1. A method, comprising: storing in an IC (integrated circuit) design database, an IC design that includes a plurality of master circuits, at least some including a plurality of instances of the master circuit instantiated within components, wherein at least some of the components are arranged in a component hierarchy; accessing the IC design database and generating a log file of hardware violations of one or more defined hardware design violation conditions associated with each instantiation of at least some of the master circuits; converting the log file of all discovered hardware violations to a master log file with a list of hardware violations grouped by the associated master circuit; producing a condensed log file database by: searching the master log file for each hardware violation for each master circuit within each component, including if applicable within a component hierarchy; extracting a first instance of such hardware violation for each master circuit; generating a count of all instances of the hardware violation for each master circuit; arranging the condensed log file according to the extracted first instances of each hardware violation for each master circuit, with the associated count of that hardware violation; and storing the condensed log file in the condensed log file database.