RE: gEDA: Gschem modification proposal

[Roberto Puon <puon-at-NOSPAMhiwaay_dot_net>]

Hello all...

I really think that the footprint annotation process needs to be a
post-processing operation.  That is, schematic libraries should *not* have
a footprint associated with unless the part only comes in ONE, an only
ONE, footprint.  The footprint should be annotated onto the schematic
prior to the netlist step.

An annotation rules file could be written for the project containing
entries like:

7400: 14DIP300
2N2222: TO92
LM317: TO3
M68VZ328: TQFP144

The above file could be shared among several projects that use the same 
"inventory" of components.  A line like:

U14: SOIC14

Could be used to override the general rules for U14 (overriding the 7400: 
14DIP300 rule above [assuming U14 is a 7400]).

I've been studying the code in glib in preparation for writing such
annotation utility.  I just have not had enough available time to get
started.

Until such annotation utility is available, I suppose the only recourse is 
for footprints to be added to components in the schematics manually, but 
not to the library.  After the annotation utility is available, it would 
only make sense to remove all footprint attributes from the library.

Roberto