Ship a revised Verilog-2001

From: Stuart Sutherland (stuart@sutherland-hdl.com)
Date: Wed Feb 26 2003 - 16:18:18 PST

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    All,

    In a hallway conversation at DVCon, a valid concern from an EDA vendor was
    brought up. The concern is that they need a version of the 1364-2001 LRM
    that reflects all of the ETF work has done. This vendor is concerned that
    if the 1364 committee begins to add enhancements to 1364, they will have to
    wait much longer for "clean" Verilog-2001 LRM. They are equally concerned
    that some EDA vendors will use the current 1364-2001 LRM--with all its
    formatting and other errata--as an excuse to postpone implementing
    Verilog-2001.

    I agree with this vendor. The current LRM being distributed by the IEEE is
    too difficult to use due to the many formatting errata the IEEE added to
    the document. The many additional errata/clarifications that have been
    approved by the ETF make the current LRM even less usable. We should have
    a clean, up-to-date LRM as a baseline for when we begin to add enhancements.

    My question to the ETF, then, is how can we publish an updated, cleaned up
    version of the 1364-2001, before we move on to adding enhancements? My
    strong preference is that the updated version is still identified as
    1364-2001, perhaps with a "rev A", or something to indicate it has been
    updated.

    I had an opportunity to ask Gabe Moretti this question. His recommendation
    was:

    a) publish a compendium that lists all the errata and corrections. No
    re-balloting would be involved, but the corrections would be a separate
    document, and not part of the published 1364-2001 LRM.

    b) Use the current PAR that is due to be approved in March for a 1264-2004,
    to rush through a corrected LRM. A re-ballot would be necessary, but Gabe
    said if the ballot clearly indicates that the new LRM is correcting
    typographical errors, the ballot process should be very quick. It would be
    possible to have an updated LRM balloted and done in time for the 2003
    December REVCOM.

    The first option is simple, but means but user's would have to manually
    mark corrections in their existing 1264-2001 LRMs (or keeping flipping back
    and forth between multiple PDF files). I think most, if not all, readers
    of the LRM would like a clean, revised LRM.

    The second option, if I understand Gabe correctly, means there would be a
    1364-2003, that has no new language features from 1364-2001. I am not keen
    about this, but am willing to live with it, if that is the only way to get
    a clean Verilog-2001 LRM.

    I hope to hear some feedback on my thoughts...

    Stu

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Stuart Sutherland Sutherland HDL Inc.
    stuart@sutherland-hdl.com 22805 SW 92nd Place
    phone: 503-692-0898 Tualatin, OR 97062
    www.sutherland-hdl.com
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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