Linux No KiKit backend found

[radiodesign]

Hi. I have installed KiKit via the command prompt, and also the PCM within KiCad and am getting the “no backend found” message from within KiCad. I am using a flatpak install of Kicad 6.02 on Manjaro Suspecting there is a path issue somewhere and they cannot find each other. KiKit does work from the CLI Can someone guide me to a solution here? Thank you.

[yaqwsx]

With Flatpack, you are out of luck. Flatpack is sandboxed, i.e., it has no access to installed Python modules (which KiKit requires).

[radiodesign]

Thank you for the reply, and for KiKit. I had suspected there was no way to penetrate that. Curiously, I have been unable to get non flatpak packages of KiCAD to launch on Manjaro. Running that issue down now as time permits.

[yaqwsx]

Actually, you are not out of luck with Flatpack. What to do to get KiKit running inside Flatpak. Open terminal and invoke flatpak run --command=sh org.kicad.KiCad, this will open a terminal session inside the KiCAD’s sandbox. Now you can install pip via python3 -m ensurepip and then, inside the same terminal you can install kikit: python3 -m pip install kikit. This should be enough to run KiKit GUI. If you would like to use CLI interface, all commands have to be invoked inside the shell flatpak run --command=sh org.kicad.KiCad, and, instead of kikit something you have to use python -m kikit.ui something.

[SembazuruCDE]

I don’t have experience with flatpacks, but I wonder if there would be a way to get flatpacks packaged with something similar to the “KiCad 6.0 Command Prompt” in the windows install. It seems to run on windows what you get with your flatpak run --command=sh org.kicad.KiCad command. Barring that, including this nugget of information in your KiKit installation instructions: KiKit/installation.md at master · yaqwsx/KiKit · GitHub might be helpful. (Or are you already updating the installation documentation since you only posted about an hour ago? )

[yaqwsx]

I would like to first hear from a few users that the instructions work and they are understandable. If I get this confirmation, I will update the installation guide. Also, I have plans for a different installation procedure that will only require to install the PCM plugin (and everything else happens automatically).