Netlist import hangs in Pcbnew

Software
1

Relatively new to Kicad. Using latest nightly build on Xubuntu Linux 14.04/64 bit. I’ve successfully done a few simple schematics and PCBs to learn the ropes. I’m having a problem importing the netlist into Pcbnew on my actual project - a design with about 10 schematics and about 350 components.

I’ve developed and annotated the schematics, built footprints as needed, and associated all the components with footprints. I’ve created a board outline in Pcbnew. I can read the netlist as a dry run - I get a lot of info messages about adding new components, but no errors. If I try to read the netlist for real, it just hangs. No messages and no visible activity.

I don’t want to bug the developers if it’s simple operator error, but I’ve also been banging my head on the wall more than usual. Are there log files somewhere that might shed light? Is this a common problem that’s eluded my Google skills? Are there logical next steps to diagnose / troubleshoot?

Any help or suggestions gratefully appreciated.

2

Two questions:

  • Could you post the netlist somewhere or at least obtain a stack trace of the moment where Kicad hangs?
  • Are you using Github PCB libraries? (in this case, sometimes it takes long to load the footprints)

Best,
Tom

3

I think it might be libraries taking a long time. I waited 30 minutes and it had run. 15 minutes was not enough. I’ll try using local copies.

Thanks for the suggestion.

4

Is there a problem importing the netlist a second time? If it fails and I have to kill Pcbnew, any repeated attempts seem to result in failure. The only way I have success is to delete the pcb file and restart the process.

I’d be happy to provide a stack trace if I knew how to get it.

5

Same problem in CvPCB. Four IC’s, a regulator, battery and caps,resistors. Previously got ratsnests, the lot. When I got back There was an auto_saveProject.cvpcb or similar in KiCAD’s project directory. (Win 7, KiCAD 4.0.1). After not getting the board again, clicked on it (auto_save) and it loaded. Distracted again, now nothing works.

Deleted netlist, recreated through Eeschema, can read in text editor, but CvPCB is now Not Responding. Looked at re-installing KiCAD (must’ve done some finger fault) but all the files will be deleted. Does this mean the project directory files as well or just the KiCAD app files? I’d be fine if I can save the .sch file to start again.

6

If cvpcb is hanging, it could be because it is trying to access github repos.

Github is not intended for content delivery, so as the number of Kicad users increases, github will throttle traffic. I anticipate this will be a growing problem.

7

Same here, it would hang the UI when downloading.
Could we make it download at background with an indicator of the progress?

At least pop up a warning like “Would download xxx from internet, it would hang several minutes, sit and relax” before processing.

8

Just install the libs locally. There is no reason any more to use on demand libs as the repos are now locked. So you basically download the same 100MB everytime you start cvpcb.

We locked the repos because we decided not to use the on demand github download for the official libs for the future releases. (One of the reasons is that the github plugin made it extremly hard to supply versioned releases of the lib. And having always the newest stuff might not be the best for most users. Especially not for beginners. And definetly not for people with slow or even limited internet access.)

For details on how do install a specific version of the lib locally look at this FAQ post: How can i install a specific version of the footprint library?

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