Version 4 stable branch rc1 released.

[nikomo]

That's part of it, but if you dare suggest that they remove the 74LSxxx parts because you can't buy them, invariably someone on the user list will complain, "WHAT HAPPENED TO THE 74LS154!!!"

That's funny, I just typed 74LS into eBay and it returned over 13,000 listings.
If you couldn't buy them, I would have expected a few false positives, but I'm quite clearly looking at 74LS chips.

[Simon]

Many parts live on due to historic use, like the 16F84 or whatever that everlasting pic is called. So many learning materials will list them that people use them still becuse they are told to by a 25 year old tutorial or by a 10 year old one written by someone who just studied a 5 year old one......

[mark03]

The situation would improve markedly if they just got rid of 95% of the footprints and schematic symbols, or exiled them to some legacy container.  The existing libraries are chock full of truly ancient and obscure parts, like Xilinx Virtex-2, and a hundred-and-one versions of 78xx and 79xx regulators.  None of this gets fixed/organized because it is exactly like documentation: the last priority on the typical engineer's list.

That's part of it, but if you dare suggest that they remove the 74LSxxx parts because you can't buy them, invariably someone on the user list will complain, "WHAT HAPPENED TO THE 74LS154!!!"

Oh, I'd totally keep the full 7400 series.  Those are positively ubiquitous compared to half the parts in there, and very easy to segregate in their own library.

[langwadt]

Create and use your own libraries.
You can copy parts from community supplied libraries, you can make your own, you can hire someone to make the parts for you, but don't rely on any library you haven't vetted and can't control.

I always create my own libraries even if I get a library part that's made perfectly. Why? Because then I know it's been checked and double checked by me, and those parts that have been checked and found to be good, go into my own internal library.

I basically expect only the basic stuff to be there in the libraries provided by the software. Standard resistors capacitors and inductors and JEDEC accepted footprints etc. Maybe 2.54mm and 1.27mm headers etc.

But all the micros, custom packaged crystals, mems devices BGA's.. you anme it. They're double checked if taken from the library or made from scratch to be sure.

This is why any good package has very efficient and powerful footprint wizards etc. that help you to save time when making parts.

Eagle for example is quite hopeless in this regard. KiCad has some basics down, but needs a lot more work.

One thing I've always wanted to see in KiCad is to be able to create pin mapping by open spreadsheet format. You have rows of pins and each column is "name of the pin" "direction" "description" "alternative functions" etc. and when you've made your device with wizard, you'll give this file to it and it'll attach everything to their proper places.

This way even manufacturers can release this file with their products and you can just create the footprint and package, then add the manufacturer provided file and off you go.

This way you can use text editor and more suitable tools to edit this information and just link it in when you want to put it to the CAD program.

https://youtu.be/hX4l8i4TSWY