.lib Eeschema Library Versioning (Kicad 5)

Software
1

I’m using Ubuntu 20.04, with Kicad being from the package tool for Ubuntu. Thus I have this release (sorry, it is a bit out of date, but I’m stuck with this release of Ubuntu):

  • Version: 5.1.5+dfsg1-2build2, release build

I’m interested in finding out more about a floating point error in the .lib files. The files which arrive with this package by default have this EESchema version listed at the top:

  • EESchema-LIBRARY Version 2.4

I’m trying to work with some footprints and library symbols provided by Molex and also by Digikey (for Molex parts). Unfortunately, although advertised as Kicad 5 compatible, this appears to not be true. What I see at the top of those files:

  • EESchema-LIBRARY Version 2.3 Date: 21-02-2013 11:13:20

Was there a divergence between the standards for the footprint and symbol library files within Kicad version 5.x? Those files which avoid floating point work, and have lines similar to this:

  • P 2 1 1 5 400 -500 200 -500 N
    The earlier files though also contain floating point, and this breaks footprint and symbol import with what is apparently a syntax error complaining about the decimal point. This is one such offending line from version 2.3 (which is supposed to be Kicad 5 compatible, but apparently is not):
  • P 2 1 1 5 400 0 350 33.3333 N

In the latter case the decimal ‘.’ character causes load failure.

Can anyone offer advise? Do I need to complain to Molex and Digikey that the Kicad 5 files are not Kicad version 5 compatible? Or is there something else going on, e.g., some Kicad 5 will work with this, but not other Kicad 5 (depending on minor patch variants)?

2

You don’t need to complain to anyone.
But you need to upgrade your KiCAD installation.
You may be stuck with Ubuntu 20.04, but I 'm using that as well, and can assure you that the latest Kicad 7.0.11 runs perfectly in that environment. Here’s the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kicad/kicad-7.0-releases

Off to upgrading! :slight_smile:

3

At first I did try this. However, there were conflicts in packages which ultimately left the system unable to update until I backed out the changes. I determined that I would have to remove FreeCAD which shares some of the conflicting packages. I’m still searching for a way to dual install the older and newer version of the shared libraries. If I can do that, then I can have both updated Kicad and FreeCAD.

I would still like to know if the EEschema 2.3 was ever supposed to be from KiCAD 5, or what release of KiCAD produced the Molex and Digikey EEschema files which claim to be release 5 but don’t work with release 5. Minor releases should not invalidate file formats and I’m wondering if Digikey and/or Molex used a buggy release. It’s very frustrating.

4

You can install both FreeCAD and KiCad from their respective PPAs, or you can install KiCad using FlatPak.

5

Unfortunately this does not seem possible. FreeCAD has some serious impossibilities when adding the PPA for the newer FreeCAD. It is impossible to have FreeCAD with the default version on Ubuntu 20.04 in combination with the newer KiCAD 7. It is also impossible to have the newer version of FreeCAD on Ubuntu 20.04 in combination with KiCAD 7 due to other dependencies. There does not appear to be any PPA for the intermediate problems.

I really truly wish I could do this by updating both FreeCAD and KiCAD such that I get KiCAD7. I guess I just have to talk to Molex and get them to actually have KiCAD 5 footprints and symbols in their KiCAD 5 downloads (which appear to be KiCAD 4 and not actually KiCAD 5…they are mislabeled).

A statically linked KiCAD 7 would be a workaround, but so far as I know, I am not going to be able to use KiCAD without making 100% of my own footprints, models, and libraries for the Molex parts.

6

Sad to see this kind of thing.
A solution might be to install KiCAD, Free CAD or both as FlatPaks.
That should get rid of the conflicts.
Personally, I dont like FlatPak (or Snap), but OK, if it’s necessary…

7

KiCad V5.1.5 is mind mindbogglingly old. It’s from 2019-11-27.

For me V5 is so old that I have just forgotten about it.

And I admit, I sometimes have trouble with KiCad / FreeCAD. I guess it most often boils down to version differences in LibOCCT. Recently I hit another such snafu. KiCad-Nightly was held back, and when I (foolishly) forced an install KiCad V7 did not work anymore. I did not pay it much attention because it was “weeks” before the release of V8 (which now installed without problems).

My experiences with FreeCAD are mostly positive. The version currently installed is:

OS: Linux Mint 20.3 (XFCE/xfce)
Word size of FreeCAD: 64-bit
Version: 0.22.0dev.36120 (Git)
Build type: Release
Branch: main
Hash: 628bad452a57aed379c997dfc12f793c5c8085f2
Python 3.8.10, Qt 5.12.8, Coin 4.0.0, Vtk 7.1.1, OCC 7.6.3
Locale: C/Default (C) [ OS: English/United States (en_US) ]
Installed mods: 
  * freecad.gears 1.0.0
  * fasteners 0.4.55
  * persistenttoolbars
  * kicadStepUpMod 10.17.1
  * Glass (Disabled)

… but I also have some older AppImages of FreeCAD lying around.

Incompatibilities because of different versions of libraries for different programs is a big *&^%$#@! in Linux. In my opinion the operating system should be able to handle different versions of libraries without having to resort to silly thing as Flatpak, Snap, AppImage, or whatever those methods are called.

And my current KiCad version is:

Application: KiCad x86_64 on x86_64

Version: 8.0.0-8.0.0-1~ubuntu20.04.1, release build

Libraries:
	wxWidgets 3.2.2
	FreeType 2.10.1
	HarfBuzz 2.6.4
	FontConfig 2.13.1
	libcurl/7.68.0 OpenSSL/1.1.1f zlib/1.2.11 brotli/1.0.7 libidn2/2.2.0 libpsl/0.21.0 (+libidn2/2.2.0) libssh/0.9.3/openssl/zlib nghttp2/1.40.0 librtmp/2.3

Platform: Linux Mint 20.3, 64 bit, Little endian, wxGTK, X11, xfce, x11

Build Info:
	Date: Feb 23 2024 14:30:34
	wxWidgets: 3.2.1 (wchar_t,wx containers) GTK+ 3.24
	Boost: 1.71.0
	OCC: 7.6.3
	Curl: 7.68.0
	ngspice: 42
	Compiler: GCC 9.4.0 with C++ ABI 1013

Build settings:
8

I have a requirement to have Ubuntu 20.04. To use any release newer than KiCAD 5.x Jedi mind tricks are required. Unfortunately there is no statically linked version of KiCAD available (a great form of Jedi mind trick I wish I had), and so it becomes a bit of a nightmare trying to use both KiCAD and FreeCAD at the same time. Newer KiCAD demands destroy the ability to use the Ubuntu 20.04 version of a library that itself does not have any PPA I know of to add to make it available (aside from actually upgrading to a version of Ubuntu that would fail with other software which can’t use Ubuntu 22+).

I’ve been searching for a way to dual install two versions of the library needed, but the Ubuntu package system does not seem to allow this. The library could peacefully be used in two versions since they are major release differences and the linker can handle picking the correct one when both are present. Unfortunately, the world has decided logic is not going to happen.

So I might need another disk to dual boot, but I’m kind of running out of slots for drives.

9

You still haven’t explained why you can’t use FlatPak, which would as far as I know solve your problems.

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10

I need to figure out how to use it. I’ve never used it before. That and time.

11

I went ahead with learning more about FlatPak, which turns out to be a good idea. I don’t necessarily like two package management systems, but it has allowed me to install stable KiCAD 8 and the most recent stable FreeCAD simultaneously. I’m glad you mentioned it.

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