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Release Notes - xsession openFPGALoader Fork

These notes summarize the changes in this fork compared with upstream trabucayre/openFPGALoader.

Comparison baseline:

  • Upstream remote checked: https://github.com/trabucayre/openFPGALoader.git
  • Fork merge base: d52abf7059d4471957775c3ed067437715174dd5
  • Current fork head inspected: 9092deec Working with Lattice
  • Upstream master inspected: c8452092f9a31b1bfe8f2e09beadf2d0cc51e3f2
  • Fork commits on top of the merge base: 23, plus current local working-tree changes

Highlights

  • Added Windows-focused build, packaging, and deployment support.
  • Added Docker-based native Linux deployment support.
  • Added and improved Xilinx Platform Cable USB / XPCU support, including firmware handling and debug controls.
  • Added ISE-derived Xilinx FX2 firmware files and Spartan-6 SPI bridge .cor files.
  • Improved Spartan-6 external SPI flash workflows through Xilinx JTAG bridges.
  • Added external SPI flash discovery, forced flash type selection, flash listing, and safer dump behavior.
  • Added Lattice MachXO2/MachXO3 internal Flash/NVCM dump and erase support.
  • Added support and troubleshooting for LCMXO3LF-9400C.
  • Added support for Macronix MX77L25650F, including observed RDID alias 0x77b80a.

Windows Build And Packaging

  • Added Docker-based cross-Windows build support.
  • Added docker-compose.cross-windows.yml.
  • Added docker/cross/windows/alpine.Dockerfile.
  • Added docker/cross/windows/toolchain-mingw64.cmake.
  • Added scripts/docker-cross-windows.sh.
  • Added DOCKER_CROSS_WINDOWS.md and DEPLOYMENT.md.
  • Added GitHub workflow support for binary builds in .github/workflows/build-binaries.yml.
  • Added CMakePresets.json with Windows debug presets.
  • Updated CMake install logic to package additional bridge and firmware assets.

Linux Docker Deployment

  • Added Alpine-based Docker deployment support for native Linux builds.
  • Added docker-compose.deploy-linux.yml.
  • Added docker/deploy/linux/alpine.Dockerfile.
  • Added scripts/docker-linux-deploy.sh.
  • Added DOCKER_DEPLOY_LINUX.md.
  • The Linux deploy package writes artifacts to dist/docker-linux/.
  • The Linux tarball includes the installed binary, bridge assets, Spartan-6 .cor files, optional Xilinx .hex firmware, udev rules, and a build manifest with file and ldd output.

Xilinx Platform Cable USB / XPCU

  • Added and expanded the xilinxPlatformCableUSB backend.
  • Added alternate cable identities, including cold-loader and initialized XPCU paths.
  • Added firmware selection for Xilinx Platform Cable USB variants.
  • Added CLI options:
--probe-firmware
--skip-probe-firmware-upload
--xpcu-direct-xp2-firmware
  • Added packaged Xilinx USB firmware files:
ise_programmer_bins/xusb_emb.hex
ise_programmer_bins/xusb_xlp.hex
ise_programmer_bins/xusb_xp2.hex
ise_programmer_bins/xusb_xp2_loader.hex
ise_programmer_bins/xusb_xpr.hex
ise_programmer_bins/xusb_xse.hex
ise_programmer_bins/xusb_xup.hex
ise_programmer_bins/xusbdfwu.hex
  • Added scripts/extract-xusb-loader-from-sys.ps1 for extracting loader firmware from the Xilinx driver.
  • Added firmware lookup through packaged share data and environment/configurable paths.
  • Added retry and recovery handling for XPCU USB control and bulk transfers.
  • Added XPCU endpoint discovery and environment override support.
  • Added control-bitbang fallback and accelerated-transfer setup paths.
  • Improved XPCU debug output, status reporting, and transfer diagnostics.
  • Added technical XPCU documentation:
XILINX_PLATFORM_CABLE_USB_WINDOWS.md
docs/xilinx-platform-cable-usb-technical-reproduction.md
docs/xilinx-platform-cable-usb-windows-debug.md
docs/diagrams/xpcu-firmware-state-machine.mmd
docs/diagrams/xpcu-firmware-state-machine.svg

Xilinx / Spartan-6 External SPI Flash

  • Added .cor bridge-file support.
  • Added ISE-derived Spartan-6 SPI bridge .cor files under:
spiOverJtag/from_ise/spartan-6/
  • Added automatic Spartan-6 .cor bridge lookup by FPGA model.
  • Improved Xilinx external flash code paths for Spartan-6 targets.
  • Added bridge handling for .bit, .bit.gz, and .cor inputs.
  • Improved external flash write and dump handling through Xilinx JTAG-to-SPI bridges.
  • Added troubleshooting and investigation notes:
docs/digilent-hs3-vs-xpcu-dump-flash-codepath.md
docs/spartan6-hs3-m25p40-write-stall.md
docs/spartan6-xpcu-spi-debug-log.md

SPI Flash Features

  • Added --detect-external-flash to detect/display external SPI flash chip information.
  • Added --external-flash-type to force an SPI flash by JEDEC ID or model name.
  • Added --list-flash to list supported SPI flash chips.
  • Added automatic dump size calculation for known SPI flash chips.
  • When --file-size is omitted or set to 0, SPI flash dump now reads from the selected offset to the end of the detected flash.
  • Improved dump failure handling:
- invalid zero-size dumps are rejected
- short writes are detected
- close errors are detected
- failed partial dump files are removed
- dump failures propagate to the process exit status
  • Added support for Macronix MX77L25650F:
canonical JEDEC ID: 0xc27519
observed alias:    0x77b80a
capacity:          256 Mbit / 32 MiB
layout:            512 x 64 KiB sectors

Lattice MachXO2 / MachXO3 / MachXO3LF

  • Documented the difference between Lattice internal Flash/NVCM and external SPI flash programming paths.
  • Added LCMXO3LF-9400C support details and troubleshooting.
  • Improved MachXO3LF-9400C JEDEC handling for Diamond-generated files with trailing all-zero TAG DATA.
  • Added density layout handling for the 9400 device:
CFG pages: 12539
UFM pages: 3582
page size: 16 bytes
total internal dump size: 257936 bytes
  • Added internal Flash/NVCM dump support for MachXO2, MachXO3L, and MachXO3LF.
  • For these devices, --dump-flash now uses Lattice ISC/JTAG readback instead of the external SPI flash path.
  • Internal dumps contain CFG data followed by UFM data.

Examples:

openFPGALoader -c ft2232 --dump-flash machxo_internal.bin
openFPGALoader -c ft2232 --dump-flash -o 0x1000 --file-size 0x2000 machxo_window.bin
  • Added internal erase support for MachXO2, MachXO3L, and MachXO3LF.
  • For these devices, --bulk-erase now uses the Lattice ISC erase flow.
  • Added internal sector selection using --flash-sector.

Supported internal erase sectors:

CFG
UFM
FEATURE
SRAM
ALL

Examples:

openFPGALoader -c ft2232 --bulk-erase
openFPGALoader -c ft2232 --bulk-erase --flash-sector CFG
openFPGALoader -c ft2232 --bulk-erase --flash-sector UFM

Warning: ALL also erases feature bits and SRAM. Feature bits control configuration behavior and port enables.

Intel / Altera Device Support

  • Started adding Arria 10-related support.
  • Added additional ARM/JTAG chain handling notes and IDs.
  • Updated FPGA support metadata in doc/FPGAs.yml and src/part.hpp.

USB, Probe Selection, And Diagnostics

  • Added or improved USB scan support.
  • Added probe selection by USB bus/device number.
  • Added improved cable/debug/error helper messages.
  • Improved lower-level JTAG and FX2 diagnostics.
  • Added helper behavior around firmware upload, re-enumeration, and initialized cable states.

Documentation

  • Added Windows Xilinx Platform Cable USB setup notes.
  • Added deployment and Docker cross-build guides.
  • Added external flash and XPCU debug writeups.
  • Added Lattice programming, dumping, erasing, and troubleshooting sections.
  • Added DEVICE_SUPPORT_CHAT.md.
  • Added doc/ug380.pdf as a local Xilinx reference document.

Submodules And Bundled Assets

  • Added externals/libwdi.
  • Added externals/xilinx-usb-driver.
  • Added .gitmodules.
  • Added local ISE programmer firmware files.
  • Added Spartan-6 ISE SPI bridge .cor files.

Commit Summary

Fork commits inspected:

11121421 Add docker based deploy system
71861c85 Before changes, fail to find .bin.gz file
656923b3 Works the flash to the external flash
8ce446b4 Start working the xilinxPlatformCableUsb_alt
12587878 try to fix things to achieve to communicate with spartan-6
30dd3066 Start to add aria 10 and virtex-4 support
316e308a Add zadig as submodule
1821cac7 Update libwdi and add xilinx-usb-driver as submodule
5ec5c920 Seems like fixed the xilinxPlatformCableUsb driver/handling
8b415083 Update docs
f9c7fef9 Add programmer interfaces hexes direct from ise 14.7
3720ce23 Fix platform cable usb 2 with the right hex files
193f0597 Add more detailed documentation
9da1797f now see virtex-4
55e4c145 Update submodule
12816a00 Add more debug/error helper message
7150b898 Now with bitbang 0 works with artix-7 the xilinxPlatformCableUsb
07b1cd45 Add external flash detection and list out functionalities
b6be6104 Add .cor support
1dbfcbec ehh
735992e1 Add docs
ed38f8ed Improve XPCU reliability and Spartan-6 external flash support
9092deec Working with Lattice

Scope Note

This file summarizes both committed fork changes and the current local working-tree changes at the time it was generated. Re-run the upstream comparison before publishing a final release if more commits are added.