To make the transition period between kicad version 5 and kicad version 4 easier we released a backport of the version 5 libraries intended to be used with kicad 4.0.x releases.
This set of libraries allows users who can not update to development builds to use the libs intended for v5 in their projects under kicad 4.0.x. (Especially useful for new projects)
Doing so will make the conversion to version 5 a lot easier.
To get the new libs head over to the github download pages and download a zip or tar.gz archive of the libs.
- footprint libs: https://github.com/KiCad/kicad-footprints/releases
- symbol libs: https://github.com/KiCad/kicad-symbols/releases
- 3d model libs: https://github.com/KiCad/kicad-packages3D
Decompress the archive and put the libs at some convenient place.
For the footprint libs use the footprint library wizard or manager to add the libs to kicad. More details see How can i install a specific version of the footprint library?
For symbol libs you either need to edit the kicad.pro template file found in the system directory or add the new libs to every project using the component libraries dialog found in the preferences menu of eeschema.
The footprint libs are a slightly reduced set of footprints as some of the version 5 footprints include features not supported by kicad 4.0.x
For the symbol libs all symbols are included as the current library does not use any version 5 features. The only limitation is that some footprint filters will not work in kicad 4.0.x making these symbols less useful then they will be when used in kicad 5.