-F support

[jotego]

Although iVerilog supports the -f command, it does not support another popular command: -F. The -F command processes the list of files in the indicated files relative to its folder. For instance:

-F /mylib/list.f

where list.f is a.v b.v c.v

Will cause iVerilog to look for the files: /mylib/a.v /mylib/b.v /mylib/c.v

rather than to look for them in the current directory. -F should be supported both at the command line and in command files.

Thank you for considering this request.

[steveicarus]

Interesting.

I kinda like it, in fact. And it shouldn't be super hard to implement.

[steveicarus]

I see some potential problems with this feature. Consider:

/mylib/list.f is:

$(VAR)/a.v b.v /otherlib/c.v

Consider also that VAR=/mylib from the environment. What happens with -F /mylib/list.f? Suddenly, the behavior of this feature is not so obvious. Confusing, even.

This is interesting enough that further discussion should be moved to the iverilog-devel mailing list.

[jotego]

Let me just say that the option is present in NC Verilog and Verilator. Maybe it has some restrictions.

El El lun, 4 nov 2019 a las 21:19, Stephen Williams < notifications@github.com> escribió:

I see some potential problems with this feature. Consider:

/mylib/list.f is:

$(VAR)/a.v b.v /otherlib/c.v

Consider also that VAR=/mylib from the environment. What happens with -F /mylib/list.f? Suddenly, the behavior of this feature is not so obvious. Confusing, even.

This is interesting enough that further discussion should be moved to the iverilog-devel mailing list.

— You are receiving this because you authored the thread. Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub https://github.com/steveicarus/iverilog/issues/278?email_source=notifications&email_token=AAOG27GHWV6URKT6OY7X2PDQSCGXLA5CNFSM4JIEXZSKYY3PNVWWK3TUL52HS4DFVREXG43VMVBW63LNMVXHJKTDN5WW2ZLOORPWSZGOEDAX6KA#issuecomment-549551912, or unsubscribe https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAOG27H3WUICQAGF7AQPKG3QSCGXLANCNFSM4JIEXZSA .

[steveicarus]

If you can figure out how the other vendors handle this feature being mixed with variable substitution, that would be helpful. I know that I handle the problem by using variable substitutions.

(Clarification: I'm not saying to not do it, just that it has to interact with a bunch of features that already exist in the Icarus Verilog command file format as described here: https://iverilog.fandom.com/wiki/Command_File_Format)

[jotego]

Sorry for the delay in response. I was travelling last week and couldn't test it. From my tests, I think the behaviour in other simulators is as follows:

If variable substitution results in a folder path starting from root /, then do not add the local path to it. Otherwise do it.

In your example:

$(VAR)/a.v b.v /otherlib/c.v where VAR = /mylib, will result in:

/mylib/a.v /local_path/b.v /otherlib/c.v

Local path is added only when the path to the file was already relative. Absolute paths are preserved.

[jotego]

What is the status of this feature?

[jotego]

Just a kind reminder that this feature is still wanted

[jotego]

Variable expansion is supported now. I think we are only missing the relative path part of -F

[cousteaulecommandant]

Hello, let me just chime in to say that I second that relative -F inclusion would be useful :)

Currently, -F is supported at least by Verilator and VCS (although the documentation for the latter suggests that nested -F are not supported, but Verilator definitely supports it).

Having this can be extremely useful because it allows modular project design: Say I have a module called mymodule in one folder of my project, and this module contains a files.f file like:

mymodule.v
adder.v
mux.v
fsm.v

Now, imagine I create a system on a different folder of my project which uses mymodule. Its files.f file will have to look like:

mysystem.v
memory.v
bus.v
../mymodule/mymodule.v
../mymodule/adder.v
../mymodule/mux.v
../mymodule/fsm.v

And whenever I change something inside mymodule/files.f (e.g. because I added new files), I have to copy the change over to mysystem/files.f, prepending ../mymodule/ to every newly added line.

Instead, it would be much easier for me to just have mysystem/files.f be like:

mysystem.v
memory.v
system_bus.v
-F ../mymodule/files.f

so whenever mymodule/files.f changes, the change is reflected inside mysystem/files.f, while having mymodule and mysystem in two separate folders (which is cool e.g. if they are git submodules, or are maintained by different people).

Note that this cannot currently be done with plain -f since adding -f ../mymodule/files.f would be understood by iverilog, but it would look for the .v files listed there inside mysystem/ instead of mymodule/, and ultimately complain that mysystem/mymodule.v et al do not exist.

I don't know if there's currently any solution besides writing a script that parses .f files recursively and generates a .f file including all the files.