If you have any GitHub library in any Library table then CvPcb will be trying to download footprint list from it. So review your tables and remove any remote library you found. If you need some of those libraries just download it, save locally and update your table(s). You can do this by Library wizard when you will be on-line.
I didn’t add any github library not sure whether default installation has any I am not able to identify? I just removed the github url from preferences->configure path - is this a correct way or is it going to break something
If you install KiCad “out of the box” then you have all footprints libraries as remote. Open Pcbnew and select Preferences -> Footprint Libraries Manager. The PCB Library Tables dialog will open. Any library which has $(KIGITHUB) entry in Library path are remote library from GitHub severs.
It’s not good idea. The GitHub plugin could not be able to connect anywhere, raises an error, and finally it will hang CvPcb or Pcbnew.
I think you should restore default URL (which is https://github.com/KiCad), remove all remote libraries from global library table, go on-line and click on Append with wizard, select source as Github repository and check option Save local copy to: to download remote libraries to the local disk and prepare global library table for use them. After that you can go and work off-line.
You would need to remove the libraries (all github) from the fp-lib-table.
You can do this from within the footprint manager in pcb new or footprint editor.
(preferences->“Footprint Libraries Manager”)
Select all libs (With KIGITHUB as path)
But after that no footprint libraries will be left.
You will need to download the libraries to your local drive.
We had something similar in this thread:
This is obviously a recurring question, and therefore an area for potential improvement in the Installer’s GUI. Give the user an obvious, explicit, option to either “Use KiCAD Online Libraries (Default - Requires Internet Connection to Use KiCAD)” or “Create Local Library Structure (Requires Additional xxxx MB of Disk Space)”
And then somewhere in the “Help” files or other documentation there should be an explanation (similar to the above reply by @keruseykaryu ) stating the advantages and disadvantages of each approach.
The existing Libraries on github are certainly an attraction and selling point for inexperienced users. Configuring KiCAD to use them is a reasonable default. But as mentioned in several other threads (e.g., [SOLVED] Best way to organize personal library (3d, pdfs, symbols and footprints)? ), the majority (not all) “serious” users eventually create their own Libraries and Library Structures. Even these are typically derived from KiCAD’s github resources, so an awareness of those resources needs to be actively encouraged. Those libraries really ARE quite extensive - if anything, their extensiveness is their weakness when it comes to locating a particular component or footprint. The recent *.pdf “catalog” is a HUGE help!
Still, a large number of hobbyist and freelance users - and even “serious” users with overly protective corporate firewalls - work without continuous Internet access. (Will anybody join me on the porch of the Camper’s Store at “Midwest Old Thresher’s Reunion”?) I’d like to see the Installer make it obvious that this kind of operation is quite possible and equally effective but requires a slightly different setup configuration.
My editor-in-chief did somewhat simplified installer that asks the user during installation if will use libraries from GitHub or local libraries (which are included in installer).
It’s a simple mechanism that overwrites the global fp-lib-table template by the already prepared files from templates folder.
Today, I had some time to waste. I picked up my phone to browse some internet, an realized there is no internet coverage. OK, I thought, then I tinker with KiCAD (I’m kicad newb). After a bit of tinkering I bumped into this problem. Bummer! Seriously, kicad??
I am in process of switching to KiCAD from Eagle, and the work-offline feature is one of the primary reasons of the switchover. I was seriously disappointed that default kicad install is very limited without internet connection. Please fix it!
Application: kicad
Version: 4.0.6 release build
wxWidgets: Version 3.0.2 (debug,wchar_t,compiler with C++ ABI 1010,GCC 6.3.0,wx containers,compatible with 2.8)
Platform: Windows 8 (build 9200), 64-bit edition, 64 bit, Little endian, wxMSW
Boost version: 1.60.0
Curl version: libcurl/7.52.1 OpenSSL/1.0.2k zlib/1.2.11 libssh2/1.8.0 nghttp2/1.19.0 librtmp/2.3
USE_WX_GRAPHICS_CONTEXT=OFF
USE_WX_OVERLAY=OFF
KICAD_SCRIPTING=ON
KICAD_SCRIPTING_MODULES=ON
KICAD_SCRIPTING_WXPYTHON=ON
USE_FP_LIB_TABLE=HARD_CODED_ON
BUILD_GITHUB_PLUGIN=ON
Online libs might stay the default for 4.x installs because the devs don’t want big changes in minor releases. (Some linux distributions seem go with offline libs though.)
