Vivado Hang with ModelSim Simulation on Compile Error

[thomasmurphyge]

While getting started with using Vivado 2018.2 with ModelSim PE 10.6c I noticed that the compilation step would hang if ModelSim encountered a compiler error on the sources required for the selected Vivado simulation set. In Vivado, it's easy enough to hit "Cancel" on the Simulation launch dialog. However, it would be nice if the simulation launch would close with an error as is tested for in the generated "compile.bat". Similarly, running "exec compile.bat" in the running ModelSim window to test a change without resetting the ModelSim UI state hangs the process if the script run encounters a compile error. The simulation set's "*_compile.do" can't be used in the active ModelSim instance because it ends in "quit -force", which defeats the purpose of trying to keep it open.

Is there a way to improve the Viviado interface usability on this error case?
Can the background recompile without closing ModelSim be completed reliabily for ease of debugging?

[graces]

UG900, Table 3-1 lists some parameters that look to address your concern.

http://www.xilinx.com/support/documentation/sw_manuals/xilinx2018_2/ug900-vivado-logic-simulation.pdf

e.g.

set_param simulator.quitOnSimulationComplete 0

set_param simulator.modelsimNoQuitOnError 0

Then re-launch simulation.

However, as far as I know the param "simulator.quitOnSimulationComplete" works in Linux but not in Windows. This is under investigation and will be fixed in future release.

[thomasmurphyge]

Looking at the scripts and console log, it seems that the problem is "exec" launching a separate ModelSim process for running the DO file, but the vcom error prevents the DO from completing, leaving the ModelSim process in "exec" idle and waiting for interactive input. Such input is, of course, impossible because the application was launched without any UI. Vivado does this in a context where the "cancel" button can kill the subprocess, but the ModelSim launched from ModelSim doesn't have sufficient protection to prevent the whole UI from hanging when the "exec" doesn't return.

With this in mind, I don't see how the UG900 Table 3-1 parameters would help this problem step. In the meantime, it looks like Vivado does a preprocess syntax check whenever it detects updated files, so waiting for its "files with errors" indicator is a way to prevent most errors from reaching the ModelSim compilation.