KiCad Library Download Page

For those users who wish for a magical land where archived library data roam free, ready to be downloaded and uncompressed:

Wait no more!

KiCad libraries can now be downloaded here.

The data on this website are rebuilt every week, and track the official library repositories on GitHub.

Notes:

  1. Currently the various *.pretty repositories are used to generate the footprint data
  2. When V5 libs are released, all footprints will be in the kicad-footprints repository, and the dark powers (Python scripts) that govern https://kicad.github.io will be redirected to point to the new libs
  3. The archived library files (can) provide a LOT of compression. The go-to example is the pin-headers library.
  • Uncompressed: 1.5GB
  • Compressed: 54MB
  • Compressed: 54MB (I thought that was worth repeating)
  1. There is no fourth point

Enjoy.

10 Likes

On https://kicad.github.io/footprints/
The link in:
“Users who wish to keep footprint libraries up to date can track the https://github.com/kicad/kicad-footprints GitHub repository.”

is wrong. It points to: “https://kicad.github.io/footprints/kicad-footprints”

2 Likes

Thanks Mitjan, fixed. Should be live in a few minutes.

This is TOTALLY AWESOME! (and yes, I literally yelled that out loud to myself when I saw the pages!)

I don’t know how much time you put into this, but I am certain to make use of it. I really appreciate knowing the download size before clicking.

1 Like

Now linked from the kicad-website too.

2 Likes

@SchrodingersGat

This time the links on https://kicad.github.io/packages3d/ in the sections “Updating via Git” and “Contributing” are broken.

While I’am at it, when did the footprint repo switch from submodules to what I assume is a final setup?
And do I assume correctly that this is the final repo?

As I have a pull request on the old “Modules.pretty” repo pending should I open a new one against new library? Or is this a really bad time for any new pull request?

Thanks for all the hard work

A month or so ago when we started to transfer the contents of the old repos over to the new one. (See ToDo.md to see our progress.)

We are not yet finished and we really can not predict how long it will take us. (If somebody wants to help out here they are welcomed with open hands.)

2 Likes

Thanks for pointing out the broken links. Should be rebuilt in the next half hour.

Before I commit myself I’d really like to know what are we talking about here?

The entire set of .pretty repositories are being transferred (copied, or remade) to the new kicad-footprints repo where they are now consolidated. Some of these are very old and do not conform to KLC. We are making a judgement call on each library as to how much time we spend fixing the footprints. Sometimes large gains can be made with little effort (and our python scripts help).

You can see our progress here - https://github.com/KiCad/kicad-footprints/blob/master/TODO.md

Once this is done, then the symbols will be moved to kicad-symbols repository. This will be handled slightly differently as the symbols are currently very poorly organised. I have written a tool that maps the entire library set into new categories and it is “simply” a matter of defining these new categories. This has been discussed at length on the GitHub page.

1 Like

Not sure i understand this question.

We need help at every stage of the process.

We need people that transfer symbols, footprints and 3d models from the old organization system to the new one.

  • For footprints this means: Take the footprints from the old repos and move them to a single repo that holds all libs. In this process rename the footprints and libs to fit the new footprint naming scheme. (And try to fix as many KLC errors as possible. At least fix the errors that can be fixed with a script.)
  • For symbols this means: Reorganize the complete lib using a script. (Move from manufacturer based sorting to a function based sorting.)
    • Because all footprints now have a new name all footprint filters and default footprints need to be checked and fixed if necessary.
  • Because the footprint names changed, the 3d models also need a new name that fits the footprints.

We need people who test our effort. (Look over us, give feedback, make sure we did not forget to transfer too many symbols/footprints)