KiCad 8.0 and Git

Software
1

Hello,
in some video and presentation from the KiCad team i’ve heard talking about integration of KiCad and Git.
Looking around in the config files i see that there are pieces of evidence that maybe something is already in place, see for example in kicad_common.json file:

  "git": {
    "authorEmail": "",
    "authorName": "",
    "repositories": null,
    "useDefaultAuthor": true
  },

is there something usabe / testable or just placeholding for V9?
is there already some documentation or GitLab issue that can be followed?

2

It is hidden behind a flag right now, you can test it by putting EnableGit=1 in your advanced config file (create a new text file kicad_advanced in your config directory if you don’t have one)

I think the goal is to unhide it at some point after some things are fixed, but I’m fuzzy on the details.

4 Likes
3

Looks to me like the plan is that creating a project in KiCad will also do a git init, followed by a git config with the values stored in that JSON file.

4

Hello everyone,

I was watching a video that was a couple of weeks old where one of the dev was showcasing some of the new features for v8. One of the features was Git integration. However, when I tried to do what he did in the video, I did not see that option in the launcher.

Does v8 still have Git integration or is there an option that I need to select to enable it?

5

You might want to see this earlier thread: KiCad 8.0 and Git

6

Ok, I see, so the code is there but it seems like there are a few bugs that still need to be ironed out before an official release.

7

that, or maybe the code depends on other functions still in progress of development.

1 Like
8

Ok not a problem. I can just use Github desktop for now. just wanted to see what was happening with that. Thank you

9

In the presentation video I saw there had to be the GitHub integration in version 8.0
I do not see it.

How can I get it please?

EDIT: my request above was merged. I was not aware about this topic.
However I did try to create the suggested file: nothing happened on my version 8.0.0. Not any new menu, not any option.

10

Git != github btw

The feature is currently hidden behind an advanced config flag because it had issues that couldn’t be fixed in time for release.

11

Hello,

I don’t think that any special integration is needed to use KiCad with Git. In versions 6 and 7 there are issues with the way library paths are handled. They cannot be relative paths. That complicates using any version control system. Hopefully this gets smoothed out in version 8. Keep up the great work.

2 Likes
12

I am eager to try out the git feature but would welcome a more detailed instruction on how to enable the feature.

I am running Kicad 8.0 on Windows and cannot find any config files in the installation.

Is this what I should do?

  1. create a directory called config at
    C:/Program Files/Kicad/8.0/config

  2. Create an empty text file with only the line
    EnableGit=1

Restart Kicad?

13

Configs are not in program files, check %APPDATA%\kicad

14

Found the directory but the file did not take.

I made a file called kicad_advanced.txt with only EnableGit=1 on the first line.

1 Like
15

the same for me

I tried right now into
C:\Users\Tormy Van Cool\AppData\Roaming\kicad\8.0

with
kicad_advanced.txt
and
kicad_advanced.json

It doesn’t appear any “Git” option.

16

Remove the file extension.

17

I tried without the file extension but as well: nothing changes.

18

It worked for me when I deleted the file extension.
The file menu now includes an option “clone project from repository” which is a new option.
I can also right click on the a project to get the option for version control