Comment 17 for bug 1797095

I don't think we can generate gerbers without using the python interface ^^.

The fabrication houses are only an example because this is done right now. In their case the Gerber files provide a clear separation between KiCad and any propertiary software stuff. So calling KiCad+Export-plugin would be possible as the remaining software is clearly separated, and the GPL part is only a converter for one of many of their supported formats (not a central system part).[1]

My comment was not limited to fabrication houses. To my knowledge, KiCad tries to aim for professional users in long term. This would mean integration into business operation software for example. This was the reason for my LGPL proposal because this would allow (from what I know) commercial plugins without legal problems/workarounds.[2]

While I am not affected by thus things (I license all my stuff in GPL, AGPL, BSD, CC0,... or what else seems sensible) it seems reasonable to try to not block commercial development which interfaces with KiCad. For the TTL library, it seems any commercial developer who wants the GPL back has to fix this issue by himself for now ^^.

[1] https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/a/110401
[2] https://opensource.stackexchange.com/a/4434