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Viktor Vaczi 5147917ea7 Add feature branch patch management system

Rename docs/ to features/ with per-feature folders. Add script to generate
patches for root repo and submodules.

🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

2026-01-06 16:17:52 +01:00

5.2 KiB

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KiCad IPC API - WASM Fork Changes

Overview

We added #ifdef KICAD_IPC_API guards to 18 KiCad source files. These guards wrap:

#include statements for protobuf/API headers
Serialize() and Deserialize() methods

Key insight: Since our build uses KICAD_IPC_API=ON (line 251 of scripts/kicad/build-pcbnew.sh), these guards don't actually disable any code - everything compiles. The guards can be safely reverted to reduce fork divergence.

Modified Files

File	What We Guarded
`common/eda_shape.cpp`	`#include` for API headers, `Serialize()`, `Deserialize()`
`common/eda_text.cpp`	`#include` for API headers, `Serialize()`, `Deserialize()`
`common/netclass.cpp`	`#include` for API headers, `Serialize()`, `Deserialize()`
`include/api/api_utils.h`	Entire namespace content (utility functions)
`pcbnew/api/api_pcb_utils.h`	Entire file content
`pcbnew/board_connected_item.cpp`	`#include` for API headers, `Serialize()`, `Deserialize()`
`pcbnew/board_stackup_manager/board_stackup.cpp`	`#include` for API headers, `Serialize()`, `Deserialize()`
`pcbnew/footprint.cpp`	`#include` for API headers, `Serialize()`, `Deserialize()`
`pcbnew/pad.cpp`	`#include` for API headers, `Serialize()`, `Deserialize()`
`pcbnew/padstack.cpp`	`#include` for API headers, `Serialize()`, `Deserialize()`
`pcbnew/pcb_dimension.cpp`	`#include` for API headers, `Serialize()`, `Deserialize()`
`pcbnew/pcb_field.cpp`	`#include` for API headers, `Serialize()`, `Deserialize()`
`pcbnew/pcb_group.cpp`	`#include` for API headers, `Serialize()`, `Deserialize()`
`pcbnew/pcb_shape.cpp`	`#include` for API headers, `Serialize()`, `Deserialize()`
`pcbnew/pcb_text.cpp`	`#include` for API headers, `Serialize()`, `Deserialize()`
`pcbnew/pcb_textbox.cpp`	`#include` for API headers, `Serialize()`, `Deserialize()`
`pcbnew/pcb_track.cpp`	`#include` for API headers, `Serialize()`, `Deserialize()`
`pcbnew/zone.cpp`	`#include` for API headers, `Serialize()`, `Deserialize()`

Example of Our Changes

Before (upstream):

#include <api/api_enums.h>
#include <api/api_utils.h>
#include <api/board/board_types.pb.h>

void PAD::Serialize( google::protobuf::Any &aContainer ) const
{
    // ... serialization code
}

After (our fork):

#ifdef KICAD_IPC_API
#include <api/api_enums.h>
#include <api/api_utils.h>
#include <api/board/board_types.pb.h>
#endif

#ifdef KICAD_IPC_API
void PAD::Serialize( google::protobuf::Any &aContainer ) const
{
    // ... serialization code
}
#endif

Why We Added These Guards

Originally added to allow building with KICAD_IPC_API=OFF, which would:

Skip protobuf dependency
Exclude serialization methods that depend on protobuf types

However, our current build has KICAD_IPC_API=ON, making these guards unnecessary.

How to Revert

To revert these files to upstream (base commit 4bfed3f174):

cd kicad
git checkout 4bfed3f174 -- \
  common/eda_shape.cpp \
  common/eda_text.cpp \
  common/netclass.cpp \
  include/api/api_utils.h \
  pcbnew/api/api_pcb_utils.h \
  pcbnew/board_connected_item.cpp \
  pcbnew/board_stackup_manager/board_stackup.cpp \
  pcbnew/footprint.cpp \
  pcbnew/pad.cpp \
  pcbnew/padstack.cpp \
  pcbnew/pcb_dimension.cpp \
  pcbnew/pcb_field.cpp \
  pcbnew/pcb_group.cpp \
  pcbnew/pcb_shape.cpp \
  pcbnew/pcb_text.cpp \
  pcbnew/pcb_textbox.cpp \
  pcbnew/pcb_track.cpp \
  pcbnew/zone.cpp

Then rebuild:

./docker/build.sh --clean-kicad

Note: toolbars_pcb_editor.cpp

This file has #ifdef KICAD_SCRIPTING guards (not IPC API guards):

#ifdef KICAD_SCRIPTING
#include "../scripting/python_scripting.h"
#endif
...
#ifdef KICAD_SCRIPTING
    bool scriptingAvailable = SCRIPTING::IsWxAvailable();
#else
    bool scriptingAvailable = false;
#endif

Cannot be fully reverted because:

KICAD_SCRIPTING=OFF for WASM builds (CMakeLists.txt lines 135-138)
Without guards, build fails (python_scripting.h not built, SCRIPTING class doesn't exist)

This is a separate concern from the IPC API and is documented here for completeness.

Impact of Reversion

Fork diff reduction: 18 fewer modified files
Build behavior: No change (KICAD_IPC_API=ON, code compiles identically)
Functionality: No change (serialization methods still available)

KiCad's IPC API uses:

Protobuf messages for request/response serialization
NNG sockets for transport (stubbed in WASM - see wasm/stubs/nng_stub.c)
API_HANDLER_PCB class for handling requests (instantiated in PCB_EDIT_FRAME)

Our stub at wasm/stubs/api_plugin_stub.cpp provides no-op implementations for:

KICAD_API_SERVER::Start(), Stop(), Running()
KICAD_API_SERVER::RegisterHandler(), DeregisterHandler()

Future: JavaScript Bridge

To expose the IPC API to JavaScript (optional enhancement):

Modify api_plugin_stub.cpp to store registered handlers
Create Embind bindings in wasm/bindings/api_bridge.cpp
Expose KiCadApi_HandleRequest(protobufData) function
Use protobuf.js on JS side for message creation/parsing

This would enable JS automation without modifying any KiCad source files.

5.2 KiB Raw Blame History