To revision control a block design, the only file necessary to check in is the BD file itself. Similar to IP, the IP repositories used by the BD must also be present. The BD file contains the configuration of each IP on the canvas and the connections between the IP. The XCI files that reside under the BD source directory contain the IP customizations after parameter propagation is run during BD validation. Although these files are not required to recreate the design, they will be automatically regenerated when the block diagram is re-validated. When the project is rebuilt from the revision control repository, the BD and the XCI files that reside beneath the BD must be writable. This is a limitation of the current version of Vivado.
A second method to preserve a BD is to use the write_bd_tcl command.
This command will generate a Tcl script to recreate the BD. The Tcl script preserves the
IP customizations, connections between the IP, and all BD properties that effect the
design.
diffbd utility.