Add support for Kali GNU/Linux (and generic Debian derivatives)

[Subhankar-hub]

Summary

Building OpenROAD-flow-scripts on Kali GNU/Linux fails at multiple stages due to OS detection not recognizing Kali (or generic Debian derivatives). Since Kali is Debian-based, it should be routed through the existing Debian/Ubuntu installation paths.

Issues Encountered

1. OS detection failure — Both etc/DependencyInstaller.sh and tools/OpenROAD/etc/DependencyInstaller.sh only match "Ubuntu", "Debian GNU/Linux rodete", and "Debian GNU/Linux" exactly. Kali reports its OS as "Kali GNU/Linux", causing an "unsupported system" error.

2. libtcl virtual package — On Kali (and some Debian versions), libtcl is a virtual package with no install candidate. The script needs to fall back to libtcl8.6.

3. Hardcoded libpython3.8 — The Debian install path defaults to libpython3.8, which doesn't exist on newer Debian-based distros (Kali has Python 3.13+). The version should be auto-detected.

4. or-tools download URL — Kali's VERSION_ID is 2025.4, which doesn't correspond to any or-tools release. Non-standard Debian version IDs need to be normalized to a compatible Debian release (e.g., 12).

5. Abseil compiled without -fPIC — On GCC 15 (Kali/Debian Testing), PIE is the default. Abseil static libraries need -DCMAKE_POSITION_INDEPENDENT_CODE=ON to link into PIE executables.

Environment

• OS: Kali GNU/Linux 2025.4 (Rolling, based on Debian Testing)
• GCC: 15.2.0
• glibc: 2.42
• Python: 3.13

Expected Behavior

setup.sh and build_openroad.sh should complete successfully on Kali and other Debian derivatives.

[maliberty]

Kali is not a distro we build or test on. We could accept a community contribution for this but isn't enough demand to justify making it a fully supported platform.

[harsh-kumar-patwa]

Hi, I'd like to work on the ORFS side of this!

The ORFS etc/DependencyInstaller.sh only matches "Ubuntu" and "Debian GNU/Linux rodete" in its OS detection — both "Debian GNU/Linux" and "Kali GNU/Linux" hit the "unsupported system" fallback.

I'll add a "Debian GNU/Linux" | "Kali GNU/Linux" case with a dedicated _installDebianPackages function that:

• Installs the same base apt packages as Ubuntu
• Uses KLayout from Debian repos (available since Debian 11) instead of Ubuntu-specific .deb URLs
• Uses Docker's Debian repo URL instead of Ubuntu's
• Gracefully handles failures with warnings instead of hard exits

Note: fixes #2–#5 from the issue (libtcl, libpython, or-tools, abseil) are in the OpenROAD submodule's DependencyInstaller, which would need a separate PR to that repo.

[harsh-kumar-patwa]

Raised a PR for the ORFS side — #3945

Adds "Debian GNU/Linux" | "Kali GNU/Linux" to the OS detection in etc/DependencyInstaller.sh with a dedicated _installDebianPackages function that uses Debian apt repos for KLayout and Debian Docker repo URLs.

Fixes #2–#5 (libtcl, libpython, or-tools, abseil) are in the OpenROAD submodule's installer and would need a separate PR to that repo.

@UDXS — would appreciate a test on your Kali setup if you get a chance!

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