Project X-Ray
Documenting the Xilinx 7-series bit-stream format.
This repository contains both tools and scripts which allow you to document the bit-stream format of Xilinx 7-series FPGAs.
Quickstart Guide
Install Vivado 2017.2 (2017.3 has a known compatibility issue, see f4pga#14). Then source the settings script, ie
source /opt/Xilinx/Vivado/2017.2/settings64.sh
Pull submodules:
git submodule update --init --recursive
Get a head start by downloading current database:
# Give the argument;
# - https if you to use the https protocol (default)
# - git+ssh if you want to use git+ssh protocol
# - git if you want to use the git protocol
./download-latest-db.sh
Install CMake and build the C++ tools:
sudo apt-get install cmake # version 3.5.0 or later required,
# for Ubuntu Trusty pkg is called cmake3
mkdir build
pushd build
cmake ..
make
popd
Always make sure to set the environment for the device you are working on before running any other commands:
source database/artix7/settings.sh
Creating HTML documentation:
cd htmlgen
python3 htmlgen.py
(Re-)creating the database:
cd fuzzers
make -j$(nproc)
(Re-)creating parts of the database, for example LUT init bits:
cd fuzzers/010-lutinit
make -j$(nproc) run
Tests are not built by default. Setting the PRJXRAY_BUILD_TESTING option to ON when running cmake will include them:
cmake -DPRJXRAY_BUILD_TESTING=ON ..
make
The default C++ build configuration is for releases (optimizations enabled, no debug info). A build configuration for debugging (no optimizations, debug info) can be chosen via the CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE option:
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug ..
make
The options to build tests and use a debug build configuration are independent to allow testing that optimizations do not cause bugs. The build configuration and build tests options may be combined to allow all permutations.
Process
The documentation is done through a "black box" process were Vivado is asked to generate a large number of designs which then used to create bitstreams. The resulting bit streams are then cross correlated to discover what different bits do.
Parts
Minitests
There are also "minitests" which are designs which can be viewed by a human in Vivado to better understand how to generate more useful designs.
Experiments
Experiments are like "minitests" except are only useful for a short period of time. Files are committed here to allow people to see how we are trying to understand the bitstream.
When an experiment is finished with, it will be moved from this directory into the latest "prjxray-experiments-archive-XXXX" repository.
Fuzzers
Fuzzers are the scripts which generate the large number of bitstream.
They are called "fuzzers" because they follow an approach similar to the idea of software testing through fuzzing.
Tools & Libs
Tools & libs are useful tools (and libraries) for converting the resulting bitstreams into various formats.
Binaries in the tools directory are considered more mature and stable then those in the utils directory and could be actively used in other projects.
Utils
Utils are various tools which are still highly experimental. These tools should only be used inside this repository.
Third Party
Third party contains code not developed as part of Project X-Ray.
Database
Running the all fuzzers in order will produce a database which documents the bitstream format in the database directory.
As running all these fuzzers can take significant time, Tim 'mithro' Ansell me@mith.ro has graciously agreed to maintain a copy of the database in the prjxray-db repository.
Please direct enquires to Tim if there are any issues with it.
Current Focus
Current the focus has been on the Artix-7 50T part. This structure is common between all footprints of the 15T, 35T and 50T varieties.
We have also started experimenting with the Kintex-7 parts.
The aim is to eventually document all parts in the Xilinx 7-series FPGAs but we can not do this alone, we need your help!
TODO List
- Write a TODO list
Contributing
There are a couple of guidelines when contributing to Project X-Ray which are listed here.
Sending
All contributions should be sent as GitHub Pull requests.
License
All code in the Project X-Ray repository is licensed under the very permissive
ISC Licence. A copy can be found in the COPYING
file.
All new contributions must also be released under this license.
Code of Conduct
By contributing you agree to the code of conduct. We follow the open source best practice of using the Contributor Covenant for our Code of Conduct.
Sign your work
To improve tracking of who did what, we follow the Linux Kernel's "sign your work" system. This is also called a "DCO" or "Developer's Certificate of Origin".
All commits are required to include this sign off and we use the Probot DCO App to check pull requests for this.
The sign-off is a simple line at the end of the explanation for the patch, which certifies that you wrote it or otherwise have the right to pass it on as a open-source patch. The rules are pretty simple: if you can certify the below:
Developer's Certificate of Origin 1.1
By making a contribution to this project, I certify that:
(a) The contribution was created in whole or in part by me and I
have the right to submit it under the open source license
indicated in the file; or
(b) The contribution is based upon previous work that, to the best
of my knowledge, is covered under an appropriate open source
license and I have the right under that license to submit that
work with modifications, whether created in whole or in part
by me, under the same open source license (unless I am
permitted to submit under a different license), as indicated
in the file; or
(c) The contribution was provided directly to me by some other
person who certified (a), (b) or (c) and I have not modified
it.
(d) I understand and agree that this project and the contribution
are public and that a record of the contribution (including all
personal information I submit with it, including my sign-off) is
maintained indefinitely and may be redistributed consistent with
this project or the open source license(s) involved.
then you just add a line saying
Signed-off-by: Random J Developer <random@developer.example.org>
using your real name (sorry, no pseudonyms or anonymous contributions.)