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Cadence FAQ
A few things everyone should know about Cadence
last updated 4/2/99
Topics:
Cadence tells me that my file is "locked" and won't let
me open it! What do I do?
Cadence manages file-sharing with the "Cadence Locking Daemon", a process
called cdsd which maintains a lock entry for every file you edit (consciously or
not). The daemon runs on the machine where the storage device is physically located,
so depending on where your home directory is located or the directories you are currently
working in, you might have locks registered all over the network. You can check to
see if you have any locks on a particular server with the command "cdsdAdmin -lq
-n hostname -u username".
The problem is that when Cadence crashes, the lock entries are not deleted, so Cadence
won't let you edit your files when you restart. You get around this by restarting
the daemon. Do this by typing "su cadence" on the machine where the
lock resides. You will need the password for this... get it from a friend. The
login shell for user cadence is a script which kills the old daemon, starts a new
one, and exits. So after typing the password, everything should be fixed unless you
get an error message.
Sometimes this doesn't work because the cdsd process is not owned by user cadence.
If this happens, contact the person who owns the process and get them to kill it.
Otherwise, contact a system administrator.
As a side note, you may notice sometimes that a number of log files start appearing in
your home directory named CDS.log, CDS.log.1, CDS.log.2, etc. This is because Cadence
crashed and never cleared the lock for the CDS.log file. Restarting the daemon will solve
the problem.
How can I tell if the license server daemon is working properly?
If you think that the license manager is a problem, then try issuing the command "lmstat
-c /tools/cds99/IC443/share/license/license.807e7e04". You should see the
following messages if the server is up:
cascades.EECS.Berkeley.EDU: license server UP (MASTER)
Vendor daemon status (on cascades.EECS.Berkeley.EDU):
cdslmd: UP
If the server is not well, contact a system administrator.
How many versions of Cadence are installed?
At the BWRC, there is only one version available (/tools/cds99/IC443). Five versions
are available on the zabriskie cluster, but these are no longer supported.
What are the essential Cadence configuration files?
There are many Cadence configuration files. Some reside in a central location for
all users, some sit in your home directory, and some can be placed in the directory you
start Cadence from. Below are listed the 4 config files which are the most common
sources of questions.
- .cdsinit - This file is basically a skill script which is run whenever you
start Cadence. Traditionally, this file is used to set up your skill search
path, bind-keys (keyboard shortcuts), and perhaps a few other things.
DIRECTORIES: Current directory is searched first, then the home directory. Only the
first one found will be run.
- .cdsenv - This file contains a collection of Cadence variable settings which is
generally created when you use the "save user environment settings" command in
the CIW (Command Interpreter Window - the main Cadence window).
DIRECTORIES: Current directory is searched first, followed by the home directory. Both
files will be loaded.
- .simrc - Like .cdsinit, this file is a skill script. It is executed whenever the
Simulation Environment is loaded (i.e. whenever you create an Hspice netlist or
run LVS).
DIRECTORIES: like .cdsinit, current directory is searched first, then the home
directory. Only the first one found will be used.
- cds.lib - This file sets your library search path. It can be edited
manually or with the "Library Search Path Editor" inside Cadence.
DIRECTORIES: like .cdsinit, current directory is searched first, then the home
directory. Only the first one found will be used.
How do I learn more about Cadence?
The two most basic things we use Cadence for are schematic entry and layout. To
learn more about these functions, look for the Composer Tutorial (for schematic
entry) and the Cell Design Tutorial (for layout) in openbook.
For information beyond what openbook provides, see Cadence Sourcelink, the online technical
support center. You can browse the support documentation titles, but to read them or
to send in a request for help, you'll need to provide our group's account name and
password (see me).
maintained by Rhett Davis
wrdavis@eecs.berkeley.edu
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