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

[Manjukumar Harthikote Matha]

Hi Nathan,

On 04/19/2016 02:48 AM, Nathan Rossi wrote:

> 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.
>
I agree it is relatively simple, but it is a bad methodology according 
to me. The contents of HDF file are tool dependent, they are meant to 
work with HSI or XSCT etc. Writing a code to extract contents without 
the required tools can cause potential problems in future, for example 
if there were changes to HDF contents etc (ex: formats).

>>
>> 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.
>
The only relatively near future solution will be meta-xilinx-tools.

>
> 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.
>
I think as we evolve providing more features to our customers, there 
will be licensing issues (EULA etc). Unfortunately, this will become 
unavoidable.

Thanks
Manju