I’m trying to edit some of the default footprints, specifically one of the Terminal Block ones. However, I keep getting an error (attached here). Now I tried setting the “allow_pretty_writing_to_this_dir” through the options editor but was unable to get it to work (Preferences > Footprint libraries manager > Options editor). Also I could not find these footprints anywhere in the local installation directory. Any help in figuring this out would be appreciated.
Thanks Joan. Thats exactly what I was looking for!
The reason this is made hard to do is that the libraries on GitHub get updated from time to time, so you might want to refresh them. KiCad would overwrite your modified library. It is much safer to create your own libraries in parallel to the defaults with your own (unique) footprint names
If you use the COW mechanism, there is no concern about it. KiCad always will look to the COW storage before remote repository.
I did some test while ago. I create my remote footprint library in my GitHub account and push one footprint to it. I have re-configure the global library table by adding my remote library and use COW to store local changes for it. Using Footprint editor I have edited my footprint and my changes has been written to the COW directory. I see my updated footprint. Everything is fine. I’ve close KiCad to flush their buffers.
Now I made some change in the footprint from remote repository and I pushed this change to the GitHub server. I went back to KiCad and again opened the footprint browser. I still see the footprint from the COW, which covers my changes to the remote repository. The COW mechanism works even if my remote footprint seems newer than that from the COW.
When the footprint from the COW has been removed then changes in the remote repository were visible.
Interesting, I hadn’t seen this, I was using the default KiCad plugin, so when I refresh from GitHub, all .pretty files get current date/time stamp.
What would be the consequences of making GitHub the default plugin?
The main consequence is a fact that when your Internet connection or GitHub servers will be down, you’re not able to use any remote library. So, if your Pcbnew library configuration based solely on GitHub plugin, you can not do anything. You will be in better situation when you configure COW. At least your modified libraries/footprints will be available.
Another consequence may be unexpected change in the footprints by someone else, when changes - pull request - have been accepted by one of library maintainers (I always afraid that when I accepted such changes). This does not affect the current PCB project because the used footprints were stored in the .kicad_pcb files. This change will be visible in the next project you have started or when you use the Exchange footprint command.
The last - but not least - consequence could be a slowdown of your work. You must bear in mind the fact that data about the footprints have to be downloaded from an external GitHub server. Sometimes this process takes more than 10 seconds, especially first time during CvPcb job.