Running Verilog code on Linux/Mac

Step by step instructions of to setup and install tools to run and visualize verilog HDL designs on *nix systems.

Install

Note: The steps below have been tested on Ubuntu 16.04 and MacOS 10.14

1. Compile from source on Linux/Mac or in Cygwin on Windows
You will need make, autoconf, gcc, g++, flex, bison to compile (and maybe more depending on your system).

Clone the git repo.
$ git clone https://github.com/steveicarus/iverilog.git

cd into the directory
$ cd iverilog

Build configuration files
$ sh autoconf.sh

If this gives autoconf.sh: line 10: autoconf: command not found
then do this on MacOS:
$ brew install autoconf automake libtool &nbsp &nbsp to install the needed packages
and on Ubuntu do:
$ sudo apt-get install autoconf

Successful run should be like:
Autoconf in root...
Precompiling lexor_keyword.gperf
Precompiling vhdlpp/lexor_keyword.gperf

Configure
$ ./configure &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp# for default settings - installs to /usr/local/bin
$ ./configure --prefix=&ltyour directory&gt &nbsp&nbsp#installs to specific directory provided

Compile the source
$ make
This command will require gcc, g++, bison and flex.
You can install them using Homebrew or apt-get on Mac and Ubuntu respectively.

Get into superuser mode and install
$ sudo su
$ make install

2. Install on MacOS using Homebrew

$ brew install icarus-verilog

(Optional) Install iverilog waveform dumpfile viewer - gtkwave
$ sudo port -v install gtkwave

If gtkwave installation gives Error: Failed to configure gtk-osx-application-common-gtk2: gtk2 +quartz not installed. Do:
$ sudo port install gtk2 +quartz

3. Install on Ubuntu using aptitude

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:team-electronics/ppa
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install verilog
$ sudo apt-get install gtkwave &nbsp &nbsp (Optional)

Note: Windows binaries are avialable at http://bleyer.org/icarus/
For more details on installation, visit https://iverilog.fandom.com/wiki/Installation_Guide

Run

Example 1
Save this verilog code as hello.v

Compile using
$ iverilog -o hello hello.v

Run the compiled executable
$ vvp hello
Hello World!

Example 2
Save the code below as alu.v

Save the code below as alu_tb.v

Compile using
$ iverilog -o alu alu_tb.v alu.v
$ vvp alu +a=3 +b=2 +s=0
y= 5

Here s=0 selects addition operation which is performed over a=3 and b=2.
So the output y is 3+2=5.

Show timing diagram using gtkwave (Optional)

Save this code as counter.v

Save this code as counter_tb.v


Compile using
$ iverilog -o counter counter_tb.v counter.v

Run the executable
$ vvp counter

Show the timing diagram
$ gtkwave test.vcd &

Expand 'test' in the left sidebar and click on 'c1'. Then drag and drop 'out' reg on the signal viewing area.

Output