Previously, the relevant NetBuilder and routing strategies where
directly guessed from the RoutingGauge traits. This is no longer
doable as the combinations increases. Now to configure both the
global and detailed router we need three "parameters" :
1. The routing gauge itself (tells which layers are in which
directions) and how to make the VIAs.
2. The NetBuilder to use, they are identified by strings.
Currently we support:
* "HV,3RL+", for all SxLib derived standard cells.
* "VH,2RL", for hybrid routing (over the cell, but terminals
are also in the first RL).
* "2RL-", for strict channel routing.
* "VH,3RL+", an attempt for FreePDK 45, not optimized enough
to be considered as usable.
3. The routing style, mostly affect the way the GCell grid will be
built.
* VH : first RL is V.
* HV : first RL is H.
* OTH : Run in full over-the-cell mode (needs at least 3RL).
* Channel : Run in *strict* channel routing mode (no routing over
the standard cells).
* Hybrid : Create channels, but can use H tracks over the
standard cells.
Thoses three parameters are partly overlapping and must be sets in
a consistent manner, otherwise strange results may occurs.
* New: CRL::RoutingGauge::getFirstRoutingGauge(), to get the lowest
layer available for routing (not a PinOnly, not a PowerSupply).
* Change: In CRL::RoutingGauge::isHV() and isVH(), were previously
always returning false when the gauge was 2RL only. Now, check
on the first usable RL.
* Bug: In cumulus/plugins.block.configuration._loadRoutingGauge(),
there was a bad computation of the deep RLs when the top layer
was not defined. Occured for 2RL gauges only.
* Bug: In Anabatic::RpsInRow::slacken() (LayerAssign), forgotten curly braces
in the test to skip METAL2 terminals.
* Change: In Etestian::BloatChannel::getDx(), adjust the bloating
policy to converge on Arlet6502. Always ensure that there is
a 50% ratio between terminal used V-tracks and free ones.
If there is more than 80% of terminals, add one more track.
* Bug: In AnabaticEngine & KatanaEngine, KatanaEngine is a derived
class of AnabaticEngine. They uses Anabatic::Configuration
and Katana::Configuration that also derives from each other.
I though I had made one configuration attribute in the base
class that was using the right Configuration. But no. I did
have two configurations attributes, one in AnabaticEngine and
one in KatanaEngine, the later "shadowing" the former. As a
results, parameters modified in AnabaticEngine, *after* the
initial creation of the tool *where never seen* at Katana
level (due to it's own duplicate). What a mess.
Now there is only one attribute in the *base* class Anabatic,
which is created through a new virtual function _createConfiguration()
called in _postCreate() which allocate the right Configuration
according to the dynamic type of the tool (KatanaEngine).
In KatanaEngine, access the configuration through the
attribute (_configuration) and not the accessor (getConfiguration()).
* Bug: In KatanaEngine, no longer directly use the _configuration attribute
(which is not accessible anyway) but the getConfiguration() accessor.
The accessor perform a static_cast from the Super::getConfiguration()
into Katana::Configuration.
Complete cleanup of the various configuration accessors.
* New: AnabaticEngine::setupNetBuilder(), perform an early check
of the requested NetBuilderStyle. The NetBuilderStyle is just a
string that will be matched against the (hard-coded) supported
NetBuilders. Then check the topological characteristics against
the capabilities of the gauge (HV, VH and so on).
Still a bit too hard-coded for now.
This function has been split from AnabaticEngine::_loadGrByNet().
* Change: AnabaticEngine::isChannelStyle() renamed from isChannelMode().
* New: In Anabatic::Configuration, two new attributes to select the
topology and routing style:
- _netBuilderStyle to explicitely select the NetBuilder to use.
It's a string, which is provided by each NetBuilder.
- _routingStyle to define how the overall routing will work.
It's a set of flags (StyleFlags):
* VH : first RL is V.
* HV : first RL is H.
* OTH : Run in full over-the-cell mode (needs at least 3RL).
* Channel : Run in *strict* channel routing mode (no routing over
the standard cells).
* Hybrid : Create channels, but can use H tracks over the
standard cells.
* New: In anabatic/Constants, add StyleFlags to define how the router
should operate (see above).
* Bug: In Anabatic::GCell, in CTOR, no reason to set up the HChannelGCell flag.
* Bug: In Anabatic::GCell::updateDensity(), when computing layers non contiguous
saturation, do not systematically skip RL 0, but only if it's PinOnly.
* Change: In Anabatic::NetBuilder, rename isTwoMetal by isStrictChannel.
* Change: In Anabatic::NetBuilderHV, rename doRp_AccessNorthPin() in
doRp_AccessNorthSouthPin(). More accurate.
* Bug: In NetBuilderHV::_do_1G_xM1_1PinM2(), the wires to connect the M1
terminals where created *twice*. Uterly stupid, there where placed in
overlap by the router!
* New: In AnabaticEngine, new accessors to the NetBuilderStyle and
RoutingStyle, proxies towards Configuration.
* Bug: In Manipulator::relax(), if there are two doglegs to be done, but
they are in the same GCell, only do one (the conflicting interval)
is short.
* Change: In Katana::Session, rename isChannelMode() into isChannelStyle().
* Change: In TrackSegment::isUnbreakable() and isStrap(), return false
when the base segment is a *weak global* (aligned with a global one).
* Change: In Katana::Row::createChannel(), correctly distinguish between
*strict channel* style and *hybrid* style. Tag the GCells as std cells
row or channels only in the former case.
* New: Python/C++ API level:
* Write a new C++/template wrapper to get rid of boost::python
* The int & long Python type are now merged. So a C/C++ level,
it became "PyLong_X" (remove "PyInt_X") and at Python code
level, it became "int" (remove "long").
* Change: VLSISAPD finally defunct.
* Configuration is now integrated as a Hurricane component,
makes use of the new C++/template wrapper.
* vlsisapd is now defunct. Keep it in the source for now as
some remaining non essential code may have to be ported in
the future.
* Note: Python code (copy of the migration howto):
* New print function syntax print().
* Changed "dict.has_key(k)" for "k" in dict.
* Changed "except Exception, e" for "except Exception as e".
* The division "/" is now the floating point division, even if
both operand are integers. So 3/2 now gives 1.5 and no longer 1.
The integer division is now "//" : 1 = 3//2. So have to carefully
review the code to update. Most of the time we want to use "//".
We must never change to float for long that, in fact, represents
DbU (exposed as Python int type).
* execfile() must be replaced by exec(open("file").read()).
* iter().__next__() becomes iter(x).__next__().
* __getslice__() has been removed, integrated to __getitem__().
* The formating used for str(type(o)) has changed, so In Stratus,
have to update them ("<class 'MyClass'>" instead of "MyClass").
* the "types" module no longer supply values for default types
like str (types.StringType) or list (types.StringType).
Must use "isinstance()" where they were occuring.
* Remove the 'L' to indicate "long integer" (like "12L"), now
all Python integer are long.
* Change in bootstrap:
* Ported Coriolis builder (ccb) to Python3.
* Ported Coriolis socInstaller.py to Python3.
* Note: In PyQt4+Python3, QVariant no longer exists. Use None or
directly convert using the python syntax: bool(x), int(x), ...
By default, it is a string (str).
* Note: PyQt4 bindings & Python3 under SL7.
* In order to compile user's must upgrade to my own rebuild of
PyQt 4 & 5 bindings 4.19.21-1.el7.soc.
* Bug: In cumulus/plugins.block.htree.HTree.splitNet(), set the root
buffer of the H-Tree to the original signal (mainly: top clock).
Strangely, it was only done when working in full chip mode.
* New: In Anabatic::LayerAssign, a new mode "LayerAssignNoGlobalM2V" has
been added to manage the 3 routing metal technologies like AMS 350nm.
The standard cells have all their connectors punctual and aligned on
an horizontal line in the middle of the Cell. This is a design
inherited from the channel routing times that makes global routing
in metal2 *through* a standard cell almost impossible (except for
directly neighboring cells). Thus, the layer assignment must move
up all the metal2 that span more than two GCells.
* Change: In Katana::Manipulator::ripupPerpandiculars(), when a perpandicular
has a fixed axis and it's (sole) underlying track is taken, ripup
the other segment to ensure the perpandicular interval will be free.
We need to do that, because in DataNegociate::update(), if the
perpandicular is taken, the perpandicular interval will always been
empty preventing the segment to have a valid track span (so directly
failing).
* Change: In Katana::SegmentFsm::conflictSolveByPlaceds() the fixed axis
segments must also been taken into account as conflicts.
Also correct a small bug, the first conflicting segment in the
interval was not taken into account correctly.
* Change: In Anabatic, remove GraphicAnabaticEngine, PyGraphicAnabaticEngine,
PyAnabaticEngine (but keep PyAnabatic for constants exportation)
and GlobalRoute (moved to Katana). Drawing methods for Edge & GCell
are moved into GraphicKatanaEngine.
* New: In PyAnabatic, export the various Engine constants.
* Change: In Katana, in TrackElement and derived classes, add a getSegment()
method for easier access to the underlying Hurricane segment.
* New: In PyKatanaEngine, export the loadGlobalRouting method which was
missing (for use by Unicorn/cgt).
* Bug: In Anabatic:
- In _propagate(), on reaching a target, forgot to remove it from
the queue before pushing it back with the new distance. It also
simplificate the core algorithm as target as treated normal nodes.
* New: In Anabatic:
- Update cdebug to use the fastest macro version.
- More readable drawings of GCells and Edges.
- Added timer support.
- The distance is now computed in DbU::Unit (aka long) and not in
normalized float.
- The distance function is now a callback (std::function<>) that
can be changed (a default is provided at initialization).
- New concept of branch in the agglomerated connex component.
Each trace back part create a "branch" (tagged with a "branchId").
When a node is reached with the same distance, but from two
different branches, choose the the branch that was lastly created.
This create a slightly different tree which grows outward from
the newest branches.
- Makes the horizontal edges *slightly* longer than the vertical ones
to skew the tree to use vertical edges, as it is usually less
congested than the horiontal one (due to metal1 cell terminals).
It is also my understanding that it is useful to reduce the
number of vias, whithout introducing a via cost.
* New: In Bootstrap:
- Script sprof.py to perform sprof & demangle libraries execution
profile.
* ToDo: In Anabatic:
- Corner optimization. Sometimes when two corners are possible, the
wrong one is choosen. That is, one of it's edge cannot be used for
further grow of the tree.
Jean-Paul Chaput