Kicad Github PCB footprint libraries

Layout Footprints
10

Some of libraries were removed (footprints were sorted out into other libraries).
It’s better to use local copy of libraries instead of the “online” that can change without notification.
Please remove online libraries from footprint table and generate new table using
Preferences > Footprint Library Wizard.

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michal777

I’m new to this forum and using Kicad. I’m getting the same errors as Roman. I can’t seem to find the footprint table or the Preferences > footprint library wizard. I have version 4.0.0 rc1.

Thanks in advance for any help.

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@davidperez57 if you tell us whats your operating system we can tell you where to find the fp-lib-table.
for example:
iam on Kubuntu 15.10 and my is at

/home/stefan/.config/kicad/fp-lib-table

on windows it will be also somwhere in your user config - but i don’t know the path.
(eventually …/AppData/Roming/…/kicad/ or something similar)

if you want that kicad ( a current / fresh installation) restores the current default fp-lib-table just remove your fp-lib-table
than there will be generated a new default on as on the first start…
(all your user-defined entry’s are gone then…)

sunny greetings
stefan

13

The actual problem seems to be that KiCAD’s github plugin is looking for
    $GIT_URL/zip/master
when it should be looking for
    $GIT_URL/archive/master.zip
(seen by hovering over the “download ZIP” button on github)
Is there a way to control what the plugin appends to the github URL?

14

I’m new to KiCAD, so I may be misunderstanding, but I’ve had a look at my fp-lib-table and it already has those lines in it. Does that mean that KiCAD 4.02 includes this by default and so it’s no longer necessary to add this script to the fp-lib-table file?

thanks
D

15

Pcbnew has a build in Footprint Library Wizard which in few step could: fetch the footprint library list from GitHub repository, check those libraries, download libraries to local disk and finally create valid global fp-lib-table.
It’s the best practice - as Jean Pierre Charras said - to use this wizard just after installation if sb uses only default KiCad libraries.

16

has anyone had trouble with win10 not letting the file to be saved after editing it.
if so how did you overcome this problem?

such a wonderful piece of junk this win10 is turning out to be.
dave

17

Which file do you mean? If you’re trying to edit and save something else than locally stored *.pretty library the save option will not work.

18

In Windows it’s a bad idea installing any data files into c:\program files. I would create a folder called c:\KicadData or something like that and put Kicad data files there. With a bit of coaxing Kicad can be persuaded to use these files instead. Then you can modify them as you wish.

19

win 10 seems to be alot of the problem as i have trouble with other files being read only.

but then i used the save to user folder and that seems to work ok.

now with the github files installed i have troubles with kicad finding other footprint files that were saved in the user/documents folder and i need those to finish the project.

i find the kicad lib folder management very cumbersome and awkward. and have not able to find instructions as to how to manage them

i have read a couple of tutorials about this subject but i have not been able to understand them

it appears that i have lib files in the c:\program files\kicad\ (several)
in c:\users\dave\appdata\kicad
in c:\users\dave\documents\vfo.pretty

and i have not been able to access the stuff in the documents file from in kicad.
i hope i got this right

dave

20

Lets make new footprint library step by step from the beginning.

  1. Open Explorer and create LibKiCad sub folder in user Documents folder.
  2. Open KiCad and load your project or create a new one to enable all the tools.
  3. Start Footprint Editor and create a footprint. For example SimplePad.
  4. To save it in the new library select “Save footprint in New Library” from “File” menu.
  5. Editor ask for the destination folder and the destination library name, so click Browse and select previously created LibKiCad folder.
  6. The Library folder input line will be pre-filled with path base. Put cursor at the end and type \Pads.pretty. This will create sub folder Pads.pretty which will be also the name of the new footprint library. Then click OK to save library.
  7. To access new library we need to add it to the Library Table. Open “Preferences” menu and select “Footprint Libraries Manager”. This will open library configuration window.
  8. Now you have to decide: Add the new library to the Global Libraries - available for any projects, or add to the Project Specific Libraries - available only to this particular project. For this tutorial I will add it to the Global Libraries.
    706×484 18.4 KB
  9. Click on “Append with Wizard” button. This will open another window.
  10. In the first step of wizard select “Files on my computer” and click Next. Using the folders tree find and select your new library Pads.pretty. And click Next.
  11. The wizard will validate library in the next step. If the Status will be OK click Next. Now depending of your choice in the point 8, select one of option.
  12. The new library should appear at the end of the list of available libraries in selected table. Click OK to close library manager window.
    704×245 10.1 KB
  13. Now you can verify is your new library available by starting Footprint Viewer.
    762×596 30.5 KB

Steps from 7 to 12 can be repeated if there are more existing libraries to add.
In the step no. 10 more than one library can be selected, just hold Ctrl key and select the next ones.

2 Likes
21

seems simple enough. will give it a try and see what happens.
thanks

22

I have a doubt. I used the Library Wizard in order to add libraries from Github and selected a directory to save a copy. The copy was madden, but all the global entries is pointing to Github through ${KIGITHUB}.

Today while I was without internet I got a failure message. Then I tried to append a saved local library, but kicad complained about a duplicated entry in the library.

What do I need to do in order to use the local saved libraries ?

23

Clear Lib table and run wizard again, this time select downloaded libraries (files on disk not GitHub repo).

24

Thanks,

humm, but this means that I will not be able to have the updated versions from github anymore unless I delete the table and run the process again, right?

25

In fact yes. But you can workaround this. Create two library tables: one with GitHub libraries, second with local libraries; both in separate files, for ex. fplibtable.github and fplibtable.local. With simple batch file or shell script you can overwite default fp-lib-table in case of Internet breakdown to easy switch between remote and local before start KiCad.
The only thing you have to remember is to periodically download libraries from GitHub on disk to keep it sync.

26

Yep, it is a easy workaround… trying it…
But strangely I’m not able to import “files on my computer” right now.
I can select that option in the first page of the wizard but in the next page (where I should select the directory to import from) the “next” button is disabled, no matter which directory I select. :confused:

— update
Figured it out. You can’t select the parent folder that contains all pretty dirs. You must select the pretty directories directly.

27

To be clear, you’re talking about keeping two text files and a script to choose which library (local or remote) writes over KiCad’s “fp-lib-table” file (on Ubuntu, this file is at /home/your_user_name/.config/kicad/fp-lib-table).

If switching to remote/a.k.a. GitHub libraries, the script may pull changes and then overwrite fp-lib-table with paths for remote. If you choose to work with local libraries, the script would then overwrite fp-lib-table with the appropriate paths?

30

Did you notice that the latest post was 2 years old…?

1 Like
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