Merge pull request #2436 from Pinata-Consulting/makefile-gui-no-timing-marketing

makefile: market GUI_TIMING=0 better, useful for large designs

Author: maliberty

docs/user/FlowVariables.md

@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ configuration file.
 | <a name="GND_NETS_VOLTAGES"></a>GND_NETS_VOLTAGES| Used for IR Drop calculation.|  |
 | <a name="GPL_ROUTABILITY_DRIVEN"></a>GPL_ROUTABILITY_DRIVEN| Specifies whether the placer should use routability driven placement.|  |
 | <a name="GPL_TIMING_DRIVEN"></a>GPL_TIMING_DRIVEN| Specifies whether the placer should use timing driven placement.|  |
-| <a name="GUI_NO_TIMING"></a>GUI_NO_TIMING| Skip loading timing for a faster GUI load.|  |
+| <a name="GUI_TIMING"></a>GUI_TIMING| Load timing information when opening GUI. For large designs, this can be quite time consuming. Useful to disable when investigating non-timing aspects like floorplan, placement, routing, etc.|  |
 | <a name="HOLD_SLACK_MARGIN"></a>HOLD_SLACK_MARGIN| Specifies a time margin for the slack when fixing hold violations. This option allows you to overfix.|  |
 | <a name="IO_PLACER_H"></a>IO_PLACER_H| The metal layer on which to place the I/O pins horizontally (top and bottom of the die).|  |
 | <a name="IO_PLACER_V"></a>IO_PLACER_V| The metal layer on which to place the I/O pins vertically (sides of the die).|  |
@@ -292,7 +292,7 @@ configuration file.
 - [GENERATE_ARTIFACTS_ON_FAILURE](#GENERATE_ARTIFACTS_ON_FAILURE)
 - [GLOBAL_PLACEMENT_ARGS](#GLOBAL_PLACEMENT_ARGS)
 - [GND_NETS_VOLTAGES](#GND_NETS_VOLTAGES)
-- [GUI_NO_TIMING](#GUI_NO_TIMING)
+- [GUI_TIMING](#GUI_TIMING)
 - [HOLD_SLACK_MARGIN](#HOLD_SLACK_MARGIN)
 - [IR_DROP_LAYER](#IR_DROP_LAYER)
 - [KLAYOUT_TECH_FILE](#KLAYOUT_TECH_FILE)

flow/scripts/open.tcl

@@ -49,7 +49,8 @@ proc read_timing {input_file} {
   fast_route
 }
 
-if {![env_var_equals GUI_NO_TIMING 1]} {
+if {[env_var_equals GUI_TIMING 1]} {
+  puts "GUI_TIMING=1 reading timing, takes a little while for large designs..."
   read_timing $input_file
 }
 

flow/scripts/variables.yaml

@@ -246,9 +246,12 @@ IO_PLACER_V:
   stages:
     - floorplan
     - place
-GUI_NO_TIMING:
+GUI_TIMING:
   description: >
-    Skip loading timing for a faster GUI load.
+    Load timing information when opening GUI. For large designs, this can
+    be quite time consuming. Useful to disable when investigating non-timing
+    aspects like floorplan, placement, routing, etc.
+  value: 1
 FILL_CELLS:
   description: >
     Fill cells are used to fill empty sites. If not set or empty, fill cell insertion is skipped.