llvm / llvm/circt

[ExportVerilog] Reuse output ports if possible

Open
#3,133 0 comments 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub
Dominant language
C++
Stars
2.2k
Forks
524
Avg merge
3d 2h
Merged PRs (30d)
46

Description

Consider following IR (this kind of IR is frequently used to express FIRRTL's inout ports):
```mlir
hw.module @Foo(%x: i8) -> (y: i8, z: i8) {
%.z.output = sv.wire : !hw.inout
%0 = sv.read_inout %.z.output : !hw.inout
sv.assign %.z.output, %x : i8
hw.output %0, %0 : i8, i8
}
```
`circt-opt -export-verilog`:
```verilog
module Foo( // foo.mlir:1:1
input [7:0] x,
output [7:0] y,
z);

wire [7:0] _z_output; // foo.mlir:2:18

assign _z_output = x; // foo.mlir:4:5
assign y = _z_output; // foo.mlir:3:10, :5:5
assign z = _z_output; // foo.mlir:3:10, :5:5
endmodule
```

Ideally we don't have to create temporary wires for output ports, e.g:
```verilog
module Foo( // foo.mlir:1:1
input [7:0] x,
output [7:0] y,
z);

assign z = x; // foo.mlir:4:5
assign y = x; // foo.mlir:3:10, :5:5
endmodule

Contributor guide

No contributing guide indexed for this repository

Research direction

Start by reproducing the issue with the shown IR and the circt-opt -export-verilog entry point. Trace how the ExportVerilog path handles sv.wire values read from output ports, then verify that the generated Verilog removes the temporary wire while preserving the two output assignments shown in the request.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
cpp
Domain
compilers
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
45/100

Get new issues in your inbox

A short digest of beginner-friendly GitHub issues.