Ah, didn’t know that. 
PS:
The other day I mentioned to @Andy_P that you’re pretty knowledgeable how to deal with KiCAD the GUI way 
Apparently I dont have any supported file types, no .mod or .pretty
Doesnt kicad come with any??
It used too.
I have only .lib and .equ and .wrl files.
Nothing else.
Didn’t you say you had your personal libs and modules up there?
I thought we are on a mission to get those linked into KiCAD… if you don’t have any then you either need to load those footprint repos from somewhere (note 1) or ask @keruseykaryu how to set up the github stuff… I don’t know how to do that as I don’t need it.
note 1)
download all .pretty folders from the official github repo and run them locally is an option here… but you can also (@keruseykaryu knows how to) set up kicad to do that for you… really your choice.
I tried the wizard for the github repos, kicad says they are all invalid
Ok, I can only show you the download manually way - I have no clue how to solve the github thing.
Browse here:
There is a link for the footprint repos… download, unpack, and then do as I told you up there for a local install.
http://downloads.kicad.org/libraries/kicad-footprints-4.0.2.tar.gz
If you want to download single footprint repos follow the github link on that website, go back one branch in the KiCAD tree there and you will land here:
Chose any of the .pretty repos and download those. Should be the same content as in the tar.gz up there.
PS:
essentially the github path there ^^ should be the KIGITHUB path variable.
Problem probably are the repo names.
For solving the github problem you need to make sure that the names of the repos on github are the same as the names that you have got in the footprint repo manager list.
Your global repo list looks empty, so you would need to get a new fp-lib-table file that has those names set correctly.
This is a very very old one and it’s absolutely outdated, but should give you an idea how it is set up (I truncated it to be smaller):
fp-lib-table_OLD_DONT-USE-WITHOUT-MODIFICATION (1.2 KB)
This might happend. Make sure you have correct URL to the GitHub repo in Wizard.
There were a bug in one release with the protocol. ULR was http:// instead of https:// This URL is saved in KiCad user configuration in kicad_fplib_url=, and you may inherit wrong URL from one of previous (4.0 RC1, RC2) releases.
WorkingDir=C:\\KiCad4\\bin
ShowEnvVarWarningDialog=1
Editor=C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Notepad++\\notepad++.exe
PdfBrowserName=
UseSystemBrowser=1
kicad_fplib_url=https://github.com/KiCad
LanguageID=Polish
[EnvironmentVariables]
KICAD_PTEMPLATES=C:\\KiCad4\\share\\kicad\\mytemplate\\
KIGITHUB=https://github.com/KiCad
KISYS3DMOD=C:\\KiCad4\\share\\kicad\\modules\\packages3d\\
KISYSMOD=C:\\KiCad4\\share\\kicad\\mymodules\\Ok next silly question: where is the kicad user config file??
This is not a single file. These files are saved to %APPDATA%\kicad under Windows.
AHA! It was http not https.
Just added an ‘s’ in the append wizard and got my libs downloaded.
Just need to add it in the config file so its permanent.
Thanks for all the help guys.
Having more problems.
Now PCBNew is giving me "footprint not found error for all components when I try to read a netlist.
After finishing a schem and adding footprints in CVPCB and opening PCBNew I get nothing, so I go to
netlist button and click read current netlist after selecting the right one I get the error’s.
Error pix:
My libs paths:
Do you generate netlist from schematic before starting CvPcb (Wrong!) or after (Right way)?
I tried it both ways and still get the error’s.
At first I did before starting CVPCB.
Then I re-did it afterwards.
Back to schematic and move cursor over any resistor symbol and hit F key. Is Footprint field empty?
No it’s got the right footprint.
Besides my schem has the footprint names over the components after finishing CVPCB.
Hmmm… Permissions problem for Dropbox folder from Eeschema netlist exporter? Try to move whole project outside the Dropbox folder and try to export nets again.
Check the path in the library manager… see that the last back-slash is a slash?
This means, the back-slashes in the path are wrong… you need to edit them.
This is a common linux/windows cross running problem.
green = good, red = bad
I also strongly suggest that you reconfigure those paths to use the KISYSMOD path variable and set that one up correctly in KiCAD, as otherwise you will have to do that when you move your libs to some place else.
Only having to modify the path variable is easier instead of every entry in the fp-lib-table file either with an editor or the library manager.
Example:
See here for more info:
Holy crap do I have to change every single entry in the lib manager one by one?
Isn’t there a way to set it once and be done??
open the fp-lib-table file with a text editor (I suggest notepad++) and use a search&replace for the path…
All in one swoop.
find:
F:\Program Files\KiCAD\share\kicad\library
replace with:
$(KISYSMOD)
done.
fp-lib-table location:
C:\Users\JonDoe\AppData\Roaming\kicad
my fp-lib-table file for a local setup and custom footprint libs:
fp-lib-table (1.6 KB)
#For advanced users…
You can have several of those path variables (layout part of KiCAD only atm) if you need/want to.
Example:
See KICUSTMOD?
It’s a custom path variable that leads to custom footprints (besides the system ones that KiCAD delivers).
How to invoke it for footprint libs?
Just like that:
Checking with the footprint browser we see that it works:
Unfortunately this doesn’t work for the schematic part of the program yet…
Path variables for things like datasheets or similar stuff is not possible yet, although it would be very practical:
And, yeah for testing I defined it correctly in KiCAD here:
2 Likes
Yup it was that damn backslash.
I got the netlist to load without error’s now.
Thanks