kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Tomasz Wlostowski <tomasz.wlostowski@xxxxxxx>]

On 02/04/2014 12:57 PM, Brian Sidebotham wrote:
> I suspect it's all just a documentation issue too as someone else
> suggested because it's so easy to branch the code and generate a patch
> using Bazaar.
>
> Perhaps the best place for anyone who has decided Bazaar is dead (it
> works for me by the way!) and therefore cannot contribute (and
> particularly git fans) is to look at the Inkscape wiki:
> http://www.inkscape.org/en/develop/getting-started/
Hi Brian,

> Or, you can just...
>
> bzr checkout lp:kicad
> bzr branch ./kicad ./kicad-feature

$bzr branch ./kicad-master kicad-feat1

Takes ~half a minute on a core i7-m620. This I can live with...

$du -h ./kicad-feat1
203M

Now combine this with all dependencies (boost!) that get downloaded and 
compiled by cmake for each branch. Being a lazy git user, I feel like 
switching from a Ferrari to a Fiat Multipla (with broken engine...).

> I agree, we should probably have a wiki page similar to Inkscape's,
> but Inkscape has many more contributors compared to KiCad. PCB design
> is less popular than vector graphics in general.

I noticed that Inkscape guys have two very nice features that kicad 
could greatly benefit from:
- git-bzr-ng: a git plugin that lets git users clone from/push to a 
bazaar repo. I gave it a quick try and it seems to satisfy my needs :) 
Maybe this will let us avoid another holy war between bzr and git 
worshippers.
- a separate repo or archives with all compiled, *binary* dependencies, 
at least for Windows. Compiling half of the system libraries just to 
build a single program was fun for me when I was 14. Since then I grew 
up and uninstalled Gentoo...

After reading Adam's last email, I think that a complete binary 
archive/installer for all platforms would make sense (including our own 
boost/wx libs, just like LibreOffice/Mozilla). Just unpack or run the 
installer and enjoy!

Keep in mind that most of current and potential Kicad users aren't 
hardcore programmers and/or hate compiling and installing software (like 
myself). If getting Kicad to run takes more effort than install or 
pirate a proprietary tool, we are shooting ourselves in the foot.

-- my 5 cents,

Tom

PS. Since Brian switched to Linux, do we have any native Windows 
developers actively participating in Kicad? I have an impression that 
Kicad is becoming more and more Linux-ish (for example: relying a lot on 
environmental variables, shell scripts necessary to make stuff work)? If 
there are any native Windows users on this list, I'm asking for your 
opinion.