1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
|
.. _BUILD:
Building GHDL from Sources
##########################
.. toctree::
:hidden:
Sources
mcode
LLVM
GCC
GHDL can be downloaded as a `tarball <https://github.com/ghdl/ghdl/archive/master.tar.gz>`__/`zipfile <https://github.com/ghdl/ghdl/archive/master.zip>`__
or cloned with ``git clone`` from GitHub. GitHub offers HTTPS and SSH as transfer protocols. See the :ref:`SOURCES` page for
further details.
.. IMPORTANT::
Since GHDL is written in `Ada`, independently of the code generator you use, a compiler is required. Most GNU/Linux package
managers provide ``gcc-ada`` or ``gcc-gnat`` (which could be outdated). Alternatively, `GNU Ada compiler`, `GNAT GPL`, can be downloaded
without registration from `libre.adacore.com <http://libre.adacore.com/tools/gnat-gpl-edition/>`_ (2014, or later; for x86, 32 or 64 bits).
.. HINT::
The download page of *GNAT Community Edition* provides the latest version (x86, 64 bits), with a graphical installer
(``chmod +x *.bin`` and execute it). Alternatively, you can find a link to *More packages, platforms, versions and sources*
at the bottom of the page, where versions previous to 2018 are available as binaries ready to be installed
(`untar` and run the `doinstall` script). In any case, you must add ``<GNAT_INSTALL_DIR>/bin`` to your ``PATH``.
.. ATTENTION::
Since ``v0.37``, GHDL's synthesis features require GCC >=8.1, due to some new GNAT features which are not available in
previous releases. Users with older versions (who don't need synthesis) can configure GHDL with option ``--disable-synth``.
GHDL currently supports three different back-ends (code generators):
* mcode - built-in in-memory x86 (or x86_64) code generator
* GCC - Gnu Compiler Collection (`gcc.gnu.org <http://gcc.gnu.org/>`_)
* LLVM - Low-Level Virtual Machine (`llvm.org <http://llvm.org/>`_)
Here is a short comparison, so that you can choose the one you want to use:
+----------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------+
| Back-end | Pros | Cons |
+============================+============================================================================+=========================================================+
| :ref:`mcode <BUILD:mcode>` | * Very easy to build | * Simulation is slower |
| | * Very quick analysis | * x86_64/i386 only |
| | * Can handle very large designs | |
| | * Base simulation time can be modified for speeding up execution | |
+----------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------+
| :ref:`LLVM <BUILD:llvm>` | * Generated code is faster | * Build is more complex than mcode |
| | * Generated code can be debugged (with ``-g``) | |
| | * Easier to build than GCC | |
| | * Ported to many platforms (x86, x86_64, armv7/aarch64) | |
+----------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------+
| :ref:`GCC <BUILD:gcc>` | * Generated code is faster (particularly with ``-O`` or ``-O2``) | * Build is even more complex |
| | * Generated code can be debugged (with ``-g``) | * Analysis can take time (particularly for large units) |
| | * Ported to many platforms (x86, x86_64, PowerPC, SPARC) | * Code coverage collection (``gcov``) is unique to GCC |
+----------------------------+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------------+
.. HINT ::
The output of both GCC and LLVM is an executable file, but `mcode` does not generate any. Therefore, if using GCC/LLVM,
the call with argument ``-r`` can be replaced with direct execution of the binary. See section :ref:`USING:QuickStart:Simulation`.
After making your choice, you can jump to the corresponding section.
However, we suggest you to read :ref:`BUILD:dir_structure` first, so that you
know where the content will be placed and which files are expected to be
created.
.. HINT ::
In these instructions, the configure script is executed in the source directory; but you can execute in a different
directory too, like this:
.. CODE:: Bash
$ mkdir ghdl-objs
$ cd ghdl-objs
$ ../path/to/ghdl/configure ...
.. HINT ::
On Windows, building GHDL with mcode backend and GNAT GPL 32 bit seems to be the only way to get a standalone native
executable straightaway. MINGW/MSYS2 builds depend on the environment/runtime. See :ghdlsharp:`1560`.
.. HINT ::
For MacOS 10.15 (Catalina), see :ghdlsharp:`1368` for workarounds to link failures.
TL;DR
=====
In order to follow the traditional way to ``configure`` and ``make``, you need an Ada compiler.
.. HINT::
Depending on the OS and distribution you are using, you will also need to install some toolchain dependencies, such as
``zlib``.
To use mcode backend (easiest to build), in the GHDL base directory, configure and build:
.. code-block::
$ ./configure --prefix=/usr/local
$ make
At that place, you can already use the `ghdl_mcode` built in the directory. You can also install GHDL:
.. code-block::
$ make install
That's all!
.. HINT::
The executable is installed as 'ghdl' in ``/usr/local``. To install it to a different path, change the ``--prefix`` in the
call to ``configure``. For example, on Windows, you may want to set it to ``--prefix=/c/Program Files (x86)/GHDL``.
|
