kicad is mostly unusable out of the box, help doesn't work, footprints are missing

[Florian Hars]

I installed kicad and the documentation and started it, then I selected Help->Getting Started in KiCad and was greeted with a dialog box:

Help file Getting_Started_in_KiCad.pdf could not be found

OK, so then Help->Contents. That starts gimp. What the ???.

So I get Getting_Started_in_KiCad.pdf from the project website and start with the tutorial.

First problems when editing the schematic: By default, labels are displayed in black on black

Once you get to the "Run CvPcb" part, you get the expected FIle not found dialog, and then another dialog with

Some files could not be found!

sockets.mod
connect.mod
discret.mod
pin_array.mod
divers.mod
smd_capacitors.mod
smd_resistors.mod
smd_crystal&oscillator.mod
smd_dil.mod
smd_transistors.mod
libcms.mod
display.mod
led.mod
dip_sockets.mod
pga_sockets.mod
valves.mod

and if you then try to follow along with the tutorial, you can select exactly zero possible footprints for all the components. That is https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=736180

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: kicad 0.20131208+bzr4024-1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-24.46-generic 3.13.9
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-24-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: GNOME
Date: Thu May 1 21:26:33 2014
InstallationDate: Installed on 2014-04-14 (17 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 14.04 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Beta amd64 (20140326)
SourcePackage: kicad
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)

[P (pggl)]

I can confirm these bugs.

[Thalhammer Dominik (thalhammer-d)]

Same here.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Geert Stams (pa3csg)]

Same here. When using Build: (2013-jul-07)-stable for CvPcb and EEschema from the repository

It doesnot have PCB Library Tables as described on the page nine of the CvPcb doc to set things up.

[ian57 (ian-morere)]

Yes same problem here with a 14.04 LTS.... sometimes i think ubuntu should make one version a year instead of 2... and verify all software!

[Nazim Aghabayov (nazim-aga)]

Confirming the "Some files could not be open!" bug with CvPcb build (2013-jul-07)-stable on 14.04 LTS.

[Ruben Undheim (saltmakrell)]

I've created a separate bug report for the "missing-modules" problem and made a merge-proposal to fix it: LP: #1338168

[James B Harris (jbharris001)]

I can also confirm "Missing files" message when trying to run CvPCB. Is there a way to get an update for this? I am running Ubuntu 14.04. I am not confident that I can recompile the latest source distribution for Kicad.

[Chris J Arges (arges)]

Hello Florian, or anyone else affected,

Accepted kicad into trusty-proposed. The package will build now and be available at http://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/kicad/0.20131208+bzr4024-1ubuntu2 in a few hours, and then in the -proposed repository.

Please help us by testing this new package. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/EnableProposed for documentation how to enable and use -proposed. Your feedback will aid us getting this update out to other Ubuntu users.

If this package fixes the bug for you, please add a comment to this bug, mentioning the version of the package you tested, and change the tag from verification-needed to verification-done. If it does not fix the bug for you, please add a comment stating that, and change the tag to verification-failed. In either case, details of your testing will help us make a better decision.

Further information regarding the verification process can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/PerformingSRUVerification . Thank you in advance!

[Ruben Undheim (saltmakrell)]

The package in proposed has been verified to fix the Missing-files problem.

[Timo Jyrinki (timo-jyrinki)]

Marking as verification done. The remaining smaller issues in the package should get a new bug filed, while the major usability issue is now fixed.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

This bug was fixed in the package kicad - 0.20131208+bzr4024-1ubuntu2

---------------
kicad (0.20131208+bzr4024-1ubuntu2) trusty; urgency=medium

  * Add one more missing legacy module (LP: #1315149)

kicad (0.20131208+bzr4024-1ubuntu1) trusty; urgency=medium

  * Fixed missing legacy modules making cvpcb unusable (LP: #1338168)
 -- Ruben Undheim <email address hidden> Tue, 09 Sep 2014 20:15:11 +0200

[Chris J Arges (arges)]

The verification of the Stable Release Update for kicad has completed successfully and the package has now been released to -updates. Subsequently, the Ubuntu Stable Release Updates Team is being unsubscribed and will not receive messages about this bug report. In the event that you encounter a regression using the package from -updates please report a new bug using ubuntu-bug and tag the bug report regression-update so we can easily find any regressions.