I am in a similar muddle. I don’t know whether it is appropriate to chime in here or to start a new thread.
I’ve shifted from KiCad 5.1 on Windows 64 platform, to a Flatpak installed KiCad 7.0.0 on Linux Mint (21.1). The library system of 5.1 on Windows was initially confusing, but I eventually got comfortable with it and had user-custom libraries for symbols and footprints (and 3d .wrl /.step files). All of that workflow was moving very smoothly.
But in 7.0.0 on Linux Mint, it seems like all of these libraries are hidden. And, I have no idea of where I should establish my Linux custom libraries. I simply cannot find “~/.config/kicad/7.0/kicad_common.json” or the others mentioned (for one thing, there are many “.config” files and I am not sure of precisely what the placeholder “~” represents (usr? home? root? ??? ).
Apologies in advance if I sound a little kranke. Very frustrating of course to discover that what you learned previously seems to have been for nought!
I would not use flatpak if a native version is available. For Mint 21.1, the base Ubuntu version is 22.04 and Ubuntu packages exist for that release. Flatpak and snaps have complications with paths that are not under $HOME. These issues can be resolved, but it’s something to be aware of.
7.0.0 is very old. You really should update to 7.0.10. There have been hundreds of bug fixes between .0.0 and .0.10. There are no configuration breakers updating patch levels.
If your symbol libraries were the legacy .lib format in v5, they have to be registered as Legacy format, then you will be offered the option of converting them to the new .kicad_sym format.
~ is *nix shorthand for $HOME. It may not be recognised by all applications so substitute /home/<youraccount> for ~ on Linux.
Finally if you have problems with each of these steps, start new topics one for each problem. There is no need to economise on topics, and people are more likely to see your question compared to it buried in a topic somebody else started.
I downloaded Mint 21.1 from the Mint web page. No messing around, no flatpak-ing. Later updated to Mint 21.2 via the Download Manager.
I downloaded the Mint version of Kicad 7.0.10 as well as 8.0.0-rc1 with no problems whatsoever. Everything just happened and just worked.
Every time a new version of Kicad is available it will show in the “Update Manager” (bottom RH corner). To update your Kicad version from this manager, click to select and click OK; nothing else is needed.
Thanks for the responses.
To be clear (because there seems to be confusion, from what JMK wrote): my Mint 21.1 is not a Flatpak. It is the KiCad 7.0.0 that is Flatpak.
And the seems consistent with what what retiredfeline says about 'paths that are not under $HOME.
I can also report that, the last time I looked, the Flatpak version of KiCad is still 7.0.0. They have not updated it. And because of that, it seems impossible to apply an Update to any later version.
So:
I would like to disentanble myself from my Flatpak installation, altogether. How can I do that safely, and still retain any modified symbols and footprints? ( from what I understand, V7 keeps copies of all of these in EACH project that uses them, anyway, so perhaps that will be sufficient-- ??)
How do I reliably bring all of my v5 custom footprints and symbols from my Windows platform, over to what will be a new installation (direct, no Flatpak) of V7.0.10 ??
Yes, we understand that. Flatpaks are for applications, not for OSes. jmk was just saying there was no need for you to use Flatpak technology in the first place.
The flatpak will have the standard libraries within it. Just ignore the flatpak and install the standard KiCad packages (app and libraries) from the Ubuntu PPA and continue on your way. Project libraries are unaffected. When you have it working with the standard packages, you can remove the flatpak.
Importing v5 libraries can be a separate topic after you have digested this. And I’m going to split your query into a new topic.
When you have Mint sorted:
Go to https://www.kicad.org/ > Download > Linux > Mint.
Copy and paste the three lines, in turn, into your terminal. The download may take some time because the 3D kicad library is about 750 Meg.
When your installation has finished you will find the Kicad supplied libraries in:
Select the green folder Icon (on the desk top) > File System > usr > share > Kicad > .
For your personal libraries:
Select the Green Folder Icon again and choose somewhere convenient. Create and name folders or folders in folders or whatever, then drag and drop your Personal libraries into these folders.
Personally, I created a Folder called “Kicad 7 Personal Libraries” on a separate drive I use for data only.
In that Folder I placed three more Folders and called them P7 Symbol libraries, P7 Footprint Libraries, P7 3D Libraries.
For Kicad 8.0.0-rc I created a folder named “Kicad 8 Personal Libaries” and copy/pasted the P7 folders into this new folder and renamed these to P8 etc.
KiCad config files are in a different location on Windows, the docs will tell you where (I don’t have it on the top of my head, or even inside, there seems to be less and less space there these days ).
I examined folders and contents as “root” — they were NOT in the folders you pointed to
The culprit is Flatpak….the entire directory structure is different with that installation. Even using ‘whereis kicad’ did NOT find any kicad entries at all when only the Flatpak version was installed !!!
Now that I have installed in the “normal” (non-Flatpak) way, all KiCad folders look like they are supposed to, are visible, etc etc.
Now that the installation is non-Flatpak, ‘whereis kicad’ returns /usr/bin/kicad, usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/kicad, and usr/share/kicad
BTW now that you can see the standard KiCad libraries in their system locations, do not attempt to add your personal libraries there. Otherwise they will be overwritten on package updates. Your custom libraries should go in your personal directories.
I am somewhat confused by much of this discussion. I am not even sure if this remark is intended for me because I am not using Linux. But I understood the idea of keeping my personal libraries separate from the standard libraries early on. At least that much seems pretty straightforward and is not an issue.
Ha, that’s what you get for joining a thread. You can edit the notification level per topic, there are UI controls for that. As for opting into email notifications I wouldn’t wish that on anybody.
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