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Re: running multiple versions of KiCad on macOS

 

Environment variables are tricky for users to set for graphical apps
in macOS, unfortunately.

I wonder if we can think through this and find something that is
unequivocably better than what we have today without requiring us to
invent a bunch of new things.

I know I get scared every release that someone has set themselves up
with an impossible-to-reproduce environment--I always test and
emphasize the "backup everything kicaddy" scripts then.

Adam

On Wed, Jun 12, 2019 at 7:12 PM Seppe Stas <seppestas@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> Andy, I don’t think Adam is talking about the library folders, those can already be easily set using environmental arguments.
>
> On that note though, being able to have those environmental variables be updated depending on the KiCad version would also be a nice to have, since for some reason KiCad does not seem to pick up on env vars set by launchctl on MacOS, making easy switching only available when launching KiCAD from the command line (which also seems to come with a bunch of bugs seemingly related to OpenGL).
>
> Right now I have some custom scripts that set up the correct env vars and symlinks the library table files, it works okish.
>
> I also noted KiCad 4 currently complains on launh because it doesn’t understand some settings set by KiCAD 5. Everything still works fine though.
>
> Seppe
>
> On Thu, 13 Jun 2019 at 00:20, Andy Peters <devel@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>
>>
>> > On Jun 12, 2019, at 2:38 PM, Adam Wolf <adamwolf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> >
>> > Seeing Seppe's patch made me think of something I tried to do last
>> > time, but ended up running out of time.
>> >
>> > What do folks think about changing the data directory for macOS to
>> > have the major version, to make it a little easier to run KiCad 5 and
>> > 6 on the same computer?  Am I opening a can of worms?
>>
>> “data directory” as in where the libraries etc are stored?
>>
>> Currently in ~/Library/Application Support/kicad or /Library/Application Support/kicad ??
>>
>> Possibly changed to ~/Library/Application Support/kicad 5/ and ~/Library/Application Support/kicad 6/ for example?
>>
>> I don’t have a problem with it, but the question is how to manage it. Assume that everyone who already has Kicad installed is using the “default” location. When the user upgrades to a new major version, perhaps on first run it should ask about the library locations.
>>
>> But there’s a complication … do those locations exist?
>>
>> As part of that first run, should the new version offer to upgrade existing libraries and store them in the new location?
>>
>> (And what does that do to users who keep libraries in source-code control and the libraries on the computers live in working copies?)
>>
>> I mean, I agree that if the intent is to be able to run Kicad 5 and Kicad 6 on the same machine and those versions have incompatible libraries then yes, we need to be able to tell those two installs where their libraries live.
>>
>> Of course, if Kicad 6 can use Kicad 5’s libraries as is, then there is no need for the distinction.
>>
>> Yes, can of worms indeed.
>>
>> -a
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