Updates on the MLAB-project and MLAB-modules Repository Organization

[roman-dvorak]

Dear MLAB community,

I am pleased to inform you about an important update regarding the organization of the MLAB repository. As you may have noticed, the original "Modules" repository, where all the modules were previously stored, has undergone a significant change. It has been divided into individual repositories within the organization MLAB-modules. This step has been taken to ensure better management and handling of the modules.

The separation of modules into individual repositories brings numerous benefits and allows us to leverage the powerful tools provided by Git and GitHub. For instance, each module's revisions are now organized into branches, providing a clear history and better version control. Additionally, specific repositories can now have their own dedicated issues tracker, making it easier to address module-specific concerns. Moreover, downloading a single repository is now much more convenient, as it eliminates the need to download a large amount of data.

This reorganization also benefits contributors and creators of new MLAB modules. It provides a streamlined workflow and enables more efficient collaboration.

If you wish to explore the MLAB modules organization on GitHub and access the individual repositories, please visit MLAB-modules. There, you will find a list of repositories containing the modules.

If you still need to download all the repositories at once (As I 😀 ), you can use the following command:

gh repo list mlab-modules --limit 1000 | while read -r repo _; do
  git clone "[email protected]:${repo}.git" --recursive
done

In addition to the repository organization changes, we have also implemented GitHub Actions in the new repositories. These actions automatically generate manufacturing and documentation data for new projects in KiCad 6 and KiCad 7 with every commit. This ensures that the repositories will no longer contain outdated schematics or images. To learn more about the fantastic tool we use for this purpose, please visit KiBot.

The implementation of GitHub Actions simplifies the development of new modules and reduces the task of creating a new module. Additionally, it provides consistently generated data for module production, eliminating any inconsistencies that may arise from user-exported files.

We are excited about the ongoing collaboration and the future development of the MLAB electronic laboratory. These updates aim to enhance the user experience and foster the growth of this electronic building platform for everyone. For makers, hobbyists, researchers, or industrial users.

Thank you for your continued support and contributions.

Best regards,
@roman-dvorak