kikit separate: net renaming breaks substitution vars like ${SHORT_NET_NAME(n)}

[dlitz]

Prerequisites

• I have read FAQ
• I have searched existing issues (including closed ones)
• I use KiKit at least version 1.5.1 (older version are not supported)

KiKit version

1.5.1+11.g56f018a

KiCAD version

8.0.2

Operating system

Debian bookworm (flatpak)

Description

kikit separate adds prefixes to all netnames (e.g. "Board_0-GND"), which garbles use of substitution vars like ${SHORT_NET_NAME(1)} in footprints when they refer to global netnames.

Modifying netnames might be necessary when panelizing, but there should be no need for it when simply splitting up a PCB, and it breaks footprints that put netnames on the silkscreen layer.

Before using kikit separate

After using kikit separate:

Note how the GND and VDD labels are made illegible on J1:

X1	X2

Schematics

Root

subckt.kicad_sch

Steps to Reproduce

• Unarchive and open project demo-kikit-separate-netname-bug.zip
  • Source PCB file: demo-kikit-separate-netname-bug.kicad_pcb
  • Generated PCB files: generated-X1.kicad_pcb, generated-X2.kicad_pcb
• To rebuild, edit and use the included Makefile, or run:

kikit separate --source "annotation; ref: X1" demo-kikit-separate-netname-bug.kicad_pcb generated-X1.kicad_pcb
kikit separate --source "annotation; ref: X2" demo-kikit-separate-netname-bug.kicad_pcb generated-X2.kicad_pcb

[yaqwsx]

Thank you for noting this. I wasn't aware you are able to reference net names in labels in KiCAD. Ideally, we should bake the net names for panelization, however, this seems a little more involved than I expected.

Therefore I disabled net renaming in board separation in 5fe407f as it should solve most of the problem we observe. The "ultimate" fix will take some time to implement and test properly.