 Bitinfo - Parse a Xilinx bit-file header


 Description
 
  Bitinfo is a simple utility that parses the header of a Xilinx bit file
  and outputs all the information that can be obtained from that header. 
  This information includes the Xilinx FPGA the bit file was created for,
  the NCD file the bit file was created from, the creation date and time,
  and the bitstream length.
 
  I had to reverse-engineer the file format to figure out how to parse all
  of this information.  So that someone else doesn't have to repeat my work,
  I have included my reverse-engineering notes with the source code.
 
  You may find this program useful if, like me, you often end up with
  several bit files lying around, all called "xc4005.bit," and you can't
  remember which one is the one you need.  The header should at least give
  you some clues about the file's contents.  Another use for this program is
  to prove to a student that the bit file they have brought to lab with them
  is not the one from this week's experiment, since the timestamp is from
  three weeks ago.
 

 Compiling and using bitinfo
 
  You can download the bitinfo source for free from
  http://members.naspa.net/djs/software/bitinfo.tar.gz.  It is released under
  the GNU Public License.  See the COPYING file for more details.
 
  To compile bitinfo, first edit the Makefile if necessary.  If you don't
  have gcc installed, you will need to change the first line from "CC=gcc"
  to "CC=cc" or whatever your C compiler is called.  After editing the
  Makefile, type "make" and you're done.  Although bitinfo was written for
  Unix, it has also been successfully compiled for Windows NT 4.0 using MS
  Visual C++.
 
  To run bitinfo, just type "bitinfo < file.bit".  You will probably want to
  put bitinfo in some bin directory for convenience.
 
 
 Bugs
 
  Please report any bugs by emailing me at djs@naspa.net.

