[SOLVED] V6 Library Old .lib & .dcm management

[vidalv]

Hello everyone, I am testing the future V6 from Kicad using V5.99.
Lots of new things in this major update.
Especially for libraries and modules.
Symbol libraries are now with a .kicad_sym extension, modules remain under .pretty directories with the .kicad_mod extension. and the 3d shapes are on 3dmodels directories with .3dshapes subdirectories containing .step or / and .wrl files.
On the previous version (V5), I created specific components for my use. In my space, I name a directory for the new symbols and inside I have 2 types of files for the same component with the extensions .lib and .dcm.
Should I convert them or just adding a path on the library management tool is sufficient? Where is how to get new type of models?
thank you for the explanations
Vincent.

[eelik]

Use Preferences -> Manage Symbol Libraries…

[vidalv]

Thanks Eelik, too easy, I hadn’t seen the button. On the other hand, the file is 5 times bigger and less easy to modify by hand, well if this is the norm, why not.
Thanks again.
Vincent.

[SembazuruCDE]

@vidalv

On the other hand, the file is 5 times bigger and less easy to modify by hand, well if this is the norm, why not.

Well, not only is the .lib and .dcm combined into one file, but the syntax is more verbose. I could never remember what each column of data in the old format means, but now each data value comes with an identifier. I (personally) think the new format is easier to read simply because of that self-documentation property.

I haven’t tried out v5.99 yet, but I remember watching a live stream of someone checking outa release from a month or two ago. One issue they came across was while the migrate library function removed the old library from the library table, it didn’t then add the updated library to the table. Has that been fixed with a more recent v5.99?

[craftyjon]

@vidalv

On the other hand, the file is 5 times bigger and less easy to modify by hand, well if this is the norm, why not.

Out of curiosity, why do you call the new format less easy to modify by hand? (not that modifying files by hand is generally a good idea)

We plan to support compressed versions of the file formats in the future if file size really is an issue (then again, I still have yet to see a schematic file more than a few hundred KB, which is not really that big.

@SembazuruCDE

One issue they came across was while the migrate library function removed the old library from the library table, it didn’t then add the updated library to the table. Has that been fixed with a more recent v5.99?

Yes

[vidalv]

This is not a criticism, it is just an observation.
Personally I went much faster by going through the “Text” editor to create a new component.
There are (apart from the FPA libraries) libraries which are several hundred KB.
With the .lib format it was quite simple to copy the component close to the one we needed to modify it (in text format), with delimiters:

DEF abcdefg …
…
…
ENDDRAW
ENDDEF
we had the reference, the Id etc … Then, in continuation with the symbol editor to modify it at will.
For example for an AD75019 which I needed, the .lib file is 96 lines. In the .kicad_sym file we are at 452 lines.
But hey, again, it takes time to assimilate the changes and understand the new architecture.
Let’s stay positive!