“RISC-V-Compatible” Trademark Permission Process Details

This page provides technical details about running the Architecture Compatible Test (ACT) suite to achieve the "RISC-V Compatible™" trademark and logo.  Completion of the test suite is is one step in the process of gaining permission to use the “RISC-V Compatible” Trademark. See the RISC-V Branding Guidelines & Materials webpage for more details and requirements on the other steps.

Governing Documents

The following documents provide foundational information for key parts of this process:

• Architecture Compatibility Test Policy
• Profiles Policy

Test Components

RISC-V-Compatible Testing requires the following components:

1. The RISC-V Compatibility Framework (RISCOF)
   
2. The RISC-V Config Tool (RISCV-CONFIG)
3. The Architecture Test Suite (ACT)
4. The SAIL golden model
   The RISC-V SAIL model is hosted in GitHub at https://github.com/riscv/sail-riscv
5. The vendor’s device under test (RTL or actual form)

Testing should be performed using the most recent, stable versions.  For more information about the ACT suite, RISCOF, and RISCV-CONFIG, including the most recent versions and the list of supported RISC-V Profiles and Extensions, see the "Compatibility Test Framework" section of the RISC-V Technical Specifications wiki page.  The information in this presentation describes an alternate way to facilitate setup of the tools used by ACT, using a member-provided repository with scripts to facilitate the process.

Test Process

The general process for this testing is as follows:

1. Read and understand the Architecture Test Policy.  This document defines the testing which is one of the requirements to use the RISC-V Compatible Trademark, including re-running the tests when the implementation is changed or the ACT test version changes.
2. Review the information in the Profiles summary spreadsheet and decide the base profile and any additional extensions for which the target device wishes to claim compatibility.
3. Build an ISA YAML files for the Device Under Test (DUT). This YAML file should reflect the devices true capabilities, which may be a superset of the extensions in Step #2.
   Example YAML files are provide in the examples directory of the RISCV-CONFIG GitHub repo (named XXX_isa.yaml).  The YAML syntax for ISA files is documented in the "ISA YAML Spec" section of the RISCV-CONFIG documentation.
   
4. Build Platform YAML file for the DUT.
   Example YAML files are provide in the examples directory of the RISCV-CONFIG GitHub repo (named XXX_platform.yaml).  The YAML syntax for ISA files is documented in the "Platform YAML Spec" section of the RISCV-CONFIG documentation.
   
5. Install the RISCV-CONFIG tool and use it to validate the ISA and Platform YAML files built in Steps #3 and #4.  See the RISCV-CONFIG documentation for more details.
6. Install the RISCOF Framework, ACT suite, and SAIL.  Configure RISCOF for a  Device Under Test (DUT), using the previously created YAML files, and for SAIL. Then, run the tests with RISCOF.
   Detailed steps for this process can be found in the "Running RISCV-ARCH-TESTS "section of the RISCOF Documentation.
7. Review the test results to ensure that the DUT test results match the results of the SAIL golden model.
8. When ready, submit the test results and supporting information per the directions in the “Where to Report Test Results” section of the Architecture Test Policy.
   

Additional Information

A RISC-V Technical Session titled "Using Template Repo  to setup/run RISC-V Arch Test Suite under RHEL/Ubuntu" was recorded in April 2023.  It provides information about a member-provided repo (link) that supplements setup of the ACT environment with some extra scripts and files.  Details, including the presentation and recording links are available here.

Support

Questions about the RISC-V Compatible Trademark Permission Process should be sent to the RISC-V Compatible Trademark Permission Process mailing list (archives) at compatible-trademark@groups.riscv.org.   Public submissions accepted, but maybe moderated.

Any questions about ACT or RISCV-CONFIG should be posted to the Architecture Test Special Interest Group (SIG) mailing list (archives) at sig-arch-test@lists.riscv.org.   Joining this group (link) strongly encouraged for RISC-V members working toward mark usage.

Questions about running SAIL can be sent to the Golden Model SIG mailing list (archives) at tech-golden-model@lists.riscv.org.