hcm 0.4

HDL Component Manager

Manage HDL code as components so they can shared as IP.

Table of Contents

• Overview

• Key Benefits

• Key Features

• Installation

• Usage

• Documentation

• Contributing

Overview

HCM was created after a frustrating attempt to merge changes from one program to another. Even after carefully performing the merge, there were issues. We fixed an issue with a component shared between programs, and wanted to push the change back to another program. This would have required another merge. SVN can handle it, put it gets really messy to do it manually.

This was turning into a nightmare just to pass updates between multiple concurrently running programs. I was inspired by PIP, and how easy it is to install python packages. I wanted to bring that same level of ease to HDL design.

Key Benefits

• Provides a method to control versions of IP

• Controls the distribution of HDL code

• Follows the Major.Minor.Patch method of version control

• Language independent (VHDL, Verilog, System Verilog)

• Can be used to control vendor IP

Key Features

• Works with SVN repositories

• Automates publishing of code to a central location

• Automates installing and upgrading of code

• Supports multiple IP repositories

Installation

You can get the latest released version of HCM via pip.

pip install hcm

The latest development version can be cloned…

git clone https://github.com/jeremiah-c-leary/hdl-component-manager.git

…and then installed locally…

python setup.py install

Usage

HCM is a command line tool. It can be invoked with:

$ hcm
usage: hcm [-h] {create,install,list,publish} ...

Provides configuration management for HDL components.

positional arguments:
  {create,install,list,publish}
    create              creates a component repo
    install             adds a component from the component repo
    list                lists components and their versions
    publish             Adds components to the component repo

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit

HCM has four subcommands: create, install, list, and publish.

create

Use the create subcommand to create a new component repository. The arguments for the subcommand can be listed using the -h option:

$ hcm create -h
usage: hcm create [-h] url

positional arguments:
  url         location to create the base component repo

optional arguments:
  -h, --help  show this help message and exit

install

Use the install subcommand to add or upgrade a componet from the component repository. The arguments for the subcommand can be listed using the -h option:

$ bin/hcm install -h
usage: hcm install [-h] [--url URL] component version

positional arguments:
  component   Component name to install
  version     Major.Minor.Patch version of component to install, or latest to
              grab the latest version.

optional arguments:
  -h, --help  show this help message and exit
  --url URL   location of component directory in repo

list

Use the list subcommand to check the versions of components you have installed. The arguments for the subcommand can be listed using the -h option:

$ hcm list -h
usage: hcm list [-h] [--upgrades] [--all]

optional arguments:
  -h, --help  show this help message and exit
  --upgrades  Lists upgrades for currently installed components
  --all       Includes directories that are not under HCM control

publish

Use the publish subcommand to push a version of a component to the component repository. The arguments for the subcommand can be listed using the -h option:

$ hcm publish -h
usage: hcm publish [-h] -m M [--url URL] component version

positional arguments:
  component   Component name to publish
  version     Major.Minor.Patch version to publish

optional arguments:
  -h, --help  show this help message and exit
  -m M        Commit message
  --url URL   Base URL of the component repository

Documentation

All documentation for HCM is hosted at read-the-docs.

Contributing

I welcome any contributions to this project. No matter how small or large.

There are several ways to contribute:

• Bug reports

• Code base improvements

• Feature requests

• Pull requests

Please refer to the documentation hosted at read-the-docs for more details on contributing.