Spice on Linux -- help needed

rif · 3rd October 2005, 02:54 PM

I've just tried for the first time to execute spice on a command line and can't seem to get it to work even for trivial netlists (including known good examples).

Any idea where to start to troubleshoot?

I use the command:
spice test1.net -r test1.out
or
spice3 test1.net -r test1.out

It begins and states the circuit title (from the title in the netlist), but then always gives a "Segmentation Fault".

I searched the manuals I could find online, but to no avail.

tlf9999 · 3rd October 2005, 03:27 PM

no linux expert but "segmentation error" is not a spice error message rather a linux/unix error message. likely the program isn't correctly compiled / linked.

wes-ninja250 · 3rd October 2005, 03:37 PM

Segmentation fault literally means that the program tried to access memory outside of the regions (segments) that have been allocated to the program by the operating system. Roughly equivalent to a general protection fault under Windows.

In 98% of cases, this is caused by dereferencing NULL (address 0) -- probably because something wasn't set/loaded/configured properly.

If you have some programming experience, you can read the core dump with gdb, or follow the program's "work" with strace. These may provide clues.

It's a little more difficult under Linux to guess at these types of problems, due to things like the 58 versions of LibC, blah blah blah that that platform has.

My immediate recommendation -- if you installed from a package, try building from sources instead.

Wes

rif · 3rd October 2005, 03:57 PM

I'll give that a try tonight. I did install from a package -- I'm running gentoo. But that means it actually compiles the source and doesn't just install pre-existing binaries.

Hopefully it's just a config file issue somewhere.

If not, I'll give ngspice a try -- I'm not doing anything too fancy

wes-ninja250 · 3rd October 2005, 04:45 PM

If you're one of those Gentoo guys with a 48-line CPPFLAGS (and have no clue what any of the settings do ) -- do yourself a favour and turn everything off that is not essential for building the program.

Wes

rif · 3rd October 2005, 06:01 PM

I am one of those gentoo guys, but recently scaled down the flags

I think I only use 2 or 3 (besides the standard m64, pipe, and O2). I'll try removing those extra ones and re-emerging.

Thanks!

BTW -- just for reference, simetrix is available on linux (intro version only). My goal is to use simetrix as a schem. capture/netlist generator and spice as the number cruncher

wes-ninja250 · 3rd October 2005, 06:33 PM

Neat -- I didn't know Symmetrix was available on a real OS. I've been using it under Windows occasionally for a few years now.

What kind of workstation are you using? If it's an Intel-compatible box, I'd strongly recommend disabling -m64 and popping in -m32 for this type of problem. No need to insist that the SPICE authors wrote 64-bit clean code. (For example, your problem could be triggered if the code inadvertenly stored a pointer in an int, where an int is 32bits long always, but a pointer can be 64 bits in a 64-bit AMD environment.)

For that matter, if you're running SPARC, I'd make the same recommendation, and use SPARC v7 instructions for now. Also, if you're running SPARC, Alpha, POWER, etc, you may be in for some endian issues as well, depending on how well tested that codebase is. And, of course, alignment errors (but those will trigger SIGBUS, not SIGSEGV).

-pipe is irrelevant; -O2 shouldn't cause any trouble, although specifying -O0 may help, depending upon the underlying cause (esp. if you have certain versions of gcc 3.x).

Wes

rif · 3rd October 2005, 08:50 PM

It's just a home built amd64, 1gig ram, nvidia 5500 video -- really nothing extraodinary given that they have those dual core/sli/pci-x stuff out there now.

The m64 flag shouldn't cause any issues -- the gentoo docs say to use it to allow both 64 and 32 bit code. But I wouldn't bet much on that

.

The problem is that gentoo doesn't allow (at least as I know) package dependent C-flags.

Come to think of it, I think I did use a ~amd64 (means testing version) which is almost always OK to use

rif · 3rd October 2005, 10:14 PM

If someone doesn't mid, can you provide a simple, even trivial, deck that is known to work. I'm trying to eliminate sources of this error.

Here's what I'm using:

TEST
V1 1 0 SIN(0.5 0.5 1000)
R1 1 2 1000
R2 2 0 1000
.TRAN 0.01m 2m
.END

mikeks · 5th October 2005, 04:25 AM

Try Simetrix

3rd October 2005, 02:54 PM	#1
rif diyAudio Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Southern NJ	Spice on Linux -- help needed I've just tried for the first time to execute spice on a command line and can't seem to get it to work even for trivial netlists (including known good examples). Any idea where to start to troubleshoot? I use the command: spice test1.net -r test1.out or spice3 test1.net -r test1.out It begins and states the circuit title (from the title in the netlist), but then always gives a "Segmentation Fault". I searched the manuals I could find online, but to no avail.

3rd October 2005, 03:37 PM	#3
wes-ninja250 diyAudio Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Kingston, ON	Segmentation fault literally means that the program tried to access memory outside of the regions (segments) that have been allocated to the program by the operating system. Roughly equivalent to a general protection fault under Windows. In 98% of cases, this is caused by dereferencing NULL (address 0) -- probably because something wasn't set/loaded/configured properly. If you have some programming experience, you can read the core dump with gdb, or follow the program's "work" with strace. These may provide clues. It's a little more difficult under Linux to guess at these types of problems, due to things like the 58 versions of LibC, blah blah blah that that platform has. My immediate recommendation -- if you installed from a package, try building from sources instead. Wes __________________ Do daemons dream of electric sleep()?

3rd October 2005, 04:45 PM	#5
wes-ninja250 diyAudio Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Kingston, ON	If you're one of those Gentoo guys with a 48-line CPPFLAGS (and have no clue what any of the settings do ) -- do yourself a favour and turn everything off that is not essential for building the program. Wes __________________ Do daemons dream of electric sleep()?

3rd October 2005, 06:33 PM	#7
wes-ninja250 diyAudio Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Kingston, ON	Neat -- I didn't know Symmetrix was available on a real OS. I've been using it under Windows occasionally for a few years now. What kind of workstation are you using? If it's an Intel-compatible box, I'd strongly recommend disabling -m64 and popping in -m32 for this type of problem. No need to insist that the SPICE authors wrote 64-bit clean code. (For example, your problem could be triggered if the code inadvertenly stored a pointer in an int, where an int is 32bits long always, but a pointer can be 64 bits in a 64-bit AMD environment.) For that matter, if you're running SPARC, I'd make the same recommendation, and use SPARC v7 instructions for now. Also, if you're running SPARC, Alpha, POWER, etc, you may be in for some endian issues as well, depending on how well tested that codebase is. And, of course, alignment errors (but those will trigger SIGBUS, not SIGSEGV). -pipe is irrelevant; -O2 shouldn't cause any trouble, although specifying -O0 may help, depending upon the underlying cause (esp. if you have certain versions of gcc 3.x). Wes __________________ Do daemons dream of electric sleep()?

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3rd October 2005, 03:27 PM	#2
tlf9999 Account Disabled Join Date: May 2005 Location: none	no linux expert but "segmentation error" is not a spice error message rather a linux/unix error message. likely the program isn't correctly compiled / linked.

3rd October 2005, 03:57 PM	#4
rif diyAudio Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Southern NJ	I'll give that a try tonight. I did install from a package -- I'm running gentoo. But that means it actually compiles the source and doesn't just install pre-existing binaries. Hopefully it's just a config file issue somewhere. If not, I'll give ngspice a try -- I'm not doing anything too fancy

3rd October 2005, 06:01 PM	#6
rif diyAudio Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Southern NJ	I am one of those gentoo guys, but recently scaled down the flags I think I only use 2 or 3 (besides the standard m64, pipe, and O2). I'll try removing those extra ones and re-emerging. Thanks! BTW -- just for reference, simetrix is available on linux (intro version only). My goal is to use simetrix as a schem. capture/netlist generator and spice as the number cruncher

3rd October 2005, 08:50 PM	#8
rif diyAudio Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Southern NJ	It's just a home built amd64, 1gig ram, nvidia 5500 video -- really nothing extraodinary given that they have those dual core/sli/pci-x stuff out there now. The m64 flag shouldn't cause any issues -- the gentoo docs say to use it to allow both 64 and 32 bit code. But I wouldn't bet much on that . The problem is that gentoo doesn't allow (at least as I know) package dependent C-flags. Come to think of it, I think I did use a ~amd64 (means testing version) which is almost always OK to use

3rd October 2005, 10:14 PM	#9
rif diyAudio Member Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Southern NJ	If someone doesn't mid, can you provide a simple, even trivial, deck that is known to work. I'm trying to eliminate sources of this error. Here's what I'm using: TEST V1 1 0 SIN(0.5 0.5 1000) R1 1 2 1000 R2 2 0 1000 .TRAN 0.01m 2m .END

5th October 2005, 04:25 AM	#10
mikeks Account Disabled Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Animal farm	Try Simetrix

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