AR# 56102

Description

After opening a Vivado project incorporating an IP core which uses a COE file in its XCI file (e.g., a block RAM might require a .coe file), you can see the relative path to the COE file.

<spirit:configurableElementValue spirit:referenceId="PARAM_VALUE.COE_FILE">../blk_mem_gen_v8_0_0c0h3jfb7ba3aph379te0864a8_vivado.coe</spirit:configurableElementValue>

Then, after generating the output products for the IP, the above XCI file gets overwritten as expected, but now it contains the absolute path.

<spirit:configurableElementValue spirit:referenceId="PARAM_VALUE.COE_FILE">c:/CASE_968283/src/sysgen/duc_2lte/ip/blk_mem_gen_v8_0_0c0h3jfb7ba3aph379te0864a8_vivado.coe</spirit:configurableElementValue>

This causes errors when attempting to re-generate IP core target files if the project has been moved or sent to a different location where the absolute path can no longer be found (even though the relative path would still have been valid).

This issue has also been seen with Sysgen projects where IP cores using COE files are included.

Solution

In the Vivado Design Suite 2013.1, COE file relative path support in XCI is available only for internal sources (i.e., the .coe file should be available inside the project/srcs/ip directory).

In the case of any external design sources, absolute paths will be referred in the XCI file.

Some possible work-arounds include:

• Ensure all sources are internal to the project
• Modify the XCI file manually prior to regeneration of the IP
  Please note that the newly created XCI file will again contain the absolute path.
• Write a Tcl script to modify the XCI file prior to regeneration

In the Vivado Design Suite 2013.2, COE file paths will be stored as relative paths when possible.

• When the user specifies an absolute path, the Vivado tool warns the customer that the absolute path will be converted to relative (if it can be).
• When the path is absolute and cannot be converted to relative, a warning will be issued to warn the customer that the absolute path might make it difficult to relocate the project.