( ESNUG 303 Item 7 ) ---------------------------------------------- [11/4/98]
Subject: (ESNUG 301 #2) New DC 98 "Design Budgeting" Has Serious Problems
> If you've got DC 1998.08, and are interested in the new design budgeting
> features, let me save you some time and frustration:
>
> * It looks good if you run it from the new budget_shell tool (though I
> have not done a detailed analysis of results yet).
>
> * It just plain does not work from dc_shell. Don't bother.
>
> I downloaded the EST update that's supposed to add design budgeting to
> dc_shell. I suppose I should have taken it as a bad omen when the EST
> file was called "db-1998.08.zip" and I was using a Unix system. Synopsys
> support insisted that Solaris 2.5.1 has an "unzip" command. I didn't
> find one, and no tool I could find would open it. I went back and forth
> with support on this for a week before they decided to send me an unzip
> tool. ...
>
> My overall impression is that Synopsys just completely skipped any testing
> on the dc_shell -> design budgeting interface. The EST could not be opened
> with standard Unix tools. And once installed, the tools either failed to
> work or failed to exist. To top it off, they were accompanied by
> documentation that, between missing crucial options and adding nonexistent
> ones, seem to be little more than bad science fiction.
>
> - Tom Harrington
> Ford Microelectronics Colorado Springs, CO
From: "Tom Harrington" <tharring@ford.com>
John,
Here's an update on Design Budgeting from DC.
After my last message appeared in ESNUG, I was contacted by [ Name Deleted ]
at Synopsys. [ Deleted ] told me that yes, the EST update I had was buggy,
but that there was a newer update available which fixed the problems. I got
the new update, and it works as advertised; I can now run design budgeting
from dc_shell without problems. If anyone else has tried to use this
feature, and encountered the problems I did, they should go and get the
latest update (<ftp://ftp.synopsys.com/pub/db_1998.08/db-1998.08.zip>).
I don't have any definitive comparisons on budgeting vs. characterization
and the overall impact on results yet, but I am running some experiments
and I hope to have data soon.
I'm still a little puzzled by the way things played out. Firstly, Synopsys
Support never told me about the revised update. If they had, I could have
avoided a lot of frustration. Secondly, the revised update has the same
filename as the previous one. If I'd gone looking for a newer update, I
would have thought that I already had it.
In any case, though, the problems that I had before have been resolved.
- Tom Harrington
Ford Microelectronics Colorado Springs, CO
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
From: [ A Synopsys CAE ]
John,
In ESNUG 301, Tom Harrington wrote that he ran into problems when using the
design budgeting command in dc_shell. The problem that Tom found was caused
by dc_shell calling the incorrect budget_shell command.
This problem was found and fixed on October 1st and a new EST image was
created. The solvit article STAR-59389 explains the problem and how to
download the corrected image from EST. (Note that if you downloaded the
Budgeting release from EST on or after October 1st, you do not need to
download again.)
If you are using Design Budgeting, I recommend you take a look at the
following articles on Solv-It!:
STAR-59389 The allocate_budgets Command Fails in Design Compiler
budget-release Synopsys 1998.08 Design Budgeting Release
Methodology-69 Budgeting to mimic Characterize
BudgApps Design Budgeting Applications Note
You can grab these articles with a simple email request to Solvi-it! Here
is the email that you would send to solvit@synopsys.com
start:
email: <your Synopsys registered email address>
get:STAR-59389
get:budget-release
get:Methodology-69
get:BudgApps
end:
These articles may also be found via the web in a Solvit search on the word
"budget".
- [ A Synopsys CAE ]
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