CODEWITHSUNDEEP
scalahdlchisel
FabienM
FabienM

Reputation: 3761

How to use experimental features in Chisel3?

I wanted to load a memory from file using functions described in this chisel wiki page. But it's an experimental feature, and the import command :

import chisel3.util.experimental.loadMemoryFromFile

Give a build error :

[error] /Vamps/src/main/scala/vamps/mivamps.scala:5:21: object experimental is not a member of package chisel3.util
[error] import chisel3.util.experimental.loadMemoryFromFile

I have these versions in my build.sbt config file (from chisel-template) :

// Provide a managed dependency on X if -DXVersion="" is supplied on the command line.
val defaultVersions = Map(
  "chisel3" -> "3.1.+",
  "chisel-iotesters" -> "1.2.5+"
  )

Upvotes: 1

Views: 375

Answers (1)

Jim Lawson
Jim Lawson

Reputation: 101

We don't currently have an official release version that supports this (chisel3.util.experimental.loadMemoryFromFile) feature.

Your options are:

  • clone the GitHub master branches, build from source, and publishLocal the Chisel components
  • use recently published SNAPSHOT versions of the Chisel components

In either case, you will need to work with compatible versions of the Chisel components, and be aware that these versions may be incompatible with the official released versions of the components. The master branches and published SNAPSHOTs may contain API breaking changes, destined for an upcoming major release.

Building from source gives you the most control, but also requires more familiarity with the Chisel development environment, and exposes you to potentially incompatible changes in the various Chisel repositories: we try to keep the master branches of the repositories in sync, but cannot guarantee this. There may be delays (usually less than a few days) before required updates restore compatibility to the suite of repositories.

Working with published SNAPSHOTs isn't quite so bleeding-edge: the published SNAPSHOT versions are known to be compatible with each other (but they may be incompatible with the official released versions).

To work with published SNAPSHOTs, update your default versions to:

val defaultVersions = Map(
  "chisel3" -> "3.2-SNAPSHOT",
  "chisel-iotesters" -> "1.3-SNAPSHOT"
)

We'll put together a wiki page describing this process in more detail.

Upvotes: 2

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