kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Simon Wells <swel024@xxxxxxxxx>]

If the user file is loaded is it worth adding this to the copy version
info or something to make it easy to see and ask someone about a
custom init file if they experience issues with it?

On Fri, Oct 14, 2016 at 4:13 AM, Maciej Sumiński
<maciej.suminski@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> It still loads the original configuration files (when possible) and
> afterwards it checks a few extra locations (relative to the executed
> binary path). This gives a chance to package maintainers to provide a
> proper spinit file. If it fails to find a custom spinit file, but it
> detects a path to codemodel libraries correctly, it will just load them.
>
> Regards,
> Orson
>
> On 10/13/2016 04:08 PM, Wayne Stambaugh wrote:
>> Does this patch override the users configuration or does it just solve
>> the default configuration issue on windows and osx?  If so, that's not a
>> good thing.  I'm fine if respects the users config.  I still stand by my
>> original investigation that this is a package configuration issue, not a
>> broken code issue but if no one is willing to resolve those issues and
>> your patch respects the user config, then I'm OK with it.
>>
>> On 10/13/2016 9:49 AM, Maciej Sumiński wrote:
>>> Finally, I could get back to the issue. If we really focus about the
>>> consequences, the real problem is not that spinit is not processed, but
>>> the codemodel libraries are not loaded.
>>>
>>> Looking at the default spinit file:
>>> - most of the lines are comments
>>> - one causes problems ('set interactive', has to be unset later)
>>> - three others have no special meaning in shared library mode (aliases
>>> and 'set x11lineararcs')
>>> - the only meaningful lines are the ones that load codemodel libraries
>>>
>>> To fix the problem, there is a patch which:
>>> - Allows ngspice to load the default spinit/.spiceinit files (no changes
>>> here).
>>>
>>> - Looks for codemodel files in a few paths relative to eeschema
>>> executable. If a valid path is found, then an ngspice variable __CMPATH
>>> is set.
>>>
>>> - After the default initialization, looks for spiceinit (note it is
>>> spiceinit not .spiceinit) file in a few paths relative to eeschema
>>> executable. If one is found, then it is executed. If we decide to
>>> provide our spiceinit file (see the attachment), then thanks to __CMPATH
>>> variable we can point to the right codemodel directory.
>>>
>>> - If no spiceinit was found, but we know the correct path to codemodels,
>>> then they are simply loaded.
>>>
>>> - Unsets a few variables which may cause simulator hangups.
>>>
>>> Once the patch is committed, codemodels should work out of the box for
>>> the common msys2 builds and nightly Windows installers, even without a
>>> custom spiceinit. If OSX bundles provide codemodel libraries, then there
>>> is a chance it will work for them as well, otherwise we can add another
>>> search path.
>>>
>>> I know it may look like an ugly hack, but sincerely I have no better
>>> idea at the moment. I am going to leave it here for comments for a few
>>> days, if there are no objections, I will commit the changes.
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>> Orson
>>>
>>> On 10/06/2016 05:53 PM, Wayne Stambaugh wrote:
>>>> I have some additional information that may prove useful:
>>>>
>>>> 1) Using relative paths in the spinit file does not work on windows.
>>>>
>>>> 2) Placing a spinit file in the path where the ngspice and libngspice
>>>> binaries reside works with no need to set any environment variables.
>>>>
>>>> Option 2 could be used by the installer.  The installer itself would
>>>> have to create the spinit file by substituting the install path for the
>>>> path of the .cm files.  I'm not sure if this would work on osx.  Maybe
>>>> one of our osx devs could test this.  If it does, than that would
>>>> resolve the simulation init issues.
>>>>
>>>> I've attached a simple circuit that demonstrates the issue.  When the
>>>> .cm files are not located, the simulation will run with the following
>>>> warnings and cause the output of the op-amp to be an impossibly high 260V:
>>>>
>>>> Error on line 0 :
>>>> a$poly$e.xu1.eos %vd [ xu1.53 xu1.98 ] %vd ( xu1.3 net-_u1-pad1_ )
>>>> a$poly$e.xu1.eos
>>>> MIF-ERROR - unable to find definition of model a$poly$e.xu1.eos
>>>> Warning: Model issue on line 0 :
>>>> .model a$poly$e.xu1.eos spice2poly coef = [ 1.7e-3 1 ] ...
>>>> Unknown model type spice2poly - ignored
>>>> Error on line 0 :
>>>> a$poly$e.xu1.eref1 %vd [ vdd 0 0 0 ] %vd ( xu1.98 0 ) a$poly$e.xu1.eref1
>>>> MIF-ERROR - unable to find definition of model a$poly$e.xu1.eref1
>>>> Warning: Model issue on line 0 :
>>>> .model a$poly$e.xu1.eref1 spice2poly coef = [ 0 0.5 0.5 ] ...
>>>> Unknown model type spice2poly - ignored
>>>> Error on line 0 :
>>>> a$poly$e.xu1.eref2 %vd [ net-_u1-pad1_ 0 /out 0 ] %vd ( xu1.97 0 )
>>>> a$poly$e.xu1.eref2
>>>> MIF-ERROR - unable to find definition of model a$poly$e.xu1.eref2
>>>> Warning: Model issue on line 0 :
>>>> .model a$poly$e.xu1.eref2 spice2poly coef = [ 0 0.5 0.5 ] ...
>>>> Unknown model type spice2poly - ignored
>>>> Error on line 0 :
>>>> a$poly$e.xu1.eo3 %vd [ xu1.98 xu1.30 ] %vd ( vdd xu1.42 ) a$poly$e.xu1.eo3
>>>> MIF-ERROR - unable to find definition of model a$poly$e.xu1.eo3
>>>> Warning: Model issue on line 0 :
>>>> .model a$poly$e.xu1.eo3 spice2poly coef = [ 0.7175 0.5 ] ...
>>>> Unknown model type spice2poly - ignored
>>>> Error on line 0 :
>>>> a$poly$e.xu1.eo4 %vd [ xu1.30 xu1.98 ] %vd ( xu1.44 0 ) a$poly$e.xu1.eo4
>>>> MIF-ERROR - unable to find definition of model a$poly$e.xu1.eo4
>>>> Warning: Model issue on line 0 :
>>>> .model a$poly$e.xu1.eo4 spice2poly coef = [ 0.7355 0.5 ] ...
>>>> Unknown model type spice2poly - ignored
>>>> Reducing trtol to 1 for xspice 'A' devices
>>>> Doing analysis at TEMP = 27.000000 and TNOM = 27.000000
>>>> Warning: vv3: no DC value, transient time 0 value used
>>>>
>>>> Let me know if you have any other questions or comments.
>>>>
>>>> Cheers,
>>>>
>>>> Wayne
>>>>
>>>> On 10/6/2016 10:56 AM, Nick Østergaard wrote:
>>>>> Hi Maciej
>>>>>
>>>>> In the latest nightlies they are now stored in lib/ngspice/
>>>>>
>>>>> I guess that should equate to a relative path to the executables to
>>>>> ../lib/ngspice/*.cm, given that the exe's are in the bin folder on the
>>>>> same level as lib.
>>>>>
>>>>> So feel free to submit your fix. Also, are there any demos that make
>>>>> use of those cm libs such that it can be tested?
>>>>>
>>>>> Nick
>>>>>
>>>>> 2016-10-05 23:16 GMT+02:00 Maciej Sumiński <maciej.suminski@xxxxxxx>:
>>>>>> Hi Nick,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Are the .cm files included in the Windows nightlies installer? If so,
>>>>>> could you tell me what is the relative path to the directory storing
>>>>>> them? The easiest way to fix the problem is to send a few commands to
>>>>>> ngspice before a simulation starts.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Regards,
>>>>>> Orson
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On 10/05/2016 10:23 PM, Nick Østergaard wrote:
>>>>>>> Is this really needed?  What exactly does the .cm files provide?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> When I run the latest nightly I can run the allen key demo without
>>>>>>> problems as far as I can see.  Maybe some other simulation modes do
>>>>>>> not work properly?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> 2016-09-30 14:37 GMT+02:00 Wayne Stambaugh <stambaughw@xxxxxxxxx>:
>>>>>>>> That would work as a long term solution as well.  I was trying to at
>>>>>>>> least prove that it can be done without make changes to the current
>>>>>>>> code.   Until a full solution is implemented, users (me) will have an
>>>>>>>> interim solution if they want to use the spice simulator.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Cheers,
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Wayne
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> On 9/30/2016 3:40 AM, Maciej Sumiński wrote:
>>>>>>>>> We have also discussed on IRC another possibility, which is loading the
>>>>>>>>> extensions manually instead of having ngspice process its initialization
>>>>>>>>> file (spinit). This way we can adjust the paths during runtime.
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> Regards,
>>>>>>>>> Orson
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> On 09/29/2016 08:51 PM, Wayne Stambaugh wrote:
>>>>>>>>>> After much cursing and many config attempts, I finally have a working
>>>>>>>>>> spice simulation solution on windows.  I'm guessing similar parallels
>>>>>>>>>> can be applied to osx as well.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Option A: running from a mingw32 or mingw64 terminal.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> 1) copy the installed spinit file (by default will be in
>>>>>>>>>> ${MINGW-PACKAGE-PREFIX}/share/ngspice/scripts) to ~/.spiceinit.
>>>>>>>>>> 2) change the msys2 paths (/mingw##) in ~/.spiceinit to absolute windows
>>>>>>>>>> paths with / not \ (in my case C:/msys64/mingw##).
>>>>>>>>>> 3) Launch kicad.exe from the terminal.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> I realize this is not very elegant and will only work with either the 64
>>>>>>>>>> or 32 bit mingw (not both without editing .spiceinit) but it works and
>>>>>>>>>> is handy for mingw users.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Option B: configuring windows and run kicad from a shortcut.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> 1) locate the installed spinit file
>>>>>>>>>> ($INSTALL_PATH/share/ngspice/scripts) and change the msys2 paths
>>>>>>>>>> (/mingw##) to absolute windows paths with / not \ (in my case
>>>>>>>>>> C:/msys64/mingw##).
>>>>>>>>>> 2) Run kicad, open the config paths dialog, and add an environment
>>>>>>>>>> variable SPICE_LIB_DIR with path to the spinit file minus the last
>>>>>>>>>> "scripts" path ($INSTALL_PATH/share/ngspice).
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> I also tried copying the .spiceinit file from option A to %USERPROFILE%
>>>>>>>>>> but that did not work when launching kicad from a shortcut.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Option B a cleaner solution but still requires some configuration by the
>>>>>>>>>> user.  This is going to be an interesting problem to solve for our
>>>>>>>>>> package devs.  We need to figure out a way to generate or modify the
>>>>>>>>>> spinit file base on where it gets installed by the installer on
>>>>>>>>>> platforms where this is relevant.  We will also either have to set an
>>>>>>>>>> the SPICE_LIB_DIR environment variable or teach ngspice how to find the
>>>>>>>>>> correct spinit file at run time.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> At least now windows users have a way to have the same functional spice
>>>>>>>>>> simulation as linux users.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Cheers,
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> Wayne
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>>>>> Post to     : kicad-developers@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>>>>>>>> Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers
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>>>>>>
>>>
>
>
>
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