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Re: kicad version and install location

 

I honestly think each major revision of KiCad should be considered a NEW program, installs to a new place has its configuration and libraries all in a new location.  Only Incremental updates 5.0 -> 5.1 should be considered upgrades.

Kicad configuration isn't complex or onerous so if a user wants to bring a Kicad4 config into Kicad5 or 6 or whatever, then they do that themselves, otherwise after install Kicad5 is a fresh blank sheet with no relationship to anything that happened on the users computer in Kicad4.  I am not familiar with the issues on Windows, but I would have thought now this is mostly a packaging issue only??

Sure the NEW program can load your OLD projects, but its not the same, and may not work like you remember.

I also agree if it can't work this way now on Windows, then its all a bit late for V5, but maybe V6 can consider itself a new program distinct from V5.  This would also help with testing, because users could use V5 for daily work, but also easily install a V6 daily side by side.

A simple workaround for any user on Windows who NEEDS V4 on windows is to run V4 in a Linux VM, and just share the file system.

Steven


On 15/07/18 03:14, Wayne Stambaugh wrote:
On 07/14/2018 10:55 AM, Ouabache Designworks wrote:

On Fri, Jul 13, 2018 at 7:49 PM, Mark Roszko <mark.roszko@xxxxxxxxx
<mailto:mark.roszko@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:

     Wayne,

     Guess going to suggest it should be a priority to version the config
     into folders.

     This is a user made chart on how to install kicad 5 which honestly is
     silly it has to even exist lol
     https://kicad-info.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/original/2X/d/d6143659e9237fc358588bed761ef3e557454cde.png
     <https://kicad-info.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/original/2X/d/d6143659e9237fc358588bed761ef3e557454cde.png>



Now imagine that you are working on three or four different projects at
the same time and they each used a different version
of Kicad. That is what IC designers have to deal with. Chips take
several years to complete and the tools rev all the time.
You start a new chip six months into your last design and it may use
different revs of tools.

That is why IC designers use environment managers. All the revs are
installed in parallel and each project can pick the one that
it wants.

John Eaton

Pragmatic use of our limited developer resources is not silly.  It's
just the reality of the project.  Would I like for KiCad to be able to
provide support for this?  Of course I would.  I am fairly certain that
if I polled KiCad users if they would rather have all of the features
listed in v6 roadmap or be able to install multiple versions of KiCad
with only a few of those features that they would choose all of the
features.  Even if we implemented the proposed changes for v5, who is
going to backport it v4?  Given the divergence between the code bases,
good luck with that.  We are already 6 months behind when I would have
liked to get v5 out the door so delaying v5 another couple of months is
really not a good option.  I'm fine with implementing this for 5.1 if
someone is interested in coding it but that still doesn't solve the v4
issue which I'm guessing user's want to keep installed along side v5.

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