Eda Tool Setup

EDA Tool Setup

Use this skill before declaring an EDA binary, simulator, synthesis tool, coverage tool, or license unavailable for a CVDP native run.

Rules

• First inspect the selected CVDP row and harness services. Only configure commercial tools when the selected services require them.
• Check the current shell first with command -v <tool> and the vendor's non-mutating version command, for example xrun -version, imc -version, or verilator --version.
• For open-source tools, discover before installing: check PATH, then any active module or Conda/Mamba environment, then common roots such as IVERILOG_HOME, VERILATOR_HOME, and YOSYS_HOME with their bin directories prepended to PATH.
• Prefer documented site setup methods such as environment modules, vendor setup scripts, or administrator-provided shell fragments. Do not assume any organization-specific filesystem layout.
• Keep CVDP data, Python environments, datasets, prompts, scripts, and outputs repository-local. Only prepend tool binary directories and set vendor license variables in the evaluation environment.
• Record the exact tool commands and license-related environment variables used in the run report or setup notes. Do not record secret values or license file contents.
• Do not treat simulator or coverage failures as candidate RTL failures when logs show missing binaries, license checkout errors, mismatched simulator/coverage database versions, missing shared libraries, or malformed native path mapping.

Common Native Tools

No-commercial CVDP rows commonly use:

command -v python3 git make iverilog vvp verilator yosys

If any are missing after environment discovery, install them through the system package manager, Conda/Mamba, or another documented local package source.

Commercial or coverage-oriented rows may require Cadence tools:

command -v xrun imc
command -v irun || true

Set these when the tool names differ from the harness defaults:

export CVDP_NATIVE_XRUN_CMD="${CVDP_NATIVE_XRUN_CMD:-xrun}"
export CVDP_NATIVE_IMC_CMD="${CVDP_NATIVE_IMC_CMD:-imc}"

If your site exposes Cadence installation roots rather than modules, set one or more of these and source the example setup script:

export XCELIUM_HOME=/path/to/xcelium
export VMANAGER_HOME=/path/to/vmanager
export INCISIVE_HOME=/path/to/incisive
source skills/eda_tool_setup/scripts/setup_eda_env.example.sh

License Variables

Use your vendor or site documentation for license values. Common variables are:

export CDS_LIC_FILE="port@cadence-license-server"
export LM_LICENSE_FILE="${LM_LICENSE_FILE:-port@license-server}"
export SNPSLMD_LICENSE_FILE="port@synopsys-license-server"
export MGLS_LICENSE_FILE="port@siemens-license-server"

For Cadence coverage flows, MDV_XLM_HOME should point to the Xcelium installation compatible with the imc version that reads the coverage database.

For cocotb/Xcelium VPI, make the active Python shared library visible:

export PYGPI_PYTHON_BIN="$PWD/.cvdp-native/bin/python3"
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="$PWD/.cvdp-native/lib${LD_LIBRARY_PATH:+:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH}"