kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Conrad Wood <launchpad@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Wed, 2020-07-15 at 13:53 -0400, Mark Roszko wrote:
> > I also think it would enable independent software developers to
> build software on top of, or around kicad, further enhancing its
> value.
> 
> They should be contributing to KiCad first ;) 
> These plans for separation have been around for years, the problem is
> the amount of devs is limited and their time even more so. It is
> an open source volunteer effort after all.

Isn't that a bit of a chicken-and-egg situation?

I mean, it's fairly hard to start contributing to KiCad due to its
complexity. (at least that is my impression - but then I might just be
stupid :) )
IMHO, splitting it up would lower the entry barrier to new-comers.

I'd be more than happy to contribute, but clearly I can't just "split
out bits into a library" on my own w/o discussion and consensus. That
_has_ to be a team effort, right?

I understand, that there never is "The Right Time" to do something like
it and I consider it very important not to add any extra workload on
already stretched people. 

Rather, with starting this discussion I hope to contribute  with my
limited means, specifically, finding a means to spread the workload a
bit more evenly, and at some point, I might be able to directly
contribute as well.

Also, for the sake of clarity, when I mentioned about on top of or
"around kicad" I was very much thinking of more open-source software,
not closed systems! Thus adding to the functionality of KiCad.

Conrad