pcbnew stealing "o" character when trying to run scripting console

[Pete Hartman]

This appears to be related to bug 1379352. The symptom is identical, except that it only happens with one particular project that is particularly large (19.4 x 11.3cm). All other projects I've created with smaller boards do not exhibit this problem (did not exhibit in 4.0.1, do not exhibit now in 4.0.5). Another unique aspect of this project is that it uses several layers of nested hierarchical sheets, though I'm not sure that should effect PCBNew. I have other projects that nest sheets in the same way, but not to the same extent.

To exhibit the problem: I open PCBnew with my laid out board (most of it was done in 4.0.1, but I upgraded to 4.0.5 to try and resolve this, to no avail), I open the scripting console, and when I try to start out with "from pcbnew import *" the "o" characters are omitted. When I type "o" I see that the "place" menu pick is being highlighted. Of course normally in PCBNew, "place -> footprint" is mapped to the O character.

I also noted that in the instances where this doesn't happen, if I open the scripting console, the main PCBNew menu does not stick around when the scripting console has focus. For the large project it *does*.

I've included the large project, scharfseq, in the attached zip file, as well as my libraries which are referenced (I use a relative path of ../library). If you would like to see an example project that doesn't have the same problem even though it nests hierarchical sheets, just ask.

Note that the sequencer project is actually split into two kicad_pcb files, one for panel components, and one for logic to drive the panel.

Version info:
Application: pcbnew
Version: 4.0.5 release build
wxWidgets: Version 3.0.2 (debug,UTF-8,compiler with C++ ABI 1002,GCC 4.2.1,STL containers,compatible with 2.8)
Platform: Mac OS X (Darwin 13.4.0 x86_64), 64 bit, Little endian, wxMac
Boost version: 1.57.0
         USE_WX_GRAPHICS_CONTEXT=ON
         USE_WX_OVERLAY=ON
         KICAD_SCRIPTING=ON
         KICAD_SCRIPTING_MODULES=ON
         KICAD_SCRIPTING_WXPYTHON=ON
         USE_FP_LIB_TABLE=HARD_CODED_ON
         BUILD_GITHUB_PLUGIN=ON

My OS version is 10.9.5 (Mavericks). This is an older MacBook Pro, "15-inch, Mid 2009" so I do not plan to upgrade past Mavericks, I don't expect the newer versions will run decently. Also, my normal working environment is using an external keyboard and external 20" Dell monitor; not sure whether that would be relevant or not. I have 8GB of 1067MHz DDR3 memory, and a 2.66GHz Intel Core 2 Duo.

[xzcvczx (xzcvczx)]

for me as long as i focus the console it works fine (console opens unfocused), but i am running 4.0.5 on 10.12

[Pete Hartman (elmegil)]

Hm... Yeah, I was attempting to focus the console, but it doesn't look like on my system that it's actually taking the focus (but only for this one particular project).

[Seth Hillbrand (sethh)]

Hmm, can't recreate in master with High Sierra. Does this still occur?

[Pete Hartman (elmegil)]

I haven't upgraded to High Sierra yet, but I am now running Sierra on a slightly newer macbook pro. I will try again this evening and report back.

[Pete Hartman (elmegil)]

with 4.0.5 on Sierra, the problem still occurs.

I will update to 4.0.7 and see what I get. Not planning to upgrade to High Sierra any time soon, and I've managed to cope with this one project being squirrely for over a year, so....

[Seth Hillbrand (sethh)]

If possible, can you test with one of the latest nightly builds? v4 will not be receiving any updates.

Just a note that you will want to backup your project or open a separate copy of your project as v5 schematics are not backwards compatible with v4.

[Pete Hartman (elmegil)]

and 4.0.7 doesn't resolve it either. I installed the 4.0.7 dmg over the top of my existing installation by dragging as shown on the media. I also installed KiCad Extras, though I did not update the fp-lib-table.

Is there something cached that I might need to update or refresh (or the fp-lib-table) that I can do without losing my various customizations to the library list etc?

[Pete Hartman (elmegil)]

I assume that the nightly build can live in harmony with 4.0.7, aside what it does to a particular project?

I've got it downloaded and will try it.

[Pete Hartman (elmegil)]

It works with the nightly. Thanks!

[Pete Hartman (elmegil)]

(nightly from 5/25 was what I loaded)

[Seth Hillbrand (sethh)]

Excellent, glad to hear.