kicad-developers team mailing list archive

["Thomas Kindler" <mail_ubuntu@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Wed, November 8, 2017 23:17, easyw wrote:
>> This is even worse.. that way co-workers could (even accidentally)
>> change the library without any notice.
>
> different point of view in working strategies... IMO something that I can
> change with i.e. the component editor and not save unless copied to a
> different location is a wrong way of working... but as I said there are
> many working habits...
>

Agreed.

The standard way would be that the editor displays a "[read-only]" tag in
the title bar, and grays out all editing commands.

That way the user wouldn't be surprised on save.

I think it's a far more risky that a user makes accidental changes to the
bundled library. Simple users should not need to touch it, and should
rather copy or make a new part. Otherwise there will be confusing bug
reports and users that downloaded an official release some time ago, but
now have a slightly broken (perhaps auto-updated) library.

On the other hand -- if a users /wants/ to make changes, he needs a proper
GIT clone anyways.


>
> On 11/8/2017 10:54 PM, Thomas Kindler wrote:
>
>> On Wed, November 8, 2017 22:18, easyw wrote:
>>
>>> the two a) and b) points are a big issue I think and this
>>> configuration is normally not present in other installer programs on
>>> windows...
>>>
>>> In windows a common User Folder is called common doc folder;
>>> the var pointing to C:\Users\Public is %PUBLIC% in recent Windows
>>> https://installmate.com/support/im9/kb/kb50038.htm#commondoc
>>> Then placing the libraries models/modules in i.e.
>>> C:\Users\Public\kicad
>>> folder, will let All Users have access read/write to these folders
>>>
>>> [..]
>>>
>>
>> This is even worse.. that way co-workers could (even accidentally)
>> change the library without any notice.
>>
>>
>> I think there are two use cases:
>>
>>
>> 1) Simple users of KiCAD
>>
>>
>> For this use case, the library should be installed in a write-protected
>>  location where only install admins can change them (like it is now).
>>
>> As a simple user I would expect stable KiCAD releases to come with an
>> official sanctioned library for that release. Eagle and most other CAD
>> packages do the same bundling.
>>
>> Auto-updaters that just update the library will confuse simple users,
>> and may cause compatibility problems if the library requires new
>> features.
>>
>> The same goes for automagic copy-on-write features - It's better to
>> just document how a library can be copied locally and how to override
>> the official one.
>>
>>
>> 2) Advanced users that want to contribute to the library
>>
>>
>> Advanced users should just clone the library using GIT. That way it's
>> possible to update and send pull requests using a normal, non-magic
>> workflow.
>>
>> An option to skip bundled library installation would be nice, but is
>> optional.
>>
>>
>> Library overrides could be done using a prioritized search path:
>>
>>
>> 1. $PROJECT/library            # very useful for project-specific
>> things 2. ~/.KiCAD/library            # useful for contributor work
>> 3. /usr/share/KiCAD/library    # default for simple users
>>
>>
>> Of course, users could insert their own location like a company file
>> server..
>>
>> best regards,
>>
>
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