can't add libraries

[whitis]

The new (20060422) version causes problems creating
new component libraries.

I have:
   /home/whitis/surface_mount/hand_drawn
   /home/whitis/surface_mount/output/xpcb/capacitors
   /home/whitis/surface_mount/output/xpcb/resistors
   /home/whitis/surface_mount/output/xpcb/PLCC
   /home/whitis/surface_mount/output/xpcb/QFP
   /home/whitis/surface_mount/output/xpcb/SOIC
   /home/whitis/surface_mount/output/xpcb/SOT
   /home/whitis/surface_mount/output/xpcb/SOP
   /home/whitis/surface_mount/output/xpcb/connectors/dsub

/home/whitis/surface_mount/output/xpcb/connectors/flat_flex
  /home/whitis/surface_mount/output/xpcb/connectors/headers

/home/whitis/surface_mount/output/xpcb/connectors/hirose_fx2

Now, in an older version, I could modify
Pcb.elementPath in /usr/share/pcb/Pcb, so I could at
least click on the appropriate directory in "Load
Element to Buffer".

Manually navigating up to the root of the filesystem
and back down every time I add a part is not acceptable.

Now, I can't get the new libraries to appear in either
"Load Element To Buffer" or the library window.

I have tried
Pcb:Pcb.elementPath:
.:/home/whitis/surface_mount/output/xpcb:/home/whiti/surface_mount/hand_drawn:/usr/share/pcb/newlib:packages:circuits:/usr/share/pcb:/usr/share/pcb/circuits:/usr/share/pcb/packages
Pcb:Pcb.libraryPath:
.:/usr/share/pcb:/home/whitis/surface_mount
Pcb:!Pcb.libraryTree:
/usr/share/pcb/newlib:/home/whitis/surface_mount
Pcb:Pcb.libraryTree: /home/whitis/surface_mount

And I have tried
library-newlib = /home/whitis/surface_mount/hand_drawn
in ~/.pcb/preferences

I have tried adding a symbolic link in
/usr/share/pcb/newlib

I have even tried copying the contents of
/usr/share/pcb/newlib/burr-brown to
/usr/share/pcb/newlib/junk
which eliminates issues of symlinks, file extensions,
etc. It still doesn't recognize that directory.
I have checked for references to newlib, burr-brown,
and OPA340_SOT23-5 in every file in /usr/share/pcb
to see if there is an index that needs to rebuild.

I have copied the OPA340_SOT23-5 part in
newlib/burr-brown to newlib/burr-brown/JUNK.

I have read the documentation.

I have restarted the program.

Finally, I set the element directories in
File -> Preferences -> library
and restarted the program with some success. This
did the following:
library-newlib =
/home/whitis/surface_mount/hand_drawn:/home/whitis/surface_mount/output/xpcb/
even though I had tried something similar and it didn't
work (probably because the directory I used didn't have
components one directory down).

At least now, "Load Element to Buffer" displays the
library directories. The library window partially works.

Some problems remain:
  - Footprints must be exactly one directory down
    from the directory specified, as far as the
    library window is concerned
     - /home/whitis/surface_mount/hand_drawn fails
       because the parts are 0 directories down
     - /home/whitis/surface_mount/connectors/ fails
       because the parts are 2 directories down.
  - If you add a new library directory, the library
    window doesn't recognize it until you restart the
    program.
  - If you add a new component to an existing directory,
    the library window doesn't recognize it until you
    restart the program.
  - there is no preview
  - there is no search
  - if you select a component, sometimes it is hard
    to get rid of it. ESC doesn't always work.

It is important to be able to structure libraries as a
true tree. My tree is already too flat. For
example, it should look something more like:
connectors/headers/2.54mm/male/straight/bare/
connectors/headers/2.54mm/male/straight/ribbon_shroud/
connectors/headers/2.54mm/male/straight/narrow_shroud/
connectors/headers/2.54mm/male/straight/latches/
connectors/headers/2.54mm/male/rightangle/bare/
connectors/headers/2.54mm/male/rightangle/ribbon_shroud/
connectors/headers/2.54mm/male/rightangle/narrow_shroud/
connectors/headers/2.54mm/male/rightangle/latches/
connectors/headers/2.54mm/female/straight/bare/
connectors/headers/2.54mm/female/straight/ribbon_shroud/
connectors/headers/2.54mm/female/straight/narrow_shroud/
connectors/headers/2.54mm/female/straight/latches/
connectors/headers/2.54mm/female/rightangle/bare/
connectors/headers/2.54mm/female/rightangle/ribbon_shroud/
connectors/headers/2.54mm/female/rightangle/narrow_shroud/
connectors/headers/2.54mm/female/rightangle/latches/
connectors/headers/2mm/male/straight/bare/
connectors/headers/2mm/male/straight/ribbon_shroud/
connectors/headers/2mm/male/straight/narrow_shroud/
connectors/headers/2mm/male/straight/latches/
connectors/headers/2mm/male/rightangle/bare/
connectors/headers/2mm/male/rightangle/ribbon_shroud/
connectors/headers/2mm/male/rightangle/narrow_shroud/
connectors/headers/2mm/male/rightangle/latches/
connectors/headers/2mm/female/straight/bare/
connectors/headers/2mm/female/straight/ribbon_shroud/
connectors/headers/2mm/female/straight/narrow_shroud/
connectors/headers/2mm/female/straight/latches/
connectors/headers/2mm/female/rightangle/bare/
connectors/headers/2mm/female/rightangle/ribbon_shroud/
connectors/headers/2mm/female/rightangle/narrow_shroud/
connectors/headers/2mm/female/rightangle/latches/
and that is still just an example, there are many other
types of shrouds, there are male-female stacking
connectors, there are surface mount versions, there
are female surface mount headers where the male pins
penetrate the board, etc.

[nobody (nobody-users)]

You can add these libraries via
file-->preferences-->libraries (add your library here)

there is one catch, you have to add a library directory one
level higher than the dirs where your parts reside.

[DJ Delorie (djdelorie)]

Moving to the feature request tracker, as "support arbitrary trees of footprints" is a feature request.

[Felix Ruoff (felixruoff)]

Just want to mention, that lp:699572 seems to be related to this bug. So, if someone works on this issue, perhaps he/she/it can close both feature-request in one time. (Perhaps, these bugs can be marked as duplicates, but I am not really sure...)