SlashTools

SlashTools.cmake is the primary CMake module for building SLASH projects. It provides the add_vbin() function for linking HLS kernels into vrtbin archives, and automatically includes BuildHLS for HLS kernel compilation.

Including SlashTools

When SLASH is installed system-wide:

find_package(SlashTools REQUIRED)

When building from the SLASH source tree:

list(APPEND CMAKE_MODULE_PATH "${REPO_ROOT}/cmake")
include(SlashTools)

SlashTools automatically includes BuildHLS.cmake and locates Vivado via FindVivado.cmake.

add_vbin()

Links compiled HLS kernels into a .vbin archive for a given platform.

add_vbin(
  TARGET   <target_name>
  PLATFORM <platform>
  CFG      <config_file>
  KERNELS  <kernel_xml_paths...>
)

Parameters

TARGET (required)

Name of the CMake custom target. The output file will be ${CMAKE_CURRENT_BINARY_DIR}/${TARGET}.vbin.

PLATFORM (required)

Target platform. One of:

hw — hardware (real V80 board)
emu — emulation (C-model, no FPGA required)
sim — simulation (Verilog register map)

CFG (required)

Path to the linker configuration file containing [connectivity] directives (nk=, stream_connect=, sp=).

KERNELS (required)

List of HLS component XML paths. These are typically produced by build_hls_dir() via the OUT_KERNELS parameter.

Operating Modes

add_vbin() supports two modes for locating the SLASH linker:

Installed mode (preferred): If slashkit is found on PATH, the function invokes it directly.
Source-tree mode: If SLASH_REPO_ROOT is set (or auto-detected from the module’s location), the function invokes linker/src/main.py via Python 3.

If neither mode is available, CMake emits a FATAL_ERROR.

Configuration Variables

SLASH_REPO_ROOT: Path to the SLASH repository root. Auto-detected when the CMake module is located inside the repository tree.
SLASHKIT_EXECUTABLE: Path to the installed slashkit linker. Auto-detected via find_program().

Example

From examples/00_axilite/CMakeLists.txt:

build_hls_dir(
  TARGET      hls
  ROOT        "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/hls"
  DEVICE      "${DEVICE}"
  KERNELS     increment accumulate
  OUT_KERNELS _KERNELS
)

set(CFG_FILE "${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/config.cfg")
add_vbin(TARGET "axilite_hw"  PLATFORM "hw"  CFG "${CFG_FILE}" KERNELS ${_KERNELS})
add_vbin(TARGET "axilite_emu" PLATFORM "emu" CFG "${CFG_FILE}" KERNELS ${_KERNELS})
add_vbin(TARGET "axilite_sim" PLATFORM "sim" CFG "${CFG_FILE}" KERNELS ${_KERNELS})

Build with:

cmake --build build --target hls           # compile HLS kernels
cmake --build build --target axilite_hw    # link hardware vrtbin
cmake --build build --target axilite_emu   # link emulation vrtbin