(" strip(DB["lstate"]) ")" + + dfl = DB["default"] + if (dfl ~ "buildin") + clr = "bgcolor=\"lightgreen\"" + else if (dfl ~ "plugin") + clr = "bgcolor=\"yellow\"" + else if ((dfl ~ "fail") || (dfl ~ "disable")) + clr = "bgcolor=\"red\"" + else + clr="" + + print "
(" strip(DB["ldefault"]) ")" + print "
pcb-rnd modularization
+Why bother...
+I believe good software should be modular. This is especially important in +the context of large software, such as CAD applications. There should be +a thin core that can model the world and provide the basic operations defined +on it but anything else should go in separate modules. ++Fortunately PCB already had a strong infrastructure supporting this idea. +It has dynamic loadable plugins and the GUI and exporters are in separate +HID modules. While working on pcb-gpmi and later pcb-rnd, I added the +gpmi module as a separate plugin. +
+In version 1.0.8 and 1.0.9 a cosiderable chunk of core code has been moved into +core plugins. A core plugin is just a plugin that is +maintained together with the core, in the same repository, still the code is +somewhat detached from the core. More importantly, the user can choose, for +each plugin, separately: +
-
+
- to compile it as a buildin (static-link it into the pcb executable) +
- to compile it as a plugin (dynamic-link it runtime, if the .so is installed in the plugins/ directory) +
- to disable the plugin, so it is not compiled at all +
+I believe such modularization has benefits on multiple levels: +
-
+
- it is possible to compiler smaller, potentially faster executables by omitting features the specific user would never use anyway +
- in a distribution dynamic-link plugins can be distributed as separate packages providing the user with the option to decide what features to install +
- such plugins have to have some sort of APIs if they want to reference eachother or if the code needs to reference them; such an API may not (and often did not) exist when the code is part of the core +
Progress in charts
+Before-after
+All numbers are in SLOC +and are acquired running sloccount on the given directory. While lines of +code alone is not a true measure of complexity, it's a good estimation. The +slices of pie charts are the major components of the pcb-rnd executable. +
+
|
+ Zooming on to the plugins
+
+
+
+(Red means the plugin doesn't really work). + +
Progress in numbers
+Below is a table with the summary of core plugins. +| module | size [sloc] | status | configure default | description + + + |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| autoplace | 612 + | works + | buildin + | Automatically place elements. + |
| autoroute | 4337 + | works + | buildin + | Automatically route selected or all rats. This is the original autorouter. + |
| dbus | 438 + | disabled
+ (TODO: needs scconfig support) + | disabled + | Remote control PCB using DBUS. + |
| djopt | 2320 + | works + | buildin + | Various board optimization algorithms. + |
| export_bom | 374 + | works + | buildin + | Export bom (Bill of Materials) + |
| export_gcode | 2452 + | works + | buildin + | Export to gcode + |
| export_gerber | 972 + | works + | buildin + | Export to gerber + |
| export_lpr | 96 + | works + | buildin + | Export to lpr (using export_ps to generate postscript) + |
| export_nelma | 685 + | works + | buildin + | Export to nelma (Numerical capacitance calculator) + |
| export_png | 1107 + | works + | buildin + | Export to png, gif and jpeg + |
| export_ps | 1613 + | works + | buildin + | Export postscript or embedded postscript. + |
| fontmode | 163 + | works + | disabled + | Font editing actions. + |
| gpmi | 3003 + | works + | buildin
+ (if gpmi is installed) + | Scriptable plugin system with about 10 scripting languages supported and dynamic load/unload of scripts that can manipulate the GUI, the board, can implement exporters, etc. + |
| import_edif | 3578 + | works + | buildin + | Import code for netlists in the EDIF format. + |
| import_sch | 259 + | works + | buildin + | Imports element and netlist data from the schematics (or some other source). + |
| legacy_func | 72 + | works + | disabled + | Random collection of old/obsolete (legacy) functions. 3rd party plugins may depend on them. This module implements C functions and variables and does not register actions or flags. + |
| mincut | 886 + | works + | buildin + | Use the minimal cut algorithm to indicate shorts: instead of highlighting two random pins/pads, try to highlight the least number of objects that connect the two networks. + |
| oldactions | 57 + | works + | disabled + | Random collection of old/obsolete actions. Bell(): audible feedback; DumpLibrary(): print footprint library on stdout + |
| puller | 1884 + | works + | buildin + | Pull traces to minimize their length. + |
| renumber | 222 + | works + | buildin + | Renumber elements (renaming them) and generate a text file for back annotation. + |
| stroke | 124 + | partially works (doesn't work with lesstif; works with the gtk hid, but there's no zoom bindings) + | disabled
+ (requires libstroke installed) + | Gesture recognition with libstroke. + |
| toporouter | 6165 + | fails
+ (infinite loop in gts) + | disabled + | Automatically route selected or all rats using a topological algorithm. This is the new autorouter from 2009. + |
| vendordrill | 572 + | works + | buildin + | Vendor drill mapping. + |