kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Ouabache Designworks <z3qmtr45@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Wed, Mar 7, 2018 at 11:59 PM, Russell Oliver <roliver8143@xxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

> From what I am reading John your call for acting on the files on disk
> instead of memory is a call for a clear demarcation of actions that need to
> be irrevocable and require the project data to be consistent.
>
> In my opinion this doesn't necessarily require separate programs, just
> consistent checks on the current state of the project and its data. A check
> and dialog box to force the user to save the all schematic sheets before
> exporting the netlist might be sufficient.
>
> Likewise saving the pcb after changing say a selected footprint or
> changing the reference or value of a component, would force a back
> annotation of the schematic which would also be saved. A change would not
> be allowed to persist without it being consistently applied across the
> project.
>
>
>
>
True, You can simply check for unsaved changes and refuse to export the
netlist until after the user saves the schematic. But what do you do if
they save the schematic but do not export the netlist? Pcb layout will see
that the netlist file is older than the
schematic and this means it might be out of date. Do you refuse to do the
layout until the user goes back and corrects it? Do you run a netlist
program and fix it without telling the user? You give the user the option
to export a netlist or not but if they don't
then you won't let them continue until they do. No wonder people hate
computers.



Why don't we run PCB layout on the schematic file and let it call the
netlister program every time it runs. This is a simpler process flow with
fewer cases where you make the user jump through hoops to get something
done.

John Eaton