Yosys
Yosys

Programming Yosys Extensions

This chapter contains some bits and pieces of information about programming yosys extensions. Also consult the section on programming in the “Yosys Presentation” (can be downloaded from the Yosys website as PDF) and don’t be afraid to ask questions on the YosysHQ Slack.

Guidelines

The guidelines directory contains notes on various aspects of Yosys development. The files GettingStarted and CodingStyle may be of particular interest, and are reproduced here.

Getting Started
===============


Outline of a Yosys command
--------------------------

Here is a the C++ code for a "hello_world" Yosys command (hello.cc):

     #include "kernel/yosys.h"

     USING_YOSYS_NAMESPACE
     PRIVATE_NAMESPACE_BEGIN

     struct HelloWorldPass : public Pass {
             HelloWorldPass() : Pass("hello_world") { }
             void execute(vector<string>, Design*) override {
                     log("Hello World!\n");
             }
     } HelloWorldPass;

     PRIVATE_NAMESPACE_END

This can be built into a Yosys module using the following command:

     yosys-config --exec --cxx --cxxflags --ldflags -o hello.so -shared hello.cc --ldlibs

Or short:

     yosys-config --build hello.so hello.cc

And then executed using the following command:

     yosys -m hello.so -p hello_world


Yosys Data Structures
---------------------

Here is a short list of data structures that you should make yourself familiar
with before you write C++ code for Yosys. The following data structures are all
defined when "kernel/yosys.h" is included and USING_YOSYS_NAMESPACE is used.

  1. Yosys Container Classes

Yosys uses dict<K, T> and pool<T> as main container classes. dict<K, T> is
essentially a replacement for std::unordered_map<K, T> and pool<T> is a
replacement for std::unordered_set<T>. The main characteristics are:

     - dict<K, T> and pool<T> are about 2x faster than the std containers

     - references to elements in a dict<K, T> or pool<T> are invalidated by
       insert and remove operations (similar to std::vector<T> on push_back()).

     - some iterators are invalidated by erase(). specifically, iterators
       that have not passed the erased element yet are invalidated. (erase()
       itself returns valid iterator to the next element.)

     - no iterators are invalidated by insert(). elements are inserted at
       begin(). i.e. only a new iterator that starts at begin() will see the
       inserted elements.

     - the method .count(key, iterator) is like .count(key) but only
       considers elements that can be reached via the iterator.

     - iterators can be compared. it1 < it2 means that the position of t2
       can be reached via t1 but not vice versa.

     - the method .sort() can be used to sort the elements in the container
       the container stays sorted until elements are added or removed.

     - dict<K, T> and pool<T> will have the same order of iteration across
       all compilers, standard libraries and architectures.

In addition to dict<K, T> and pool<T> there is also an idict<K> that
creates a bijective map from K to the integers. For example:

     idict<string, 42> si;
     log("%d\n", si("hello"));      // will print 42
     log("%d\n", si("world"));      // will print 43
     log("%d\n", si.at("world"));   // will print 43
     log("%d\n", si.at("dummy"));   // will throw exception
     log("%s\n", si[42].c_str()));  // will print hello
     log("%s\n", si[43].c_str()));  // will print world
     log("%s\n", si[44].c_str()));  // will throw exception

It is not possible to remove elements from an idict.

Finally mfp<K> implements a merge-find set data structure (aka. disjoint-set or
union-find) over the type K ("mfp" = merge-find-promote).

  2. Standard STL data types

In Yosys we use std::vector<T> and std::string whenever applicable. When
dict<K, T> and pool<T> are not suitable then std::map<K, T> and std::set<T>
are used instead.

The types std::vector<T> and std::string are also available as vector<T>
and string in the Yosys namespace.

  3. RTLIL objects

The current design (essentially a collection of modules, each defined by a
netlist) is stored in memory using RTLIL object (declared in kernel/rtlil.h,
automatically included by kernel/yosys.h). You should glance over at least
the declarations for the following types in kernel/rtlil.h:

     RTLIL::IdString
             This is a handle for an identifier (e.g. cell or wire name).
             It feels a lot like a std::string, but is only a single int
             in size. (The actual string is stored in a global lookup
             table.)

     RTLIL::SigBit
             A single signal bit. I.e. either a constant state (0, 1,
             x, z) or a single bit from a wire.

     RTLIL::SigSpec
             Essentially a vector of SigBits.

     RTLIL::Wire
     RTLIL::Cell
             The building blocks of the netlist in a module.

     RTLIL::Module
     RTLIL::Design
             The module is a container with connected cells and wires
             in it. The design is a container with modules in it.

All this types are also available without the RTLIL:: prefix in the Yosys
namespace.

  4. SigMap and other Helper Classes

There are a couple of additional helper classes that are in wide use
in Yosys. Most importantly there is SigMap (declared in kernel/sigtools.h).

When a design has many wires in it that are connected to each other, then a
single signal bit can have multiple valid names. The SigMap object can be used
to map SigSpecs or SigBits to unique SigSpecs and SigBits that consistently
only use one wire from such a group of connected wires. For example:

     SigBit a = module->addWire(NEW_ID);
     SigBit b = module->addWire(NEW_ID);
     module->connect(a, b);

     log("%d\n", a == b); // will print 0

     SigMap sigmap(module);
     log("%d\n", sigmap(a) == sigmap(b)); // will print 1


Using the RTLIL Netlist Format
------------------------------

In the RTLIL netlist format the cell ports contain SigSpecs that point to the
Wires. There are no references in the other direction. This has two direct
consequences:

(1) It is very easy to go from cells to wires but hard to go in the other way.

(2) There is no danger in removing cells from the netlists, but removing wires
can break the netlist format when there are still references to the wire
somewhere in the netlist.

The solution to (1) is easy: Create custom indexes that allow you to make fast
lookups for the wire-to-cell direction. You can either use existing generic
index structures to do that (such as the ModIndex class) or write your own
index. For many application it is simplest to construct a custom index. For
example:

     SigMap sigmap(module);
     dict<SigBit, Cell*> sigbit_to_driver_index;

     for (auto cell : module->cells())
             for (auto &conn : cell->connections())
                     if (cell->output(conn.first))
                             for (auto bit : sigmap(conn.second))
                                     sigbit_to_driver_index[bit] = cell;

Regarding (2): There is a general theme in Yosys that you don't remove wires
from the design. You can rename them, unconnect them, but you do not actually remove
the Wire object from the module. Instead you let the "clean" command take care
of the dangling wires. On the other hand it is safe to remove cells (as long as
you make sure this does not invalidate a custom index you are using in your code).


Example Code
------------

The following yosys commands are a good starting point if you are looking for examples
of how to use the Yosys API:

     manual/CHAPTER_Prog/stubnets.cc
     manual/PRESENTATION_Prog/my_cmd.cc


Script Passes
-------------

The ScriptPass base class can be used to implement passes that just call other passes,
like a script. Examples for such passes are:

     techlibs/common/prep.cc
     techlibs/common/synth.cc

In some cases it is easier to implement such a pass as regular pass, for example when
ScriptPass doesn't provide the type of flow control desired. (But many of the
script passes in Yosys that don't use ScriptPass simply predate the ScriptPass base
class.) Examples for such passes are:

     passes/opt/opt.cc
     passes/proc/proc.cc

Whether they use the ScriptPass base-class or not, a pass should always either
call other passes without doing any non-trivial work itself, or should implement
a non-trivial algorithm but not call any other passes. The reason for this is that
this helps containing complexity in individual passes and simplifies debugging the
entire system.

Exceptions to this rule should be rare and limited to cases where calling other
passes is optional and only happens when requested by the user (such as for
example `techmap -autoproc`), or where it is about commands that are "top-level
commands" in their own right, not components to be used in regular synthesis
flows (such as the `bugpoint` command).

A pass that would "naturally" call other passes and also do some work itself
should be re-written in one of two ways:

1) It could be re-written as script pass with the parts that are not calls
to other passes factored out into individual new passes. Usually in those
cases the new sub passes share the same prefix as the top-level script pass.

2) It could be re-written so that it already expects the design in a certain
state, expecting the calling script to set up this state before calling the
pass in questions.

Many back-ends are examples for the 2nd approach. For example, `write_aiger`
does not convert the design into AIG representation, but expects the design
to be already in this form, and prints an `Unsupported cell type` error
message otherwise.


Notes on the existing codebase
------------------------------

For historical reasons not all parts of Yosys adhere to the current coding
style. When adding code to existing parts of the system, adhere to this guide
for the new code instead of trying to mimic the style of the surrounding code.
Coding Style
============


Formatting of code
------------------

- Yosys code is using tabs for indentation. Tabs are 8 characters.

- A continuation of a statement in the following line is indented by
  two additional tabs.

- Lines are as long as you want them to be. A good rule of thumb is
  to break lines at about column 150.

- Opening braces can be put on the same or next line as the statement
  opening the block (if, switch, for, while, do). Put the opening brace
  on its own line for larger blocks, especially blocks that contains
  blank lines.

- Otherwise stick to the Linux Kernel Coding Style:
    https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/CodingStyle


C++ Language
-------------

Yosys is written in C++11. At the moment only constructs supported by
gcc 4.8 are allowed in Yosys code. This will change in future releases.

In general Yosys uses "int" instead of "size_t". To avoid compiler
warnings for implicit type casts, always use "GetSize(foobar)" instead
of "foobar.size()". (GetSize() is defined in kernel/yosys.h)

Use range-based for loops whenever applicable.

The “stubsnets” Example Module

The following is the complete code of the “stubsnets” example module. It is included in the Yosys source distribution as manual/CHAPTER_Prog/stubnets.cc.

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// This is free and unencumbered software released into the public domain.
//
// Anyone is free to copy, modify, publish, use, compile, sell, or
// distribute this software, either in source code form or as a compiled
// binary, for any purpose, commercial or non-commercial, and by any
// means.

#include "kernel/yosys.h"
#include "kernel/sigtools.h"

#include <string>
#include <map>
#include <set>

USING_YOSYS_NAMESPACE
PRIVATE_NAMESPACE_BEGIN

// this function is called for each module in the design
static void find_stub_nets(RTLIL::Design *design, RTLIL::Module *module, bool report_bits)
{
     // use a SigMap to convert nets to a unique representation
     SigMap sigmap(module);

     // count how many times a single-bit signal is used
     std::map<RTLIL::SigBit, int> bit_usage_count;

     // count output lines for this module (needed only for summary output at the end)
     int line_count = 0;

     log("Looking for stub wires in module %s:\n", RTLIL::id2cstr(module->name));

     // For all ports on all cells
     for (auto &cell_iter : module->cells_)
     for (auto &conn : cell_iter.second->connections())
     {
             // Get the signals on the port
             // (use sigmap to get a uniqe signal name)
             RTLIL::SigSpec sig = sigmap(conn.second);

             // add each bit to bit_usage_count, unless it is a constant
             for (auto &bit : sig)
                     if (bit.wire != NULL)
                             bit_usage_count[bit]++;
     }

     // for each wire in the module
     for (auto &wire_iter : module->wires_)
     {
             RTLIL::Wire *wire = wire_iter.second;

             // .. but only selected wires
             if (!design->selected(module, wire))
                     continue;

             // add +1 usage if this wire actually is a port
             int usage_offset = wire->port_id > 0 ? 1 : 0;

             // we will record which bits of the (possibly multi-bit) wire are stub signals
             std::set<int> stub_bits;

             // get a signal description for this wire and split it into separate bits
             RTLIL::SigSpec sig = sigmap(wire);

             // for each bit (unless it is a constant):
             // check if it is used at least two times and add to stub_bits otherwise
             for (int i = 0; i < GetSize(sig); i++)
                     if (sig[i].wire != NULL && (bit_usage_count[sig[i]] + usage_offset) < 2)
                             stub_bits.insert(i);

             // continue if no stub bits found
             if (stub_bits.size() == 0)
                     continue;

             // report stub bits and/or stub wires, don't report single bits
             // if called with report_bits set to false.
             if (GetSize(stub_bits) == GetSize(sig)) {
                     log("  found stub wire: %s\n", RTLIL::id2cstr(wire->name));
             } else {
                     if (!report_bits)
                             continue;
                     log("  found wire with stub bits: %s [", RTLIL::id2cstr(wire->name));
                     for (int bit : stub_bits)
                             log("%s%d", bit == *stub_bits.begin() ? "" : ", ", bit);
                     log("]\n");
             }

             // we have outputted a line, increment summary counter
             line_count++;
     }

     // report summary
     if (report_bits)
             log("  found %d stub wires or wires with stub bits.\n", line_count);
     else
             log("  found %d stub wires.\n", line_count);
}

// each pass contains a singleton object that is derived from Pass
struct StubnetsPass : public Pass {
     StubnetsPass() : Pass("stubnets") { }
     void execute(std::vector<std::string> args, RTLIL::Design *design) override
     {
             // variables to mirror information from passed options
             bool report_bits = 0;

             log_header(design, "Executing STUBNETS pass (find stub nets).\n");

             // parse options
             size_t argidx;
             for (argidx = 1; argidx < args.size(); argidx++) {
                     std::string arg = args[argidx];
                     if (arg == "-report_bits") {
                             report_bits = true;
                             continue;
                     }
                     break;
             }

             // handle extra options (e.g. selection)
             extra_args(args, argidx, design);

             // call find_stub_nets() for each module that is either
             // selected as a whole or contains selected objects.
             for (auto &it : design->modules_)
                     if (design->selected_module(it.first))
                             find_stub_nets(design, it.second, report_bits);
     }
} StubnetsPass;

PRIVATE_NAMESPACE_END
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test: stubnets.so
     yosys -ql test1.log -m ./stubnets.so test.v -p "stubnets"
     yosys -ql test2.log -m ./stubnets.so test.v -p "opt; stubnets"
     yosys -ql test3.log -m ./stubnets.so test.v -p "techmap; opt; stubnets -report_bits"
     tail test1.log test2.log test3.log

stubnets.so: stubnets.cc
     yosys-config --exec --cxx --cxxflags --ldflags -o $@ -shared $^ --ldlibs

clean:
     rm -f test1.log test2.log test3.log
     rm -f stubnets.so stubnets.d
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module uut(in1, in2, in3, out1, out2);

input [8:0] in1, in2, in3;
output [8:0] out1, out2;

assign out1 = in1 + in2 + (in3 >> 4);

endmodule