This is a early test release of the FreeHDL package.  As such, nothing
is final yet and everything is bound to be changed.  Please tell us
everything that you don't like about this package so that we can
improve it.  You are also allowed to tell us about the things that you
do like, of course, so that we don't make them worse.

Installation
------------

This package should behave like a regular GNUish package.  Generic
installation instructions for such a package can be found in the file
INSTALLATION.

Right now, there is only enough documentation to get you to run the
included example. Further, some additional info about the
compiler/simulator (e.g. a list of supported VHDL constructs) can be
found in README.v2cc.

Pick a suitable place to install this package in.  The default is
/usr/local.  Then run

    % ./configure --prefix <install-prefix>
    % make
    % make install

The last step will create some directories below <install-prefix> and
will put the created programs and some data files there. However, if
you prefer *not* to install the package (currently the simulator is
very limited, hence you will not be able to use it for "real" work!) 
check out README.v2cc for some additional info on how to execute the
compiler/simulator.

You must make sure that the installed files can be found by your
system (otherwise you will only be able to compile an execute models
copied to the v2cc subdirectory).  That is, the directory
<install-prefix>/bin should be on your path and your linker should be
able to find libraries in <install-prefix>/lib.  We are not yet ready
to isolate you from these technicalities.

Running the example
-------------------

After installation, change to the example/simple subdirectory

    % cd examples/simple

Now run "make" there:

    % make

This should build a simulator for the simple.vhdl file.  Right now, if
you want to try your own VHDL files, you have to do the things done by
the Makefile more or less on your own (by writing your own Makefiles,
for example).  We plan to provide a cleaner way in the future, once we
know how to do it. Another method to execute the compiler/simulator as
well as some info on what is currently supported is described in
README.v2cc.

The created simulator is named "simple" and is a regular binary.

    % ./simple
    Available commands:
      c <number> : execute cycles = execute <number> simulation cycles
      n          : next = execute next simulation cycle
      q          : quit = quit simulation
      r <time>   : run = execute simulation for <time>
      s          : show = show signal values
    Simulation time = 0 fs + 0d
    > r 100 ns
    Run simulation for which time span? 
    Simulating model to time 100 ns
    Simulation time = 100 ns + 0d

    76 processes were executed.
    348 transaction were created.

