klayout 0.27.2 crashes on simple gds with AREF

[patrickschulz]

Hi,
I using a layout generator that creates GDSII files. I never had an issue with klayout before, but now it crashes/freezes on a very simple gds. I've narrowed the test case down to a cell with an 3 x 3 AREF. If the layer (0/0) is not displayed at the beginning, everything works fine. I can also display the layer when I descend into the hierarchy (show only the subcell). However, going back or showing the layer in the topcell, the crash occurs. Then, klayout does not react to anything and I have to kill it.

The problem seems to occur with different layer properties/different technology settings. More oddly, an AREF of, say, 2 x 3 works just fine. I'm on archlinux, using klayout version 0.27.2.

The text representation of the gds is (I also attached the binary file):

  HEADER #(   6): { 258 }
  BGNLIB #(  28): { 2021 7 19 9 53 55 2021 7 19 9 53 55 }
 LIBNAME #(  12): { testlib }
   UNITS #(  20): { 1.0 1e-09 }
  BGNSTR #(  28): { 2021 7 19 9 53 55 2021 7 19 9 53 55 }
 STRNAME #(  16): { groundmesh_1 }
BOUNDARY #(   4)
   LAYER #(   6): { 0 }
DATATYPE #(   6): { 0 }
      XY #(  44): { -100 -100 100 -100 100 100 -100 100 -100 -100 }
   ENDEL #(   4)
  ENDSTR #(   4)
  BGNSTR #(  28): { 2021 7 19 9 53 55 2021 7 19 9 53 55 }
 STRNAME #(  12): { toplevel }
    AREF #(   4)
   SNAME #(  16): { groundmesh_1 }
  COLROW #(   8): { 3 3 }
      XY #(  28): { 0 0 600 0 0 600 }
   ENDEL #(   4)
  ENDSTR #(   4)
  ENDLIB #(   4)

test.zip

Thanks, kind regards,
Patrick

[klayoutmatthias]

Hi Patrick,

that is a super simple GDS and should display without issues. It's a perfectly normal GDS and I'm using such GDS files very often and without problems.

I'm afraid I cannot see this issue on my Ubuntu 20 Linux Box:

bug871.mp4

So what is your OS? And do you have any specific arrangements beside this?

Matthias

[patrickschulz]

Hi Matthias,
thanks for your fast reply. My OS is archlinux. A clean .klayout folder helped me narrow down the issue. I can reproduce the bug with a klayoutrc like this:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<config>
  <draw-array-border-instances>true</draw-array-border-instances>
  <full-hierarchy-new-cell>true</full-hierarchy-new-cell>
</config>

But regardless of the value of full-hiearchy-new-cell, when showing the full hierarchy also of an already opened cell, klayout freezes. With draw-array-border-instances set to true, I can't show the full hierarchy.

Does that help? I can also make a video, if that is helpful.

What exactly does draw-array-border-instances do, by the way? I think I enabled it rather accidentally and never had a problem with it. It seems that it somehow (at least for me) has an issue with full hierarchy and a special AREF. Weird.

Kind regards,
Patrick

[klayoutmatthias]

Hi Patrick,

thanks - with this setup I can reproduce the problem.

As a workaround you can avoid draw-array-border-instances for now, but the problem is easy to fix and I'll release that in 0.27.3.

Best regards,

Matthias

[klayoutmatthias]

The questionable option is here:

and is found here:

the effect is that:

I don't think it's really useful but it was requested by users many years ago.

Matthias