docs/wiki/geda-gnetlist_ug-netlist_backends.html

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  12 <a href=.>start</a>&nbsp;=>&nbsp;<a href=geda-gnetlist_ug.html>gnetlist_ug</a></br>
  13 <div class="table sectionedit1"><table class="inline">
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  15                 <td class="col0 leftalign"> « <a href="geda-gnetlist_ug-input_output_files.html" class="wikilink1" title="geda-gnetlist_ug-input_output_files.html">Input &amp; output files</a>  </td><td class="col1 centeralign">  <strong><a href="geda-gnetlist_ug.html" class="wikilink1" title="geda-gnetlist_ug.html">gEDA gnetlist User Guide</a></strong>     </td><td class="col2 rightalign">  <a href="geda-gnetlist_ug-basic_netlisting.html" class="wikilink1" title="geda-gnetlist_ug-basic_netlisting.html">Basic netlisting</a> » </td>
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  18 <!-- EDIT1 TABLE [1-187] -->
  19 <h2 class="sectionedit2" id="netlist_backends">Netlist backends</h2>
  20 <div class="level2">
  21
  22 <p>
  23 Normally, gnetlist generates a netlist in two steps.
  24 </p>
  25 <ol>
  26 <li class="level1"><div class="li"> The gnetlist frontend uses the human-readable schematic files to construct an intermediate form of the design.</div>
  27 </li>
  28 <li class="level1"><div class="li"> A <em>netlist backend</em> is used to extract information from the intermediate form and write it out to disk.</div>
  29 </li>
  30 </ol>
  31
  32 <p>
  33 Most backends are used to write out electrical connectivity information in a machine-readable format for use by other tools.  For example, the “liquidpcb” backend is used to generate a netlist to use when designing a circuit board with <a href="http://www.liquidpcb.org/" class="urlextern" title="http://www.liquidpcb.org/" rel="nofollow">LiquidPCB</a>, and the “spice-sdb” backend is often used to create netlists for use with the SPICE simulator.
  34 </p>
  35
  36 <p>
  37 Backends may have other uses, however.  For example, the “bom2” backend is used for generating a list of components used (a “Bill of Materials”), and the “drc2” backend carries out “design rule checking” (i.e. checking a design for commonly-made errors and potential problems).
  38 </p>
  39
  40 <p>
  41 A summary of all the netlist backends distributed with gnetlist is provided in the gnetlist manpage (which you can view by running <code>man gnetlist</code>).
  42 </p>
  43 <div class="notetip">If none of the distributed backends do what you need, you can write and install your own! For more information, see the <a href="geda-gnetlist_scheme_tutorial.html" class="wikilink1" title="geda-gnetlist_scheme_tutorial.html">Scripting a gnetlist backend in Scheme</a> tutorial.
  44 </div>
  45 </div>
  46 <!-- EDIT2 SECTION "Netlist backends" [189-1522] -->
  47 <h3 class="sectionedit3" id="specifying_a_backend">Specifying a backend</h3>
  48 <div class="level3">
  49
  50 <p>
  51 Use the <code>-g</code> option to indicate which backend you would like gnetlist to run.  For example, to run the “bom2” backend:
  52 </p>
  53 <pre class="code">gnetlist -g bom2</pre>
  54
  55 </div>
  56 <!-- EDIT3 SECTION "Specifying a backend" [1523-1709] -->
  57 <h3 class="sectionedit4" id="listing_backends">Listing backends</h3>
  58 <div class="level3">
  59
  60 <p>
  61 To view a list of installed backends, use the <code>--list-backends</code> command-line option:
  62 </p>
  63 <pre class="code">gnetlist --list-backends</pre>
  64
  65 <p>
  66 This will print a list of all the backends that gnetlist can find.
  67 </p>
  68
  69 </div>
  70 <!-- EDIT4 SECTION "Listing backends" [1710-1938] -->
  71 <h3 class="sectionedit5" id="interactive_mode">Interactive mode</h3>
  72 <div class="level3">
  73
  74 <p>
  75 An alternative to running a backend is to use <em>interactive mode</em>.  When the <code>-i</code> option is used, gnetlist creates the intermediate form from the schematic files, and then enters a Scheme REPL (Read-Eval-Print Loop).  This allows you to run Scheme commands and inspect the output, which can be useful for troubleshooting and to enable some advanced netlist processing techniques.
  76 </p>
  77
  78 </div>
  79 <!-- EDIT5 SECTION "Interactive mode" [1939-] --></body>
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