
Minutes, IBIS Quality Task Group

25 January 2022

12:00-13:00 EST (09:00-10:00 PST)

ROLL CALL

ANSYS                               Curtis Clark
Intel Technology                    Michael Mirmak
Micron Technology                 * Randy Wolff
Siemens EDA                         Weston Beal
Signal Integrity Software:        * Mike LaBonte
Teraspeed Labs:                   * Bob Ross
Zuken USA:                        * Lance Wang

Everyone in attendance marked by *

NOTE: "AR" = Action Required.

-----------------------MINUTES ---------------------------
Mike LaBonte conducted the meeting.

Call for IBIS related patent disclosures:

- None


Call for opens:

- None


Review of previous meeting minutes:
Minutes from the January 18, 2021 meeting were reviewed. Randy  Wolff moved to accept the
minutes.  Bob Ross seconded the motion.  Without objection, the minutes were approved.


ARs:
- AR: Mike LaBonte to write ibischk bug report to eliminate system calls
  Done. BUG229.
- AR: Mike LaBonte to investigate why E0730 is printed only with -emd
  Done.
- AR: Weston Beal to prepare presentation on IBIS Quality Specification and checklist
  No report.


NEW ITEMS:

IBISCHK710 development:
Bob Ross said the updated message spreadsheet had been received from the developer.  Mike
LaBonte showed the IBISCHK7 User Guide WIP3 he had drafted using that spreadsheet.  He
noticed that the copyright year needed to be updated.  Also EMS file types were not
covered in a few places where they should have been.  Bob said now that the message tables
were in the document, the count of error messages needed an update.  He said the last line
of the spreadsheet would help with that.

Mike noted that the first two lines in the message table were "W,E6413" and "E,B6801".
Those were not in correct sort order.  Mike asked how check 6801 could be either B or E.
Randy suggested having separate lines for those.  Mike and Bob agreed.  Mike noted that
the E,B6801 CMODEL_ERR_1 message was about a memory failure, which was normal for "B" bug
messages.  He would update the document.  Bob suggested sending out WIP4 for review in
advance.

AR: Mike LaBonte to send updated draft IBISCHK7.1.0 User Guide for review
AR: Mike LaBonte to investigate CMODEL_ERR_1 E,B confusion


Parser bug reports:

BUG228:
Mike LaBonte said we had previously discussed making the check retroactive to IBIS file
versions prior to 7.0.  Randy Wolff said that should be done specifically when the .ibs
file is referenced from EMD.  Directly checking the .ibs would not be retroactive, it
would be checked for its own [IBIS Ver].  Bob Ross said we would get two messages or one,
depending on the .ibs file version.

Mike said we should fix the problem where the geIbisVersion variable was being used to
select checks for .ibis files, instead of the geFileVersion variable.  Bob said that may
not be a bug. He felt the behavior was closer to what we wanted.  Mike felt it was
unintentional, but he said we might let it go for now.

Randy asked what the difference was between the E0730 and E5808 checks.  The messages
seemed very similar.  Mike suggested asking the developer.  Randy said the .ibs file in
the Micron testcase was a clear problem for EMD.  He asked if all applicable IBISCHK
checks should be checked for IBIS 7.1 compliance under EMD, or just E5808 and E0730.  We
agreed that all IBIS 7.1 checks should be applied when the file was used as part of an EMD
file set.

A new message was crafted to explain why the file was being checked for compliance with a
newer specification:

  Checking bug228.ibs for IBIS 7.1 Compatibility. The file has [IBIS Ver] 5.1. However,
  IBIS 7.1 compatibility is required for IBIS files referenced from EMD.

Bob noted that the file would result in two error messages.  Mike asked if it should
always be an IBIS 7.1 check, the release in which EMD appeared, or should it be whatever
IBIS version the EMD file used.  Randy felt it should be the EMD version, which someday
could be 8.0, with new requirements.

AR: Bob Ross to update BUG228


BUG229:
Mike LaBonte showed a draft of BUG229, "External package model fails on Windows with UNC
working directory".  He described the bug.  Mike said that the testcase would always pass
on Linux, and it would pass on Windows as long as the .ibs file was not in a directory
using a UNC path.  Bob suggested adding a warning to alert users.  Mike said there was a
simple solution using standard POSIX functions to read the directory, avoiding the system
calls.

Randy Wolff asked it the bug should be introduced in the Friday IBIS Open Forum meeting.
We agreed to wait, because BUG228 was expected to consume significant meeting time.


IBIS quality checklist:
No discussion.


Tabled topics (no discussion without motion):
  - BIRD181.2o
  - IBISCHK security fixes


Randy Wolff moved moved to adjourn. Bob Ross seconded. Without objection the meeting ended.

Meeting ended: 13:04 ET

Next meeting February 1, 2022

