Hi everyone, I’ve been using KICAD for several years, starting with version 5. I’ve used them all for 6/8, with so many projects I need to maintain. Now I’m trying 9.99 and I’m wondering if there’s a way to recognize which version a given project corresponds to. Only version 5 has a different name, so Windows can recognize it. From then on, they have the same extension, and I have to do it manually. If it belongs to version 6 rather than 8, I’ll add 9.99 now too. Thanks
You can open older projects with the newest KiCad version. No need to keep the old versions installed.
If you insist: The information about which KiCad version was used in a project can be found in the schematic or PCB file, e.g. (generator_version “8.0”).
Doesn’t work for < v8. You have to go by the version string for those. Checked on v5.1 - v7 files.
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Obviously, the major version opens the previous ones, but it’s not advisable to make changes without thoroughly checking the libraries. retiredfeline: What exactly do you mean?
I looked for the version string in the schematic of a project:
$ grep -w version monostable.kicad_sch
(kicad_sch (version 20230121) (generator eeschema)
Looking at the PDF which I printed off when I completed the schematic, this corresponds to v7. v6 projects have a file version of 20211123. v5.1 used .sch files.
On Windows, there will be potentially, for v10, a new utility that will open the correct installed version of kicad for double clicked files :3
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This is the internal file version control string, introduced in the 6.99 or 7.99, if I remember correctly. This string is updated to day of new functionality introduced to the development version requires a new parameter be saved into the project file.
Before this we, that test the nightlty (development branch/version) frequently reported perfect files broken.
IMHO, it was super effective and together with the file backup system have reduced files problems to almost zero.
So, by the year of the string you can find a minimum viable version to open file. But as @marekr said: the newest KiCad should open all older files fine.
The version string was in v6 and that’s when the format changed to sexpr, so it would have been in v5.99.
KiCad has always been able to open files of previous versions. It sounds like the new feature is that it can open using the appropriate executable and not subject the project to a conversion.
There’s also the .json file that contains the info…
Can easily write a Python/etc script to read whatever file you want to use that contains the info…
I still use v7 so, can’t look to see what newer .json post but, you get the idea…
While I’ve found this to be true, newer versions don’t always produce workable results like the original version did. For instance: https://forum.kicad.info/t/issues-with-gnd-and-power-plane-pour-when-updating-older-design/65757
The version is plainly declared in the file ACSII file in the beginning of the file. Here’s what I see at the start of the .kicad_pcb file and the .kicad_sch file for a design done in V9:
(kicad_pcb
(version 20241229)
(generator “pcbnew”)
(generator_version “9.0”)
(general
(kicad_sch
(version 20250114)
(generator “eeschema”)
(generator_version “9.0”)
You want workable? That’ll cost you extra (effort). Geez, les clientes sont toujours insatisfaits. 