kicad2step_do Error: Still running

[dsa-t]

Using KiCad 6.0.5 and the STEP export on WSL2, I get:

*******************************************************************
******        Statistics on Transfer (Write)                 ******

*******************************************************************
******        Transfer Mode = 0  I.E.  As Is       ******
******        Transferring Shape, ShapeType = 0                      ******
** WorkSession : Sending all data
 Step File Name : $tempfile$.step(263092 ents)  Write  Done

STEP file '[filename].step' created.

ERROR:Still running (kicad2step_do - kicad2step_do:61)
DEBUG:Closing pipe with 22647 (kicad2step_do.kiauto.ui_automation - ui_automation.py:46)
DEBUG:Terminating the session recorder (kicad2step_do.kiauto.ui_automation - ui_automation.py:169)
DEBUG:Closing pipe with 22644 (kicad2step_do.kiauto.ui_automation - ui_automation.py:46)
DEBUG:Error level -1 (kicad2step_do - kicad2step_do:146)
 (kibot - out_step.py:96)

This seems to be due to the kicad2step process not being terminated in 0.3 seconds after pressing the OK button.

For me, it starts working when I change the delay at this line to 0.5 seconds without extra system load and 1 second under some extra system load:

KiAuto/src/kicad2step_do

Line 58 in 7b920e8

sleep(DELAY)

[set-soft]

Hi @dsa-t !
Thanks for reporting. Now KiAuto will wait for a full time-out, retrying the OK every 300 ms.
I released it as 1.6.12, please check if it works for you.

BTW: How complex is to setup a WSL2 to run KiBot? Could you write a small tutorial?

[dsa-t]

Thanks @set-soft !

That fix should work, but there are other bugs preventing proper usage.

---

Installation background

I've installed kicad without any additional symbols, footprints or 3D models, as I already had them on the host drive.

Here are the obstacles I've encountered:

Configure Global Symbol/Footprint Library Table

When KiBot encounters this window, it just does nothing and eventually times out. To see what had happened, I had to see the debug recording. Then I had to manually launch eeschema and pcbnew, interacting through the X server (VcXsrv) and chose the "empty table" options.

The UX could be improved here by creating empty global sym-lib-table and fp-lib-table by default, and warning the user.

Paths

I've just configured them through the X server in the dialog, I didn't want to use the system environment variables.

Some management of KiCad paths in KiBot could be a cool feature.

Schematic editor stuck at dialog about not finding the sheet template

Increased PCB 3D viewer processing time

The script starts trying to invoke 3D viewer immediately. it doesn't wait for the pcb to load, causing the 3D viewer invocation to retry after a timeout, and not sooner (while this is done properly in eeschema).

3D viewer crashing, or having artifacts, AA cannot be disabled (#22)

3D viewer timeouts due to pressing Enter when typing hasn't finished yet (#23)

Might be more...

---

Ubuntu in WSL works almost just like any Ubuntu distro, so there are no issues in installing KiBot packages themselves.
A bit larger issue is the kicad configuration and fixing sheet template paths, as outlined above.
Graphics libraries may work a bit different, of course.
Timing could be adjusted.

Tutorials on how to use an X server with WSL2 can be found online. Moreover, using GUI Linux apps becomes easier with the new WSLg on Windows 11.

I can write a line about WSL somewhere once I figure this out for myself.

[set-soft]

For Configure Global Symbol/Footprint Library Table I opened #24

[set-soft]

Schematic editor stuck at dialog about not finding the sheet template

Which operation triggered it? I tried moving /usr/share/kicad/template/ away and eeschema didn't complain.
Which file was missing?

[set-soft]

Hi @dsa-t !

Increased PCB 3D viewer processing time

The script starts trying to invoke 3D viewer immediately. it doesn't wait for the pcb to load, causing the 3D viewer invocation to retry after a timeout, and not sooner (while this is done properly in eeschema).

I changed the pcbnew window name regular expression so we only detect the window after the PCB was loaded. Should fix this.

[dsa-t]

Thanks!

The template error happened in update_xml preflight, later when I added skipping of that dialog, KiBot reported the template error in the next steps.

The template path was actually wrong in a sheet.