Hi folks! I’m working on getting nightly builds of Kicad for OS X made automatically. I’ve finally made some progress, so I have a build I want tested a little bit. Right now, I mostly want to know if the programs open on a variety of systems, and if the Python integration works in pcbnew.
Please don’t use these builds to make boards. Good builds will be coming soon, if this testing goes ok!
Open up the Kicad directory. Open each of the programs inside of the directory, one at a time, and close it. Let me know if there are any obvious issues. For example, opening kiway_test will probably cause an error message.
Open up the Kicad application.
In the Kicad application, click the eeschema button. Verify it opens eeschema. Close eeschema.
In the Kicad application, click the cvpcb button. Verify it opens cvpcb. Close cvpcb.
In the Kicad application, click the pcbnew button. Verify it opens pcbnew.
In pcbnew, go to Tools -> Scripting Console. In the scripting console, type: print “hello world”
and press enter. Copy and paste the entirety of the contents of the scripting console into your test report. It may be missing some characters, like >>>. That’s ok.
In the Kicad application, click the gerbview button. Verify it opens gerbview. Close gerbview.
In the Kicad application, click the bitmap2component button. Verify it opens bitmap2component. Close bitmap2component.
In the Kicad application, click the pcbcalculator button. Verify it opens pcbcalculator. Close pcbcalculator.
Close Kicad.
After you have completed these steps, please go to http://discuss.wayneandlayne.com and report your findings in the Experimental Mac Build thread. (That’s here!) Remember to include the output of the command sw_vers. For example:
adams-mbp:~ wolf$ sw_vers
ProductName: Mac OS X
ProductVersion: 10.9.2
BuildVersion: 13C64
Test report template
Build version as reported by bottom of README: Output of sw_vers: Issues with Step 1: Issues with Step 2: Issues with Step 3: Issues with Step 4: Issues with Step 5: Issues with Step 6: Issues with Step 7: Issues with Step 8: Issues with Step 9: Issues with Step 10: Output from pcbnew’s Python console:
Build version as reported by bottom of README: Packaged on Mon Mar 3 15:51:41 CST 2014
Output of sw_vers:
ProductName: Mac OS X
ProductVersion: 10.9.2
BuildVersion: 13C64
Issues with Step 1: kiway_test doesn’t open. It says “You can’t open the application “kiway_test” because it may be damaged or incomplete.”
Issues with Step 2: None.
Issues with Step 3: None.
Issues with Step 4: None.
Issues with Step 5: None.
Issues with Step 6: None.
Issues with Step 7: None.
Issues with Step 8: None.
Issues with Step 9: None.
Issues with Step 10: None.
Output from pcbnew’s Python console:
Welcome To PyCrust 0.9.8 - KiCAD Python Shell
Python 2.6.8 (unknown, Sep 2 2013, 05:24:29)
[GCC 4.2.1 Compatible Apple LLVM 5.0 (clang-500.0.68)] on darwin
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> print "hello world"
hello world
Test report for Adam’s 10.6 Machine (ps don’t use 10.6 anymore; Apple isn’t releasing security updates)
Build version as reported by bottom of README: Packaged on Mon Mar 3 15:51:41 CST 2014
Output of sw_vers:
ProductName: Mac OS X
ProductVersion: 10.6.8
BuildVersion: 10K549
Issues with Step 1:
Cannot close eeschema. It starts and complains it cannot load the power library. Right clicking on dock icon, quit doesn’t work. Red close button doesn’t work. Menu bar options are all greyed out. I had to close it by using a terminal to kill the process. When I restarted it, it had the same issue.
Kiway_test doesn’t open. It says “You can’t open the application “kiway_test” because it may be damaged or incomplete.”
Issues with Step 2: None.
Issues with Step 3: Still can’t interact with or close eeschema.
Issues with Step 4: None.
Issues with Step 5: Pcbnew tells me “File </Volumes/Kicad/Kicad/noname.kicad_pcb> does not exist. This is normal for a new project” I click on the blue OK button, and nothing appears to happen. I am unable to further interact with pcbnew. I had to kill it with the kill command.
Issues with Step 6: None.
Issues with Step 7: None.
Issues with Step 8: None.
Issues with Step 9: None.
Issues with Step 10: None.
Hmm. did I miss the last button on the other ones? It doesn’t work from Kicad (the message window says it opens and closes right away), but when I launch pl_editor from the dmg, it opens and closes
Output from pcbnew’s Python console: (This is when I launch pcbnew from the finder… when I do it from Kicad, I don’t get far enough to be able to get this output.)
Welcome To PyCrust 0.9.8 - KiCAD Python Shell
Python 2.6.1 (r261:67515, Jun 24 2010, 21:47:49)
[GCC 4.2.1 (Apple Inc. build 5646)] on darwin
Type “help”, “copyright”, “credits” or “license” for more information.
print “hello world”
hello world
Build version as reported by bottom of README: Packaged on Mon Mar 3 15:51:41 CST 2014
Output of sw_vers:
ProductName: Mac OS X
ProductVersion: 10.9.2
BuildVersion: 13C64
Issues with Step 1:
a) eescema reported the following errors:
1) “The following libraries could not be found:
- power”
2) “Grid ID 6138 not in grid list, falling back to grid size( 50, 50 ).”
b) kiway_test returns the error “You can’t open the application “kiway_test” because it may be damaged or incomplete.”
Issues with Step 2: None
Issues with Step 3:
- eescema generated the same errors as above plus an info box “File </Applications/Kicad/noname.sch> not found.”
Issues with Step 4: None
Issues with Step 5: None
Issues with Step 6: None
Issues with Step 7: None
Issues with Step 8: None
Issues with Step 9: None
Issues with Step 10: None
Output from pcbnew’s Python console:
Welcome To PyCrust 0.9.8 - KiCAD Python Shell
Python 2.6.8 (unknown, Aug 25 2013, 00:04:29)
[GCC 4.2.1 Compatible Apple LLVM 5.0 (clang-500.0.68)] on darwin
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> print "hello world"
hello world
>>>
I have an old mac that I might be able to convince to run 10.7. If I do I’ll post the results.
Exciting to see the interface with native widgets! I’ve been running an Ubuntu VM to use it in a stable environment, which has dampened my enthusiasm for using it. Looking forward to running it natively.
ProductName: Mac OS X
ProductVersion: 10.7.5
BuildVersion: 11G63
Issues with Step 1: All of the applications run in the upper left corner, hiding behind the dock on the left side. After double clicking on the application, no application showed their window until I clicked on their icon in the dock. Eeschema: “The following libraries could not be found: power” “Grid ID 6138 not in grid list, falling back to grid size(50, 50 ).” Kiway_test: “You can’t open the application kiway_test because it may be damaged or incomplete”
Issues with Step 2: Window is slightly too small. Had to enlarge window and enlarge the frame to see all the options.
Issues with Step 3: Window doesn’t open unless it’s clicked on in the dock. Error messages: “The following libraries could not be found: *power” “Info: File </Applications/Kicad/noname.sch> not found.” “Grid ID 6138 not in grid list, falling back to grid size(50, 50 ).”
Issues with Step 4: Window doesn’t open unless it’s clicked on in the dock.
Issues with Step 5: Window doesn’t open unless it’s clicked on in the dock. Message: “File<Applications/Kicad.noname.kicad_pcb> does not exist. This is normal for a new project”
Issues with Step 6: Complete
Issues with Step 7: Window doesn’t open unless it’s clicked on in the dock.
Issues with Step 8: Window doesn’t open unless it’s clicked on in the dock.
Issues with Step 9: Window doesn’t open unless it’s clicked on in the dock.
Issues with Step 10: Closing Kicad doesn’t close pcbnew
Output from pcbnew’s Python console:
Welcome To PyCrust 0.9.8 - KiCAD Python Shell
Python 2.6.7 (r267:88850, Jul 31 2011, 19:30:54)
[GCC 4.2.1 (Based on Apple Inc. build 5658) (LLVM build 2335.15.00)] on darwin
Type “help”, “copyright”, “credits” or “license” for more information.
print “hello world”
hello world
Thanks @Grathio! Looks like @MarkAtMicrochip has 10.7 covered. I don’t want to advertise compatibility with 10.6, because I don’t want users using 10.6, so if the issues are only on 10.6, I think we might be in okay shape.
Open everything:
bitmap2component: opens minimized
cvpcb: info dialog shows up about running for the first time.
eeschema: Dialog pops up with message that says: “The following libraries could not be found: power”
When that dialog is dismissed, a new dialog comes up that says
eeschema Warning
Grid ID 6138 not in grid list, falling back to grid size( 50, 50 ).
gerbview: opens minimized
kiway_test: does not open, is zero bytes on disk
PCB calculator: opens minimized
PCB new: opens minimized
pl_editor: opens minimized
no problems
opening eeschema from kicad I get the same first error, then the second error is different:
Info
File </Applications/Kicad/noname.sch> not found.
Third error is the GridID error above.
4: cvpcb: opens fine
5: pcbnew: I get an error message about something being normal (wha??)
6:
Welcome To PyCrust 0.9.8 - KiCAD Python Shell
Python 2.6.8 (unknown, Aug 25 2013, 00:04:29)
[GCC 4.2.1 Compatible Apple LLVM 5.0 (clang-500.0.68)] on darwin
Type “help”, “copyright”, “credits” or “license” for more information.
print “hey world”
hey world
7: gerbview: opens and closes ok
8: bitmap2component: opens and closes ok
9: pcbcalculator: opens and closes ok
9a. pl_editor: opens and closes without displaying anything
10: no issues.
sw_vers:
ProductName: Mac OS X
ProductVersion: 10.9.1 <—— [oh crap brb updating]
BuildVersion: 13B42
First of all, thanks for doing this. I’ve built a few versions of KiCad for OS X recently and it is getting a lot better. I’ve noticed some problems with little graphics glitches and other fairly minor problems. I haven’t seen any problems so far with your builds that I haven’t noticed previously in my own OS X builds.
KiCad opened the last project I was working on and the schematic and board seemed fine. cvpcb complained about various libraries but that is normal until you sort out the new library table entries and perhaps set up some environment variables.
Build version as reported by bottom of README:
Output of sw_vers:
ProductName: Mac OS X
ProductVersion: 10.9.2
BuildVersion: 13C64
Issues with Step 1:
Everything opened OK except for kiway_test. 10.9 complains about unknown developer and you have to approve each application the first time but that is to be expected. I’m not sure if that complicates using the tools the first time from KiCad.
Issues with Step 2: Opened OK
Issues with Step 3: Opened OK
Issues with Step 4: Opened OK
Issues with Step 5: Opened OK
Issues with Step 6: Opened OK. Python OK
Issues with Step 7: Opened OK
Issues with Step 8: Opened OK
Issues with Step 9: Opened OK
Issues with Step 10: Opened OK
Output from pcbnew’s Python console:
Welcome To PyCrust 0.9.8 - KiCAD Python Shell
Python 2.6.8 (unknown, Aug 25 2013, 00:04:29)
[GCC 4.2.1 Compatible Apple LLVM 5.0 (clang-500.0.68)] on darwin
Type “help”, “copyright”, “credits” or “license” for more information.
print(“Hello World”)
Hello World
@scott_dixon Good to hear. I’m going to switch to Mac Kicad as my primary, if I can get it to work enough for me. After I get someone on 10.8 to run these tests, I’ll post the newest binaries, and have folks open and close a board and do some diffs, and then I’ll post them for general consumption on kicad-pcb.org as nightlies.
Yes, I’ve basically started using KiCad OS X as my package of choice now. As I said, there are a few little annoying graphics glitches but they are not significant enough to be a big problem. The zoom and pan are a bit too touchy on a Mac trackpad. But at least now you can hold down shift and pan in both directions with a pad which is a huge win for MacBook use. A few of the menus (like the one for grid size in pcbnew for example) are not selectable but you can do the same thing with the context menu. And once in awhile the graphics get cluttered with stuff which didn’t get redrawn correctly but you can refresh the whole display with command R to fix that.
Overall, there have been some big improvements in the last few month for OS X. A lot of the bigger problems have gotten fixed and the programs seldom crash like they used to. So I feel pretty good about using it day to day now.
@scott_dixon Well, if you think my builds aren’t worse than the ones you use, and yours don’t mangle files, I’ll see about starting the autoupload over to kicad-pcb.org. I’ll still mark the package new and put some explanation in the README, but I feel better about it.
I know this sounds annoying, but could you list some of the issues with the OS X build if you don’t see them on the bug tracker? I want to hammer some of these out.
sgl@roy > sw_vers
ProductName: Mac OS X
ProductVersion: 10.8.5
BuildVersion: 12F45
Issues with Step 1:
bitmap2component looked fine but clicking on the ‘bitmap2component’ menu doesn’t drop anything down. CMD-q did’t quit but rclick dock icon and choosing quit worked.
eeschema gave warning: Grid ID 6138 not in grid list, falling back to grid size( 50, 50 )
kiway_test says damaged or incomplete
Issues with Step 2:
Issues with Step 3:
Clicked on eeschema and it opened the window behind everything. When I tried to drag kicad out of the way it immediately quit and gave me a “KiCad quit unexpectedly” dialog with Ignore, Report and Reopen. When I cmd-tabbed to eeschema, it brought up an error dialog “Info File </Users/sgl/Applications/Kicad/noname.sch> not found.”
Issues with Step 4:
cvpcb also opened it’s window behind but ran and quit OK and no error on moving kicad window.
Issues with Step 5: Opened behind other windows
Issues with Step 6:
Issues with Step 7: Opened behind other windows
Issues with Step 8:
Same problems with bitmap2component as described in Step 1
Issues with Step 9: Opened behind other windows
Issues with Step 10:
Output from pcbnew’s Python console:
Welcome To PyCrust 0.9.8 - KiCAD Python Shell
Python 2.6.7 (r267:88850, Oct 11 2012, 20:15:00)
[GCC 4.2.1 Compatible Apple Clang 4.0 (tags/Apple/clang-418.0.60)] on darwin
Type “help”, “copyright”, “credits” or “license” for more information.
hello world
Traceback (most recent call last):
File “”, line 1, in
NameError: name ‘hello’ is not defined
Hi, Wayne-
Your build is actually a bit better than the last one I did a couple of weeks ago and have been using. In particular, the 3D viewer seems to work better. I’ve been meaning to start a list of things which need to be fixed and put them on the tracker if necessary. I will try to do that soon. Some of them are very reproducible and can probably be fixed pretty easily. There are a few things which occur so sporadically that I’ve not been able to figure out how to reproduce them.
One thing I will note for those who are trying the OS X builds: Ever since I’ve been trying out the OS X KiCad builds, it has been true that starting other KiCad apps from a running KiCad app (like eeschema from KiCad or pcbnew from eeschema) starts up the new app at the end of the task list (if you switch to it with command tab) and in the back of the window stack. So it might not look like the app has started until you go looking for it and bring it to the front. I’m not sure I call that a bug or not but it is surprising if you don’t realize what is happening.
@scott_dixon That bug is already on the tracker, and due to an upcoming change in how Kicad is launched, will be fixed in another way in (I’ve been told) about 30 days.
On 10.8.5, here’s a re-run of the python hello world part:
Welcome To PyCrust 0.9.8 - KiCAD Python Shell
Python 2.6.7 (r267:88850, Oct 11 2012, 20:15:00)
[GCC 4.2.1 Compatible Apple Clang 4.0 (tags/Apple/clang-418.0.60)] on darwin
Type “help”, “copyright”, “credits” or “license” for more information.
print “hello world”
hello world
Thanks everyone! Thanks to all your great testing, I’ve already contacted Miguel who runs kicad-pcb.org about putting these builds on the official server every night.