kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Werner Almesberger <werner@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Wayne Stambaugh wrote:
> I like being able to embed this information into my schematics.

I'm still puzzled what you're doing where this approach wouldn't
turn into a nightmare before too long :)

Let's see. If you have multiple instances of the same component,
let's say the ubiquitous 100 kOhm 5% resistor in your favourite
package, you either need to copy the same set of fields over for
each of them, or make a separate symbol for each set of resistor
values you use.

It gets worse. Distributors run out of such components all the
time, even big ones like Digi-Key for seemingly trivial stuff
like resistors. They still have of course several functionally
identical parts from different manufacturers.

If you can't afford to wait for the part to get restocked, you
either have to change the distributor or the manufacturer. This
means that you have to go back to your schematics and find and
update all these fields with the new content, or, if you've
chosen the one symbol per set of values approach, update the
library and then update the components from the library.

Same thing when a manufacturer obsoletes and replaces a part.
Idem, when they merge/get bought/split/joint venture/reform and
rename their universe. E.g., some parts went Philips -> NXP ->
ST -> ST Ericsson -> extinction within three or four years.

Do such things just never happen to your projects or is there an
elegant way to deal with them that I've missed ?

> I could use an external file and merge this information with a
> BOM containing the default field information but this is extra work and
> error prone.

Hmm, but you're keeping this information already somewhere, be
it in the symbol library or be it in some file you copy and
paste from ...

- Werner