FLATBEH(1)

πŸ“¦ version 5.1.1-unstable-2025-02, in nixos 26.05, nixpkgs unstable

πŸ’– FLATBEH πŸ’– β€” like, the flatbeh(1) page, bestie edition

okay so. sit down. hydrate. we're reading the ALLIANCE USER COMMANDS manual for flatbeh, and honestly? it's giving "quiet little tool that does something kind of iconic." let's get into it. πŸ¦‹


✨ NAME ✨

flatbeh β€” bestie, it synthetizes a behavioral description from a structural description. that's the whole vibe. that's the job. no cap. πŸ’…


✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

flatbeh root_structural_file  [ output_file ]

look at that. two little slots. one is required, one is like the optional plus-one you bring to the party. πŸŽ€


🌈 ORIGIN 🌈

okay so this software belongs to the ALLIANCE CAD system, from the CAO-VLSI team at the MASI laboratory, University P. et M. Curie, and here's the whole address card, character for character, because we respect the lore:

4, place Jussieu ; 75252 PARIS Cedex 05 ; FRANCE Fax: (33-1) 44.27.62.86 ; E-mail: cao-vlsi@masi.ibp.fr

like, the fax number?? the DRAMA. the history. πŸ‘‘


✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

so here's the tea. πŸ“

flatbeh synthetize a VHDL behavioral data-flow description from a structural description.

and how does it do that? it flattens the structural description β€” and yes, that description can be a whole hierarchy of macro block, it doesn't care, it will go all the way down β€” until the cells which have a behavioral description.

then, once it's down there, it raise all the equations and create a behavioral description of the root file.

so: structural in, behavioral out. flattening the whole tree on the way. it's giving main character energy, honestly. 🌸


✨ PARAMETERS ✨

  • root_structural_file β€” the filename of the root of the structural description file. your starting point. your origin story. 🫢
  • output_file β€” the destination filename for the behavioural description. where the glow-up lands. ✨

🌸 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES 🌸

these are the little settings that shape your whole experience, iykyk:

  • MBK_CATA_LIB β€” list of directories containing descriptions. the default path is the current directory (see mbk(1)). πŸ’œ
  • MBK_CATAL_NAME β€” indicates the file where the behavioral description files are given. this serves to flatbeh to stop the flatten of the structural root circuit (see mbk(1)). like, it knows when to stop digging, bestie. πŸ›‘
  • MBK_IN_LO β€” file extension for structural entity (see mbk(1)). πŸ”₯

🌈 EXAMPLE 🌈

one line. chef's kiss. ate:

flatbeh adder_32

✨ SEE ALSO ✨

go read those too, bestie, they're literally right there. πŸ’…


πŸ’€ BUGS πŸ’€

found a bug? got a suggestion? please e-mail to cao-vlsi@masi.ibp.fr for bug report and suggestions. they want to hear from you, fr fr. πŸ™ˆ


⚠️ heads up, lovely: the original page doesn't spell out what happens if you skip output_file or hand it something weird, so we're not gonna invent that here. no guessing, no cap. 🧚

that's the whole page!! you understood it, you're doing amazing, and flatbeh is lowkey obsessed with you now. πŸŽ€

Release 1.0 β€” 29 january 1993. yeah, this page is vintage vintage, and it's still out here flattening hierarchies and raising equations like the icon it is. mwah. πŸ’–πŸŒΈβœ¨

πŸ“¦ where this page comes from