Speaker
Description
The diverse landscape of open-source HDL build systems, including VUnit, FuseSoC, HdlMake, HDLRegression and Bender, presents a challenge in terms of interoperability. While each tool offers unique advantages for managing HDL projects and their testbenches, their disparate methods for project description and dependency management impede the seamless integration of reusable libraries and IP cores. Incorporating widely adopted resources like OSVVM or UVVM or PoC-Library or Open Logic often requires significant adaptation across different build environments. To address this fragmentation, we propose the development of a common exchange format for build system information, drawing inspiration from the Language Server Protocol (LSP). This standardized format would enable build systems to exchange crucial project metadata, dependency specifications, and build configurations, fostering a more unified and efficient open-source ecosystem.
Adopting a universal exchange format would yield significant benefits for FPGA designers. It would enhance library and IP core reusability through standardized metadata, improve tool interoperability, and simplify project adoption/migration. Ultimately, this format would facilitate higher-level tooling and services across build system ecosystems, promoting collaboration and efficiency within the FPGA design community.