Minutes, IBIS Quality Task Group

March 19, 2024

12:00-13:00 Eastern Time (09:00-10:00 Pacific Time)

ROLL CALL

Siemens EDA                         Randy Wolff *, Weston Beal *,
                                    Arpad Muranyi 
Teraspeed Labs                      Bob Ross 
Zuken USA                           Lance Wang *
Intel Corp.                         Michael Mirmak *


Everyone in attendance marked by *

NOTE: "AR" = Action Required.

-------------------------------  MINUTES  -------------------------------------
Randy Wolff conducted the meeting.
Weston Beal recorded the minutes.


Call for IBIS related patent disclosures:
 - None


Review of previous meeting minutes:
Minutes from the 12 MAR 2024 meetings were reviewed. Lance Wang moved to
approve the minutes. Weston Beal seconded. Without objection the minutes were
approved.


Call for opens:
 - Michael asked to discussion ibischk parser failures and Fuzzing testing.
 

AR review:
 - Lance will check with Tammy to see if they have a current list of licensees 
   for TSCHK2.
   done. Lance confirmed that he has the most current list.


New ARs:
 - Weston will work with Randy to make a suitable example for tschk testing.


Discussion:
a. TSCHK2.1.0 testing - Randy reported that he has downloaded the latest 
   Windows executable of tschk. Lance was able to download it also with some 
   specific steps to get through security restrictions. Randy asked for an 
   example Touchstone file that has different port resistances and has more 
   than 10 ports. [AR] Weston will work with Randy to make a suitable example. 

   Looking at the conversions of normalized and unnormalized values, Randy 
   compared the conversion math in the tschk specification to Bob's 
   presentation from DesignCon 2024 summit meeting. Randy asked that other 
   people review the math to confirm that all details are correct in the tschk 
   specification and in the executable.

 - fuzzing testing - Michael reports that fuzzing testing is required by 
   Intel for all outgoing software, compiled or scripts. the purpose is to 
   find the input data to a program and probe the program with incorrect data 
   values or types. The purpose is to detect security holes. Intel is also 
   strongly suggesting fuzzing testing on 3rd party software used internally. 
   Michael asked if the group know of any company running fuzzing testing on 
   ibischk parser code. None reported. Fuzzing testing revealed some serious 
   problems in ibischk and IBIS-AMI files. The parser linked into an EDA tool 
   can crash the EDA tool.

 - ibischk parser failures - iassert issues a signal to abort the calling 
   program. Is this a deliberate behavior? Michael suggests that we need to 
   work with the ibischk developer on the behavior of iassert. 

   There is also an associated memory leak error that Michael intends to 
   report in a bug report.

   Michael showed an example of the iassert crash.
     "cmn.c:610:asertion failed."
   reveals some information about the program. The input AMI file is trash. 
   That's why ibischk aborted.


Tabled topics (no discussion without motion):
 - none


Lance moved to adjourn. Michael seconded. Without objection, the meeting ended.

Meeting ended: 12:46 pm ET

Next meeting 26 MAR 2024