Set divisor instead of absolute value

2 files changed, 10 insertions, 5 deletions

diff --git a/common/kernel/command.cc b/common/kernel/command.cc
index 6d2dc939..65aa0299 100644
--- a/common/kernel/command.cc
+++ b/common/kernel/command.cc
@@ -190,7 +190,7 @@ po::options_description CommandHandler::getGeneralOptions()
                           "placer heap criticality exponent (int, default: 2)");
     general.add_options()("placer-heap-timingweight", po::value<int>(), "placer heap timing weight (int, default: 10)");
     general.add_options()("placer-heap-cell-placement-timeout", po::value<int>(),
-            "allow placer to attempt up to the given number of iterations to place the cell (int, default: design size^2 / 8, 0 for no timeout)");
+            "allow placer to attempt up to max(10000, total cells^2 / N) iterations to place a cell (int N, default: 8, 0 for no timeout)");
 
 #if !defined(__wasm)
     general.add_options()("parallel-refine", "use new experimental parallelised engine for placement refinement");
diff --git a/common/place/placer_heap.cc b/common/place/placer_heap.cc
index ae04118b..781a7646 100644
--- a/common/place/placer_heap.cc
+++ b/common/place/placer_heap.cc
@@ -1817,10 +1817,15 @@ PlacerHeapCfg::PlacerHeapCfg(Context *ctx)
     timing_driven = ctx->setting<bool>("timing_driven");
     solverTolerance = 1e-5;
     placeAllAtOnce = false;
-    cell_placement_timeout = ctx->setting<int>("placerHeap/cellPlacementTimeout",
-            // Set a conservative default. This is a rather large number and could probably
-            // be shaved down, but for now it will keep the process from running indefinite.
-            std::max(10000, (int(ctx->cells.size()) * int(ctx->cells.size()) / 8) + 1));
+
+    int timeout_divisor = ctx->setting<int>("placerHeap/cellPlacementTimeout", 8);
+    if (timeout_divisor > 0) {
+        // Set a conservative default. This is a rather large number and could probably
+        // be shaved down, but for now it will keep the process from running indefinite.
+        cell_placement_timeout = std::max(10000, (int(ctx->cells.size()) * int(ctx->cells.size()) / timeout_divisor));
+    } else {
+        cell_placement_timeout = 0;
+    }
 
     hpwl_scale_x = 1;
     hpwl_scale_y = 1;