I’m just interested, does anybody else use Equivalence file(s) in Cvpcb? (i know a lot of people can’t stand Cvpcb and consider the workflow “hobbyist” 
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I use one that is creates the mapping data based on a tab in a spreadsheet (copied to a text .equ file) which contains the devices i’m using. The symbols i use are all generic (with no extra fields), so i lay out the schematic and replace the value field with a real part number as i go or at the end (part number based on the spreadsheet).
As one line in the spreadsheet component tab = one line in the equivalence tab = one line in the .equ file i will get automatic assignments in Cvpcb. Then i use the spreadsheet to populate the BOM as it contains all the other data for each device.
To me, the main advantage of this is handling passive components (one symbol per device, fairly large number of Land Patterns, millions of parts)
I tried some time ago to use Equivalence files, but without a common source for the data it became unmanageable.
Does anyone else have a use case for .equ files?