[Pkg-electronics-devel] Bug#805831: pcb: ExecuteFile function does not update pin labels

[Joe Rowan]

Package: pcb
Version: 20140316-3
Severity: normal
Tags: upstream


When transferring a gschem circuit diagram to PCB, one step is to run a pre-generated ExecuteFile command from within PCB, on a file containing a list of ChangePinName commands.
This is not working. Individual ChangePinName commands work, but a group of them within a command file is being ignored.
No entry is generated in the Log Window, even when an incorrect file name is used.

After the problem was seen, a simplified PCB file containing one component was created, along with a set of three ChangePinName commands in a .cmd file.
The ExecuteFile command was tried with and without quotes around the file name, and with both relative and full-path filenames. Nothing worked.
One of the ChangePinName commands was copied from the .cmd file and pasted into the PCB command execution window, and this worked correctly.
Trying an invalid command name in the PCB command window does generate a log entry of 'no action', suggesting that 'ExecuteFile' is being recognised but not executed.
A commented line was removed from the .cmd file, with no change in behaviour.
I have examined the PCB file before and after the attempts, using a text editor, to determine whether this is a display problem. The file is not being changed.

I have used the PCB package with gschem for several years.
I have always done the ExecuteFile(<pcb-name>.cmd) step in the transfer, but have never really paid attention to whether it worked, as I never needed it to. Most components are unaffected by it.
I therefore cannot say for sure when this problem arose, but I believe it worked seven or eight years ago.



-- System Information:
Debian Release: stretch/sid
  APT prefers unstable
  APT policy: (500, 'unstable'), (500, 'testing')
Architecture: amd64 (x86_64)
Foreign Architectures: i386

Kernel: Linux 4.2.0-1-amd64 (SMP w/2 CPU cores)
Locale: LANG=en_GB.UTF-8, LC_CTYPE=en_GB.UTF-8 (charmap=UTF-8)
Shell: /bin/sh linked to /bin/dash
Init: systemd (via /run/systemd/system)

Versions of packages pcb depends on:
ii  pcb-common  20140316-3
ii  pcb-gtk     20140316-3

pcb recommends no packages.

pcb suggests no packages.

-- no debconf information