KiCad

Are these features planned?

Asked by Mikhail Karpenko

Hello everyone,

I am currently considering Kicad as a replacement to proprietary software and I am concerned about several features I miss in Kicad. Could anybody give me a hint about whether these features are planned or not? And if planned, when they are planned to be implemented?
1. Pin/part swapping. Actually, this feature is on CERN's roadmap but I have not found any information about when they are going to work on it.
2. Teardrops. I have seen this feature discussed on the web. Is anybody working (or planning to work) on it?
3. Curved tracks (or arch corners).

Best regards,
Mikhail Karpenko

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Wayne Stambaugh (stambaughw) said : 		#1

Sine of these features have been discussed or plans are underway to implement them. However, we are currently in the process of a stable release cycle so they will not be part of the next stable release. Below is the best information that I have at this time.

1) Pin/part swapping cannot happen without a rewrite of Eeschema and the schematic file format. This is planned for the next development cycle after the upcoming stable release.

2) There is no formal plan for teardrops at this time. There is some experimental support for microwave layout in kicad already, I don't know how usable it would be for you.

3) Curved tracks have been discussed in the past but have been shelved due to the complexity (I'm told) of implementing arcs to the gerber file generator. Although I haven't worked on the gerber generator myself, one thing kicad has always done fairly well is not breaking gerber output generation. This is probably the most serious thing that we as a project can get wrong so developers are reluctant to make changes for that reason alone. At this time, there are no plans for curved trace support.

Like all things open source, developers contribute when they have an itch to scratch or someone steps up and pays them to implement a specific feature.

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Provide an answer of your own, or ask Mikhail Karpenko for more information if necessary.

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