Netgen 1.4

Revision information on Netgen:

Netgen revision history: Version 1.1

0. December 14, 2002
   This is a first draft. Only a few things have been changed in this release other than the Tcl/Tk port. There is now support for capacitors, resistors, bipolars, poly-poly capacitors and resistors built with the pseudo-poly layer in magic, in the SPICE, sim, and ext format read routines. The Tcl version has a completely revamped command set, better matching the general practices of Tcl command syntax (mainly meaning commands are full words rather than single letters). In addition, the command sets for "netgen" and "netcmp" have been combined.
1. January 13, 2003
   Massive speedup of several critical and badly-written functions; reduced from O(N^2) to O(N). The "compare" command is now virtually instantaneous. Commands "nodes" and "elements" now give more relevant information regarding specific points in the network. "sim" format retains position in the element names (for FET and FET-like elements) for convenient traceback to a layout or schematic.

Netgen revision history: Version 1.2

0. March 12, 2003
   Fixes the the "make config" process for Tcl/Tk compile. Also, finished implementing the Tcl "log" command for log file output, and added the script-level "lvs" command to replace the original standalone program "netcomp".
1. March 24, 2003
   Corrections to TCL command interface.
2. March 26, 2003
   This version was never officially released.
3. March 31, 2003
   Changes for interoperability with magic and IRSIM.
4. April 3, 2003
   Changes to save position information in element names for transistors read from .sim files.
5. September 22, 2003
   Added the capability to handle "M=" syntax in SPICE files for declaring multiple transistors with equal size and connections.
6. September 30, 2003
   Fixed an unfortunate problem with the "lvs" script command in which it implies that circuits which pass the low-level connectivity comparison match correctly. In fact, these circuits may have errors. The fix checks this condition, performs the high-level resolution of automorphisms, and reports a final pass/fail condition.

Netgen revision history: Version 1.3

0. November 15, 2004
   Changed the "make" method to GNU autoconf. Revised the directory structure to put most of the Tcl-based stuff into the "tcltk" subdirectory. The source itself is essentially unchanged from version 1.2. Confirmed compile and run for both the Tcl and non-Tcl versions.
1. August 6, 2005
   Updated parts of the "make" process to match additions to magic and xcircuit, and to address issues related to compile and install on Cygwin. Cygwin users should read the compile and install instructions on magic for Windows.
2. September 3, 2005
   Added Xilinx support. Thanks to Peter Welch for providing the patch files. Thanks to Ingo Cyliax for the code itself, which was added to a branch of netgen at the University of Indiana, and about which I was unaware until Peter brought it to my attention. Apparently that code branch is no longer available for download from the CS department at Indiana.
   
   Also: Changed the Makefile process to parse the file VERSION for version and revision information, not the directory name. Switched the directory to the name with the version number ("netgen-1.3.2") and the symbolic link to the package name ("netgen"). It was gently pointed out to me that I had this ass-backwards.
3. September 6, 2005
   Added support for reading bipolar transistors from SPICE decks.
4. September 7, 2005
   Made some changes to prevent crashing on unexpected input (in particular, undefined subcircuits) in SPICE decks. Also, added the command "readlib" for reading Actel and Xilinx libraries (formerly required use of "readnet actel|xilinx" plus an unused dummy argument, due to an error in the Tcl command-line processing). A warning is posted if an attempt is made to write a Xilinx or Actel format file without first reading the associated library.
5. Februrary 23, 2006
   Distribution compliance changes: CAD_HOME redefined to be the same as "libdir", so that "libdir" can be defined independently of "prefix" when running configure without screwing up everything.
6. Februrary 24, 2006
   Changed CAD_HOME to CAD_ROOT to avoid breaking backwards compatibility.
   Also: Added DESTDIR to all the Makefile install procedures to support "sandbox" compilation and installation.
7. June 14, 2006 at 2:40am
   Initial revision
   Also: source distribution
   Also: Added distclean target and dist target Added RPM spec file
   Also: Removed extra configure logs
8. November 22, 2007 at 2:40am
   Added handling for device types "z", "r", "c", and "b" when using the netgen command "writenet sim". However, device properties (length, width, resistance, etc.) are still not handled. . .
9. November 23, 2007 at 2:40am
   Added rudimentary support for device properties. For the moment, apart from the important aspect of having a database representation for device properties such as length, width, resistance, and capacitance, there is support for reading device properties from SPICE files and writing those that are supported by the sim format to .sim files. It is my intention to eventually support property comparisons in LVS.
10. December 1, 2007 at 2:40am
    Corrected some errors where strdup() and free() were called instead of their Tcl counterparts.

Netgen revision history: Version 1.4

0. Nov 24, 2007 at 4:55pm
   Initial check-in of the development distribution. Added automatic test of SPICE file format for "readnet". Added true 4-port and 2-port devices. Added read-in of device properties. Eliminated built-in device classes; all device classes are generated on the fly as the file is read in. For SPICE decks, the device model becomes the device class, so that different device models are compared independently. Added command option "equate classes" to force equivalence between device classes in different circuits. Added "lvs" command option to read in a file of class equivalences.
   
1. November 26, 2007 at 2:40am
   Made some corrections to avoid confusing properties with nodes of the same name, and to simplify the printout of "contents ". Some simple tests indicate that LVS is working correctly with subcircuit calls (spice X records).
   Also: Corrected an error that causes netgen to hang if "lvs" is given a bad filename.
2. December 3, 2007 at 2:40am
   Many, many changes. Implemented a set of internally-defined device classes that encompasses pretty much everything (mostly based on SPICE device model types), with some differences such as a distinction between 3- and 4-terminal FETs, and similar items. This internal type also encompasses the original "primitive" flag, in that the internally-defined "subcircuit" device is distinguished as the only non-primitive device. Completely reworked device properties (again) such that only specific properties (e.g., length, width, capacitor and resistor value) are checked, and these are mapped into type double and kept separate from other properties for quick comparison during LVS. Reworked permutation to allow "standard" permutations of source/drain on any device recognized internally as a FET, and endpoints on internally-defined resistor classes, as well as allowing (via script command) permuations to be defined on any pins of any device class. Unfortunately, at the moment, the LVS itself is hosed, as a result of one or more of the above changes. The ability to translate between netlist formats is currently rather limited, the most complete being the reading of SPICE format files and the writing of "sim" format files. Diodes, inductors, and transmission line models are not yet handled in SPICE input.
3. December 10, 2007 at 2:40am
   More changes. . . changed the "class equivalences" file passed to the "lvs" procedure to a Tcl script setup file, in which class equivalences would be merely one possibility. Permutations as yet cannot be handled here because the permutations currently act upon the netcmp database, and so must be run after the "compare" command; whereas the setup file is executed prior to "compare". Changed the way device properties are handled, so that properties "of interest" to LVS are listed in the cell definition, duplicated in a separate list in each instance, and converted to type double (floating-point) where appropriate. The "properties of interest" are defined at the time the cell definition is created. There needs to be a method to add or subtract the "properties of interest" from the cell definition. Changed the way device models are handled, replacing the "primitive" flag with a value indicating an internal model type. Corrected read/write routines for sim and SPICE files, including correct handling of device models and properties, and unmodeled vs. modeled resistors and capacitors.
   Also: Changed the "permute" command such that it generates a list of pins to permute, but the actual permuation is punted until the element and node classes have been created. This allows the "permute" command to be issued in the setup script.
   Also: Corrected property error checking, which now appears to be correct, at least as verified by running on a few simple examples. Added the capability to specify the degree to which values are required to match (the "slop"), although for now this is set to the default value of 1%, and there is no way to change it (eventually a command will be added to manage property comparison).
   Also: Updated the TO_DO list.
   Also: A couple more corrections to property checks, to make sure that cells are considered matching if their classes are marked as corresponding.
   Also: Added a few corrections for handling nested spice subcircuit definitions. This allows LVS to run correctly on hierarchically-defined files, although for now only the topmost circuit is checked.
4. December 29, 2007 at 2:40am
   Corrections that I failed to check into CVS last time. In particular, the malloc/free routines are all now correctly assigned to Tcl equivalents.
5. December 30, 2007 at 2:40am
   Correction in property-checking code to prevent crashes when no properties are specified (namely, on the last device in the list).
6. December 31, 2007 at 2:40am
   Basic hierarchical LVS has been implemented. However, a lot of cleanup is needed with regard to the output it produces!
7. March 10, 2008 at 2:40am
   Corrected an error that causes netgen to announce property errors when there are no properties (this will happen on the last device in the netlist, and shows up when the order of the last device is different in the two netlists).
8. May 23, 2008 at 2:40am
   2008-05-22 17:20 tim Corrected the "package require -exact Tk" problem in tkcon.tcl, which has already been corrected in the magic and IRSIM distributions. The fix is necessary to run the Tcl/Tk-based version with Tcl/Tk version 8.5.
9. July 7, 2008 at 2:40am
   2008-07-06 11:24 tim Added /usr/share/tcltk to the search path for Tcl and Tk in the configure script, to conform to recent distributions of Ubuntu Linux.

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Last updated: July 7, 2008 at 2:40am