Nov 21, 2016 
CAD netlist now integrated into the Gerber file format
Gent, Belgium – November 15, 2016 – Revision 2016.11 allows to include the CAD netlist to Gerber files and offers several text improvements and clarifications.
The goal of the Gerber CAD netlist is to facilitate upfront communication between the different parties involved in design, assembly and automation. The three new X2 attributes proposed include CAD netlists in Gerber fabrication data and allow to:
- Attach the component reference designator, pin number and net name to the component pads in the outer copper layers. This information is essential for a complete board display. More importantly, the netlist provides a powerful checksum to guarantee PCB fabrication data integrity.
- Attach the netlist name to any conducting object on any copper layer. Lightweight viewers can then display netlists without the need for an algorithm to compute connectivity
- Attach the component reference to any object, e.g. to identify all the legend objects belonging to a given component, for example.
Revision 2016.11 was developed by Karel Tavernier. Jean-Pierre Charras provided essential input on the CAD netlist, and further remarks by Remco Poelstra and Wim De Greve were included.
KiCad is the first software vendor to implement support for the new netlist attributes.
