Translation(s): English
KiCad Suite is an Open Source Electronics Design Automation Suite for various platforms. It allows you to do the complete development process of creating schematics, BOM lists and finally design a PCB within one suite.
Debian bullseye (11/oldstable)
The KiCad version that was prepared for that release was 5.1.9, updates are available from bullseye-backports.
Debian bookworm (12/stable)
The KiCad version that was prepared for that release was 6.0.11, updates are available from bookworm-backports.
Debian trixie (13/testing) and Debian sid (unstable)
Both archives will have most of the time the same versions of KiCad, this is in question the current stable release or one of the next stable release candidates (some times called RC). Due the rules for backporting new versions in Testing are also the source for backports to stable.
The Wayland protocol does not support mouse pointer warping, as a result panning at the viewport edge and zooming behaves differently on Wayland.
Debian Experimental
Debian Experimental isn't a regular release (as also Sid aka unstable isn't either). Versions of KiCad might get uploaded to experimental from time to time, this is mostly happen if we need to test a new build with some really experimental configuration or to try out some snapshot version to adjust the build configuration. Install a version from experimental only if you aware of the special characteristics of this archive! Also don't use a version from experimental for productive designs!
Package Maintenance
KiCad is maintained in the PKG Electronics Teams, feel free to join the team and helping out by maintaining the KiCad related packages! If you can help out with the manuals for KiCad HowTo's please take a look into the upstream repositories on GitLab for kicad-doc.
All Debian packaging trees around the KiCad suite are placed on Salsa in the subgroup KiCad.
The central git repositories used, are at https://salsa.debian.org/electronics-team/KiCad/
Over the time the requirements about the needed binary packages have changed, currently there are four additional packages around the main kicad package that is providing the main applications.
There is one additional virtual package which will pull in all usual required library packages called kicad-libraries.
If ever possible there will be all packages provided for all supported Debian releases.
Random FAQs
- Why Debian isn't providing Nightly versions of KiCad?
Upstream uses the term "Nightly" for different cases, there is a process of ongoing back porting of fixes and random new features into the current stable release cycle of KiCad. These changes will end in the next stable point releases. And there is the main development tree for the next major release (currently 7.0). But both development trees aren't fit into the way the Debian archives are intended.
The main goal of Debian beside providing free software is stability. The whole thing of the testing archive is to prepare the next stable release. By this nature it's not a advantage to upload constantly snapshots of KiCad into the archive. This means not that there will never be any development version provided, this is technically not that difficult, but this requires infrastructure outside the Debian archive and maintainers that are willing to do the work and act in case of questions or problems. If you want to step up please get in contact with the Electronic Team.
Package dependencies for KiCad
We made up a small graphic to visualize the various KiCad related package dependencies. It should help to clarify what binary packages exist and how they are in a relation to the main binary package kicad.
