example | |
| vpi_control | unknown | ||
| vpi_get_time | unknown | ||
| vpi_handle | supported | Demonstrated in vpi1.c example | |
| vpi_iterate | supported | Demonstrated in vpi1.c example | |
| vpi_get | supported | Demonstrated in vpi1.c example | |
| vpi_get_str | supported | Demonstrated in vpi1.c example | |
| vpi_scan | supported | Demonstrated in vpi1.c example | |
| vpi_register_cb | supported | Demonstrated in vpi1.c example | |
| vpi_free_object | unknown | ||
| vpi_put_value | unknown | ||
| vpi_register_systf | unknown |
GHDL VHPI Support
If the VHPI was to be used a new set of C code will need to be implemented. VHPI would be the secondary choice and only used if VPI support was too minimal and required adding VPI to GHLD. If that were the case VHPI would be used.
Quote from the GHDL manual:
"""
5.9 Interfacing to other languages
Interfacing with foreign languages is possible only on GNU/Linux systems.
You can define a subprogram in a foreign language (such as C or Ada) and import it in a VHDL design. 5.9.1 Foreign declarations
Only subprograms (functions or procedures) can be imported, using the foreign attribute. In this example, the sin function is imported:
package math is
function sin (v : real) return real;
attribute foreign of sin : function is "VHPIDIRECT sin";
end math;
package body math is
function sin (v : real) return real is
begin
assert false severity failure;
end sin;
end math;
"""
The VHPI seems too limiting at this point in time.
Conclusion
No conclusion yet!