.xo
) file whether the
kernel is written in C/C++ or RTL. During the linking stage, one or more PL kernels are
linked with the platform to create the FPGA binary container file (.xclbin). In the case of
Versal®
ACAP devices, the linking process also includes an AI Engine graph application (libadf.a) and creates a fixed hardware platform (.xsa) for use by the Vitis packaging process as described in Packaging the System. v++
--link
command generates a hardware definition file (.xsa) for
Versal®
device platforms (i.e. vck190, vck5000), for use by the
v++ --package
command to generate the
.xclbin file. For
Alveo™
data center accelerator cards, and embedded
processor cards the v++ --link
command generates
an .xclbin file directly, though the v++ --package
command might still be needed.
vadd
kernel (.xo) with a
libadf.a graph archive and a Versal ACAP platform, specifying the .xsa file as the
output:v++ -t hw_emu --platform xilinx_vck190_base_202210_1 --link vadd.xo libadf.a -o"binary_container_1.xsa" \
--config ./system.cfg
This command contains the following arguments:
-
-t <arg>
- Specifies the build target. Software emulation (
sw_emu
) is used as an example. When linking, you must use the same-t
and--platform
arguments as specified when the input (XO) file was compiled. -
--platform <arg>
- Specifies the platform to link the kernels with.
-
--link
- Link the kernels and platform into a system design.
-
<input>.xo
- Input object file. Multiple object files can be specified.
-
libadf.a
- Input AI Engine graph application.
-
-o'<output>.xsa
- Specify the output file name. The output file in the link stage will be an .xsa file. The default output name is a.xsa.
-
--config ./system.cfg
- Specify a configuration file that is used to provide
v++
command options for a variety of uses. Refer to v++ Command for more information on the--config
option.
After the linking step is complete, any reports generated during this process are collected into the <kernel_name>.link_summary. This collection of reports can be viewed by opening the link_summary in Vitis analyzer, and includes a Summary report, System and Platform Diagrams to illustrate the hardware design, System Estimate providing timing and resources estimates, System Guidance offering any suggestions for improving linking and the performance of the system, and the Vivado Automation Summary providing design details such as interface connections, clocks, resets, and interrupts. Refer to Using the Vitis Analyzer for additional information.
Beyond simply linking the Xilinx object (XO) files, the linking process is also where important architectural details of the design are specified. In particular, this is where the design is enabled for profiling or debug, where you specify the number of compute unit (CUs) to instantiate into hardware, where CUs are assigned to SLRs, and where you define connections from kernel ports to global memory or between streaming ports. The following sections discuss some of these build options.