Bug 1925836

Summary:	Kicad symbol library outdated
Product:	[Fedora] Fedora	Reporter:	rwdpt
Component:	kicad	Assignee:	Geoffrey Marr <gmarr>
Status:	CLOSED NOTABUG	QA Contact:	Fedora Extras Quality Assurance <extras-qa>
Severity:	medium	Docs Contact:
Priority:	unspecified
Version:	33	CC:	aimylios, alain.vigne.14, gmarr, kiarakovalevsky, stevenfalco, thibault
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Hardware:	x86_64
OS:	Linux
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Fixed In Version:		Doc Type:	If docs needed, set a value
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Last Closed:	2021-02-07 18:36:02 UTC	Type:	Bug
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oVirt Team:	---	RHEL 7.3 requirements from Atomic Host:
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Description rwdpt 2021-02-06 23:18:42 UTC

Description of problem:

Hello,

I just wanted to mention that the libraries included on the Fedora package are really outdated with many missing components. And example of this is the PCIe symbol, while footprints are present, the symbol is missing even if it has been avilable at https://kicad.github.io/symbols/Connector for a while...

Perhaps there is some issue when the package is generated....

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):

5.1.9

How reproducible:

Just compare Kicad Connector library present at the package and the one one the web. Then check the footprint library and you will see that there is some sort of missaligment between footprint library and symbol library.

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Look for the PCIe connector symbol on the on-line library and you will see that is it is present.
2. Look for the same symbol on the local library and it will be no present
3. Look for the symbol footprint on the local library and it will be present

Actual results:

Symbols that has been already for a while on the kicad library are missing. With a miss match between footprints and symbols libraries.

Expected results:

To see those symbols on the installed libraries.


Additional info:

Comment 1 Steven A. Falco 2021-02-07 15:42:18 UTC

Thanks for the report.  The packages for Fedora are built from the official upstream gitlab repositories, and as of tag 5.1.9 (the latest in the 5.x series) the PCIe symbols are not present - that is why Fedora doesn't have them yet.

I'll ask on the KiCAD developer list why the gitlab versions are behind the github versions.

Comment 2 Steven A. Falco 2021-02-07 18:36:02 UTC

This is a little complicated to explain, but here goes.

There are currently two versions of KiCAD: 5.x is the current production release, and it is suitable for use on critical projects. 6.x is the development release, and while it is available for early adopters, it is probably best not to use it on critical projects.

One of the things that will change in KiCAD 6.x is the internal file formats, which affects the contents of the libraries. The 6.x series will still be able to read the 5.x files, but the 5.x series will not be able to read the 6.x files.

The library that you found on github was part of the 6.x development work, just prior to the file format upgrade. Hence, you can still use those files on 5.x without any problems, but those symbols were not officially back-ported to the 5.x release.

KiCAD has subsequently moved its official repositories from github to gitlab, and the file formats have been changed as described above, which means that the 6.x libraries on gitlab cannot be used with 5.x.

When 6.x is ready, we'll package it for Fedora, at which point the new symbols will become available automatically. In the meantime, you can continue to use the web site you found to get early access to those symbols.

Also, if you want to try out the 6.x series, there are nightly experimental builds as mentioned here: https://kicad.org/download/fedora/ Please just be aware that the nightly builds are experimental, and should not be used for critical production work.