KLayout 0.29.8 (2024-11-26 926dac96c) [master]

The Diff Tool

As the XOR tool, the Diff tool performs a comparison of two layouts. In contrast to the XOR tool, it does a cell-by-cell and object-by-object comparison and reports differing cells, instances and geometrical objects. In effect, the comparison is more strict and not purely geometry-related. It does not verify the identity of the layouts on mask level but rather the exact identity of the objects that comprise the layout file. On the other hand, the Diff tool usually detects the actual changes rather than their effect on geometry.

Usually, that kind of comparison is very sensitive to "cosmetic" changes, i.e. cell renaming. KLayout's Diff tool tries to mitigate this effect with these features:

The Diff tool is found in the "Tools" menu. In this dialog:

The Diff tool will create a marker database and show the results in the marker database browser.