Broken developer documentation - How to contribute

Is it just me or the doxygen online developer documentation is a little bit broken?

Also, is the IRC chat active? #kicad@freenode

I would like to contribute as I really like the software, but not sure where to start.

The development team generally uses the Launchpad mailing list to communicate, not IRC (although some devs are sometimes on IRC)

You are right that the Doxygen docs look broken at the moment! I’ll flag this.

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I really think that the community would be better off with a Wiki than the current doc.


The coders don’t seem to have the right DNA for generating docs. I wonder if 23&Me could help identify coders. (:sunglasses: I’ve written code, managed sw teams, etc. Code is only “self documenting” to the individual author and it has a half-life of 3-6 months.

There are numerous comments I’d make in a wiki about nuances that are absent from the current docs. A few folks could monitor the wiki - I hate to say “moderate” but that is what it would be until some trust level is built up per user. Possibly a more painful method, but likely a more useful result.

The official documentation needs to be tightly maintained, easily distributable with multi-language support. I’d think something like GIT might be more suited. Otherwise, you are reading the unofficial documentation right now. :wink: This community is steadily growing and answering the day to day questions most people need answered.

In the beginning of the personal computer revolution I’d read the docs and do the tutorials. You soon learn that most of it doesn’t apply to you but it does give you a good idea of what is possible IF you need it. Wiki just adds another layer. It might have been a better format for the FAQ but we worked with what we had available in the software.

Which is why git is used for managing the docs: https://github.com/KiCad/kicad-doc

FAQ posts are wiki articles. I am not sure if the same restriction for editing applies as for creating new articles. If that is the case then forum users of rank regular and above can edit them.

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