LVX(1)							      ALLIANCE USER COMMANDS							    LVX(1)

NAME

       lvx - Logical Versus eXtracted net-list comparator

SYNOPSIS

       lvx format1 format2 filename1 filename2 [ -a ] [ -u ] [ -o ] [ -f ]

ORIGIN

       This  software  belongs	to  the  ALLIANCE CAD SYSTEM developed by the ASIM team at LIP6 laboratory of Universite Pierre et Marie CURIE, in
       Paris, France.

       Web : http://asim.lip6.fr/recherche/alliance/
       E-mail : alliance-users@asim.lip6.fr

DESCRIPTION

       lvx compares two gate-level or block level net-list. The goal is to compare a specification net-list (logical net-list),  the  input  to  a
       place and route tool, with the physical net-list (extracted net-list) obtained by the cougar(1) extractor.
       The net-list 1 is considered as the logical net-list and net-list 2 as the extracted net-list.
       lvx is an one-level hierarchical tool:

	      The  two	net-list  are  flattened, if the -f option is present, to the cells contained in the catalog file. The path to the catalog
	      file is indicated in the MBK_CATA_LIB(1) variable for  the  cell	library,  and  in  the	MBK_WORK_LIB(1)  variable  with  the  name
	      MBK_CATAL_NAME(1) for user blocks ( catal(5) ) that are not to be flattened.

	      For both net-list, the instances are considered as black-boxes.

	      The two net-list must have the same external connectors names.

	      The two net-list must have the same instances names.

	      The two net-list must have the same signals names for unconnected signals.

	      The two net-list cannot directly contain transistors.

       Comparison is performed in three steps:

	      Compare terminals.

	      Compare instances.

	      Compare connections.

	      Compare unconnected signals.

       If  an  error  occurs during first or second step, a message is immediately displayed and the third step will not start: lvx cannot compare
       connections (signals) if terminals or instances are not equivalent.
       The -o option allows to order connectors if the steps described before have been reached successfully.  Extracted_netlist is then saved	on
       disk. The file get the name filename2 suffixed by the value of MBK_OUT_LO(1) variable.
       Routers	add automatically empty feed-through cells.  These cells must not be taken into account in the comparison.  A cell that have the F
       attribute in the catalog file ( catal (5) ) is considered as feed-through cell, and are deleted, in memory,  from  the  net-list  where	it
       appears.

OPTIONS

       -a     Some  routers  generate  layout  with  several physical connectors for power and ground ( VDD or VSS ).  If those connectors are not
	      internally connected, they will have different indexed names ( VDD1 , VDD2 etc...) in the extracted net-list.   It  is  possible	to
	      perform  reduction on those power and ground connectors before comparison, using the -a option.  After reduction, each instance con-
	      tains only one VDD connector and one VSS connector, as the main figure.

       -o     In this case, lvx produces a modified net-list (saved with the name filename2 ), which is a copy of net-list 2 with ordered  connec-
	      tors.   Terminals and instance connectors are relisted in the order of the models in net-list 1. The saved net-list is done with the
	      MBK_OUT_LO(1) format, so user has to set this variable before running lvx .  If he does not, default value is used, and  net-list  1
	      could be lost if filename are identical and input format same as output format.
	      If -a option is used, then the saved net-list is the reduced net-list with only one VDD and one VSS .

       -u     This option force lvx to check the consistency of unassigned signals between the two netlists.

       -f     The  two	net-lists  are flattened to the leaf cells contained in the catalog file. Usually the extracted net-list is a flatten net-
	      list, while the logical one can be a hierarchical net-list.

EXAMPLES

       With logical_netlist named amd2901.vst and the corresponding extracted_netlist as amd2901.al containing multiple power connectors, the com-
       mand line is :

	      lvx vst al amd2901 amd2901 -a

OUTPUT FILES

       filename2.xx	   Netlist view saved when the -o option is present. The suffixe depend on the MBK_OUT_LO(1) environment variable.

ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES

       MBK_CATA_LIB	   contains the directories where the cell librtaries are.  MBK_WORK_LIB contains the directory path of the working direc-
			   tory, usually set to . (dot).

       MBK_OUT_LO	   contains the expected format of the netlist output.

       MBK_CATAL_NAME	   contains the name of the user cell catalog.

SEE ALSO

       cougar(1), MBK_OUT_LO(1), MBK_WORK_LIB(1), MBK_CATA_LIB(1), MBK_CATAL_NAME(1), catal(5) .

DIAGNOSTICS

       The string "_logic" is appended to the net-list 1 and the string "_extract", is appended to the net-list 2.

       Two kinds of error message can occur:

	      A fatal error causes the program to exit.  It happens when one of the net-lists is not correct, lvx cannot construct internal struc-
	      ture for compare.

	      A  compare  error  occurs when the figures are not identical.  It happens when basic objects (instances, connectors) do not exist in
	      both net-list, or when connections (signals) do not connect same terminals or instances in the two net-lists.

       Exit code 0 is returned for identical net-lists.

BUG REPORT

       This tool is under development at the ASIM department of the LIP6 laboratory.
       We need your feedback to improve documentation and tools.

ASIM
/LIP6							  October 1, 1997							    LVX(1)