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Cadence System Information File: cdsinfo.tag

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The Cadence system information file, cdsinfo.tag, defines the configuration of several key capabilities, including:

• The type of design management system used to manage a library
• A strict library checking mechanism should be used to identify Cadence libraries
• The case sensitivity of the file system that contains the library

The cdsinfo.tag file is an ASCII file that contains entries for various Cadence applications, libraries, design management systems, and file system properties. Properties in the cdsinfo.tag files are found using the cdsinfo.tag search mechanism.

cdsinfo.tag file example:

CDSLIBRARY
CDSLIBCHECK ON
DMTYPE TDM
NAMESPACE LIBRARYUNIX

The cdsinfo.tag File Location

You might have more than one cdsinfo.tag file in your Cadence environment. The search mechanism looks for the file in the following order and uses the settings found last in the search order.

1. The default site-wide and user-wide cdsinfo.tag file in your_install_dir/share/cdssetup where your_install_dir is the location of the Cadence software installation. Entries in this file are the default, for example, the default DMTYPE for newly created libraries.
2. A cdsinfo.tag file in a directory referenced by the $CDS_SITE environment variable. It applies to all directories on your site.
3. A library-specific cdsinfo.tag file with settings for the library such as, the DMTYPE used for the library, whether the directory should be treated as a library, and so on.

Related Topics

Cadence Setup Search File: setup.loc

The cdsinfo.tag Search Mechanism

The cdsinfo.tag Search Mechanism

The data contained in cdsinfo.tag files is accessed by Cadence applications, such as the Virtuoso Studio Design Environment. These applications always look for system information about an object, a file or directory, in the context of the path of that object. For example, an application provides a file location when it needs to know which design management system is managing the file.

The cdsinfo.tag search mechanism uses a combination of that path and the Cadence search mechanism to locate the cdsinfo.tag file that contains the information requested by the application.

It first looks for a cdsinfo.tag file in the directory that is provided by the application or the directory that contains the file that is provided by the application. If a cdsinfo.tag file is found and it contains the property that the application requested, then the value of that property is used. But if the file is not found in the directory or if the file does not contain the property that the application requested, then the parent directory is searched. The mechanism continues to look for a cdsinfo.tag file with the required property upwards through the path, up to the root of the file system. If it is still not found, then the Cadence search mechanism (CSF) is used to search other locations for the cdsinfo.tag file. The Cadence search mechanism is determined by the setup.loc file.

If the property is not found in any cdsinfo.tag file, default values are used. The default value for each property is described in Entry Types.

To determine which cdsinfo.tag file is being used to obtain the value of a property, use the following command:

cdsinfo -lookup propertyname

An exception to the search order described above is the CDSLIBRARY property. When an application requests the value of the CDSLIBRARY property, only the current directory provided by the application is searched for the cdsinfo.tag file.

Entry Types

The cdsinfo.tag file contains Cadence application, library, design management system, and file system properties. For example, the library identification entry is the property CDSLIBRARY.

The first word of any entry is the property name. It is followed by the value of the property. The following properties can be in a cdsinfo.tag file:

Property	Description
CDSLIBRARY	Identifies a directory as being a CDS (Cadence) library. When CDSLIBCHECK is ON, this entry must exist in a cdsinfo.tag file in the library directory for the library to be considered a valid Cadence library. If no CDSLIBRARY entry is found, its value is assumed to be NO. When an application requests CDSLIBRARY information for a directory, only that directory is searched for a cdsinfo.tag file.
CDSLIBCHECK	Activates a mechanism that provides control over the definition of libraries. By default, libraries are defined as being libraries by their presence in a cds.lib file. By adding a CDSLIBCHECK ON entry to a cdsinfo.tag file, a site CAD administrator might want to stipulate that library certification be done by enforcing that a cdsinfo.tag file exists in each library directory with a CDSLIBRARY entry in it. If CDSLIBCHECK is off by default, cdsinfo.tag files need not exist and are not checked for CDSLIBRARY entries. The expected use model for CDSLIBCHECK is that it be set globally in the site cdsinfo.tag file. If no CDSLIBCHECK entry is found, its value is assumed to be OFF.
DMTYPE	Identifies the native design management system in use, if any. Generic Design Management (GDM) requests that cannot identify a design management system will fail. A value of none means that the directory is not managed. You can set up the site cdsinfo.tag file to set a default for your site. Examples: DMTYPE tdm DMTYPE crcs DMTYPE none If no DMTYPE entry is found, its value is assumed to be none.
NAMESPACE	Identifies the native file system so that proper name space handling can be done by application programs. NAMESPACE entries have a single additional meaningful word, which is either LibraryNT or LibraryUnix. If no name space entry is found, the default is the architecture of the machine on which the application is running.

The CDSLIBRARY and CDSLIBCHECK entry types together provide an alternative to the current library identification mechanism, which consists entirely of the presence of a DEFINE entry in a cds.lib file. The system reports as errors those libraries that are defined but that do not have cdsinfo.tag files with the CDSLIBRARY entry. The default (no CDSLIBCHECK entry type) acts as if a CDSLIBCHECK OFF entry was found, prevents damage of a site configuration upon installation of new software including this mechanism, and maintains the current behavior.

Related Topics

Cadence Setup Search File: setup.loc

Syntax and File Format of cdsinfo.tag

File syntax for entries in the cdsinfo.tag files consist of a set of lines with a simple syntax:

• When running on Windows, the backslash ( \ ) and the forward slash ( / ) are treated synonymously.
• When running on Windows, <letter>: is a legal path, but not when running on UNIX.
• A comment line is any line in which the first nonwhitespace character is a double hyphen ( -- ) or a pound sign ( # ). Examples are as follows:
  

  -- this is a single line comment# this is a single line comment

• Whitespace is any blank or tab character. Blank lines are acceptable.
• An entry consists of a keyword followed by zero or more words, terminated by a new line character or a pound sign ( # ).
• Keywords are case insensitive.

Sample Site and Library Files

The pound sign ( # ) denotes a comment. Remove the leading pound signs from entries to activate them.

A Sample Site cdsinfo.tag File

# This is a sample cdsinfo.tag file as it might be set for a
# site. Place this file in the directory referenced by the shell
# environment variable CDS_SITE, and have all Cadence users share
# the same setting for CDS_SITE.
#
# Select a site-wide DM system.
# Use ‘none’ to turn off use of DM for the site.
dmtype tdm
#
# Select (enable) the strict library checking mechanism
#
# ALL Cadence libraries must has a local cdsinfo.tag
# file with a CDSLIBRARY entry if this is used.
cdslibcheck ON

A Sample Library cdsinfo.tag File

# This is a sample cdsinfo.tag file as it might be set for a
# Cadence Library. This file needs to be located in the library
# directory (not under a cell or view).
#
# Override the site DM selection - mark this library as unmanaged;
# it is used for experimental work only.
dmtype none
#
# Indicate that this directory is a Cadence library.
cdslibrary

Related Topics

The cdsinfo.tag Search Mechanism

The cdsinfo command

Glossary

The cdsinfo command

The cdsinfo command is used as a test, debug, and administration tool for the cdsinfo.tag file mechanism. It is located in your_install_dir/tools/bin.

The command syntax is as follows:

cdsinfo [-verbose | -v] [-path filepath] [-configurelibrary | -checklibrary |-lookup entryname... | -show | -addentry entryname value | -clearentry entryname]

Argument	Description
-verbose | -v	Provides detailed information about the command progress and where it finds information. When used with the -configurelibrary argument, the -verbose option lists the path to your cds.lib file and a list of library directories selected for configuring.
-path filepath	Specifies the path to the file to use for the other arguments.
-configurelibrary	Examines your cds.lib file and validates all the entries, including those brought in by INCLUDE and SOFTINCLUDE statements. It examines every library directory defined in the cds.lib file and attempts to create a cdsinfo.tag with a CDSLIBRARY entry. The system issues a warning message if it cannot write to a library directory. Library directories that already contain a cdsinfo.tag file with a CDSLIBRARY entry are not changed. Those with a cdsinfo.tag file without a CDSLIBRARY entry have one added to the cdsinfo.tag file, if possible.
-checklibrary	Performs multiple operations such as: Finds a cds.lib file. Checks libraries defined by the cds.lib file and the other cds.lib files it includes to find cdsinfo.tag files with CDSLIBRARY entries in them. Prints the names of the libraries and the paths to the cdsinfo.tag files. Checks all subdirectories of the library directories identified by the cds.lib file to find the cdsinfo.tag files. Issues a warning for any sublibrary cdsinfo.tag files found that indicate an incorrect configuration. For a large library, this process could take some time. Checks all cdsinfo.tag files that are found in step 2 for correct syntax and reports any syntax errors.
-lookup entryname ...	Looks for a cdsinfo.tag file that contains an entry with the given name and prints the appropriate search rules for the given entry type. This command also gives the location of the cdsinfo.tag file that is used.
-show	Displays the path and contents of the cdsinfo.tag file in the current directory or in the directory specified with -path. If there is no cdsinfo.tag file in that directory, searches for it in the parent directory, continuing up to the root of the path.
-addentry entryName value	Adds the entry to the cdsinfo.tag file specified by-path. If the path is not specified, adds the entry to the cdsinfo.tag file that is in the current working directory. If the current working directory does not contain a cdsinfo.tag file, this command creates one.
-clearentry entryName	Removes the entry from the cdsinfo.tag file specified by -path or, if the path is not specified, from the cdsinfo.tag file that is in the current working directory.

You can also use the ddSetLibUnmanaged and ddClearLibUnmanaged SKILL functions to set or remove the DMTYPE entry from the cdsinfo.tag files.

Related Topics

ddSetLibUnmanaged

ddClearLibUnmanaged

Design Management Functions

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