kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Seth Hillbrand <seth@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Folks-

Unfortunately, we were not able to get the Python revisions into version
6.  As such, we'll be using the legacy SWIG implementation for pcbnew
during v6 and will introduce the updated API early in the v7 development
process.

## What happened?

Our goals for the Python API were to make a stable set of calls that plugin
developers could rely on to work over multiple KiCad versions and to expand
python scripting to eeschema.  This required abstracting a number of
underlying concepts and re-writing a set of core applications.  And it
didn't get done in time.

We decided that it was more important to get v6 out to our userbase with
the status quo python scripting than for an indefinite delay to get the
first API out.

## What's the plan going forward?

Following the release of v6, the KiCad core dev team will be meeting to
plan out our work for v7.  One of the items on our agenda will be to review
where things went well and poorly in the v6 development.  We do this with
the intention of improving both our development work and our communication
with the community during upcoming releases.

We're also going to be reaching out to some of our plugin developers to get
their input on things that they'd like to use the API for and ways that we
might be able to facilitate that in v7.  If you have interest in being a
part of that discussion (and you have published a couple plugins for KiCad
or other projects), please reach out.  We're happy to include you.

I deeply regret that we won't have a shiny new python interface in v6.  I
know that this will be a disappointment to a number of people.  Hopefully,
the major advancements that we have built into v6 will assuage that
somewhat.

---
Seth

-- 
[image: KiCad Services Corporation Logo]
Seth Hillbrand
*Lead Developer*
+1-530-302-5483‬
Long Beach, CA
www.kipro-pcb.com    info@xxxxxxxxxxxxx