Re: gEDA-user: gsch2pcb deleting almost all elements

[Peter Clifton <pcjc2@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Tue, 2008-09-09 at 20:54 +0200, David Kuehling wrote:
> >>>>> "Peter" == Peter Clifton <pcjc2@xxxxxxxxx> writes:
> 
> > On Mon, 2008-09-08 at 17:53 +0200, David Kuehling wrote:
> >> I can't find the reason for that error.  Is there any way I can make
> >> gsch2pcb give some more output about _why_ it chose to delete an
> >> element?  Is anything known about that anomaly?
> 
> > From the output, it doesn't appear to be trying to re-add the
> > components it deleted either. I wonder if it plain can't find them on
> > disk anymore, or if there is some other problem with the design not
> > matching the PCB board.
> 
> Yes, PCB seems to think that: after some more experimenting, adding
> option --preserve tells me for all elements previously deleted, that
> they are not contained in my schematic.
> 
> > The output might suggest that the netlist / parts list produced by
> > your gsch2pcb.project isn't actually matching your board. Do you have
> > multiple schematics or hierarchy in the project?
> 
> I have multiple schematics, and all are listed in the gsch2pcb.project
> file.  Not hierarchy.  
> 
> The strange thing is: if I remove my board_new.pcb file, and run
> gsch2pcb, everything works fine, and *all* components are successfully
> added to a newly created PCB design:
> 
>   rm board_new.pcb
>   gsch2pcb -v -v -v "gsch2pcb.project" -o "board_new"
>   [..]
>   ----------------------------------
>   Done processing.  Work performed:
>   0 file elements and 107 m4 elements added to board_new.pcb.
> 
> So somehow an already existing pcb file, for which merging is attempted,
> has an influence on generation or parsing of the pcb-file generated by
> the spawned gnetlist process.
> 
> > Check the resulting netlist, are all components appearing to show up,
> > or are some missing?
> 
> Yes, the netlist is fine, even if board_new.pcb previously existed, and
> most of my elements got delted.
> 
> > Do you get any errors in a gnetlist.log?
> 
> Well yes, many minor things ("symbol version mismatch", "Found an
> improper attribute"...), but nothing consistent with the selection of
> elements that get removed.
> 
> Looks like I have to get my hands dirty and run gsch2pcb from within
> gdb...
> 
> BTW I'm running gsch2pcb 1.6, included with Ubuntu 7.10's geda-utils
> package version 1.0.1.20070626.

Its a little old, but I can't remember any particular bug-fixes to
gsch2pcb since then. A few command line options have been added, but
nothing jumps out.

Try running gnetlist manually:

(E.g. for one of my designs..)

gnetlist -g gsch2pcb  winch-board.sch winch-channel1.sch   
  winch-channel2.sch winch-channel3.sch winch-channel4.sch 
  winch-channel5.sch winch-channel6.sch -o test.output

I get a file test.output, which lists all components:


> # release: pcb 1.6.3
> PCB("" 6000 5000)
> Grid(10 0 0)
> Cursor(0 0 3)
> Flags(0x000000d0)
> Groups("1,2,3,s:4,5,6,c:7:8:")
> Styles("Signal,10,40,20:Power,25,60,35:Fat,40,60,35:Skinny,8,36,20")
> PKG_0805(0805,C53,0u1)
> PKG_ACY400(ACY400,R36,10K)
> PKG_FUSEHOLDER-2250P-2200L-900W(FUSEHOLDER-2250P-2200L-900W,F1,4A)
> PKG_0805(0805,C52,1uF)
> PKG_ACY400(ACY400,R35,10K)
> 
> [etc...]
> 
Do your missing components appear in this list? (I'd guess they probably
do, as gsch2pcb with a blank board works).

If you're able to and you're stuck with debugging, you could send me the
relevant files and I can have a poke around at what is causing the
problem.

Sometimes PCB would deem to replace a component on the board if the
description in PCB doesn't match gsch2pcb's idea of the right footprint,
but since it isn't re-adding your elements, it would appear something
more sinister is going on.

One last common gotcha.. do any of your compoennt footprints have "-" in
them? If so, (and you're not using M4 footprints), try running gsch2pcb
with --skip-m4

In any case, I'd really like to get to the bottom of this problem.

Best wishes,

-- 
Peter Clifton

Electrical Engineering Division,
Engineering Department,
University of Cambridge,
9, JJ Thomson Avenue,
Cambridge
CB3 0FA

Tel: +44 (0)7729 980173 - (No signal in the lab!)



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