[meta-xilinx] [PATCH 05/20] Add basic Xilinx HDF support

[Nathan Rossi]

On Tue, Apr 19, 2016 at 7:04 PM, Jason Wu <jason.wu.misc at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Cyril,
> On 19/04/2016 3:13 AM, Cyril Chemparathy wrote:
>>
>> Hi Jason,
>>
>> On 4/13/2016 2:23 AM, Jason Wu wrote:
>> [...]
>>>>
>>>> install -d ${D}${PLATFORM_INIT_DIR}
>>>> for fn in ${PLATFORM_INIT}; do
>>>> unzip -o ${S}/${HDF} ${fn} -d ${D}${PLATFORM_INIT_DIR}
>>>> done
>>
>>
>> Unfortunately, the approach of peeling open the HDF file and consuming
>> its content is problematic.  The HDF file contents are fundamentally in
>> a tool dependent format, and these contents are meant to be accessed
>> indirectly through HSI interfaces.
>
> Well, I have no problem using HSI to extract the hdf, however, I believe
> Nathan does not want to have any xilinx tool dependency on the meta-xilinx.
> Thus, I think this is the best solution for us at this point. I am open to
> other suggestion on better way of handling without xilinx tool dependency.

For a task this simple, I really don't see any benefits in using HSI,
since it is not as if there is any platform processing it is simply
extracting the pre-generated files. In fact I think there is a
potential for more problems with using the HSI tools (version
incompatibilities are the biggest issue) as opposed to simply
extracting the HDF file, at least for this case.

>
> The other issue is if this patch is not accepted, the board support will be
> missing.

With the changes discussed previously, I am happy to apply it. I doubt
there will be a better solution to this problem any time in the
relatively near future.

>
>>
>> Moving forward, we would like to implement a meta-xilinx-tools layer
>> with dependencies on Xilinx maintained tools (e.g. HSI) instead of
>> breaking open the HDF in this fashion.

I have always been interested in having HSI available for use within
Yocto/OE/meta-xilinx. The biggest problem has always been that HSI is
tied to the Xilinx tools which is a really hefty dependency (and the
implied issues with licensing, EULA, support, platform compatibility,
version-ing, etc. that come with it) for what is a relatively simple
task (comparatively to generated bitstreams). Maybe this is something
Xilinx has a solution for? standalone distribution or open-source HSI?
definitely would make it considerably easier for project like Yocto/OE
and others to allow for tool automation.

Regards,
Nathan

>
> I am fine with meta-xilin-tools layer. Any idea when this layer will be
> ready?
>
> Best regards,
>
> Jason
>
>>
>> Thanks
>> -- Cyril.