Earlier quoted context omitted.
Library management quirks aside, KiCad is pretty close to competitive unless you need simulation or other cutting edge features. If you're familiar with it and know what you're doing it'll get you where you need to go. Also check out realthunder's freecad fork, they've made some good progress on topological naming (with the effect of keeping models far more stable through minor changes). It's still unusable for all b…
> Library management quirks aside, KiCad is... Didn't they address that sometime in the past two years? I remember updating KiCad and having some issues with the parts libraries, but after that it seemed as good as I could expect it to be. I use it very, very rarely so really don't remember more than that.
Footprints and schematic symbols should belong to a parent component class with provisions for inventory tracking, etc. Their library manager works fine for hobby level work but if you're doing production you'll have to have a separate component management process that you integrate yourself.
What they have is fine, it works, but it's a far cry from what you get with siemens eda (mentor graphics) or altium.