The .alias for nets is no longer useful.

In the olden days, the .alias was necessary to create a net name
that is an alias to an existing net in the netlist. But now that
the .net no longer creates a node in the netlist, ALL .net objects
are aliases of a sort, so this (mis)feature gets in the way.

tgt-vvp/vvp_scope.c

@@ -544,14 +544,22 @@ static void draw_net_in_scope(ivl_signal_t sig)
 		    /* Finally, we may have an alias that is a word
 		       connected to another word. Again, this is a
 		       case of port collapsing. */
+		  int strength_aware_flag = 0;
+		  const char*vec8 = "";
+		  if (nex_data->flags&VVP_NEXUS_DATA_STR)
+			strength_aware_flag = 1;
+		  if (nex_data->drivers_count > 1)
+			vec8 = "8";
+		  if (strength_aware_flag)
+			vec8 = "8";
 
-		    /* For the alias, create a different kind of node
-		       that refers to the alias source data instead of
-		       holding our own data. */
-		  fprintf(vvp_out, "v%p_%u .alias%s \"%s\", %d %d, v%p_%u;\n",
-			  sig, iword, datatype_flag,
-			  vvp_mangle_name(ivl_signal_basename(sig)),
-			  msb, lsb, nex_data->net, nex_data->net_word);
+		  fprintf(vvp_out, "v%p_%u .net%s%s %s\"%s\", %d %d, %s;"
+				" alias, %u drivers%s\n",
+				sig, iword, vec8, datatype_flag, local_flag,
+				vvp_mangle_name(ivl_signal_basename(sig)),
+				msb, lsb, driver,
+				nex_data->drivers_count,
+				strength_aware_flag?", strength-aware":"");
 	    }
       }
 }

vvp/compile.h

@@ -451,12 +451,6 @@ extern void compile_netw_real(char*label, char*array_symbol,
 			      int msb, int lsb,
 			      unsigned argc, struct symb_s*argv);
 
-extern void compile_alias(char*label, char*name,
-			  int msb, int lsb, bool signed_flag,
-			  unsigned argc, struct symb_s*argv);
-extern void compile_alias_real(char*label, char*name,
-			       int msb, int lsb,
-			       unsigned argc, struct symb_s*argv);
 extern void compile_aliasw(char*label, char*array_symbol,
 			   unsigned long array_addr, int msb, int lsb,
 			   unsigned argc, struct symb_s*argv);

vvp/lexor.lex

@@ -101,7 +101,6 @@ static char* strdupnew(char const *str)
   /* These are some keywords that are recognized. */
 ".alias"      { return K_ALIAS; }
 ".alias/real" { return K_ALIAS_R; }
-".alias/s"    { return K_ALIAS_S; }
 ".abs"          { return K_ARITH_ABS; }
 ".arith/div"    { return K_ARITH_DIV; }
 ".arith/div.r"  { return K_ARITH_DIV_R; }

vvp/parse.y

@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ static struct __vpiModPath*modpath_dst = 0;
       vvp_delay_t*cdelay;
 };
 
-%token K_A K_ALIAS K_ALIAS_S K_ALIAS_R
+%token K_A K_ALIAS K_ALIAS_R
 %token K_ARITH_ABS K_ARITH_DIV K_ARITH_DIV_R K_ARITH_DIV_S K_ARITH_MOD
 %token K_ARITH_MOD_R K_ARITH_MOD_S
 %token K_ARITH_MULT K_ARITH_MULT_R K_ARITH_SUB K_ARITH_SUB_R
@@ -661,18 +661,6 @@ statement
     ',' symbols_net ';'
       { compile_net_real($1, $4, $6, $7, $3, $9.cnt, $9.vect); }
 
-  | T_LABEL K_ALIAS T_STRING ',' signed_t_number signed_t_number
-    ',' symbols_net ';'
-      { compile_alias($1, $3, $5, $6, false, $8.cnt, $8.vect); }
-
-  | T_LABEL K_ALIAS_S T_STRING ',' signed_t_number signed_t_number
-    ',' symbols_net ';'
-      { compile_alias($1, $3, $5, $6, true, $8.cnt, $8.vect); }
-
-  | T_LABEL K_ALIAS_R T_STRING ',' signed_t_number signed_t_number
-    ',' symbols_net ';'
-      { compile_alias_real($1, $3, $5, $6, $8.cnt, $8.vect); }
-
   /* Arrayed versions of net directives. */
 
         | T_LABEL K_NET T_SYMBOL T_NUMBER ','

vvp/words.cc

@@ -485,20 +485,3 @@ void compile_aliasw(char*label, char*array_label, unsigned long array_addr,
       free(argv[0].text);
       free(argv);
 }
-
-/*
- * The .alias is practically identical to a .net. We create all the
- * VPI stuff for the new name (and put it in the local scope) but
- * reference the node in the net.
- */
-void compile_alias(char*label, char*name, int msb, int lsb, bool signed_flag,
-		 unsigned argc, struct symb_s*argv)
-{
-      __compile_net(label, name, 0, 0, msb, lsb, signed_flag, false, false, argc, argv);
-}
-
-void compile_alias_real(char*label, char*name, int msb, int lsb,
-		      unsigned argc, struct symb_s*argv)
-{
-      __compile_real(label, name, 0, 0, msb, lsb, false, argc, argv);
-}