kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Adam Wolf <adamwolf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Wayne,

When dealing with Kicad's internals, I often have the perspective of a
packager, and sometimes that makes me have weird ideas.

I remember the search path discussions and the issues where it was
impossible to tell which footprint got picked.  I don't want to bring that
back.

Right now, KISYS3DMOD has a default value defined in code if the
environment variable isn't set.  What about if there is a default value for
all of the standard environment variables?

I'm not sure what everyone else thinks, but defining those default values
in CMake might actually be a good idea--then packagers can modify them
without patching, but it wouldn't be a problem either if we just split it
up into Lin/Win/OSX sections in the code.

Adam Wolf
Cofounder and Engineer
W&L

On Thu, Jan 8, 2015 at 7:44 AM, Wayne Stambaugh <stambaughw@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

> Fully defined paths can be used in the fp-lib-table if that is your
> preference.  Environment variable substitution is optional.  You are
> free to use any environment variable you want.  KISYSMOD is merely the
> variable name used for the default footprint library path.  I use
> KILCLMOD to point to the path of my custom footprint libraries.  I set
> these paths to the same disk partition and and path in both windows and
> linux so I'm always using the same footprint libraries when I'm
> developing on either platform.
>
> On 1/8/2015 8:33 AM, Adam Wolf wrote:
> > Maybe.  For KISYSMOD, I am not sure if it is used anywhere in the source.
> >
> > I do not think your work around would work for KISYS3DMOD, though.
> >
> > On Jan 8, 2015 7:29 AM, "Miguel Ángel Ajo" <majopela@xxxxxxxxxx
> > <mailto:majopela@xxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
> >
> >     Can’t users just change that reference to their own path on their
> >     own fp-lib-table
> >     instead of the ENV var reference if they don’t want the system
> modules?
> >
> >     That would be reasonable enough to me.
> >
> >
> >
> >     Miguel Ángel Ajo
> >
> >     On Thursday, 8 de January de 2015 at 13:53, Adam Wolf wrote:
> >
> >>     I hear what you're saying.
> >>
> >>     I don't really like the idea of using environment variables to
> >>     drive the behavior of GUI programs, especially in OS X.  They're
> >>     tricky in OS X, and they're hard to explain to a lot of users.
> >>
> >>     Fixing this through changing the behavior of how KISYSMOD and
> >>     probably the other environment variables work in Kicad is probably
> >>     a fair bit of work, at least a week or two--when you include
> >>     developer discussion, regression testing on other platforms, stuff
> >>     like that, probably even longer.
> >>
> >>     I'm not 100% happy about it, but would something like this be an
> >>     OK stopgap measure while we figure out the right thing moving
> >>     forward?  I am fine only putting this patch in my builds.
> >>
> >>     Adam Wolf
> >>     Cofounder and Engineer
> >>     Wayne and Layne
> >>
> >>     On Jan 8, 2015 6:26 AM, "Bernhard Stegmaier"
> >>     <stegmaier@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:stegmaier@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
> >>>     __
> >>>
> >>>     Hi Adam, hi all,
> >>>
> >>>     that IMHO could be problematic (depends on what you intend to
> have).
> >>>
> >>>     For a single-user environment this might be OK, but it then
> >>>     forces modules to be in a machine specific folder common to all
> >>>     users. In a multi-user environment you probably might not want to
> >>>     have that. And, I never read somewhere that you can override this
> >>>     setting of the bundle somehow, so this could be a once and for
> >>>     all decision (as long as you don't fiddle around with the
> >>>     Info.plist) and you wouldn't need an environment variable at all...
> >>>     Further, I think I tried once to use "~" or "$HOME" in Info.plist
> >>>     but it doesn't expand such variables. So, you obviously can't set
> >>>     the path to something in user home with this method.
> >>>     Last, I don't know if always any (non-root) user is allowed to
> >>>     write into /Library/Application Support/kicad?
> >>>
> >>>     In my opinion, the old concept of search paths did fit such
> >>>     hardcoded paths much better than it is currently with environment
> >>>     variables. If environment variables are too hard to set, then
> >>>     probably a configuration setting directly from some "Settings"
> >>>     menu would be better.
> >>>
> >>>     My opionion: I wouldn't want to have it that way, but since I am
> >>>     the only one using KiCad on my machines I can also live with some
> >>>     links pushing things into the spot I want to have it.
> >>>
> >>>     This altogether is somewhat inconsistent, because eeschema will
> >>>     *always* look in <base>/library with <base> being (in that order):
> >>>     * $KICAD
> >>>     * ~/Library/Application Support
> >>>     * /Library/Application Support
> >>>     * <kicad.app>/Contents/SharedSupport
> >>>
> >>>     So, if the path should be fixed for pcbnew, I would at least
> >>>     expect eeschema to behave the same way (i.e., removing all the
> >>>     other paths and also pointing it to the one global
> >>>     /Library/Application/Support/kicad/library).
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>     Regards,
> >>>     Bernhard
> >>>
> >>>     PS:
> >>>
> >>>     I just had a brief look at the Apple docs and did see here
> >>>
> >>>
> https://developer.apple.com/library/mac/documentation/General/Reference/InfoPlistKeyReference/Articles/LaunchServicesKeys.html#//apple_ref/doc/uid/20001431-106825
> >>>
> >>>     that obviously the environment set in the Info-plist is only
> >>>     valid when launching via an icon, but not via command-line:
> >>>     <<<
> >>>     These environment variables are set only for apps launched
> >>>     through Launch Services. If you run your executable directly from
> >>>     the command line, these environment variables are not set.
> >>>     >>>
> >>>
> >>>     So, another issue that already now with the KIGITHUB variable
> >>>     might lead to confusion...
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>     On 2015-01-08 06:52, Adam Wolf wrote:
> >>>
> >>>>     Hi folks,
> >>>>
> >>>>     As you may know, it's harder than it seems to set an environment
> >>>>     variable on a bundle in OS X as a user.
> >>>>
> >>>>     I have a patch here for the OS X bundle that sets KISYSMOD to
> >>>>     /Library/Application Support/kicad/modules
> >>>>
> >>>>     Please let me know if there are any questions or comments.
> >>>>
> >>>>     Thanks!
> >>>>
> >>>>     Adam Wolf
> >>>>     Cofounder and Engineer
> >>>>     W&L
> >>>>
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> >
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