Footprint libraries not found on debian (kicad 5.0.2 ; from stretch-backports)

[Youen]

Hi there,

I installed Kicad 5.0.2 on Debian Stretch (LMDE 3) with package manager (apt-get), but it can’t find any footprint (pretty folders, kicad_mod files). I also installed package kicad-libraries, which installs kicad-footprints.

The issue seems to be that they are listed as plural names in /usr/share/kicad/template/fp-lib-table (for example “Buttons_Switches_THT.pretty”) but actual files have singular names, for example folder /usr/share/kicad/modules/Button_Switch_THT.pretty).

Am I missing something, or is there a problem with these Debian packages? How can I fix this?

[Anders_Wallin]

check the time-stamp on your fp-lib-table, I guess it didn’t get updated.

the latest from github is there: https://github.com/KiCad/kicad-footprints/blob/master/fp-lib-table

[Rene_Poschl]

Did you install the library packages (including the templates)? Are these the packages for version 5 or did you perhaps install version 4 packages?

I installed KiCad 5 (under Linux) but there are no libraries. (The default option for sym lib table setup is disabled)

Most Linux distributions have split up the packages for kicad installation. One package only installs the software (KiCad itself) while others install the libraries. The reason for this is that the 3d model libs are now quite large. In addition this is how a lot of distros suggest this sort of thing to be handled (separation of installers for software and data) Now how do you get your libs? The easiest option is to simply install the library packages. (Most likely called kicad-symbols, kic…

And if your personal lib tables did not update:

I had KiCad 4 installed previosly. Now i updated to v5. Now i have some problems with the library setup

Recommended reading: https://forum.kicad.info/t/library-management-in-kicad-version-5/14636 KiCad does not automatically discover libs. Nor does it update the list of libraries on update. If you had KiCad 4.0.x installed previously then i would bet you still have parts of its configuration surviving. Most importantly the fp-lib-table. This file controls which footprint libs you use. If this is the case then you probably still run the on demand online footprint libs originally “distributed” wit…

[Youen]

OK, thanks for pointing me on the issue, I did install kicad 4 at some point, and I didn’t know I had a ~/.config/kicad folder remaining with the incorrect footprint paths. I deleted that, restarted, and it seems fine now

Thanks.

EDIT: also my comment about /usr/share/kicad/template/fp-lib-table was misleading, I think I already tried to overwrite it at some point, so it wasn’t the one from the original package. I reverted it to its original state (i.e. singular names).