GRAAL(1)

📦 version 5.1.1, in fedora 43, fedora 44

✨ GRAAL — the symbolic layout editor 💅

okay so bestie, welcome to graal(1) from the ALLIANCE Reference Manual 🎀 — this is THE symbolic layout editor and she is lowkey iconic. let's get into it 🦋

💖 NAME 💖

graal — symbolic layout editor. that's it, that's the girl. periodt. ✨

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

graal [-l file_name] [-scale n] [-debug] [-xor] [-install]
      [-force]

🫶 ORIGIN 🫶

this software belongs to the ALLIANCE CAD SYSTEM, developed by the ASIM team at the LIP6 laboratory of Université Pierre et MARIE CURIE, in Paris, France 🇫🇷✨

👑 DESCRIPTION 👑

Graal is a hierarchical symbolic layout editor. every single functionality lives inside different menus — just click through them, no cap. among them there's a design rule checker that performs verifications inside a user defined window 🔍.

Graal works under Motif and X11r6. when you enter Graal, the main window appears and shows 7 different menus on the top bar. these menus can be entered by simply clicking on the mouse left button 🖱️. the main window is sensitive to the mouse, and the mouse wheel can be used for scrolling up and down, left and right when <Shift> is pressed during wheel movement, and zooming in and out, when <Ctrl> is pressed while turning the wheel. it's giving multitasking queen 💅

below is given the description of graal's menus ⬇️

📁 File

  • New : clean the entire window and save the current cell.
  • Open : load an already existing cell.
  • Save : save the current cell.
  • Save as : rename and save the current cell.
  • Quit : quit graal.

✏️ Edit

  • Undo : undo the previous action.
  • Copy : copy a selected object.
  • Move : move a selected object.
  • Delete : delete a selected object.
  • Stretch : strech a selected object (transistor or segment length).
  • Modify : modify the caracteristics of an object (name, width, etc...).
  • Identify : identify a selected object.
  • Search : search an object according to its type.

🪟 Window

this menu allows user to perform the same actions than the previous menu Edit, not on an object but on a group of objects belonging to a defined window. the two opposite corner of the window are set by clicking on the mouse left button 🖱️✨

🧚 Create

  • Instance : add a new instance in the current cell.
  • Abutmentbox : define the abutment box of the current cell.
  • Segment : add segments.
  • Via : add vias or contacts.
  • Connector : add connectors.
  • Transistor : add transistors.
  • Reference : add references.

👀 View

  • Zoom : perform zoom in, zoom out, center, fit, refresh on figure.
  • Layer : select types of layers displayed.
  • Map : show cursor position in the entire figure.
  • Arrows : show arrows for moving at the grid step.
  • Grid : Set the X,Y step of the grid if displayed.

🔧 Tools

  • Equi : highlight all objects electrically connected to a given object.
  • Flat : virtual hierarchy flattening of an instance (display all visible objects inside a given instance).
  • UnFlat : undo the virtual flattening of an instance (done before with the Flat command)
  • Peek : virtual hierarchy flattening (display all visible objects inside a given window).
  • UnPeek : undo the virtual flattening of a window (done before with the Peek command)
  • Druc : call the design rule checker in a given window.
  • RealFlat : real hierarchy flattening of instances included in a window (this command can not be undone, and should be used very carefully)
  • Hierarchy : navigate into the current figure hierarchy
  • Load Error : load a real layout file and superpose it to the current figure.
  • Message : display the last error messages
🚨 bestie pay attention to RealFlat — that one can not be undone and should be used very carefully. no take-backs, fr fr 💀

⚙️ Setup

Save or load a user defined configuration of default displayed menus. 🎀

🌈 ENVIRONMENT VARIABLES 🌈

  • MBK_CATA_LIB — indicates the path to the read only libraries to be used. 📚
  • MBK_WORK_LIB — indicates the path to the read/write directory for the session. ✍️
  • MBK_IN_PH — indicates the file format to be used for the leaf cells. 🍃
  • MBK_OUT_PH — indicates the file format to be used for the generated figures. 🖼️
  • GRAAL_TECHNO_NAME (optional) — indicates the path to the techno name file used by Graal. 🧬
  • RDS_TECHNO_NAME (optional) — indicates the path to the RDS configuration file used by Graal. 🛠️

🔗 SEE ALSO 🔗

mbk(1), MBK_CATA_LIB(1), MBK_IN_PH(1), MBK_OUT_PH(1), RDS_TECHNO_NAME(1)

go read those too, iykyk 💜

😭 BUG REPORT 😭

This tool is under development at the ASIM department of the LIP6 laboratory.

We need your feedback to improve documentation and tools. 🫶 please please please send it, we're literally begging (affectionately)

that's the whole page bestie, you ate that 💅✨ this lil masterpiece is brought to you by ASIM/LIP6, dated October 1, 1997 🎀 — yeah she's vintage, she's iconic, she's GRAAL(1). bye bestie, go lay out some symbols 🌸🦋

📦 where this page comes from