[SOLVED] From kicad 6 to kicad 7

[Paulinha_B]

Surely the matter is discussed at several places but I could not find a working solution.
Given: Ubuntu 18.04, kicad 6 from kicad-ubuntu-kicad-6_0-releases-bionic.list
Wanted: pass to kicad 7 without loosing existing designs and projects

I could give a list of what I already tried but it would be quite long…
Last I tried was to

• apt remove kicad
• add kicad-ubuntu-kicad-7_0-releases-bionic.list to /etc/apt/sources.list.d
  (with add-apt-repository ppa:kicad/kicad-7.0-releases)
• apt update
• apt upgrade kicad ==> nothing to do
• apt remove kicad + apt install kicad: got me to kicad 6 again

Next try:

• apt remove kicad
• disable kicad 6 entries in /etc/apt/sources.list.d
• apt update + apt install kicad
  now I do get kicad 7, but I cannot access or open the existing files

[jmk]

Maybe first check your system requirements. You may have problems with Ubuntu 18.04.

https://www.kicad.org/help/system-requirements/

Next, copy the three lines, one at a time, from the “Ubuntu 7.0.6 Stable Release” here https://www.kicad.org/download/linux/ into your terminal. It should be that simple.

7.0.6 will overwrite your existing version of 6.x.x. Be sure to select “recommended” when asked about libraries.

If you have already been attempting other methods, probably worth removing what has been loaded.

[Paulinha_B]

Thanks for quick reply! I had surely tried that one already, early on in my struggle.
I have now upgraded my ubuntu from 18.0.4 to 20.0.4 and guess what, Kicad now suddenly is version 7!
So it might well be that Kicad 7 and Ubuntu 18 are incompatible; perhaps someone could look into this to cinfirm and, as the case requires, update the doc?

[Paulinha_B]

PS is there any possibility or requirement to mark this matter as “solved”?

[retiredfeline]

18.04 went out of standard support recently anyway: https://ubuntu.com//blog/18-04-end-of-standard-support

You can edit the title yourself and prepend [Solved] to it.

[VillageIdiot]

Just to add a little information, and to create a record for others who might search.

Linux Mint 19.3

I tried to upgrade from Kicad 6 to Kicad 7 using the instructions here from the link posted already, i.e.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kicad/kicad-7.0-releases
sudo apt update
sudo apt install kicad

and also received the message that kicad is already the latest version.

Checking, Linux Mint 19.3 is based on Ubuntu 18.04

So, it would seem that I too need to upgrade to a later version of Mint.

Thanks for the information in this post (thread?)

[jmk]

Welcome @VillageIdiot

Mint is up to 21.2 based on Ubuntu 22.04.1

You do indeed need to wind up the computer spring to drive Kicad.
Don’t forget, when installing Kicad, make sure you tick the “recommended” alternative for libraries when the question is asked.

[VillageIdiot]

Thank you, jmk.

I appreciate it.