KiCad gripes list - post gripes here

[zapta]

But I think you don't want that update to be automatic upon each schematic save, because what if you change your mind and need to undo something? Then you have to undo the layout, and that could get messy.

This is actually what eagle is doing and it works perfectly for me.  Between the undo button and the version control system I have anything I need to recover from mistakes.

[madworm]

Definitely a wishlist item: inverted text on copper layers.

[krivx]

Schematic and pcb editor without screen leftovers when moving parts.

Alexander.

I actually just submitted a patch that fixes some of that, hopefully it's committed soon.

Any comments on the process? I have been meaning to look at a couple of issues myself, how hard was it to read through the codebase? What was the submission process like?

[firewalker]

Selecting mask color for the 3D viewer. There is already a patch available.

[c4757p]

Schematic and pcb editor without screen leftovers when moving parts.

Alexander.

I actually just submitted a patch that fixes some of that, hopefully it's committed soon.

Any comments on the process? I have been meaning to look at a couple of issues myself, how hard was it to read through the codebase? What was the submission process like?

Patch committed.

Well, I've been working on KiCad for a couple months now, so I've worked my way into the codebase gradually, but it's not too bad. Could use better organization - you'll want ctags or similar. There are definitely sections of it, depending on age, that are written differently - I'm most experienced with Eeschema, I've been trying to give it some attention since it doesn't get very much.

As for submission - if it's a bugfix, and you've done the fix well, just attach the patch to the bug in the tracker. As usual I'd recommend you start simple before dumping out a thousand line patch and expecting people to take the time to look it over, and before you do anything with substantial changes or add features, ask the devs on the mailing list. This patch came with an added feature, so I probed the mailing list for opinions first. They're generally open to suggestions.

[c4757p]

Selecting mask color for the 3D viewer. There is already a patch available.

Go voice your support for the patch in the tracker. Be aware, however, that there is an official pre-release feature freeze in effect now - features can be added, but they need higher approval than usual and have to be simple.

[krivx]

Schematic and pcb editor without screen leftovers when moving parts.

Alexander.

I actually just submitted a patch that fixes some of that, hopefully it's committed soon.

Any comments on the process? I have been meaning to look at a couple of issues myself, how hard was it to read through the codebase? What was the submission process like?

Patch committed.

Well, I've been working on KiCad for a couple months now, so I've worked my way into the codebase gradually, but it's not too bad. Could use better organization - you'll want ctags or similar. There are definitely sections of it, depending on age, that are written differently - I'm most experienced with Eeschema, I've been trying to give it some attention since it doesn't get very much.

As for submission - if it's a bugfix, and you've done the fix well, just attach the patch to the bug in the tracker. As usual I'd recommend you start simple before dumping out a thousand line patch and expecting people to take the time to look it over, and before you do anything with substantial changes or add features, ask the devs on the mailing list. This patch came with an added feature, so I probed the mailing list for opinions first. They're generally open to suggestions.

Thanks. I have ctags with vim for navigation. Never used bzr, I had thought that most projects were abandoning it. I'll take a look at the mailing lists.

[c4757p]

Most projects are abandoning it, because it fucking sucks. KiCad will in time, but not until after the next release. For now I don't use it, I use git-remote-bzr.

[jsquaredz]

Definitely a wishlist item: inverted text on copper layers.

Inverted not mirrored.  So in other words rotated text?

[madworm]

Inverted as in 'photographic negative' (etched text). Currently the copper pour is removed & normal text is added.

[jsquaredz]

Inverted as in 'photographic negative' (etched text).

gotcha.  Thanks.

[ElektroQuark]

Quote from: madworm on Today at 14:15:04

Inverted as in 'photographic negative' (etched text). Currently the copper pour is removed & normal text is added.

You can do it putting the text in the cooper layer before doing the pour. Or am I missing something?

[madworm]

See the image I posted. It destroys part of the copper pour (positive text in empty box).

[jsquaredz]

See the image I posted. It destroys part of the copper pour (positive text in empty box).

So you want the text etched away completely...

[madworm]

Yup, leave the copper pour alone & etch the text away.

[jsquaredz]

Yup, leave the copper pour alone & etch the text away.

And what to do if there is no copper pour?

[madworm]

Well, normal text of course.

I think this could be an optional thing, per text object via a check-box.

[c4757p]

jsquaredz, if you're going to keep funneling "gripes" into the tracker, can you help us out a bit by tagging them properly?

Preferred example tags:
pcbnew
cern gal - for things related to the GAL/OpenGL canvas in particular
eeschema
libedit - component library editor
modedit - footprint editor
packaging-windows - for things related to the Windows installer
osx

Also, set Importance to Wishlist for feature requests.

Keep in mind, anyone desiring features who has coding experience is welcome to implement them. Just ask first to make sure it'll be accepted.

[AdShea]

Here's a few:

1. Inconsistent hotkeys for block mode in eeschema (Tab v. G for drag, no hotkey for delete block, etc.)
2. No hotkey for paste saved block.
3. No way to add/remove items from a block selection.

[timofonic]

Here's my rant:
- The library manager is a total mess, even worse than Eagle but not worse than DipTrace (nice software, but that shitty library manager makes it useless). Where's advanced taxonomy and tagging like when finding something in Octopart? That's the way to go, and "favorites" and "recent" tags too.

- I find the interface too frustrating to use, I was able to replicate a simple 741 exercise from class in "just" a few hours. It was difficult to move objects and place lines, the lack of back annotation made my n00b mistakes even more frustrating than it already is and made me insa e
- The software forces me to create a project to d something, this is crazy. Their replies are about change your workflow.
- Footprints and parta dont get embedded in the schematic and board files, this makes portability very difficult.
- Lack of interoperability makes things difficult.


They need to go the LibreOffice way:
- Get funds to make a foundation, electronic small/medium companies and education institutions could invest on it. While that would  happens, some nice nerdy devs would provide improvements for more marginal stuff but no less interesting for certain people. You can try crowdfunding, a call for help in EDA sites and such.
- Do a massive code refactorization and analyze the code, just like LibreOffice and many projects did. This can improve development in many ways. I did read from many devs that there's lots of crappy code, specially the legacy one.

- Please develop one ISO standard format for all kind of electronics software. Even for stuff like Sigrok, circuits simulators and such. This needs one consortium and small EDA software companies could be part of it, "just" avoid any kind of negative attitude

[c4757p]

- I find the interface too frustrating to use, I was able to replicate a simple 741 exercise from class in "just" a few hours. It was difficult to move objects and place lines, the lack of back annotation made my n00b mistakes even more frustrating than it already is and made me insa e

Back-annotation is planned. "Frustrating" is not a valid complaint.

- The software forces me to create a project to d something, this is crazy. Their replies are about change your workflow.

So? Create a project and stop whinging. (And you don't have to create one anyway, try again.)

- Footprints and parta dont get embedded in the schematic and board files, this makes portability very difficult.

They don't get embedded in schematic files only. They are saved to a separate library cache file, which you just need to include with your project. I recently added some code to make kicad prefer the symbols in this cache file when there are conflicts.

Footprints have always been embedded. You can modify each instance individually and all that.

- Lack of interoperability makes things difficult.

Interoperability in what sense?

- Do a massive code refactorization and analyze the code, just like LibreOffice and many projects did. This can improve development in many ways. I did read from many devs that there's lots of crappy code, specially the legacy one.

You know what "legacy" means, right? We are doing that.

- Please develop one ISO standard format for all kind of electronics software. Even for stuff like Sigrok, circuits simulators and such. This needs one consortium and small EDA software companies could be part of it, "just" avoid any kind of negative attitude

Yes, it worked so well for LibreOffice. Have you tried opening LO files in other software? Usually they get fucked up badly.

[c4757p]

Here's a few:

1. Inconsistent hotkeys for block mode in eeschema (Tab v. G for drag, no hotkey for delete block, etc.)
2. No hotkey for paste saved block.

Good ideas. The hotkeys definitely need some work.

3. No way to add/remove items from a block selection.

Planned. Eeschema will eventually work the same way pcbnew does, and in pcbnew with the new canvas you can do this easily.

[donotdespisethesnake]

- I find the interface too frustrating to use, I was able to replicate a simple 741 exercise from class in "just" a few hours. It was difficult to move objects and place lines, the lack of back annotation made my n00b mistakes even more frustrating than it already is and made me insa e

Back-annotation is planned. "Frustrating" is not a valid complaint.

So already we have gone from "list your gripes" to "your observations are not valid". This is my meta-gripe : the Kicad devs are not really interested in working out how or why the UX is frustrating for many typical users (the UX always was and still is quite crap), and how to improve it.

Instead, the devs have this "if you don't like it, you're wrong, buzz off" attitude which puts off many users, and will never lead to Kicad improving.

[c4757p]

I'm hardly a dev, I'm a guy who contributes some patches in his spare time. Something I chose to do rather than just complaining about the free software I'm getting. Trust me, we know what's wrong with the UI, and we have limited manpower to fix it. We're working on it FFS, be patient.

And yes, if you can't be bothered to explain what you find frustrating, by all means buzz off. Developers aren't Miss Cleo, you need to tell them what you want.

[firewalker]

The patch for color selection.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/kicad/+bug/1437724

Alexander.