GRAYWOLF(1)

📦 version 0.1.6, in debian bookworm, ubuntu jammy

💖 GRAYWOLF — the manual page, but make it make sense 💖

okay bestie, buckle up, we're talking about graywolf, a placement tool for digital VLSI design ✨ it lives in section 1 of the manual, so it's a command you run in your shell, not some lil library thing. periodt.

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

graywolf [options] designName [windowId] [flowdirectory]

that's the whole vibe. options first, then your design name, then optionally a window id and a flow directory. iykyk 🦋

🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

so this is a utility that does placement of digital VLSI designs. not placement as in "i placed my iced coffee on the desk", placement as in figuring out where every cell goes on the chip. main character energy fr fr 💅

fun lore: it's based on some code from the early 90s 😭 iconic behavior, honestly. and it's one of the building blocks of the open source qflow digital design flow. so like, it's kind of a big deal in that ecosystem.

💜 OPTIONS 💜

  • -n — no graphics. just you and the terminal, no windows popping up. lowkey peaceful 🍓
  • -d — prints debug info and performs extensive error checking. yes it does both, it's an overachiever 👑
  • -g — general mode
  • -p — pick mode
  • -w — parasite mode, which will inherit a window. yeah. "parasite mode." the devs were feeling dramatic that day 💀

🎀 USAGE 🎀

typically you'd be chillin' in a directory that has a [DESIGN].cel file and a [DESIGN].par file, and then you just run:

graywolf [DESIGN]

where [DESIGN] is the file name of the design. more deets about the input and output files are right below, keep scrolling bestie 🫶

but listen — it's recommended to use the qflow digital design flow instead of running graywolf directly. qflow handles preparing the input files from standardized files and converts the output back to standardized files. so like, graywolf is the talented middle child doing the work while qflow does the socializing ✨

🦋 INPUT 🦋

two input files are necessary to run graywolf, no skipping:

  • a .cel file containing the design
  • a .par file containing the parameters which define the technology

and here's a lil bonus fact: the .cel file may be created from a .blif design file and a .lef library file using the script "blif2cel.tcl" in the qflow package. so that's your pipeline, queen 🌈

⭐ OUTPUT ⭐

the main output from graywolf is a .pl1 file containing the layout of the design. slay.

that .pl1 may be converted to a .def file using the script "place2def.tcl" in the qflow package. and a .def file is a standardized description of a layout, in case you were wondering. now you know 💖

🌸 SEE ALSO 🌸

  • qflow(1) — the other one, the flow one, go read it

👑 AUTHOR 👑

this manual page was written by Ruben Undheim <ruben.undheim@gmail.com> for the Debian project (and may be used by others). giving credit where credit is due, as we always do 💅

and that's the whole page bestie, no cap. this one's from the GRAYWOLF(1) manual, dated 11 October 2015, Debian-flavored 🎀 go place some cells, you got this 💖✨🦋

📦 where this page comes from