kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Mário Luzeiro <mrluzeiro@xxxxx>]

>> - will it be possible to build the plugins without using kicad source code? Maybe for some type of plugins it will be easy to have an API, but for things related with kicad, it can be an huge library or dependencies.
> The plugins can be built without the kicad source; all you need are the correct headers to implement the API. 

What I mean here is that for example, export plugins, they need to access kicad structures (eg: board) so they need an API for that or the libraries of kicad, so I believe some changes are need in the kicad to support / create / &reuse that libraries. So it can be used as a real .headers API with or without/outside kicad.



>>- will some plugins be embedded in kicad sources by default? or will be packaged in the installers?
> All the plugins which I plan to develop will be in the kicad source but there is nothing to
prevent people from creating their own out-of-tree plugins. 

One of my concerns are if it will be possible to build the plugins without build kicad, even they are embedded in the sources and build of the package.. so it will be easier/faster to build just the plugin and test. (not sure how debug will work on an external plugin..)


>> - how kicad project will adopt / manage / integrate that plugins?

> As for third-party plugins, the usual rules apply: since they are not in our tree and
> we cannot control them (or necessarily even see the source) we cannot recommend
> them. Users install such things at their own risk.

My question was in another way, more related with the kicad as the project (not technical)
If they create an external repository for plugins for example, it need to build outside kicad (then the install package can integrate this plugins)
They probably have different revisions than kicad.. ?
And so on..

Mario