I installed KiCad on Linux Ubuntu 24.04.3 LTS to learn circuit basics (without starting fires…)
It installs easily, seems to run okay.
BUT… install didn’t provide access to a file storage directory.
For NEW PROJECT I get:
”Error opening directory “[path]”: Permission denied”
I’m not familiar enough with Linux and how KiCad works with the OS to know how to fix this for KiCad.
I would expect access to a “save” directory to be set up with the install…
After: File / New Project from the project manager, you have to find a location for yourself. Usually somewhere in your personal home directory.
Your home directory is in /home/[username]/. For me, the bulk of my KiCad projects is in: /home/paul/projects/kicad. This is all normal file management stuff. If a directory is writable, then you can put files there with any program.
Yes, I’ve got that much; I’m not totally new to Linux… ;-D
Linux isn’t allowing the KiCad program any access to my directories. I cannot choose a directory, and I don’t know why, how to address it… OR which end to start on: the OS or KiCad.
I can fix access to files and directories in Linux (permissions)… BUT
I don’t know how to (from Linux) [1] give KiCad access or [2] fix access to directories FROM KiCad… as I see no “preferences” or other setting in KiCad to that effect.
Also add how you installed KiCad. For example, the Snap / Flatpack thing that Naib mentioned can be important. Also, some people download KiCad from weird places (don’t ask me why) and that opens the possibility of inserted malware.
Edit / Addition:
I’ve seen a few occasions of people downloading KiCad from “weird” places, but I’ve not yet seen any evedince of insterted malware.
I mentioned above, likely lost in reading, I installed from the Ubuntu App Center… which is likely a SNAP package (not certain) as the “debian” variety of install “stuff” is listed as an alternative. Simplicity of install was a main factor in choosing KiCad as a platform.
It would be awesome to get it to work! ;-D
Other details by means of the KiCad - About - Copy Version Info CC listed above.
I see, “App Center” in your 6th post. And that may very well be the problem. Some of these container formats run in a container with limited access to your storage device. This is configurable, but I don’t have much experience with these things.
Alternatively, you can uninstall, and then install via the PPA.
I am currently using Linux Mint 22.2 and installed KiCad 9.0.6 using flatpak. I have not experienced any issues that I can trace to use of the flatpak package.
Also, a PCB design application may not be the best application to learn circuit basics. KiCad has a simulator, NGspice, but that’s an advanced feature.
While you did mention that it was installed from the App Centre, that unfortunately does not provide clarity on where the issue may lie.
This is the part that is odd. The install won’t, your setup will. How you have your permissions and such.
Likewise for NEW PROJECT… where are you trying to create a new project? IF for some reason it is defaulting to /usr/share/kicad then this makes sense as a user shall not have default write access here. if however it is ~/ then something else is going one.
Please can you provide a screenshot.
The reason I mention some snap/flatpak is these are sandbox application and the assumption is you were attempting to write to your home since you wrote
If this /really/ is the case then snap/flatpak might be an explanation because these can disavow access outside of ~/.var so I think it might be better if you could provide a screenshot of the associated error because aspects of what you write is not aligning.