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drv_fpga_dynamic_loading.md

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The wgd.sh (running on board) supports reloading driver and/or FPGA image dynamically without rebooting/power-cycle. It can work in a flexible way.

The purpose of this feature is to help you easily reload driver and FPGA built from your branch/version/variant/modification, and switch/run different driver and FPGA of different branch/version/variant/modification without rebooting. To enjoy this feature, always ensure your onboard openwifi/files are the latest files in user_space).

Note: Make sure you have compiled driver before. Check Update Driver.

Reload driver only

This is the original way. To let wgd.sh only loads the driver without touching FPGA, please ensure FPGA image file system_top.bit.bin is NOT present in the directory. If wgd.sh can not find the FPGA image, it will skip reloading it.

Reload driver and FPGA

  • Generate the reloadable FPGA file system_top.bit.bin. In the Linux host computer:

    cd openwifi/user_space
./drv_and_fpga_package_gen.sh $OPENWIFI_HW_IMG_DIR $XILINX_DIR $BOARD_NAME

    Then system_top.bit.bin will be generated in openwifi/user_space.

  • Put system_top.bit.bin on board in the same directory as wgd.sh and other driver files (.ko)

  • Run wgd.sh on board as usual

Reload driver and FPGA in target directory

Put system_top.bit.bin on board together with other driver files (.ko) in a directory ($TARGET_DIR), then run on board:

./wgd.sh $TARGET_DIR

In this way, different versions/variants of driver/FPGA can be put in different directories. Then wgd.sh can be used to switch between them without rebooting/power-cycle.

Reload driver and FPGA from a single package file

The openwifi/user_space/drv_and_fpga_package_gen.sh also generates a single package file drv_and_fpga.tar.gz, which includes driver files (.ko), FPGA image and many other source files with rich infos that are related.

You can switch to your own branch/version/variant, build the single package file via drv_and_fpga_package_gen.sh, rename it with a more meaningful name (such as add version or variant info as postfix), put the renamed drv_and_fpga_MEANINGFUL_POSTFIX.tar.gz on board in the same directory as wgd.sh, and let wgd.sh load it:

./wgd.sh ./drv_and_fpga_MEANINGFUL_POSTFIX.tar.gz

In this way, different version/variants of driver/FPGA can be switched by wgd.sh without rebooting/power-cycle.

Suggested practice to generate driver FPGA variants

There are several ways to generate variants of the single driver-FPGA package file. For example:

  • Switch/create another branch for openwifi and openwifi-hw, work/modify there, then generate the single package file via drv_and_fpga_package_gen.sh. This package is the branch specific, so renaming the package name to a more meaningful one would be good practice.
  • In the same branch, set different arguments (finally macro definitions in .h and .v files) via conditional compiling to enable/disable different driver and FPGA code blocks/functionalities, then generate the single package file via drv_and_fpga_package_gen.sh. Rename the package to remind you which conditions are ON/OFF.
    • Check "Conditional compile by verilog macro" in openwifi-hw README for FPGA design
    • Input more arguments (max 5) to driver building script "make_all.sh $XILINX_DIR ARCH_BIT". Those arguments will be converted to "#define argument" in pre_def.h for driver conditional compiling. Attention: drv_and_fpga_package_gen.sh currently only call make_all.sh without extra arguments. If you have conditional compiling arguments, do not forget to put them into drv_and_fpga_package_gen.sh as extra arguments of make_all.sh.

Detailed full usage info

Run the "./wgd.sh -h" on board or open wgd.sh to see full usage info:

usage:
  Script for load (or download+load) different driver and FPGA img without rebooting
  no  argument: Load .ko driver files and FPGA img (if system_top.bit.bin exist) in current dir with test_mode=0.
  1st argument: If it is a NUMBER, it will be assigned to test_mode. Then load everything from current dir.
  1st argument: If it is a string called "remote", it will download driver/FPGA and load everything.
  - 2nd argument (if exist) is the target directory name for downloading and reloading
  - 3rd argument (if exist) is the value for test_mode
  1st argument: neither NUMBER nor "remote" nor a .tar.gz file, it is regarded as a directory and load everything from it.
  - 2nd argument (if exist) is the value for test_mode
  1st argument: a .tar.gz file, it will be unpacked then load from that unpacked directory
  - 2nd argument (if exist) is the value for test_mode