kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Wayne Stambaugh <stambaughw@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 12/10/2018 8:57 AM, Eeli Kaikkonen wrote:
> 
> 
> ma 10. jouluk. 2018 klo 15.10 Wayne Stambaugh (stambaughw@xxxxxxxxx
> <mailto:stambaughw@xxxxxxxxx>) kirjoitti:
> 
> 
>     We should back this change out until v6.  We have an unwritten policy
>     (although maybe I should write it down) about not changing file formats
>     during a stable release series.  Boards designed with 5.1.x should
>     produce the same output as boards designed with 5.0.x.
> 
> 
> Strictly speaking this wasn't a file format change, and maybe that's why
> it went unnoticed. For compatibility also *interpretation* of the file
> format should stay exactly the same. The same situation could have
> happened with edge clearance. I tested it with 5.0 and HEAD and both
> seem to give the same result now, i.e. the width of the Edge.Cuts line
> affects the clearance. If I'm wrong it should be changed in development
> HEAD.
> 
> Eeli Kaikkonen
> 

Board output is not just the file format.  Changing the output results
(gerbers) of an unchanged board file is really dangerous in production
environments.  How are users expected to detect a subtle change like
this?  There is no way they would even be aware of the change unless
they ran a diff on their gerber files.  I am always going to error on
the side of caution with theses kinds of changes.

Cheers,

Wayne