# howo to run openroad by reading an existing DEF file Tool: OpenDB Subcategory: Initialization from existing DEF ## Conversation ### bittnada Hello I have a DEF file in which row, track, components, and pins are written. The position of the cells are on the step of global placement, obtained by using another method. Now, I want to finish the rest of the procedures by modifying "test/flow.tcl" file. I just skipped the steps of pin placement and global placement and added "read_def [my_def_fiel}'", but it did not work. I will appreciate if anyone let me know how to solve this problem. Thanks, ### maliberty What happened when it "did not work"? Its not much to go on. ### bittnada Sorry for my delayed response. I've just conducted a test using gcd_nangate45.tcl, and I've created my own DEF file containing rows, tracks, pins, nets, and components. I performed a simple test by modifying a flow.tcl script to skip buffer insertion, IO placement, Macro Placement, tap cell insertion, power distribution, and global placement, and then adding "read_def". After running gcd_nangate45.tcl, I received the following output: ==================================================================================== OpenROAD v2.0-13652-g6fc686431 Features included (+) or not (-): +Charts +GPU +GUI +Python This program is licensed under the BSD-3 license. See the LICENSE file for details. Components of this program may be licensed under more restrictive licenses which must be honored. [INFO ODB-0227] LEF file: Nangate45/Nangate45_tech.lef, created 22 layers, 27 vias [INFO ODB-0227] LEF file: Nangate45/Nangate45_stdcell.lef, created 135 library cells [WARNING STA-0441] set_input_delay relative to a clock defined on the same port/pin not allowed. [INFO IFP-0001] Added 57 rows of 422 site FreePDK45_38x28_10R_NP_162NW_34O. [INFO ORD-0048] Loading an additional DEF. Error: Chip already exists [INFO RSZ-0058] Using max wire length 693um. [INFO RSZ-0039] Resized 41 instances. Placement Analysis --------------------------------- total displacement 17739.5 u average displacement 49.0 u max displacement 62.9 u original HPWL 280.4 u legalized HPWL 9839.7 u delta HPWL 3410 % worst slack 0.105 worst slack -0.011 tns -0.011 [INFO CTS-0050] Root buffer is BUF_X4. [INFO CTS-0051] Sink buffer is BUF_X4. [INFO CTS-0052] The following clock buffers will be used for CTS: BUF_X4 [INFO CTS-0049] Characterization buffer is BUF_X4. [INFO CTS-0007] Net "clk" found for clock "core_clock". [WARNING CTS-0041] Net "clk" has 0 sinks. Skipping... [WARNING CTS-0083] No clock nets have been found. [INFO CTS-0008] TritonCTS found 0 clock nets. [WARNING CTS-0082] No valid clock nets in the design. [INFO RSZ-0058] Using max wire length 693um. Placement Analysis --------------------------------- total displacement 0.0 u average displacement 0.0 u max displacement 0.0 u original HPWL 9839.7 u legalized HPWL 9839.7 u delta HPWL 0 % [INFO RSZ-0094] Found 1 endpoints with setup violations. [WARNING RSZ-0075] makeBufferedNet failed for driver _393_/ZN [WARNING RSZ-0075] makeBufferedNet failed for driver _393_/ZN [WARNING RSZ-0075] makeBufferedNet failed for driver _393_/ZN [WARNING RSZ-0075] makeBufferedNet failed for driver _393_/ZN [INFO RSZ-0041] Resized 5 instances. [INFO RSZ-0043] Swapped pins on 2 instances. [INFO RSZ-0033] No hold violations found. worst slack 0.106 worst slack 0.000 tns 0.000 Placement Analysis --------------------------------- total displacement 91.3 u average displacement 0.3 u max displacement 6.4 u original HPWL 9840.8 u legalized HPWL 9925.0 u delta HPWL 1 % [INFO DRT-0149] Reading tech and libs. Units: 2000 Number of layers: 21 Number of macros: 135 Number of vias: 27 Number of viarulegen: 19 Signal 11 received Stack trace: 0# 0x0000564758181A44 in /mnt/work/OpenROAD/bin/bin/openroad 1# 0x00007F4028F54F10 in /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6 2# odb::dbTechVia::getTopLayer() in /mnt/work/OpenROAD/bin/bin/openroad 3# odb::dbWireEncoder::addTechVia(odb::dbTechVia*) in /mnt/work/OpenROAD/bin/bin/openroad 4# drt::TritonRoute::stackVias(odb::dbBTerm*, int, int, bool) in /mnt/work/OpenROAD/bin/bin/openroad 5# drt::TritonRoute::processBTermsAboveTopLayer(bool) in /mnt/work/OpenROAD/bin/bin/openroad 6# drt::TritonRoute::initDesign() in /mnt/work/OpenROAD/bin/bin/openroad 7# drt::TritonRoute::pinAccess(std::vector > const&) in /mnt/work/OpenROAD/bin/bin/openroad 8# pin_access_cmd(char const*, char const*, char const*, int, int) in /mnt/work/OpenROAD/bin/bin/openroad 9# 0x00005647589E491B in /mnt/work/OpenROAD/bin/bin/openroad 10# TclNRRunCallbacks in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libtcl8.6.so 11# 0x00007F402E79BFBA in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libtcl8.6.so 12# Tcl_EvalEx in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libtcl8.6.so 13# Tcl_Eval in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libtcl8.6.so 14# gui::TclCmdInputWidget::executeCommand(QString const&, bool, bool) in /mnt/work/OpenROAD/bin/bin/openroad 15# gui::CmdInputWidget::handleEnterKeyPress(QKeyEvent*) in /mnt/work/OpenROAD/bin/bin/openroad 16# gui::TclCmdInputWidget::keyPressEvent(QKeyEvent*) in /mnt/work/OpenROAD/bin/bin/openroad 17# QWidget::event(QEvent*) in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libQt5Widgets.so.5 18# QFrame::event(QEvent*) in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libQt5Widgets.so.5 19# QAbstractScrollArea::event(QEvent*) in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libQt5Widgets.so.5 20# QPlainTextEdit::event(QEvent*) in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libQt5Widgets.so.5 21# QApplicationPrivate::notify_helper(QObject*, QEvent*) in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libQt5Widgets.so.5 22# QApplication::notify(QObject*, QEvent*) in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libQt5Widgets.so.5 23# QCoreApplication::notifyInternal2(QObject*, QEvent*) in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libQt5Core.so.5 24# 0x00007F402B1357B5 in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libQt5Widgets.so.5 25# QApplicationPrivate::notify_helper(QObject*, QEvent*) in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libQt5Widgets.so.5 26# QApplication::notify(QObject*, QEvent*) in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libQt5Widgets.so.5 27# QCoreApplication::notifyInternal2(QObject*, QEvent*) in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libQt5Core.so.5 28# QGuiApplicationPrivate::processKeyEvent(QWindowSystemInterfacePrivate::KeyEvent*) in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libQt5Gui.so.5 29# QGuiApplicationPrivate::processWindowSystemEvent(QWindowSystemInterfacePrivate::WindowSystemEvent*) in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libQt5Gui.so.5 30# QWindowSystemInterface::sendWindowSystemEvents(QFlags) in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libQt5Gui.so.5 31# 0x00007F4022595260 in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libQt5XcbQpa.so.5 32# g_main_context_dispatch in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libglib-2.0.so.0 33# 0x00007F402783C770 in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libglib-2.0.so.0 34# g_main_context_iteration in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libglib-2.0.so.0 35# QEventDispatcherGlib::processEvents(QFlags) in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libQt5Core.so.5 36# QEventLoop::exec(QFlags) in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libQt5Core.so.5 37# QCoreApplication::exec() in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libQt5Core.so.5 38# gui::startGui(int&, char**, Tcl_Interp*, std::__cxx11::basic_string, std::allocator > const&, bool) in /mnt/work/OpenROAD/bin/bin/openroad 39# ord::tclAppInit(Tcl_Interp*) in /mnt/work/OpenROAD/bin/bin/openroad 40# Tcl_MainEx in /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libtcl8.6.so 41# main in /mnt/work/OpenROAD/bin/bin/openroad 42# __libc_start_main in /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libc.so.6 43# _start in /mnt/work/OpenROAD/bin/bin/openroad ================================================================================================ I also examined the source codes and realized that the testing approach I employed did not yield the desired results. However, I am unsure about how to proceed from the step after global placement by reading the DEF file. Thanks.