Footprint "(footprint" vs "(module"

Layout Footprints
1

Hi,
I was reading through KiCad footprints (.kicad_mod files) and I found some differences. Some (most) seem to start with a (footprint syntax while a few start with (module. The “Harting har-flex” for example. Did I miss something? Maybe an older file format?

Thanks,
Bob K.

Example:

(module Harting_har-flexicon_14110213001xxx_1x02-MP_P2.54mm_Vertical (layer F.Cu) (tedit 61E2A4CD)
(descr “Harting har-flexicon series connector, 14110213001xxx (https://b2b.harting.com/files/download/PRD/PDF_TS/1411XX13001XXX_100228421DRW046C.pdf), generated with kicad-footprint-generator”)
(tags “connector Harting har-flexicon vertical”)
(attr smd)
(fp_text reference REF** (at 0 -4.3) (layer F.SilkS)
(effects (font (size 1 1) (thickness 0.15)))

2

Interesting observation. A telling experiment to do would be to open that footprint and save a copy in a personal library and see if the header gets changed to (footprint.

3

Footprints in the libraries sometimes have an older file format (we haven’t force-upgraded footprints on major version releases so far). As the footprints are individual files and KiCad can handle older formats without issues, there’s no urgency to upgrade them. All this tells you is that the footprint was last touched with an older KiCad version. If it’s edited, it will get saved in the latest format.

3 Likes
4

Thank you for the info. For now I will ignore old formats.

Bob K.