kicad-developers team mailing list archive

["tre4lien" <3saints@...>]

--- In kicad-devel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Remy" <kicadder@
...> wrote:
...
> If a library manager / editor is to be considered, 
the following
> features can be incorporated (gradually) :
> library browsing, exploring, searching in « official 
» and in personal
> libraries with criterias, using tags in the files 
(SMD0805, SMD0201,
> EIA7343-xx, through hole, melf, IPC-xxxx, etc) and 
some kind of image
> cache (for symbol or the footprint) or contact sheet.
> library browsing, exploring, searching... on the 
internet, on
> dedicated sites such as kicadlib.org and all the 
others already existing.
> Able to incorporate component evolutions (for 
example : new packages).
> Component (symbol, footprint, ...) designing, 
copying, importing from
> kicad libs or other formats, exporting...
> 
> About schematics and pcb format...another stupid 
idea : because PC can
> handle more and more datas, I imagine an « all-in-
one » project file
> with chapters : schematic, pcb, components, etc. 
Big, too big? Usefull?
> 
> OK, Dick...I'm a dreamer :-) There are not enough 
programmers on
> planet earth!
> 
> Best regards.
> Remy.
>

I am so Excited!  
This is exactly why I keep my name in this group - I 
am an EE student graduating in several weeks and have 
used Kicad throughout my program. The single biggest 
problem I've had with it is synchronizing libraries 
accross all the computers I use, tracking part 
versions, and sharing the component libraries with 
everyone on my project team.

My desire has always been to work towards a point 
where I can make a peer-to-peer Kicad library manager 
- some of the proposals here make the idea infinitely 
easier!

I hope interest in this topic can survive another 
month or so until I graduate and have time to 
contribute!

If we DID have enough resources to migrate to a 
refined structure, what portability/modularity/
searchability characteristics would support new - 
unforseen future toolsets for Kicad? What systems 
have similar design requirements?  

Although I've not put any time into this yet - it 
seems that this design task is very related to 
dependencies management as in distro package managers 
and code version management. This suggests an 
alternate approach which would have a versioning 
database "mounting" and "unmounting" chapters from the 
unified (Portable) Kicad file as elements are 
transported. Unlike the systems I mentioned, the 
versioning would need to be more bottom-up, rather 
than top-down. I think that there are a lot of use-
cases to write out here.

I'm immersed in my final project for my school 
program, but I'll try to at least keep up with the 
ideas here so that if there is anywhere I can help 
after graduation, I'll have some notion of where 
things will fit.