IPM

IPM is an open-source ChipIgnite Program IPs Package Manager; it is meant to provide a mean for distributing high quality IPs. IPM is tied to the IPs that can be found in Efabless Market Place.

Installation

IPM is now on PyPi, you can install it using this command:

pip install ipmgr

To verify it is working run:

ipm --version

Usage

List all available IPs

You can do that by visiting the Efabless Market Place, Or using this command

ipm ls-remote

Get more info about a specific IP from the CLI

ipm info <ip_name>

Install IP

ipm install <IP_NAME> [OPTIONS]

Options:

  --version   Install IP with a specific version

  --ip-root   IP installation path [default: {PWD}/ip]

  --ipm-root  Path to the IPM root where the IPs will reside  [default: ~/.ipm]

  --help       Show this message and exit

Note

IPM installs the IPs in a shared directory ipm-root which is by default set to ~/.ipm, then it will create a symlink to ip-root which is by default set to {PWD}/ip.

Tip

IPM will create a dependencies.json file under ip-root, which will have all the IPs that you used in your project. Push this file to your repo in order to have a reproducible project.

Install IPs from dependencies file

ipm install-dep [OPTIONS]

Options:

  --ip-root    IP path [default: {PWD}/ip/dependencies.json]

  --ipm-root  Path to the IPM root where the IPs will reside  [default: ~/.ipm]

  --help           Show this message and exit

Note

This will download the IPs in the dependencies.json, with the same versions that it used inside the file

Uninstalling IPs

ipm uninstall <IP_NAME> [OPTIONS]

Options:

  --version     Uninstall IP with a specific version

  -f, --force Forces the uninstall

  --ipm-root   Path to the IPM root where the IPs will reside  [default: ~/.ipm]

  --help            Show this message and exit

Tip

It is advised to use this command rather than deleting the IP manually

Remove IP from project

ipm rm <IP_NAME> [OPTIONS]

Options:

  --ipm-root  Path to the IPM root where the IPs are installed  [default: ~/.ipm]

  --ip-root      IP path [default: {PWD}/ip]

  --help             Show this message and exit

Update IP

ipm update [IP_NAME][OPTIONS]

Options:

  --ipm-root  Path to the IPM root where the IPs will reside  [default: ~/.ipm]

  --ip-root    IP path [default: {PWD}/ip]

  --help           Show this message and exit

Note

If an IP_NAME is provided it will only update this IP, if not it will update all installed IPs

Adding your IP to IPM

Caution

The next part is a WIP, and for now only Efabless can add IPs to IPM and the market place. If you are interested in adding your own IP please contact Efabess.

To add your own IP to our package manager, you should follow these steps:

1. Package your IP with the following folder structure:

All IPs must include:

- readme.md
- <ip>.json
- doc/datasheet.pdf
- hdl/rtl/bus_wrapper **optional**
- fw
- verify/beh_model

All digital and analog hard IPs must include:

- hdl/gl
- timing/lib
- timing/sdf
- timing/spef
- layout/gds
- layout/lef

All Analog IPs must include:

- spice

All soft digital IPs must include:

- hdl/rtl/design
- verify
- pnr **optional**
- verify/utb

Directory structure should look like:

├── readme.md
├── <ip>.json
├── doc\
│   └── datasheet.pdf
├── layout\
│   ├── gds\
│   └── lef\
├── timing\
│   ├── lib\
│   ├── spef\
│   └── sdf\
├── spice\
├── hdl\ 
│   ├── rtl\
│   │   ├── bus_wrapper\
│   │   └── design\
│   └── gl\
├── fw\
├── verify\
│   ├── utb\
│   └── beh_model\
└── pnr\

NOTE

• verify directory should include basic unit tests to help the designers build their verification
• bus_wrapper directory contains RTL for IP wrappers to ease system bus connection
• fw directory contains device drivers (.c and .h files)

2. IP metadata file structure

Your <ip>.json file should look like:

{
    "info": {
        "name": "<ip name>",
        "description": "<ip_description>",
        "repo": "<src repo>",
        "owner": "<owner of IP>",
        "license": "<license of IP>",
        "author": "<author of IP>",
        "email": "<email of author/owner>",
        "version": "<IP version>",
        "date": "<mm-dd-yyyy>",
        "category": "<analog/digital/AMS>",
        "tags": [
            "<tags for ip>"
        ],
        "bus": [
            "<APB|AHBL|WB|generic>"
        ],
        "type": "<hard|soft|firm|hybrid",
        "maturity": "<Verified|FPGA Validated|SI Validated|Production Ready>",
        "cell_count": "<number of cells in ip>",
        "width": "<width of IP in um>",
        "height": "<height of IP in um>",
        "technology": "<sky130A|sky130B|gf180mcuC|gf180mcuD|n/a>",
        "clock_freq_mhz": "<clock frequency of IP>",
        "supply_voltage": [
            "<supply voltage of IP>"
        ]
    }
}

All the above fields must be included in your file

3. Create tarball

Compress your folder into a tarball (tar.gz) with the name <version>.tar.gz, where version is the version of your release, you can do that by running:

cd <ip_directory>
tar czf <version>.tar.gz *

4. Create release

create a new release in your GH repo with the tag <version> and add the tarball created there to the release's assets

5. IPM package_check

Once you are done you can run a package_check function locally by running ipm package-check which checks that you’ve completed the above steps successfully. Options for IP name, version and the GH repo are required

NOTE: THIS IS STILL A WIP

6. Submit

If the pre-check was successful you can submit your IP through the form ......

IPM team will then perform set of sanity checks to ensure the quality of the submitted IP. This checker shall ensure:

• That the IP is LVS clean
• That the IP is DRC clean

Additional Docs

• Awesome Sky130 IPs
• Sky130 Open-source IP Catalog