Debugging Zephyr Applications on Microblaze V - 2025.2 English - UG1400

Setting up the Zephyr Environment

1. First, follow the official zephyr guide to set up the Zephyr application development environment. See Zephyr Getting Started.
2. Replace the upstream repo you cloned down in the previous step with the AMD clone.

cd <local path>/zephyrproject/
mv zephyr zephyr.upstream
git clone https://github.com/Xilinx/zephyr-amd.git  -b xlnx_rel_v2025.1 zephyr
west update
west lopper-install

Creating the Hardware Design

Load Vivado and generate the hardware design (XSA) using the MicroBlaze V Design Preset based on Vivado CED, targeting the AC701 board. Alternatively, you can choose to create your own hardware design. For your own design, make sure that the your hardware design is compatible with the current release of the zephyr-amd repository.

Once your design has been finalized and you have exported the XSA file, you can start integrating with Zephyr.

Preset Design Examples

AMD Vivado offers preset design examples for various evaluation boards. Each embedded hardware design offers a subsystem that can be targeted for the real-time and microcontroller configurations. As of now, Zephyr is supported only for the real-time configuration.

The following sections demonstrates how to implement the MicroBlaze V Design Preset CED, targeting the AC701 board.

Generating the System Device Tree

Refer to the AMD Technical Information Portal for the steps to generate a System Device Tree (SDT) using a hardware design XSA. The SDT is mandatory to generate a Zephyr device tree and Kconfig for targeted hardware designs using the west lopper-command.

. /tools/AMD/Vivado/2025.2/settings64.sh
sdtgen sdt.tcl

Setting up the Zephyr Repository

LOPPER_DTC_FLAGS="-b 0 -@" west lopper-command -p processor_instance_name -s output_dir/system-top.dts -w <local path>/zephyrproject/zephyr

Example Usage

LOPPER_DTC_FLAGS="-b 0 -@" west lopper-command -p microblaze_riscv_0 -s design_1_wrapper/system-top.dts -w ~/zephyrproject/zephyr

cd zephyr
west build -p -b board tests/misc/test_build/
# The executable would be generated in following location
<zephyr repository path>/build/zephyr/zephyr.elf
west build -p -b mbv32 tests/misc/test_build/

Creating The Launch Configuration

Load Vitis Unified Software Platform, 2025.2 version and open a new folder. The folder opens Vitis in User Managed Mode. Create a new launch configuration by right clicking the Explorer view and selecting Edit Launch Configurations and then Add Configuration.

Set the target processor to microblaze_riscv_0 and provide the path to the zephyr.elf application file.

If the application source path has changed or ELF location is not within your workspace, you need to remap the original path of the source file and the destination path of the source code.

Figure 1. Add Path Map

Launch the debug session. The main.c file loads in the debug perspective.

Figure 2. main.c Launching in Debug Perspective