Vitis Software Platform Release Notes

This section contains information regarding the features and updates of the Vitis™ software platform in this release. It also contains information regarding the features and updates of the Vitis software platform for Versal™ AI Engine development.

What's New

For information about what's new in this version of the Vitis™ unified software development platform, see the Vitis What's New Page.

Supported Platforms

Data Center Accelerator Cards

Access the latest Vitis target platforms for Alveo™ Data Center accelerator cards at www.xilinx.com/products/boards-and-kits/alveo.html.

Refer to Alveo Data Center Accelerator Card Platforms User Guide (UG1120) for specifications of each accelerator card and available target platforms. The Getting Started section for each accelerator card has information for deploying your applications on that card.

Refer to Installing Xilinx Runtime and Platforms for more information on setting up XRT and platforms.

Embedded Platforms

Embedded platforms available for use with the Vitis core development kit can be found at the Embedded Platforms download page. Embedded processor platforms such as the Versal VCK190 platform, the Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC ZCU102/ZCU104 base platform, and the Zynq-7000 base platforms can be optionally used for both the Vitis application acceleration development flow, and the Vitis embedded software development flow. In most cases, however, you can create your own platforms using the Vitis IDE.

Versal Platform for AI Engine Development

The VCK190 platform is available for use with the Vitis application acceleration development flow, as described in Versal ACAP AI Engine Programming Environment User Guide (UG1076). The platform enables development of designs that include:

  • AI Engine graphs and kernels
  • Programmable logic kernels
  • Host application targeting the Linux or a bare metal OS running on the Arm processor in the Versal device.

Changed Behavior

The following table specifies differences between this release and prior releases that impact behavior or flow when migrating.

Table 1. Changed Behavior Summary
Area Behavior
Vitis HLS1 The Git Repository used to be accessible from the left hand lower quadrant. It has moved to the Console area.
The Analysis perspective no longer exists. The reports and views are now accessible from the Synthesis layout.
Pragma HLS SHARED was previously a standalone pragma. It is now specified in the pragma HLS STREAM type= option.
  • pragma HLS SHARED is now pragma HLS STREAM type=shared.
  • pragma HLS SHARED and pragma HLS STABLE now combine to pragma HLS STREAM type=unsync (shared and unsynchronized).
The default setting of config_interface -m_axi_offset for the Vivado IP flow has changed to slave. This means that when an m_axi interface is added to a Vivado IP an s_axilite interface is also added and the offset is managed through it.
Floating point accumulators and MAC offer new precision for greater control through the config_op command. To replicate 2020.2 results in 2021.1, use the following command: 
config_op facc -impl auto -precision low
Vitis profile In the xrt.ini file, profile=true has been changed to opencl_summary=true and opencl_device_counter=true to capture kernel-side data. These options can be specified separately or together.
Vitis timeline All trace results (opencl_trace=true, data_transfer_trace=true, stall_trace=all, and others) are added to the are added to the Application Timeline in Vitis analyzer. You can specify which elements are added to the Application Timeline when viewing the report.
timeline_trace is changed to opencl_trace.
Vitis debug GDB kernel debug during hardware emulation is no longer supported.
Vitis AI Engine The default optimization level has changed from xlopt=0 in 2020.2 to xlopt=1 in 2021.1.
Using the -aie-sim-options of launch_hw_emu.sh, you can profile AI Engines with AIE_PROFILE enabled through a text file.
Changes to x86simulator: packet switching construct support, GDB debugging, and printf() macros have been added.
XRT native C++ API for controlling the graph (xrt::graph) has been added.
Hardware Emulation support is now provided for designs accessing GMIO.
Support for PL kernels in the ADF graph is deprecated.
  1. See the Vitis High-Level Synthesis User Guide (UG1399) for more details.

Known Issues

Known issues for the Vitis software platform are available in AR#76498.