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Select from these categories:
Background
- Q1. Can you describe what Vera Open Source Initiative is?
- A1. It is a program to establish OpenVera 1.0 as an open source hardware verification language that is freely and easily accessible to the EDA and design community, including tool providers, IP providers and end-users.
- Q2. Can you describe the open source model in more detail?
- A2. Open Source is an increasingly popular method for creating openness and interoperability in an industry. Technologies in the form of source code, documentation and/or formats are made available to a community that has a vested interest in the success of the open format. Community members use the technology and provide enhancements back to a managing entity. The managing entity ensures "structured innovation" by adding the changes back into the standard and releasing them in a timely fashion. The managing entity can be an individual, a company, or a steering group depending on resources, the maturity of the standard, and other factors.
Open Source for interoperability formats for the EDA industry has already proven to be successful. Examples of successful open source EDA formats include: Liberty™, SDC, LEF, DEF, and SystemC.
- Q3. What is being open sourced?
- A3. The OpenVera language reference manual. The open source license for OpenVera also grants patent rights related to the OpenVera language.
- Q4. Why is Synopsys making OpenVera open source?
- A4. The goal of Vera Open Source Initiative is to align the community around an open hardware verification language, OpenVera, to promote and accelerate development of verification tools. OpenVera provides an open, free and widely adopted platform so the EDA community can focus on developing solutions instead of developing or supporting multiple languages. The end-user will benefit from having an interoperable flow, supported by tools from multiple vendors.
- Q5. When will OpenVera become available?
- A5. It is available for download now at www.open-vera.com.
- Q6. Who will own OpenVera?
- A6. No single entity will own OpenVera. It will belong to the community.
- Q7. Who will decide what changes will go into OpenVera and when?
- A7. Even though there is no single owner for OpenVera, Synopsys will assume the responsibility of managing the evolution of the language and the change process associated with it. This evolution will be market driven, based on the requirements from the tool providers and the user community.
- Q8. What can be obtained from the OpenVera web site?
- A8. www.open-vera.com will be used to provide access to OpenVera license, OpenVera language reference manual, OpenVera related examples and any community news on OpenVera such as vendor tool support. Eventually, this web site will provide a discussion board for OpenVera language and relevant topics.
- Q9. What role is Synopsys going to play in facilitating open source availability in the marketplace (e.g., community building, such as Linux)?
- A9. Synopsys will play the role of "managing entity" as described above, much like Linus Torvalds is the managing entity for the successful standard, Linux. Synopsys has gained valuable experience through Open SystemC, Liberty, and SDC.
- Q10. How does OpenVera relate to SystemC?
- A10. OpenVera is a specially tuned verification language for use by designers
and verification engineers developing testbenches for hardware validation,
typically as part of a Verilog or VHDL flow. OpenVera includes a broad
range of constructs that enable constraint driven random test stimulus
generation, real time self-checking, functional coverage, and temporal
assertions. The Vera language is in use for functional verification for
the last 5 years at over 100 customer sites.
SystemC is the modeling language for use by system designers, SW engineers
and HW engineers developing system level models for analysis in a C based flow.
Both languages are used by customers for respective uses. Synopsys will
continue to support both.
Standards and Licensing
- Q1. How does open source licensing compare to other standardization options?
- A1. There are various approaches towards standardization:
Traditional formal standards organizations are experienced in consensus-based processes. Membership is open to all and everyone gets an equal say. Some members sincerely want the standard to succeed. Unfortunately, committees are routinely populated by individuals who want the standard to fail, exacerbating already slow progress.
Closed proprietary standards, owned by a single company are available only to that company's customers. They are fast to evolve and well-supported. Other vendors are not allowed to use them, greatly reducing tool interoperability and forcing customers to create translators.
Licensing by a standards company is a way to transfer closed standards into the public. A standards company obtains legal rights and funding from the owner to create a standard through licensing, usually with fees and generally to all comers. With limited resources and expertise, the licensor may struggle to bring out a standard quickly and provide long-term support.
Open proprietary standards are controlled by a single company, and access is expanded to include the entire community. This model ensures immediate access by everyone to well-established, well-maintained standards. The owner applies significant resources to evolve and support the standard. Beyond EDA, the open proprietary model is also being used in related industries. IBM's CoreConnect program and Motorola's Semiconductor Reuse Standards are excellent examples.
Open source has quickly gained popularity. A community reviews and enhances the standard with changes controlled by a single person or company. A high quality, well-supported standard emerges quickly. One popular example is Linux, controlled by Linus Torvalds. Some variations restrict commercial usage and others require fees, which can be viewed negatively. Synopsys' open source for TAP-in has no fees or commercial restrictions.
Community source licensing is similar to open source. When community members are ready to implement commercial tools, they negotiate usage and royalties with the owner.
Open community licensing gathers enhancements from a community that wants the standard to succeed. A steering group manages the process, incorporating changes and redistributing them in timely releases. No fees are imposed and structured innovation is guaranteed. Open SystemC is an example of open community licensing.
- Q2. What is the possibility of Synopsys developing a proprietary upgrade to OpenVera?
- A2. It is not in the interest of Synopsys' business to develop a proprietary upgrade to OpenVera. This action would directly harm customers, reduce interoperability and ultimately reflect poorly on Synopsys. Synopsys has proved in the past that it would not develop proprietary versions of a standard as witnessed by PDEF.
- Q3. What happens if a vendor makes changes to OpenVera?
- A3. Vendors can modify the language, however, end users would like to have a standard OpenVera and not worry about having to choose between different flavors of the language. To ensure this, vendors are encouraged to submit their changes for incorporation into the standard OpenVera.
Technology
- Q1. What is the OpenVera language?
- A1. Its an intuitive, easy to learn language that combines the familiarity and strengths of HDLs, C++ and Java with additional constructs targeted at functional verification that makes it ideal for developing testbenches, assertions and properties.
- Q2. What does OpenVera language do?
- A2. It accelerates the creation of a verification environment by providing high-level constructs especially designed for verification of complex SoCs. It enables generation of constrained random tests that can increase test cover space. OpenVera has powerful constructs to perform real-time data and temporal checking. It also enables reactive test generation by providing mechanisms for feeding back functional coverage data into stimulus generation engine.
- Q3. What is OpenVera language used for?
- A3. It is used for verification of architectural models, RTL implementation and gate level netlists in a verification/simulation environment. It can also be used for defining assertions and properties that can be monitored during simulations or verified using static verification engines.
- Q4. Does OpenVera support property definition?
- A4. Yes. OpenVera supports temporal expressions that can be used to define assertions and properties. These temporal expressions are capable of supporting many different type of properties.
- Q5. Who is the target user for OpenVera language?
- A5. Design and verification engineers, looking for ways to improve overall verification and testbench productivity use OpenVera. It is used to assist in the functional verification of SoC designs. It can be used by engineers involved in module level verification, SoC level verification and system level verification. This subset of the language is also known as OpenVera Assertions
- Q6. Why is OpenVera language the best technology for functional verification?
- A6. OpenVera is easy to learn and use and yet delivers significant improvement in functional verification related productivity. The assertion definition mechanism is easy and yet powerful to create real-time self-checking tests. It offers news ways for generating peusdo random reactive tests controlled by functional coverage objects.
Download
- Q1. What do I get when I download from the OpenVera web site?
- A1. OpenVera language reference manual and rights to build and sell tools.
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