Icarus Verilog is an implementation of the
Verilog
Verilog, standardized as IEEE 1364, is a hardware description language (HDL) used to model electronic systems. It is most commonly used in the design and verification of digital circuits, with the highest level of abstraction being at the re ...
hardware description language compiler that generates
netlists in the desired format (
EDIF) and a simulator. It supports the 1995, 2001 and 2005 versions of the standard, portions of
SystemVerilog, and some extensions.
Icarus Verilog is available for
Linux
Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...
,
FreeBSD,
OpenSolaris,
AIX,
Microsoft Windows
Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...
, and . Released under the
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public Licenses (GNU GPL or simply GPL) are a series of widely used free software licenses, or ''copyleft'' licenses, that guarantee end users the freedom to run, study, share, or modify the software. The GPL was the first ...
, Icarus Verilog is
free software
Free software, libre software, libreware sometimes known as freedom-respecting software is computer software distributed open-source license, under terms that allow users to run the software for any purpose as well as to study, change, distribut ...
, an alternative to proprietary software like
Cadence's Verilog-XL.
As of release 0.9, Icarus is composed of a Verilog compiler (including a Verilog preprocessor) with support for plug-in backends, and a virtual machine that simulates the design. To view waveforms, a program like GTKWave can be used. Release v10.0, besides general improvements and bug fixes, added preliminary support for
VHDL
VHDL (Very High Speed Integrated Circuit Program, VHSIC Hardware Description Language) is a hardware description language that can model the behavior and structure of Digital electronics, digital systems at multiple levels of abstraction, ran ...
, but the VHDL support has been abandoned as of 2018.
History
Not even the author quite remembers when the project was first started, but
CVS records go back to 1998. There have been releases 0.2 through the current stable release.
Icarus Verilog development is done largely by the sole regular author, Stephen Williams. Some non-trivial portions have been contributed as accepted patches.
See also
*
Comparison of EDA software
External links
Icarus Verilog documentation web siteGitHub pageIcarus Verilog installer for Microsoft WindowsOnline interface to Icarus VerilogOpen Source in Electronic Design AutomationIcarus Verilog: Open-Source Verilog More than a Year LaterEDA Playground - run Icarus Verilog simulations from the web browserHistorical CSV repositoryVHDL support abandoned
Free electronic design automation software
Electronic design automation software for Linux
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