KiCad Aims to Ease Linux Installation, Moves to Self-Contained AppImage Distribution
Linux binary builds now available as self-contained AppImage downloads, increasing the number of distributions on which KiCad will run.
The KiCad project has announced it is making the Linux version of its popular open source electronic design automation (EDA) software available as an all-in-one cross-distribution AppImage for the first time, and is inviting feedback.
"KiCad has released a new packaging format for Linux," the team announced of its software download options this week. "You can now run the latest KiCad using AppImage. This is still in testing, so please give it a spin and let us know if something doesn't work correctly."
Originally developed by Jean-Pierra Charras and first launched back in 1992, KiCad has grown into one of the leading open source electronic design automation packages. In addition to its source code, published under the reciprocal GNU General Public License 3, KiCad is available as binary builds for Microsoft Windows, Apple macOS, and various Linux distributions.
It's the latter which the new release focuses on: rather than creating installable packages for every possible Linux distribution, the team has moved to releasing a single self-contained AppImage — the equivalent of a self-contained executable, needing only to be marked as a runnable program and then double-clicked to run the software.
Those interested in trying out the AppImage can download it now from the KiCad website; any problems should be reported via the "Report a Bug" option in KiCad's Help menu.