Cadence PSPICE *.lib Files

[von_Whimhurst]

I have just started to dabble in Pspice (the Cadence product).

From what I can see, the version that I am working with (which is the up-to-date download) uses the *.lib file extension for SPICE models. Apparently, from what I have been able to glean in a short time working with Pspice (again, I am just a total newbie to Pspice…), in previous Pspice versions those files had the *.mod extension.

I would like to keep the Pspice files in the same super-folder (directory structure) that contains my KiCad project files. It appears that Pspice creates a local, project-specific directory of “SPICE models” (rather than, by default, fetching those from the a distant repository) for each of its Projects. So… if the Pspice files and the KiCad files are in the same folder structure, it could be that the identical File Extension will confuse one, the other, or both of these applications.

Before Something Bad happens, does anybody have suggestions as to how one can avoid conflicts with KiCad…which uses the *.lib extension for schematic symbols ?

[radix]

Just don’t try to add the *.lib file to the library table. Even if you do, KiCad will warn you that the spice file isn’t a valid symbol library.

The same probably goes for PSpice, although I don’t know exactly how would it handle trying to use a KiCad symbol library. It would probably throw an error, since a KiCad symbol isn’t a valid spice netlist/model.

I see the whole thing as a non-issue. Anyway, for the upcoming KiCad version 6, the library file format has changed and with that the symbol file extension became *.kicad_sym.

[von_Whimhurst]

Thanks for your comments. Well, it would appear that KiCad v6 will truly annihilate any potential conflict, even if they are unlikely at the present . I was concerned that KiCad might scan through the files in its Project folder and upon discovering any LIB files, would attempt to scoop them up and then have a fatal error.