kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Greg Smith <ecomputerd@xxxxxxxxx>]

Regarding the plugin manager: it would be awesome if it could pull updates from the plugin author’s GitHub. Not sure exactly how to handle plugin version checking, KiCAD version compatibility and all the related issues (like security, forks, etc). But it’d be nice if there were a central registry or a simple text box where something as simple as “HiGregSmith/KiCommand” could be entered and the rest happens fairly automatically based either on the structure of the source repo, or a config file supplied in the repo by the plugin author.

Simple date check or SHA hash could be used for a “quick” check of config file updates.

I’d be happy to collaborate on this and discuss ideas, but I also understand the productivity of getting something up and running with your own ideas first.

Greg S.

> On Jun 30, 2020, at 6:08 PM, Andrew Lutsenko <anlutsenko@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> 
> Plugin manager is in the works:  https://gitlab.com/kicad/code/kicad/-/issues/2242
> There will be some progress over the long weekend.
> 
>> On Tue, Jun 30, 2020 at 3:06 PM Nick Østergaard <oe.nick@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> I like the sound of this idea, it could definitely help the workflow
>> for a lot of people.
>> 
>> What may be related to this is some properly "plugin" manager such
>> that it is easier to bundle some script and have some script installed
>> external, similar to the freecad addon manager.
>> 
>> I don't remember if anyone is seriously working on that, I sorta
>> expect that to be on hold unstill eeschema gets scripting support.
>> 
>> On Tue, 30 Jun 2020 at 21:43, Eeli Kaikkonen <eeli.kaikkonen@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> >
>> > On Tue, Jun 30, 2020 at 9:17 PM Mark Roszko <mark.roszko@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> While more extensibility is great. I can only say expecting the user to use python exclusively for adding the new behavior like for issue #2339 is very crude.
>> >
>> >
>> > I'm not saying any possible feature which can be replaced with a script should be replaced. It must be decided case by case. I don't even say that these examples are something where an internal feature should be replaced with a hook. They are just possible examples to show what could be possible. Just think about it this way:
>> >
>> > 1. Which one is better, just let the users wait for the feature to be implemented, or add a hook which makes it possible to implement it right away in a simple way in a script and then let the users wait for it to be implemented in KiCad proper later?
>> >
>> > 2. Each hook makes it possible to add any imaginable functionality, not just one feature wish.
>> >
>> > 3. Adding a hook doesn't take anything away, it just adds possibilities.
>> >
>> > 4. Any developer is still free to implement anything  in C++. Like now they are free to implement a functionality which has existed only in an action script before.
>> >
>> > 5. Adding a hook doesn't change the UI or the behavior in any way. They wouldn't cause any bugs if the backend for the hook system is good. Hooks could be added even for bugfix releases. It may be much better than waiting for one or two years for the next feature release.
>> >
>> >
>> >>
>> >> Not everyone is a programmer
>> >
>> >
>> > Sure. But big problems with scripting have been 1) the unstable API and 2) the lack of asset infrastructure. Both are being worked on. When KiCad scripting gets more traction and the scripts are easier to share and install, not everyone needs to be a programmer and still can easily benefit from the work from others. The potential number of python developers for simple scripts like string  handling and generic file manipulation is certainly larger than the amount of potential C++ developers.
>> >
>> > And if we take that #2339 as an example, it would require a real GUI in KiCad proper (because it would need a way to manipulate the list of folders). A python script would be one a couple of python functions and a list of text strings. If  someone writes the script, anyone can change the list of strings, there's no need to be a programmer to change the names of the folders. So, which one would be the better option: 1) add a simple hook to make it possible and implement the GUI later, or 2) not make it possible until someone implements the GUI?
>> >
>> > Eeli Kaikkonen
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