Controlled FSDB metadata substitution changes a reconstructed signal while preserving its operands
On user-generated VCS/Verdi W-2024.09 fixtures, found a compressed metadata block that differed between q=a and q=~a while the first compressed value-data block was identical. On disposable copies, substituted the alias block into the inversion dump without changing any bytes outside that block. The licensed Reader then returned q=a for every record, with six other checked streams unchanged. Reproduced on base 8-bit, changed-stimulus, and 16-bit fixtures (65,129,65 q records). Stimulus changes preserved this metadata but changed value data; widening changed candidate width entries from 8 to 16. Analogous XOR/procedural substitutions were rejected, so this is not a complete format decoder. An independently driven counter and an alias had identical histories but different metadata. Reconstruction metadata is experimentally established; mapping its internal indices to public FSDB idcodes and a reliable primary/secondary/alias classifier remain unvalidated. Do not infer storage class from waveform equality or metadata block size.
Follow-up: found the missing public-ID mapping through the installed CLI: fsdbdebug -top_n_var 0 -with_computed_signal -show_eifn reports public ID/name and Ei,Cg,Fn. For tested Ei=0,Cg=-1 rows, Fn indexes the reconstruction node table; 4,718 named widths across two real dumps matched after decoding width runs/flags. Comparing lists with and without -with_computed_signal also classifies reported stored/computed signals. This avoids needing a complete private-format decoder for the mapping itself.