Kicad Export Hooks

Prerequisites

• Git is accessible via PATH
• kicad-cli is accessible via PATH
• edit file "pre-commit" so that it points appropriately for your system
• Copy the "pre-commit" file to a Git's Repo hook directory

Goal

To automatically generate files for manufacturing, viewing, and conducting visual diffs of kicad projects. These files will only be updated if there is a diff to the original source file (.kicad_sch or .kicad_brd). The created files will be generated in response to a git hook.

General Order of Operations

1. generateDeliverables.sh executes createSchematicArrays.sh

   • createSchematicArrays.sh creates global array variables that will be used by generateDeliverables.sh to create PDFs, SVGs, BOMs etc.

2. createSchematicArrays.sh does the following

   • "pairPathToId": Retrieves Git tracked files, stores tracked .kicad_sch file paths and tracked .kicad_sch UUIDs in two arrays
   • "findParentsAndPairPath": Identifies the parent .kicad_sch via .kicad_pro file contents. Stores parent UUID and path in two arrays
   • "whichFiles": If an output directory exists, generate files based on if there is a Git diff. If the output dictionary does not exist, generate files based on all tracked kicad schematic and board files.
   • "pairSheetToParentPath": Iterate though tracked or diffed files (as determined in prior step), identify the parent .kicad_sch file and save the path to array "globUpdatePath"

3. generateDeliverables.sh then generates PDFs, BOMs, SVGs, and gerbers for the files paths saved in "globUpdatePath".

   • Files will only generate if ERC/DRC passes
   • Export directory is named "${output}_${branch}"

Limitations

• to identify the "parent schematic" of a dependent sheet, a component needs to be placed within the dependent sheet. Otherwise a parent will not be identified via UUID.

Additional Resources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S-expression

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/31232843/jq-or-xsltproc-alternative-for-s-expressions