kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Oliver Walters <oliver.henry.walters@xxxxxxxxx>]

JP,

I think that 3) is the better option, because it preservers PCB file
compatibility (as long as the offset is zero). Any time the PCB is saved,
the (at (xyz 0 0 0)) gets written.

You are also correct that none of the official library footprints have a
defined offset. This is why i have never encountered this before.

On Fri, Nov 10, 2017 at 7:09 AM, Oliver Walters <
oliver.henry.walters@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> I like 2) or 3) - I think that a major release is a good time to fix such
> a bug.
>
> Would you like me to add a patch implementing one of these options JP?
>
> On 9 Nov 2017 23:33, "Kristoffer Ödmark" <kristofferodmark90@xxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:
>
>> Currently the footprints arent compatible anyway i guess, they support
>> more than 4.07 footprints do. So option 2 is my preferred solution.
>>
>> On 11/09/2017 12:51 PM, jp charras wrote:
>>
>>> Le 09/11/2017 à 11:12, Kristoffer Ödmark a écrit :
>>>
>>>> My 2 cents is that the headaches of storing values in mixed units,
>>>> without indication of which unit
>>>> they are stored as is a huge drawback for readability of the saved
>>>> files and for maintainability.
>>>>
>>>> Also I think the proposed new tag offset is a good idea, since the
>>>> libraries can be gradually
>>>> updated then. That the files cannot be opened by previous versions is a
>>>> minor problem, since the
>>>> files cannot be opened by kicad 4.07 anyway already.
>>>>
>>>
>>> In fact, footprint files can be opened by 4.07 version, as long as they
>>> contain no round rect or
>>> custom pads (should be most of files)
>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 11/09/2017 12:55 AM, Wayne Stambaugh wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> This requires a file version bump and code that tests for prior
>>>>> versions
>>>>> before converting the units on read.  At that point, the file will no
>>>>> longer be compatible with prior version of KiCad.  I'm not opposed to
>>>>> this but I'm not sure it's worth the headaches it will cause.
>>>>>
>>>>> On 11/08/2017 03:33 PM, Oliver Walters wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> What about a controversial idea:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Read "at" dimensions as inches, but new files write "offset" in mm.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> This preserves read compatibility but fixes the units issue going
>>>>>> forward.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> <...>
>>>
>>> There are 3 different things related to the anchor coordinate 3D shapes
>>> in Oliver's patch:
>>>
>>> 1 - coordinate units inside Kicad: they should be in internal units
>>> (I do not remember if it is currently the case).
>>> no problem.
>>>
>>> 2 - Display unit name in dialog: good enhancement.
>>>
>>> 3 - how to store this anchor coordinate in .kicad_pcb files.
>>> There are 2 options:
>>> opt 1 - use keyword "at" and store it in inches (current case).
>>> Certainly annoying because all other
>>> coordinates use mm, but this is not a major issue.
>>> opt 2 - be able to read "at" (inches) and "offset" (or perhaps "anchor")
>>> (in mm) and use offset as
>>> new keyword: but it breaks compatibility with old (namely the recent
>>> 4.07) kicad version.
>>> opt 3 - same as 2, but stores "offset" (or "anchor") *only* if it is not
>>> the default value (0 0 0).
>>> AFAIK, the default value is the case of most (perhaps all) footprint
>>> files in our official repo.
>>>
>>> in case of option 2, the parser should be (obviously) able to understand
>>> the keyword  "offset" (or
>>> "anchor") to prepare the future.
>>>
>>>
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>