The gnetman project has one simple goal: Enabling interoperability between open-source EDA tools. To date, gnetman can read and/or write (in theory) formats used by the following tools:
gschem -> .sch files -> gnetman
iverilog <--> gate-level Verilog <--> gnetman
gnetman <--> spice netlist -> ltspice or hspice or eldo or gnucap or tclspice
confluence -> gate-level Verilog -> gnetman
Other formats that still need support to be developed in gnetman include:
gate-level VHDL
EDIF netlists
In addition, an automatic schematic generator from gnetman to gschem would be highly desirable.
Gnetman can be linked as a shared or static library into any open-source EDA tool. It also has a command-line version that takes TCL scripts and command-line arguments in order to translate file formats. The latest version of gnetman is gnetman-29Apr05.tar.gz.
There is a README file in the gnetman directory that explains how to use it. The primary use so far has been for complex IC design, including mixed-signal ICs. Supported features include multi-level hierarchy, instance arrays, and buses. If you're just doing flat designs for PC boards or spice simulations, the usual path is to use the spice-sdb netlister for gnetlist.
Reality dictates that I probably wont be able work much on gnetman advanced features, at least until the SoC Builder is well under way.
Another open-source project hosted at this site is DataDraw. This is an EDA specific data structure diagramming and code generation tool. The latest version of DataDraw is datadraw-13Feb05.tar.gz
Anyone interested in understanding the code base can look at the Gnetman Programming page.
If you have questions or ideas for either project, feel free to send me e-mail at bill@viasic.com. I've also been reading the geda-user mailing list from the geda.seul.org site.
Bill Cox