The KiCad Librarian allows you to view footprints and schematic symbols in KiCad libraries, and move or copy footprints & symbols from one library to another. It allows you to scan all libraries in a list, so that you can check for duplicates or naming conflicts. It supports a repository for central storage (and sharing) of symbols and footprints.
A run-through of the Librarian is posted on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sDICxGqsZC8
Parameters for a footprint, such as pad sizes, shapes and pitch, can be adjusted by changing values in a property table. This works for new footprints (created from one of several templates) and for existing footprints (even those that were not initially created by the Librarian). If a template is present, the Librarian also creates (or adjusts) a 3D model for the package.
With the goal of consistency in a library of footprints, the Librarian calculates essential metrics of pad sizes, spans and pitch. It provides a comparison mode where you can overlay two footprints for a visual comparison of the parameters. (A visual comparison of schematic symbols is also supported.)
For symbols, the pin types, shapes and positions can be adjusted. In the same way as for footprints, you can create new symbols from a template. Pin numbers and descriptions can be imported from the clipboard and/or conveniently edited in a table.
Additionally, the KiCad Librarian can create a report of all parts in a library. The reports contain the essential statistics of the parts. For footprints, this includes a drawing of the footprint and the pitch and pad size parameters; for symbols, it includes alias names and the list of applicable footprints.
With KiCad alone, you can do all of the above, too (except for the reports). This Librarian was developed to make managing the libraries more convenient. For example, instead of needing to "export" a symbol from one library and then to "import" it into the other, the KiCad Librarian allows you to open two libraries at once, and to copy the symbol from one into the other in a single operation. Another example: if you want to make the pads of a 48-pin QFP a tenth of a millimetre narrower, you need only to adjust a single value to change all 48 pads at once.
Footprint library management now also means footprint conversion. KiCad footprints exist in three formats (legacy-mils, legacy-mm and s-expressions), and all three formats are used interchangeably. When moving a footprint from one library to another, the footprint data may need to be converted. The Librarian does this automatically while copying or moving footprints.
The KiCad Librarian is built with CMake and uses the wxWidgets toolkit. The PDF reports are generated with the Haru PDF library ("libharu"). To parse the VRML models, the Librarian uses CyberX3D. For the access to the remote repository, the Librarian uses the Curl library. Therefore, the extra requirements are:
- wxWidgets
- Haru PDF library
- Curl library (optional, see below)
- CyberX3D library (optional, see below)
- CMake
The easiest way to build the software is probably to build it in the root of this source archive, which is the directory that this README is in. Then, you can type
cmake-gui src
and generate the makefile.
Two of the settings that CMake will show before generating the makefile, are KiCadLibrarian_USE_CURL and KiCadLibrarian_USE_CX3D. If you have selected "Grouped" visualization of the option tree, these options are below the topic KiCadLibrarian. Both options have checkmark in them by default. If you remove the checkmarks, the KiCad Librarian will be built without the ability to access a remote repository and/or without the ability to display 3D models. The respective libraries (libCURL and CyberX3D) are then no longer needed either.
If you want to use the "make install" command, one of the settings that you should change in the CMake GUI is CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX. By default, it is set to "/opt/kicadlibrarian" (on Linux), but you may want to change this to a path inside your home directory.
I made a CMake include file to scan for libharu. But CMake has to find that include file first. If CMake complains that it cannot find "Findlibhpdf", you may need to adjust the path in the CMakeLists.txt file (in the "src" directory).
After successfully generating the makefile, do:
make
and the program builds.
The easiest way to install the program is to use
make install
Depending on which "install prefix" you set, you may need to use sudo on make.
The alternative is to copy the files by hand. In the location of your choice, you must first create an application directory, for example /home/you/librarian. Then, create a "bin" directory below the application directory and copy the program into the "bin" directory. The "template" directory should be below the application directory too, for example /home/you/librarian/template. The same goes for the "doc" and the "font" directories.
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