User`s manual

Regenerating your design libraries
Start Here for ModelSim PE, Software Version 5.7
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AutoRefreshing
ModelSim 5.7 library files can be used by any 5.7 simulator type (PE, SE, or
SE/64-bit) with the help of AutoRefresh. AutoRefresh works during simulation
loading to build the library files needed by the current simulator type.
AutoRefresh builds only the files needed by the loading simulation, and then only
refreshes files for design units that have changed, leaving the rest of the library
files untouched.
The binary details
AutoRefresh regenerates the binaries for PE (.psm), SE (.asm), and SE/64-bit
(.asm64) that are stored in the ModelSim libraries. For example, if a module is
changed and recompiled on PE, the next time an SE simulator tries to use that
library, ModelSim automatically regenerates the necessary .asm files.
One library can contain the code for both formats. For example, for each design
unit in a "work" library, there can be an SE and PE version co-existing. In fact if
you run a PE-compiled design on SE (5.2e and later), it will auto-refresh itself
when you invoke vsim. The library format that SE needs is generated "on the fly"
from the PE format. After that point, both formats exist in the library and no more
format conversion will occur.
Why two different formats? The SE compiler has several performance
optimizations that aren’t in the PE compiler. Consequently, the generated code for
SE has to be different.
Library compatibility between versions
Libraries are compatible between different letter versions of the tool as long as the
version number is the same. For example, 5.6 libraries are compatible with 5.6a,
but not 5.5d.