iverilog(1) Icarus Verilog compiler

SYNOPSIS

iverilog [-ESVv] [-Bpath] [-ccmdfile|-fcmdfile] [-Dmacro[=defn]] [-pflag=value] [-dname] [-g1995|-g2001|-g2005|-g<feature>] [-Iincludedir] [-mmodule] [-Mfile] [-Nfile] [-ooutputfilename] [-stopmodule] [-ttype] [-Tmin/typ/max] [-Wclass] [-ypath] sourcefile

DESCRIPTION

iverilog is a compiler that translates Verilog source code into executable programs for simulation, or other netlist formats for further processing. The currently supported targets are vvp for simulation, and fpga for synthesis. Other target types are added as code generators are implemented.

OPTIONS

iverilog accepts the following options:
-Bbase
The iverilog program uses external programs and configuration files to preprocess and compile the Verilog source. Normally, the path used to locate these tools is built into the iverilog program. However, the -B switch allows the user to select a different set of programs. The path given is used to locate ivlpp, ivl, code generators and the VPI modules.
-cfile -ffile
These flags specifies an input file that contains a list of Verilog source files. This is similar to the command file of other Verilog simulators, in that it is a file that contains the file names instead of taking them on the command line. See Command Files below.
-Dmacro
Defines macro macro with the string `1' as its definition. This form is normally only used to trigger ifdef conditionals in the Verilog source.
-Dmacro=defn
Defines macro macro as defn.
-dname
Activate a class of compiler debugging messages. The -d switch may be used as often as necessary to activate all the desired messages. Supported names are scopes, eval_tree, elaborate, and synth2; any other names are ignored.
-E
Preprocess the Verilog source, but do not compile it. The output file is the Verilog input, but with file inclusions and macro references expanded and removed. This is useful, for example, to preprocess Verilog source for use by other compilers.
-g1995|-g2001|-g2001-noconfig|-g2005
Select the Verilog language generation to support in the compiler. This selects between IEEE1364-1995, IEEE1364-2001, or IEEE1364-2005. Normally, Icarus Verilog defaults to the latest known generation of the language. This flag is most useful to restrict the language to a set supported by tools of specific generations, for compatibility with other tools.
-gverilog-ams|-gno-verilog-ams
Enable or disable (default) support for Verilog-AMS. Very little Verilog-AMS specific functionality is currently supported.
-gspecify|-gno-specify
Enable or disable (default) specify block support. When enabled, specify block code is elaborated. When disabled, specify blocks are parsed but ignored. Specify blocks are commonly not needed for RTL simulation, and in fact can hurt performance of the simulation. However, disabling specify blocks reduces accuracy of full-timing simulations.
-gstd-include|-gno-std-include
Enable (default) or disable the search of a standard installation include directory after all other explicit include directories. This standard include directory is a convenient place to install standard header files that a Verilog program may include.
-grelative-include|-gno-relative-include
Enable or disable (default) adding the local files directory to the beginning of the include file search path. This allows files to be included relative to the current file not the more common files are only found in the working directory or in the specified include file search path.
-gxtypes|-gno-xtypes
Enable (default) or disable support for extended types. Enabling extended types allows for new types that are supported by Icarus Verilog as extensions beyond the baseline Verilog. It may be necessary to disable extended types if compiling code that clashes with the few new keywords used to implement the type system.
-gio-range-error|-gno-io-range-error
The standards requires that a vectored port have matching ranges for its port declaration as well as any net/register declaration. It was common practice in the past to only specify the range for the net/register declaration and some tools still allow this. By default any mismatch is reported as a error. Using -gno-io-range-error will produce a warning instead of a fatal error for the case of a vectored net/register and a scalar port declaration.
-gstrict-ca-eval|-gno-strict-ca-eval
The standard requires that if any input to a continuous assignment expression changes value, the entire expression is re-evaluated. By default, parts of the expression that do not depend on the changed input value(s) are not re-evaluated. If an expression contains a call to a function that doesn't depend solely on its input values or that has side effects, the resulting behavior will differ from that required by the standard. Using -gstrict-ca-eval will force standard compliant behavior (with some loss in performance).
-Iincludedir
Append directory includedir to list of directories searched for Verilog include files. The -I switch may be used many times to specify several directories to search, the directories are searched in the order they appear on the command line.
-Mpath
Write into the file specified by path a list of files that contribute to the compilation of the design. This includes files that are included by include directives and files that are automatically loaded by library support. The output is one file name per line, with no leading or trailing space.
-mmodule
Add this module to the list of VPI modules to be loaded by the simulation. Many modules can be specified, and all will be loaded, in the order specified. The system module is implicit and always included. If a System Function Table file (<module>.sft) exists for the module it will be loaded automatically.
-Npath
This is used for debugging the compiler proper. Dump the final netlist form of the design to the specified file. It otherwise does not affect operation of the compiler. The dump happens after the design is elaborated and optimized.
-o filename
Place output in the file filename. If no output file name is specified, iverilog uses the default name a.out.
-pflag=value
Assign a value to a target specific flag. The -p switch may be used as often as necessary to specify all the desired flags. The flags that are used depend on the target that is selected, and are described in target specific documentation. Flags that are not used are ignored.
-S
Synthesize. Normally, if the target can accept behavioral descriptions the compiler will leave processes in behavioral form. The -S switch causes the compiler to perform synthesis even if it is not necessary for the target. If the target type is a netlist format, the -S switch is unnecessary and has no effect.
-s topmodule
Specify the top level module to elaborate. Icarus Verilog will by default choose modules that are not instantiated in any other modules, but sometimes that is not sufficient, or instantiates too many modules. If the user specifies one or more root modules with -s flags, then they will be used as root modules instead.
-Tmin|typ|max
Use this switch to select min, typ or max times from min:typ:max expressions. Normally, the compiler will simply use the typ value from these expressions (printing a warning for the first ten it finds) but this switch will tell the compiler explicitly which value to use. This will suppress the warning that the compiler is making a choice.
-ttarget
Use this switch to specify the target output format. See the TARGETS section below for a list of valid output formats.
-v
Turn on verbose messages. This will print the command lines that are executed to perform the actual compilation, along with version information from the various components, as well as the version of the product as a whole. You will notice that the command lines include a reference to a key temporary file that passes information to the compiler proper. To keep that file from being deleted at the end of the process, provide a file name of your own in the environment variable IVERILOG_ICONFIG.
-V
Print the version of the compiler, and exit.
-Wclass
Turn on different classes of warnings. See the WARNING TYPES section below for descriptions of the different warning groups. If multiple -W switches are used, the warning set is the union of all the requested classes.
-ylibdir
Append the directory to the library module search path. When the compiler finds an undefined module, it looks in these directories for files with the right name.
-Ysuffix
Add suffix to the list of accepted file name suffixes used when searching a library for cells. The list defaults to the single entry .v.

MODULE LIBRARIES

The Icarus Verilog compiler supports module libraries as directories that contain Verilog source files. During elaboration, the compiler notices the instantiation of undefined module types. If the user specifies library search directories, the compiler will search the directory for files with the name of the missing module type. If it finds such a file, it loads it as a Verilog source file, they tries again to elaborate the module.

Library module files should contain only a single module, but this is not a requirement. Library modules may reference other modules in the library or in the main design.

TARGETS

The Icarus Verilog compiler supports a variety of targets, for different purposes, and the -t switch is used to select the desired target.

null
The null target causes no code to be generated. It is useful for checking the syntax of the Verilog source.
vvp
This is the default. The vvp target generates code for the vvp runtime. The output is a complete program that simulates the design but must be run by the vvp command.
fpga
This is a synthesis target that supports a variety of fpga devices, mostly by EDIF format output. The Icarus Verilog fpga code generator can generate complete designs or EDIF macros that can in turn be imported into larger designs by other tools. The fpga target implies the synthesis -S flag.
vhdl
This target produces a VHDL translation of the Verilog netlist. The output is a single file containing VHDL entities corresponding to the modules in the Verilog source code. Note that only a subset of the Verilog language is supported. See the wiki for more information.

WARNING TYPES

These are the types of warnings that can be selected by the -W switch. All the warning types (other than all) can also be prefixed with no- to turn off that warning. This is most useful after a -Wall argument to suppress isolated warning types.

all
This enables the implicit, portbind, select-range, timescale, and sensitivity-entire-array warning categories.

implicit
This enables warnings for creation of implicit declarations. For example, if a scalar wire X is used but not declared in the Verilog source, this will print a warning at its first use.

portbind
This enables warnings for ports of module instantiations that are not connected but probably should be. Dangling input ports, for example, will generate a warning.

select-range
This enables warnings for constant out of bound selects. This includes partial or fully out of bound selects as well as a select containing a 'bx or 'bz in the index.

timescale
This enables warnings for inconsistent use of the timescale directive. It detects if some modules have no timescale, or if modules inherit timescale from another file. Both probably mean that timescales are inconsistent, and simulation timing can be confusing and dependent on compilation order.

infloop
This enables warnings for always statements that may have runtime infinite loops (has paths with no or zero delay). This class of warnings is not included in -Wall and hence does not have a no- variant. A fatal error message will always be printed when the compiler can determine that there will definitely be an infinite loop (all paths have no or zero delay).

When you suspect an always statement is producing a runtime infinite loop use this flag to find the always statements that need to have their logic verified. It is expected that many of the warnings will be false positives, since the code treats the value of all variables and signals as indeterminate.

sensitivity-entire-vector
This enables warnings for when a part select within an "always @*" statement results in the entire vector being added to the implicit sensitivity list. Although this behaviour is prescribed by the IEEE standard, it is not what might be expected and can have performance implications if the vector is large.

sensitivity-entire-array
This enables warnings for when a word select within an "always @*" statement results in the entire array being added to the implicit sensitivity list. Although this behaviour is prescribed by the IEEE standard, it is not what might be expected and can have performance implications if the array is large.

SYSTEM FUNCTION TABLE FILES

If the source file name as a .sft suffix, then it is taken to be a system function table file. A System function table file is used to describe to the compiler the return types for system functions. This is necessary because the compiler needs this information to elaborate expressions that contain these system functions, but cannot run the sizetf functions since it has no run-time.

The format of the table is ASCII, one function per line. Empty lines are ignored, and lines that start with the '#' character are comment lines. Each non-comment line starts with the function name, then the vpi type (i.e. vpiSysFuncReal). The following types are supported:

vpiSysFuncReal
The function returns a real/realtime value.

vpiSysFuncInt
The function returns an integer.

vpiSysFuncSized <wid> <signed|unsigned>
The function returns a vector with the given width, and is signed or unsigned according to the flag.

COMMAND FILES

The command file allows the user to place source file names and certain command line switches into a text file instead of on a long command line. Command files can include C or C++ style comments, as well as # comments, if the # starts the line.

file name
A simple file name or file path is taken to be the name of a Verilog source file. The path starts with the first non-white-space character. Variables are substituted in file names.

-c cmdfile -f cmdfile
A -c or -f token prefixes a command file, exactly like it does on the command line. The cmdfile may be on the same line or the next non-comment line.

-y libdir
A -y token prefixes a library directory in the command file, exactly like it does on the command line. The parameter to the -y flag may be on the same line or the next non-comment line.

Variables in the libdir are substituted.

+incdir+includedir
The +incdir+ token in command files gives directories to search for include files in much the same way that -I flags work on the command line. The difference is that multiple +includedir directories are valid parameters to a single +incdir+ token, although you may also have multiple +incdir+ lines.

Variables in the includedir are substituted.

+libext+ext
The +libext token in command files fives file extensions to try when looking for a library file. This is useful in conjunction with -y flags to list suffixes to try in each directory before moving on to the next library directory.

+libdir+dir
This is another way to specify library directories. See the -y flag.

+libdir-nocase+dir
This is like the +libdir statement, but file names inside the directories declared here are case insensitive. The missing module name in a lookup need not match the file name case, as long as the letters are correct. For example, "foo" matches "Foo.v" but not "bar.v".

+define+NAME=value
The +define+ token is the same as the -D option on the command line. The value part of the token is optional.

+timescale+value
The +timescale+ token is used to set the default timescale for the simulation. This is the time units and precision before any `timescale directive or after a `resetall directive. The default is 1s/1s.

+toupper-filename
This token causes file names after this in the command file to be translated to uppercase. This helps with situations where a directory has passed through a DOS machine, and in the process the file names become munged.

+tolower-filename
This is similar to the +toupper-filename hack described above.

+integer-width+value
This allows the programmer to select the width for integer variables in the Verilog source. The default is 32, the value can be any desired integer value.

VARIABLES IN COMMAND FILES

In certain cases, iverilog supports variables in command files. These are strings of the form "$(varname)" or "${varname}", where varname is the name of the environment variable to read. The entire string is replaced with the contents of that variable. Variables are only substituted in contexts that explicitly support them, including file and directory strings.

Variable values come from the operating system environment, and not from preprocessor defines elsewhere in the file or the command line.

PREDEFINED MACROS

The following macros are predefined by the compiler:

__ICARUS__ = 1
This is always defined when compiling with Icarus Verilog.

__VAMS_ENABLE__ = 1
This is defined if Verilog-AMS is enabled.

EXAMPLES

These examples assume that you have a Verilog source file called hello.v in the current directory

To compile hello.v to an executable file called a.out:

        iverilog hello.v

To compile hello.v to an executable file called hello:

        iverilog -o hello hello.v

To compile and run explicitly using the vvp runtime:

        iverilog -ohello.vvp -tvvp hello.v

AUTHOR

Steve Williams ([email protected])

COPYRIGHT

Copyright ©  2002-2010 Stephen Williams
This document can be freely redistributed according to the terms of the
GNU General Public License version 2.0

SEE ALSO

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