Boardforge

Boardforge is a neutral simulation workspace for embedded boards.

The project is intended to support:

• Multiple instruction set architectures, including RISC-V.
• Multiple simulation backends, including Renode and QEMU.
• Built-in boards and user-defined custom boards.
• A stable engine API for editors, IDE integrations, and teaching tools.

Goals

• Keep the core independent from any single board vendor.
• Avoid depending on patched emulator forks.
• Represent boards declaratively when possible.
• Support different fidelity levels, from generic SoC simulation to board-specific emulation.

Planned Architecture

• src/boardforge/core Core domain models, engine contracts, and orchestration.
• src/boardforge/backends Backend adapters for Renode, QEMU, and future simulators.
• src/boardforge/boards Built-in board definitions and loaders for user board specs.
• docs/ Design notes and architecture decisions.

Project Manifests

Firmware projects can include a boardforge.toml file to declare:

• board: default board name
• artifact: primary ELF path relative to the project directory
• target: default make target

Example:

[project]
board = "qemu-virt-rv32"
artifact = "hello_uart.elf"
target = "all"

With that file in place, boardforge run can infer the board and firmware artifact directly from the project directory.

First Real Runs

Build the included QEMU sample firmware:

cd boardforge
source .venv/bin/activate
boardforge build examples/qemu-virt-rv32

Run it with the built-in QEMU board:

boardforge doctor
boardforge run qemu-virt-rv32 examples/qemu-virt-rv32/hello_uart.elf --timeout 1.0

Or build and run in one step using the project manifest:

boardforge run --project-dir examples/qemu-virt-rv32 --build --timeout 1.0

Build the included Renode sample firmware:

boardforge build examples/renode-rv32-virt

Run it with the built-in Renode board:

boardforge run renode-rv32-virt examples/renode-rv32-virt/hello_uart.elf --timeout 4.0

Or build and run in one step using the project manifest:

boardforge run --project-dir examples/renode-rv32-virt --build --timeout 4.0

Both flows should print a line from the emulated firmware through the board UART.

License

This project uses the GNU General Public License v3.0, matching the earlier prototype work.