par has error: par.tcl, 29 invalid command name "ln".

[ZhaoHaowenn]

Hi
When I run make par tutorial=ky130-openroad, "ln" command in par.tcl isn't valid and par failed. Here are the error messages:

create_clock clock_clock -name clock_clock -period 30.0
set_clock_uncertainty 1.0 [get_clocks clock_clock]
set_clock_groups -asynchronous -group { clock_clock }
set_load 1.0 [all_outputs]
write_db pre_floorplan_design
Error: par.tcl, 29 invalid command name "ln"
Action par config output written to output.json

And some commands related to this bug in par.tcl is:
....
puts "write_db pre_floorplan_design"
write_db pre_floorplan_design
ln -sfn pre_floorplan_design latest

I think there is a missing "puts" instruction before the “ln” like other command in tcl. But I can't manually add it because rerunning par will regenerate this tcl file. How to deal with it?

[harrisonliew]

There was a bug, which was fixed in #707. There should be an exec before the ln to indicate that it should be executed in the system shell instead of OpenROAD's shell.

hammer/hammer/par/openroad/__init__.py

Line 109 in c85bd2a

self.append("exec ln -sfn pre_{step} latest".format(step=next.name))

If you're willing to wait until next week, these fixes will make their way into Chipyard.

[ZhaoHaowenn]

Thanks for explanation. I have fixed it. And I will wait for next week.

[ZhaoHaowenn]

Hi
I found that due to the openroad update, the flags of some openroad command in hammer/hammer/par/openroad/__init__.py are no longer supported.
par issue:

(hammer) pdngen -verbose /root/chipyard/vlsi/build-sky130-openroad/chipyard.TestHarness.TinyRocketConfig-ChipTop/par-rundir/power_straps.pdn
[ERROR STA-0406] pdngen positional arguments not supported.
Error: par.tcl, 74 STA-0406

in hammer/hammer/par/openroad/__init__.py:

hammer/hammer/par/openroad/__init__.py

Line 706 in 92e98c1

pdngen -verbose {power_straps_tcl_path}

par issue:

(hammer) detailed_route -guide /root/chipyard/vlsi/build-sky130-openroad/chipyard.TestHarness.TinyRocketConfig-ChipTop/par-rundir/ChipTop.route_guide
[ERROR STA-0402] detailed_route -guide is not a known keyword or flag.
Error: par.tcl, 316 STA-0402

in hammer/hammer/par/openroad/__init__.py, the "guide" flag is no longer supported:

hammer/hammer/par/openroad/__init__.py

Line 985 in 92e98c1

detailed_route -guide {self.route_guide_path} \\

I want to know which version of OpenRoad that Hammer supports or if these will be fixed soon. Thanks again for the reply.

[harrisonliew]

They will be fixed soon: https://github.com/ucb-bar/hammer/pull/714/files#diff-a7c0571e0f65aab63321fa7e7893fd79677193ae36ed7b2dd39a9579730d306b

We will be supporting the latest version that is published to conda.

[ZhaoHaowenn]

That's great! thanks.