Building the System Project - Building the System Project - 2026.1 English - UG1702

Vitis Reference Guide (UG1702)

Document ID
UG1702
Release Date
2026-06-23
Version
2026.1 English

After creating the System Project, you can select it in the Component Explorer. You can also choose it from Component drop-down in the Flow Navigator to make it the active component in Vitis. Select Build All under the Hardware Emulation, or Hardware headings as shown in the following image.

Figure 1. Building the System Project

The Build All option combines the Build Binary Container command to run v++ --link and the Build Package command that runs the v++ --package command. See Linking the System in the Data Center Acceleration using Vitis (UG1700) and Packaging with Vitis and EDF in the Embedded Design Development Using Vitis (UG1701)).

You can expand the Link section and select Build Binary Container to build only the .xclbin or the .xsa. Next, expand the Package section and select Build Package command to complete the build process.

Tip: Both the Link and Package commands have their own configuration files. You can manage the configuration files from the System Project vitis-sys.json file as previously described.

The System Project supports two build targets.

  1. Hardware Emulation for simulation of the hardware design in the Vivado logic simulator
  2. Hardware for running on the physical device.

The builds can take progressively longer to complete. You can use hardware emulation to obtain a cycle accurate simulation before building and running your hardware.

The Output console displays the build process with the System Project name and the build target (e.g.System1::hw_emu). When the build is complete, you can review the transcript and the hw_linker.log file at the <system>/build/<target>/log folder. The Flow Navigator displays a green circle with a check mark in it, or a red circle with an x depending on the results of the build. If the build completes with errors, review the transcript or the log file to determine the cause.

You can select and expand the folders of the build directories. You can see the output files of the Vitis compiler package process (v++ --package) in the output hierarchy. The build process generates the emulation data and boot files needed for the system, and writes them to the sd_card folder.

Note: The process creates two folders under the Hardware folder, package and package_no_aie_debug. The sd_card.img file within the package folder is for hardware debug purposes. The sd_card.img file in the package_no_aie_debug folder is for regular application execution.

After a successful build, the Flow Navigator displays a series of compilation reports. You can access the reports by expanding Reports under the Link and Package sections. The available reports vary depending on the build target. You can select any of the available reports to view, or switch to the Analysis view to complete a review of the reports. Refer to Working with the Analysis View (Vitis Analyzer) for details.

After the build completes successfully, you can choose to Run or Debug the System Project.