Hi All My motivation on this list is to help with the testing - particularly OSX. My hope is to be working with a solid OSX version of KiCad with all the bells and whistles - one that comes out of the public repository - and that I can get working without an intimate knowledge of Mac development. When this goal is achieved, I'm sure there will be many Mac users who will become board designers. The world of IoT needs help and KiCad can contribute a lot.
I can test what lands in the public code repository and report back to this list what I have found and what work-arounds I have managed to discover. I have tried to do this. I looked ahead in this mailing list and appreciate the comments and help contributed today by Wayne and Bernard (line 285, plists, enviro patch - good stuff - I will try them out today) ---- I have a few Linux systems (Fedora 21 - broken wxPython3.0.2 - Fed22 will have an update in May) which are more powerful than my little Mac Air, but my Mac goes along on my travels. (Sorry, no Windows machines) ---- As an additional hope - my suggestion awhile ago to be able to put KiCad on a flash drive - was to encourage that files be kept 'close together' and not scattered all over the disk. My wife has a Mac mini with a huge screen. With a flash drive implementation, I could quickly move to her system when she is not around :-) Thanks much for your patience and fun response to my occasional comment. Please don't feel that I am criticizing any of your efforts. I'm just trying to test ahead of the documentation. This list is invaluable for that. Best regards Bob G On 01/22/2015 10:10 PM, Adam Wolf wrote:
I'm not sure, Bob. I was trying to make this thread be about a UI change to the library manager window. However, I'm a little too tired to be a stickler about it, and I have buy-in from Wayne and no screams of bloody murder from anyone else, so... If you want to build your own stuff on OS X, and you need to change the environment variables, I suggest you change them Info.plist inside the bundle. Then you can double-click on the icon and it works fine, as well as using "open blah.app" from the terminal. There are details on this in the archives from the last six months, I think between me and Bernhard. If you can't find them, let me know on-list and I can dig them up. Wayne is working on a more user-friendly setup shortly, so maybe you can just let time pass and the problem will solve itself--or... Please let me reiterate: There is nothing magical about KISYSMOD. There is nothing wrong with editing your fp-lib-table so that there are no environment variables in them whatsoever. If you are being stymied by environment variables in Kicad... you can just ignore them! Put full paths in your fp-lib-table and ignore everyone on the list talking about environment variables. If I had a time machine, the first thing I would do is go to the REM Green Tour. The second thing I would do is go to when the devs were discussing the environment variables for fp-lib-table, and show them evidence of how confusing this is to users without getting busted by the Time Police. I don't fault the devs for fixing the bug this way. The devs had recently been bitten by a truly nasty search path issue, and were trying to figure a good way out of it. Personally, I think Wayne's path manager is the next step in making fp-lib-table that shines as much from the user and packager side as it does from the developer side. I only truly got what fp-lib-table and the environment variables were doing sometime in the last six months, and I know users who love Kicad who keep a version around from before fp-lib-table just because they find it too confusing. Adam Wolf Cofounder and Engineer Wayne and Layne, LLC On Thu, Jan 22, 2015 at 10:44 PM, Bob Gustafson <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: Hi Adam I'm looking at the fp-lib-tables and their placement. Environment variables are giving me problems. What title would you suggest for a new thread? Bob G On 01/22/2015 06:02 PM, Adam Wolf wrote:Hi Bob, I'm not sure this is the right thread for your question. Maybe start a new one? Adam Wolf On Thu, Jan 22, 2015 at 6:02 PM, Bob Gustafson <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: On 01/22/2015 03:37 PM, Wayne Stambaugh wrote: On 1/22/2015 4:35 PM, Bob Gustafson wrote: If I don't do anything, KiCad wants the definition of KISYSMOD as an environment variable. This is only true if you keep a copy of the footprint libraries on your system and you don't use the GitHub plugin to access them from https://github.com/KiCad. Otherwise ${KISYSMOD} is replaced with ${KIGITHUB}. Either way, you need the correct environment variable set. Otherwise, no libraries. Yep What I do is: (in a Terminal window) export KISYSMOD='~/kicad_sources/library-repos' To run kicad - using the same Terminal window (to pick up the KISYSMOD def) ~/KiCad/bin/kicad.app/Contents/MacOS/kicad It runs, but when I try to pick up some components - it wants .mod files - the repo directory only has .pretty Later - I have to go now. Bob G The window PCB LIBRARY TABLES shows ${KISYSMOD}/ in front of every component. The panel below on the PCB LIBRARY TABLES window shows KISYSMOD as an undefined environment variable. Kicad has trouble if KISYSMOD is not defined prior to running kicad Bob G On 01/22/2015 03:16 PM, Wayne Stambaugh wrote: As of right now, the preloaded fp-lib-table files are installed in ${CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX}/share/kicad/template on Linux and Windows. On OSX they appear to be installed in ${OSX_BUNDLE_INSTALL_DIR}/${OSX_BUNDLE_SUP_DIR}/template where ever that works out to be. The fp-lib-table files themselves are part of the kicad-library source so hopefully the install path is the same for them on OSX as well. On 1/22/2015 4:10 PM, Adam Wolf wrote: This is going to be slick, Wayne. Is there any particular place that seems decent to put the preconfigured fp-table-libs? In my mind, they're almost templates... Adam Wolf On Thu, Jan 22, 2015 at 4:01 PM, Wayne Stambaugh <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> <mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>> wrote: On 1/22/2015 3:56 PM, Adam Wolf wrote: > Do you mean <PREFSDIR>/fp-table-lib? (i.e., on > Linux ~/.config/kicad/fp-lib-table?) Yes. > > I really like this idea. The wizard already does a good job explaining > what each type of fp-lib-table entry is. Then it should be possible to add the code to copy a pre-configured fp-lib-table file to the proper path. The only tricky part would be setting up any environment variables. I have a patch that sets default environment variables for KIGITHUB and KISYS3DMOD on start up. I haven't designed the dialog to edit them yet. It needs tested on OSX so I will post it some time tomorrow to get some feed back. The environment variables are saved in the kicad_common config file so you could simple add new config entry for something like KISYSMOD from the fp-lib-table wizard for footprint libraries stored on the system once I commit the code. > > Adam Wolf > > On Thu, Jan 22, 2015 at 3:33 PM, Wayne Stambaugh <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> <mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> > <mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> <mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>>> wrote: > > Maybe you could add an "Initialize Global Table" mode to the > fp-lib-table wizard where a predefined table file is copied to ~/. You > could test for ~/fp-lib-table and enter this mode automatically or enter > the "Edit Table" mode when ~/fp-lib-table is already defined. This > would also prevent further cluttering of the library table editor. > > On 1/22/2015 10:53 AM, Adam Wolf wrote: > > The new fp-lib-table wizard is great for adding new entries to the > > current table, but does not appear to have a "load defaults" type option. > > > > However, this is based on using it, not reading the code, so it is > > possible the feature is included somewhere I did not see. > > > > Adam Wolf > > > > On Thu, Jan 22, 2015 at 1:27 AM, Nick Østergaard <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> <mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> <mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> <mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>> > > <mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> <mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> <mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> <mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>>>> wrote: > > > > How does this compare to the new fp lib table wizard? > > > > 2015-01-22 6:09 GMT+01:00 Adam Wolf <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> <mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> <mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> <mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>> > > <mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> <mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> > <mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> <mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>>>>: > > > Hi folks! > > > > > > I have a question about adding another feature to the > > fp-lib-tables manager, > > > which is already pretty crowded and I want to get buy-in > before even > > > attempting a patch. > > > > > > Background: > > > > > > Running into another issue with the KiCad Mac experience. > Just to > > recap, I'm > > > trying for 2 DMGs. > > > > > > One is called "KiCad Extras" and currently includes the modules > > from github, > > > and the fp-table-lib.for-pretty renamed just fp-table-lib. The > > idea is that > > > users can download the extras DMG, and no longer need to be > online for > > > Kicad. > > > > > > The modules directory is fine, we provide a "drop target" > (just a > > symlink) > > > of /Library/Application Support/kicad/. > > > > > > However, the fp-table-lib is tricky. The per-user "global" > (across > > > projects" fp-table-lib is located in > ~/Library/Preferences/kicad/ > > We cannot > > > make a "drop target" in a DMG that points to ~/. > > > > > > Making a "package" works around this, but users don't like > > packages unless > > > they're part of App Store (because they usually don't > realize they're > > > packages :)). I don't want to do that. > > > > > > Question: Would a way to "load default fp-lib-tables" be useful > > to other > > > people in the library table manager? This would take a look > at what > > > fp-lib-tables.* are available in a location, and give users the > > ability to > > > replace their fp-lib-tables with known defaults--i.e. I want to > > use github, > > > I want to use eagle, I want to use on-disk pretties > downloaded from > > > github... > > > > > > The more I think about this, I think that it might not only help > > the Mac > > > install experience, but actually help the new user > experience on all > > > platforms. > > > > > > Thoughts? (and greetings from Montreal, where I am on business > > and also > > > working on Kicad Mac nightlies while stuffed with curry > poutine...) > > > > > > Adam Wolf > > > Cofounder and Engineer > > > W&L > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers <https://launchpad.net/%7Ekicad-developers> > > > Post to : [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> <mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> > <mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> <mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>> > > <mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> <mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> > <mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> <mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>>> > > > Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers <https://launchpad.net/%7Ekicad-developers> > > > More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp > > > > > > > > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers <https://launchpad.net/%7Ekicad-developers> > > Post to : [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> <mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> > <mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> <mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>> > > Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers <https://launchpad.net/%7Ekicad-developers> > > More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers <https://launchpad.net/%7Ekicad-developers> > Post to : [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> <mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> > <mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> <mailto:[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>>> > Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers <https://launchpad.net/%7Ekicad-developers> > More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp > > _______________________________________________ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers <https://launchpad.net/%7Ekicad-developers> Post to : [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers <https://launchpad.net/%7Ekicad-developers> More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp _______________________________________________ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers <https://launchpad.net/%7Ekicad-developers> Post to : [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers <https://launchpad.net/%7Ekicad-developers> More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp _______________________________________________ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers <https://launchpad.net/%7Ekicad-developers> Post to : [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers <https://launchpad.net/%7Ekicad-developers> More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp _______________________________________________ Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers <https://launchpad.net/%7Ekicad-developers> Post to : [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~kicad-developers <https://launchpad.net/%7Ekicad-developers> More help : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp
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