news for 20070912

[geda-pcb/pcjc2.git] / NEWS

========================================================================
Release Notes for PCB snapshot 20070912
========================================================================
This release represents nearly 200 commits and as such this summary 
clearly is not complete.  See the ChangeLog file for the complete list
of changes.

- Many many bug fixes.  Too many to list.
- Added keystone, C&K, Nichicon, and Optek footprint libraries
- Add attribute editor to the GTK HID
- Add a fileselect() function to the HID spec
- Fix ps output with drill helper on
- Add a visual indicater when elements are locked
- Corrections to the manual
- BOM can export in mm as well as mil 
- Fix a ps output bug with arcs
- Fix some memory leaks found with Coverity
- Added autoconf test for buggy versions of m4
- Fixed some footprint drill sizes
- Add user customizable menus for the gtk HID.  The gtk HID now is capable
  of reading the same format menu resource files as the lesstif HID.
  This represents significant rework of the menu code and menu callback code.
- Added Center() action
- Store the file format in the .pcb file.  This will let pcb know when
  presented with a file which is too new.  The code for checking the format
  was present in the prior snapshot.
- Fix DRC checking of square pads to square pads
- Added window panning/cursor warping
- Add the ability to directly load a footprint from a file as if it were
  a complete layout.
- Add a Popup() action

========================================================================
Release Notes for PCB snapshot 20070208
========================================================================
- Add polygon clipping code.  This is a big change to how polygons are handled.  
  The new code now removes islands and correctly identifies open circuits caused
  by a trace fully cutting through a polygon.  In addition, the RS-274-X output
  is now simpler and works with some board houses that use older non-conforming
  sofware.  Different styles for thermal reliefs are also now supported as part
  of the polygon clipper code.
- Add support for plugins
- Many improvements to the autorouter.
- Various improvements to the trace optimizer.
- Add a fontmode for editing pcb fonts
- Add progress() hook to HID structure
- Fix a bug with non-functional windows on some window managers commonly
  found on OS-X
- Add support for controlling pcb via dbus
- Fix various bugs which would cause a crash
- Add --scale for postscript scaling
- Intercept window manager delete events with the GTK gui
- Scan the .pcb file for a FileVersion value.  This is not written out yet
  but will be in future versions.  
- Warn if non-manhattan lines are trying to become pads.
- Allow no-solder paste pads to support fiducials
- Report in mm or mils as selected by user
- Allow reordering of layers
- add some more QFN packages
- fix building with sun studio c compiler
- Made a pcb installation be relocatable.
- Convert the m4 libraries to newlib libraries as part of building a distfile.
  The m4 libraries are still considered the sources and as such are still
  distributed but this eliminates the need for m4 at runtime for footprints.
- Got rid of the pcb wrapper script around pcb-bin.
- Remove some old footprints of questionable naming, accuracy, or usefulness.
- Get the autosave/backup code working on all GUI's
- Fix some drill size rounding in the reports
- Changed the backup file name to be derived from the .pcb file name
- Added a command line option for DrawGrid
- Fix logic for adding new ratlines
- Fix gtk grid when board is flipped
- Add "find" and "rip-up" buttons to the netlist window
- Draw plated holes when exporting
- Fix some bugs when converting selection to element
- Fix build on cygwin
- Enhance the win32/build_pcb script used to generate a non-cygwin windows
  installer.
- Make pcb work under non-cygwin windows

========================================================================
Release Notes for PCB snapshot 20060822
========================================================================
- various manual updates
- update the INSTALL documentation
- fix a bug where pins turned into pure holes when an element
  was smashed.
- use locale-independent strtod and dtostr functions to avoid problems
  loading files saved in some locales.
- fixed various bugs which caused pcb to crash
- update the gtk status line after save/save as
- make the gerber file names be compatible with pre-HID versions
- split plated and unplated drill output
- fix various typos in menus and comments
- add a batch mode HID.
- fix drawing of box around text in the buffer
- various fixes and improvements to the trace optimizer and the
  autorouter
- fix board flipping code
- fix rounding bug when creating list of drill sizes
- add support for > 8 copper layers
- avoid strict aliasing violations encountered with gcc4
- refactor code related to handling the filenames in the export
  HID's
- fix layer group parsing code
- add the ability to user-configure mouse actions in the lesstif GUI.
- enable loaded netlists by default
- improve the positioning of the drill list in the postscript output
- various improvements to the configure script to improve robustness
  and improve error messages when thing don't go well.
- add IPC style footprints for 01005 passives.
- added a Renumber() action which will renumber all reference designators
  and produced an annotation file for backannotating to schematics.
- Draw via annulii on assembly drawings
- various other bug fixes and improvements.

========================================================================
Release Notes for PCB snapshot 20060422
========================================================================
- Several minor portability fixes for Solaris and the SunPRO compiler and
  for Irix and the MIPSpro compiler.

- Added --psfade option for the postscript HID.

- Fixed a bug where the "load layout" and some other menu choices
  didn't do anything.

- Added remaining actions to the actions reference section of the manual.

- Worked around X11 polluting the name space with some of the X header files.

- Fix route style "Save as default" bug.

- For the Gtk HID, add an alternate vertical window layout mode to
  help on lower vertical resolution displays.

- Fix soldermask draw while TAB view from solder side.

- Change default PNG output scaling to be 100 dpi instead of fixing
  the max dimension at 800 pixels.

- Added background image support for the GTK HID (lesstif one has it too).

- Fix missing window icons for the main GTK window and log window.

========================================================================
Release Notes for PCB snapshot 20060414
========================================================================
- This is the first snapshot of the new HID version of PCB.  HID, which
  stands for Human Interface Device is the abstraction created by
  DJ Delorie which seperates the core PCB code from the graphical user
  interface.  In this release, two GUI HID's are supported, gtk and lesstif.
  In addition, there are HID exporters for postscript and encapsulated
  postscript, RS-274-X (gerber), bill of materials, centroid file, and
  png/gif/jpeg.  This represents a major restructuring of the code and
  many months of work.

- PCB's actions (the commands which drive the core of the program and
  may be directly accessed by the user) now have the documentation in-line
  in the code and the actions reference section of the manual is 
  extracted from the in-line documentation.  The goal it to provide more
  complete and accurate documentation.  As always the manual is still
  a work in progress but it is getting more complete and up to date.

- Fixed a long standing segfault when saving connection data

- Fixed a DRC bug

- Fix some rounding issues when setting sizes.  Hopefully this will address
  the issue with 23.99 mil drills and related problems.

- The html manual is now in one file instead of many files

- The lesstif HID now supports loading of background images to help
  recover a layout which may exist in hardcopy form only.

========================================================================
Release Notes for PCB snapshot 20060321
========================================================================
- Add internal support for more than 8 layers.  By default PCB is still
  compiled for 8 copper layers.
- Fixed several minor bugs in the GTK user interface including fixing
  scrolling of the log window, fixed up some of the DRC reporting
  and mm/mil units.
- Fixed several key bindings.
- Updated refcard.tex to reflect the current set of key bindings.
- Fixed some minor bugs which caused compilation problems on some
  systems.
- Converted the QFN footprints to hi-res.
- Added documentation to the manual for the centroid file format and
  the algorithm used for finding the centroid and rotation.
- Fixed a bug so that the initial layer named 'component' is actually
  on the component side of the board and 'solder' is actually on the
  solder side of the board.
- Fixed the pin order in the bourns trim pots (~bourns library)
- Added actions and a script to allow command line printing.
- Added IPC-7351 recommended footprints for 0201, 0402, etc passives.
- Fixed SME5 package.
- Fixed a bug which prevented disabling nets from the ratsnest
- Fixed a bug where clearances could be set 1 below the spacing
- Fixed clearline flag so that arcs also have this property.
- Speed up rtree searches and other autorouter speedups.
- Fixed a bug in computation of the closest polygon point.
- Use rtrees for polygon handling for speed improvements.
- Add a ChangePinName() action.
- Fix a bug which caused duplicate rats names when manually adding
  rats lines.
- Added DRC checks for minimum drill diameter and minimum annular ring.
- Add a minimal glossary to the manual
- Fix the author name in the fab drawing
- Cause the crosshair to snap to pad ends instead of center for rat
  drawing.
- Add "join" to SetFlag, ClrFlag and ChangeFlag.
- Added inline documentation for the pcb file syntax.  The manual now
  is up to date and correctly documents the file format.  In addition
  the inline documentation will make it much easier to maintain the
  documentation.
- Remove some broken m4lib footprints
- Put the correct setting for the gschem footprint= attribute in []
  in the library window for the m4 libraries.

========================================================================
Release Notes for PCB snapshot 20050609
========================================================================

- **** The GUI is now based on gtk2 instead of Xaw ****  This represents
  a fairly major change.  You will now need gtk-2.4 or higher installed
  along with any of its dependencies to build pcb.  On linux
  distributions, it is probably the case that you already have this,
  but see the README-GTK_PORT file for a note on gtk versions.
  For *BSD, Solaris, and others, you may want to use NetBSD's pkgsrc
  to help install gtk2 and its dependencies.

- Flags are stored symbolically in the .pcb file.  This is the start
  of moving to support >8 layers.  Please note that >8 layer support
  is not yet available in this snapshot.

- Fixes for gcc-4

- As part of the switch to gtk2, the user customizable menu feature has
  been temporarily broken.  Hopefully this will be fixed by the next
  snapshot.  In addition, the loading of background images has also been
  temporarily broken.

========================================================================
Release Notes for PCB snapshot 20050315
========================================================================

- Several footprint library fixes including TO-220 parse errors and
  incorrect drill holes on several componenets.

- Fixed a crashing bug in the pinout window.

- Allow the FAB author to be set via an Xresource to override what
  PCB might have gotten from the gecos information.

- Added table of standard drill sizes to the manual.

- Fixed a crashing bug when trying to use arrow keys to adjust the scale
  slider in the print dialog box.

========================================================================
Release Notes for PCB snapshot 20050127
========================================================================

- Fix drill size for PLCC sockets in ~geda library.  Fix drill size for
  LED3 and LED5 footprints in ~geda library.

- Move the right-click popup menu to pcb-menu.res.

- Add DisperseElements() action for spreading out elements in an initial
  layout.

- Fix fab drawing output for the case where a very small number of
  drill sizes are used.

- Various documentation improvements.

- Remove many compiler warnings.

- Added metric output to the cursor display

- Fix <Key>. for toggling 45 degree mode.

- Crosshair snap snaps to center of pads and also to the mark of the
  element.

- Protect all strcmp() calls with a check for a NULL pointer.  Fixes
  various crashes.

- Fixed the mode buttons which were unresponsive in some versions of 
  the X libraries.

- Element names may be edited over the element.

- Added --enable-efence for ElectricFence debugging.  Off by default

- Added --disable-rpath to avoid using rpath for the X libraries.

- Added vendor resource file support.  This allows lets you specify
  a set of allowed drill sizes and drc rules for a particular vendor.

- Added -action command line option to allow executing an action on
  startup.

- Date and time of compilation added to About dialog.

- Fix a bug where the soldermask relief on a new element is 100x smaller
  than the default when "convert buffer to element" is used.

- Fix a name_tree corruption bug when changing an element name.

- Don't remove the formatted manual with a 'make clean' since they are
  part of the distfile.  

- Let automake handle the html and pdf conversion.  This ends up using
  texi2pdf for the pdf output which seems to do a better job than ps2pdf.

- Sort actions by modifier so that both Ctrl<Key>x and <Key>x work.

- Fix a SelectByName bug.

- Fix non-gcc compilation

- Command history added to :

- Fixed pinout window crash

- Allow Ctrl-drag to copy objects in arrow mode.

- Fixed a polygon clearance bug

- Fix an arc bounding box calculation error.

========================================================================
Release Notes for PCB snapshot 20040903
========================================================================

- enable -Wall when compiling with gcc.  Many compiler warnings have
  been fixed.

- add a short man page which refers the user to the real documentation

- Added ExecuteFile(file) action which allows the execution of several
  actions contained in a text file.

- Added -script <file> flag which specifies a file containing actions
  to be executed upon startup.

- Various documentation improvements

- Protect some gcc extensions with tests for gcc.  This allows
  compilation with the IRIX c compiler.

- Add support for a background image in the drawing area which can
  help in importing a layout from a scanned image.

- Updated the ~geda library 150 and 300 mil width SOIC packages
  to remove silk on pads and to more closely follow the IPC
  recommendations

- Added support for menu accelerators.

- segfault when breaking apart an element with no element selected
  bug fixed.

- autorouter improvements

- added more 400mil DIP packages to ~geda library

- fix a trace optimizer bug which produced a segfault

- other various bug fixes


========================================================================
Release Notes for PCB snapshot 20040530
========================================================================
This has been an exciting 3 months for PCB.  Many improvements have
been made in the program as well as additions and improvements to the
footprint library.  Thanks to everyone who has provided feedback,
patches, etc.

----------------------
Additions/Improvements
----------------------
  - Expanded DRC checking
  - "Realtime" DRC checking
  - DRC settings are now stored in the board fle
  - Centroid (X-Y) and bill of materials output
  - Dynamic menus.  Users can now customize the menus via a
    site-wide, per-user, or per-project menu resource file.
  - Significant improvements to autorouting of congested designs.
  - Autorouter can now use power planes.
  - Improved appearance in autorouter output.
  - Silk on pads/pins is clipped in RS-274-X output
  - Ordering is preserved when writing output files so that diff
    may be effectively used on pcb files.
  - The autoplace feature now actually works
  - Added ToggleVisibility action
  - Most of the database is now kept in rtrees which avoids linear
    searches.  This speeds up operation significantly.
  - Added SetFlag, ClrFlag, ChangeFlag actions

---------
Bug Fixes
---------
  - pin/pad bounding box calculation fixed.  Components can
    now be placed closer to the edge of the board.
  - miter trace optimization bug.
  - Fix bug with pins which are enclosed by multiple polygons.
  - Shorts to unnamed elements and pins are handled correctly.
  - Various memory leaks fixed.
  - Fixed some bugs with a really high zoom.
  - Fixed default media selection in postscript print dialog
  - Fix some DRC bugs with square pins.

------------------
Footprint Library:
------------------
  - Added SOJ footprint family (~geda library)
  - Added CTS series 742/3/4/5/6 resistor pack footprints (~cts library)
  - Added PKG_CONNECTOR_DIL macro to let the HEADER*_1 footprints work
    (~geda library)
  - Correct the SDIP footprints (~geda library)
  - Correct some Minicircuits footprints (~minicircuits library)
  - Correct some panasonic footprints (~panasonic library)
  - Change refdes silk size for sockets (~johnstech library)
  - Increase soldermask relief on some mounting holes
    (~johnstech library)
  - Convert the COMMON_SMT_DIL_MIL and COMMON_SMT_DIL_MM macros
    used by several other libraries to the hi-res format.
  - Correct pin count on 100 pin QFP packages (100 not 72)
    (~geda library)
  - Correct pin count on HEADER60_2 (60 not 50) (~geda library)

========================================================================

New Features for 2.0

(1) New library system. A directory tree is parsed and added to the library 
selector window. This directory is specified in the config.h file as 
PCBTREEDIR and should point to a directory where any pcb user that needs to 
create library elements has write privileges. The "-libtree X" switch will 
cause pcb to use directory X instead of the installed default for the new 
library directory. You should continue to be wary of the old library 
elements, many of them are not quite right. (Just check them carefully before 
fabing to be sure there are no surprises). My intent is to create a 
repository for new elements THAT PEOPLE HAVE FABRICATED SUCCESSFULLY in order 
to grow a reliable library.

(2) Element files can now contain layers (line, arcs, polygons), vias and 
elements. The new library system reads from element files (no need to learn 
M4). The expanded capability of element files allows you to put useful 
sub-circuits into the library. For example, a QFP package with a break-out 
via pattern can be stored as a library element. Be careful with this as the 
layers are saved simply by their layer number and lose any association with a 
group (e.g. whether it is the component, or solder-side layer).

(3) Improved fascilities for creating elements from drawn objects. Now you 
can put an element in the buffer, and break it into it's consitutent parts. 
Paste this to the layout, make changes, then put it back in the buffer to 
convert to an element. You can also save a buffer's contents to an element 
file (i.e. add it to the library). Of course element files are still just 
text files so you can edit them at will. Draw the element outline on the silk 
layer (lines and arcs, no polygons), use Vias to make pins or holes, and lines 
on the component and/or solder layers for SMD pads. Number the pins and pads 
with the name ("n" key) entry, then cut it all to the buffer and select 
"convert buffer to element". Saved elements always appear in the file in a 
component-side orientation (even if you save while viewing the solder side).

(4) Support for elements with surface-mount pads on both sides of the board. 
e.g. edge connectors. This also allows creation of elements with multiple
pins/pads having the same "number" string. This can be used, for example,
to create a DIP footprint that has a pad on top and bottom coincident
with each pin. This effectively makes the pins have elongated copper pads
on the top and bottom - something several home-made board makers have
requested.  If you do create an element with multiple pins having the
same number, and that number appears in the netlist, they MUST be connected
before the board is considered routed. See the "14DIP_oval_pad" example
in the "test" section of the library for an example.

(5) Support for the strokes library. Compiling with strokes enabled (see 
config.h) binds the middle button to recognize strokes for the user 
interface. Zoom in, Zoom out, choose the line, arrow, or via tools, rotate an 
object, etc. can be done with simple strokes. Check the source code 
(FinishStroke() in action.c) to see what the strokes are.

(6) Better fascilites for panning at high zoom: Shift-button3 down shows the 
whole layout - move the crosshair to where you want the display centered, 
then release the mouse button - the previous zoom level is restored, centered 
at the new location. You can do this while in the middle of drawing, moving, 
etc. You can also place the cursor in the panner area, and use the arrow keys 
on the keyboard to scroll half a window view per keypress. Of course you can 
still drag the screen with button1 with the panner tool (previously known
as no tool).
Auto-scrolling is also improved. If you want to use menus, buttons,
the panner, placing the pointer over them stops auto-scroll. If you
want to go to another window and not auto-scroll, pass the pointer
over one of those things before heading to the other window.

(7) Auto-router. The auto-router routes with the active line size, via size, 
and keep-away. It is a grid-less router, and will automatically avoid any 
existing traces, etc. that you've placed on the board. It uses all layers 
that are visible when invoked, so turn off any layers you don't want it to 
use. You can auto-route all rat lines, or selected rat lines. This was
written by C. Scott Ananian

(8) Fascilities to rip-up tracks and vias that were placed by the 
auto-router. You can rip-up all auto-routed tracks, or just those that are 
selected (and were auto-routed).

(9) Auto-placement code. It's broken. Don't use it.

(10) Many functions added to the menus that were previously accessible only 
through keys or typed commands. e.g. SetValue(Grid,1), DRC().

(11) You can turn on/off the requirement for unique element names. When 
unique names are required, they may be automatically generated when pasting. 
Turn on uniqueness for a single layout, turn off if placing several boards in 
a panel (or if you just want duplicate names). It's in the settings menu.

(12) Support for metric grids. Coordinates are still always integer mils,
but you can have the grid fall on a regular metric spacing to within
+/- 1 mil. Selectable in the "Screen" menu and also with the "SetValue(Grid, x)"
command; the value x is still in mils, but it's floating point now. Also
the concept of "absolute" grid has been eliminated - just align it where
you want.

(13) Support for viewing the soldermask. The Screen menu has a selection for
turning on/off the display of the solder mask. You can also change the
size of mask holes when the mask is displayed by using the
"ChangeClearSize(what, change)" function (k key). If the mask is not
displayed, this function changes polygon clearances as before. For example
you could elliminate all via soldermask holes by selecting everything
(make sure vias are turned on), then typing the command:
":ChangeClearSize(SelectedVias, 0)" There is a special case for
vias to change the mask diameter equal to the via diameter, by using
+0 as the size change.
 
(14) Support for creation/addition of netlist by drawing rat lines.
Select "netlist" from the drawing layer, and use the line tool to
add nets. Undo removes the rat, but not the created net. To delete
a netlist entry, select the connection in the netlist window and
hit the backspace key. The "netlist" layer must be the active layer
to delete connections like this. This is NOT the recommended way
to create a netlist, but a lot of people asked for it.

(15) Support for snapping the crosshair to pins/pads even when they're not on
grid. Selectable in the "Settings" menu. Thanks to Borges for this
great idea.

(16) Doesn't draw negative lines and arcs in print output unless
necessary. It still does this for all pads though. Doesn't technically
matter, but there are a lot of bogus gerber viewers out there and
people that are easily confused by gerber files that completely meet
the specification.

(17) Added a "Lock" feature that lets you lock an object so it
can't be selected, moved, or modified. Very handy for making a
board-outline element (e.g. pc104 card) invisible to the Arrow
tool.

(18) lots of bug fixes (plus, no doubt, lots of newly introduced ones).

(19) a tool (in the tools folder) for converting to/from ncap files
for auto-routing with MUCS-PCB. I have not tried this myself. Written
By Luis Claudio G. Lopes

(20) a new build system based on the GNU automake and autoconf tools.
This should make compiling on different systems easier than with the
old imake based build system.
 
(21) A program for quickly generating QFP elements. Its invoked
from the old library (~generic/qfp menu, generic)

(22) Increased resolution.  The internal unit is now 0.01 mil
as opposed to 1.0 mil which was the previous unit.

Quick and dirty explanation of some as-yet undocumented features:

Netlist window: double-click on a net-name to enable/disable it. A "*" 
appears next to the name when it is disabled. Disabled means rats nests will 
ignore the net. Click on a connection to select it (and center it) in the 
layout window. "Finding" a connection starting from a pin or pad will
select it in the netlist window.

The "j" key controls whether a line (arc) clears (plow through) polygons or 
touches them. Newly created lines and arcs follow the setting in the 
"settings" menu. Put the cursor over the line or arc you want to change, then 
hit the "j" (j for join) key.

The "k" key controls the width of clearance around a line (arc) when it 
plows. "k" key increases clearance by 2, Shift-K decreases it by 2, also 
works for pins and vias piercing polygons. The initial value for new objects 
(but not element pins/pads which is in the element definition)
is controlled by the "keepaway" setting, changeable in the "sizes" menu.

When drawing lines, you can start a new anchor point without drawing from 
the previous point by either clicking button3, or Ctrl-button1. DON'T
USE BUTTON2 - that would be wrong, even if it sort of works.

The Arrow tool is for selecting/deselecting objects, and moving them. 
Shift-click to add to the existing selection. You can click-drag to draw 
boxes for box selection. If you click-drag on an already selected item, you 
will move the selection. If you click-drag on an un-selected item, you will 
move that item without selecting it. This last technique is the only way to 
move a point (e.g. end point of a line), and is also the only way to perform 
moves with rubber-banding (i.e. rubber-banding doesn't work with selections). 
Moving a selection actually cuts it to a special paste buffer, then pastes it 
at the new location. Always start a box selection by clicking in an empty 
region of the board. It may be desireable to turn off some visibility in 
order to simplify the box selection operation.  You can also lock
an object to make it invisible to the Arrow tool (so box selections can
begin over the object). If you don't configure for
strokes, the middle button is bound to the arrow tool.

To move an element or silk text to the opposite side of the board, use the 
"b" key (b for backside) to send it to the opposite side. You can also cut an 
object to a buffer, switch viewing sides (tab), then paste it. The buffer can 
be used this way to flip layout traces to the other side too, although if 
layer groups are used, the precise layer they appear on may not have the 
color you want, but the connectivity should not change.


Installation tip: BE SURE TO INSTALL THE NEW X11 RESOURCE FILE - run
make install to do this. If you just want to test without installing,
run the pcbtest.sh script in the src directory.