kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Jerry Jacobs <xor.gate.engineering@xxxxxxxxx>]

The "stange extensions" refer to the layer that is plotted to gerber.
Look at http://wiki.altium.com/display/ADOH/Gerber+Output+Options

The names are aliases for the corresponding layers:

gbl = Gerber bottom layer (solder)
gbs = Gerber bottom silkscreen (mask)
gto = Gerber top overlay
gbr = Gerber (generic)
gts = Gerber top silkscreen (mask)
gtp = Gerber top layer (solder)

Correct me if I'm wrong.

On 02/19/2011 03:36 PM, Werner Almesberger wrote:
> Wolfgang Spraul wrote:
>>    -p, --plot=<str>                              	plots the board 
[hpgl|gerber|ps|ps_a4|dxf]
>>    -l, --layers=<str>                            	comma separated 
list of layer names (default: all enabled layers)
>
> I'm getting a bit of strangeness with the automatic layer selection and
> pcbnew --plot=gerber:
>
> When I plot my atben project [1] "manually" from pcbnew, the Gerber
> files are named
>
>    atben-Back.gbl         atben-Comments.gbr     atben-Front.gtl
>    atben-Mask_Back.gbs    atben-Mask_Front.gts   atben-PCB_Edges.gbr
>    atben-SilkS_Front.gto  atben-SoldP_Front.gtp
>
> I never investigated what the last letter in the extension meant, but
> the second one seem to consistently indicate front ("top") or back.
>
> Now, with  pcbnew --plot=gerber --fill-all-zones -l  I get these strange
> extensions:
>
>    atben-Back.gbr         atben-Comments.gbr     atben-Front.gba
>    atben-Mask_Back.gts    atben-Mask_Front.gbr   atben-PCB_Edges.gbr
>    atben-SilkS_Front.gbs  atben-SoldP_Front.gbo
>
> If I specify the layers explicitly with -l, I get the "normal" result
> again: pcbnew --plot=gerber \
> -l `pcbnew --list-layers atben.brd | tr '\012' ,` \
> --fill-all-zones atben.brd
>
>    atben-Back.gbl         atben-Comments.gbr     atben-Front.gtl
>    atben-Mask_Back.gbs    atben-Mask_Front.gts   atben-PCB_Edges.gbr
>    atben-SilkS_Front.gto  atben-SoldP_Front.gtp
>
> If the default worked too, this already wonderful defense against
> unpleasant surprises would be even less surprising :)
>
> [1] 
http://projects.qi-hardware.com/index.php/p/ben-wpan/source/tree/master/atben
>
> Thanks,
> - Werner