I need to convert a netlist, which is in a simple proprietary format, into Kicad’s native netlist format.
I’m a programmer, so this shouldn’t be all that hard but first I need to know the details of Kicad’s native netlist format, but an hour of internet searching didn’t turn up anything useful. Does anyone have a link to a document that explains the native netlist format? I’m using Kicad 6.0.2.
Thanks.
I can’t help with the netlist information, but while you are waiting, it might pay to update Kicad.
Currently, Kicad version is 7.0.9
Well, until a dev provides an authoritative answer, there’s always the source:
I had a look at:
… and the description of the netlist format is not there, so I assume it does not exist (yet).
I also did a Schematic Editor / File / Export / Netlist and it’s also an S-expression based format and quite easily readable. But instead of looking at the netlist_reader as retiredfeline suggests, there must also be a netlist_writer somewhere in the code, and you can simply reuse that code as long as you’re happy with slapping on the same Open Source License.
There’s a text file in the scripting folder that informs user about it - it refers to chapter 14 but, the documentation is now in chapter 15… be sure to look at 15.2
The netlist format is not documented at the moment. Since KiCad moved away from an explicit import/export netlist workflow, and now the format is mostly used for internal communication, it is not really as controlled a format as the design file formats.
Thanks to all who replied, this tells me what I need to know.
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