2015-06-07 0:35 GMT+02:00 Henner Zeller <[email protected]>: > Hi, > So while developing and setting up a new system, it is not really > clear to me how to set up all the paths. Right now I can't seem to > find a simple way, only something that feels a bit too complicated. > > 1) Installing libraries > (I do _not_ use the git-plugin but rather prefer local installation) > > To get a fresh setup of libraries, I am running > scripts/library-repos-install.sh > I am doing that with a custom path (WORKING_TREE=/usr/local/share/kicad) > > under $WORKING_DIR, it creates library-repos, under which it unpacks > > $WORKING_TREE/library-repos/kicad-library > with schematic symbols and 3d packages > and unpacks all pretty directories in there as well: > > $WORKING_TREE/library-repos/*.pretty > > so far so good. > > 2) setting the environment variables > > Now running a freshly compiled KiCad does of course not find the > libraries. In fact, without any environment variables present, it > apparently assumes these: > > KIGITHUB=https://github.com/KiCad > KISYS3DMOD=/usr/local/modules/packages3d > KISYSMOD=/usr/local/modules
It seems strange to me that those *MOD paths are missing the string kicad in it. > (which it writes to ~/.config/kicad/kcad_common). This seems to be > bogus to me; I can imagine that it extracts that from the compile > PREFIX somehow, but I'd expect it to append a share/kicad or something > to it. IIRC those paths are able to be set at build time for packagers. > After copying the fp-lib-table and setting the enviroment variable as > suggested in the script > > cp $WORKING_TREES/library-repos/kicad-library/template/fp-lib-table.for-pretty > ~/.config/kicad/fp-lib-table > export KISYSMOD=$WORKING_TREES/library-repos > > .. eeschema still does not find the libraries. > > for that, I have found that I can set KICAD to that directory > export KICAD=$WORKING_TREES/library-repos/kicad-library > > Now, 3D viewing _still_ does not work. Yet another environment > variable has to be set > export > KISYS3DMOD=$WORKING_TREES/library-repos/kicad-library/modules/packages3d > > 3) Findings > Kicad only works with the libraries with a little of manual-work. > Three environment variables have to be set to get going. Given > WORKING_TREES as the chosen location in the install script, these are > the environment variables: > > export KICAD=$WORKING_TREES/library-repos/kicad-library > export KISYSMOD=$WORKING_TREES/library-repos > export > KISYS3DMOD=$WORKING_TREES/library-repos/kicad-library/modules/packages3d > > 4) Question > Am I am doing something wrong here, or is this really needed this way ? Well, there is already the footprint wizard in the pcbnew -> preferences -> footprint libries wizard, in which you can add all the repos from github easily. But I have just noticed that it only downloads a zip or something of the repo, not the git attributes that make it a git repo itself. Also, are you sure that a normal user would like to save the libraries in the system paths? As you did abouve with the scripts/library-repos-install.sh script? IMHO the footprint wizards should be enhanced to save the libraries as git repos. > 5) Suggestion > I know I have not been actively developing recently, so I can't really > complain. But I would like to see it working this way: > > - We have a defined standard layout of how libraries are checked > out/installed locally. Say in $PREFIX/share/kicad. The install script > does already something like that, so that could be the defined > standard way (though some re-structuring might be useful). I don't think this install script is intended for normal users. > - There is only _one_ environment variable to be set, pointing to > the root of this directory (KICAD_SYSTEM_LIBS or something) This assumes that the complete schematic library (which contains the 3D models by some unknown reason) is also fetched to that same location. > - This environment variable is pre-set to $PREFIX/share/kicad (or > to the eqivalent path on where typically data files reside on other > platforms). Who defines this $PREFIX? > Would this be a good goal before a new, stable release ? I think it > will help users and make software-packagers happy. I think it would be good to enhance the wizard to download the repos as git repos. Setting a default environment variable path will be hard to match _all_ systems. > Cheers, > Henner. > > _______________________________________________ > Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers > Post to : [email protected] > Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers > More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp _______________________________________________ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers Post to : [email protected] Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
