vhdl-template

A Makefile-based template for open-source VHDL projects, using GHDL and GTKWave.

How to install

Linux

Some dependencies need to be installed for GHDL:

$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt install -y git make gnat zlib1g-dev

Then, GHDL needs to be built from source:

$ git clone https://github.com/ghdl/ghdl
$ cd ghdl/
$ ./configure --prefix=/usr/local
$ make
$ sudo make install

It should now be installed; you can test with:

$ ghdl -v

GTKWave should be installable via apt:

$ sudo apt install -y gtkwave

macOS

This installation is simpler using Homebrew.

First, GNAT is needed, which can be downloaded from here.

Once the GNAT toolchain is installed, it must be put into the PATH, by adding the following line to your .bashrc/.zshrc:

# Note: this is the current install path of GNAT, check the installation program in the previous step if you're not
# sure exactly where the GNAT toolchain was installed
export PATH=$HOME/opt/GNAT/2020/bin:$PATH

GHDL needs to be built from source:

$ git clone https://github.com/ghdl/ghdl
$ cd ghdl/
$ ./configure --prefix=/usr/local
$ make
$ sudo make install

It should now be installed; you can test with:

$ ghdl -v

GTKWave should be installable via Homebrew:

$ brew install gtkwave

How to use

I've written a short blogpost on how to use this template, with a concrete example project.