Footprint "Wizard" workflow overwrites earlier footprints, and does not request to save the footprint

Description

My requirement is to create a footprint using the Footprint Wizard. The problem is that the default footprint name (such as SOIC-24) which the Footprint Wizard creates, gets used to automatically save the footprint into the library, without allowing the user any opportunity to rename it. This is a big problem if there is already a footprint in the library with the same name, because it will get silently overwritten. I've hit this issue a lot. It seems to occur consistently for me, over different dot-releases of KiCad 7, including the current 7.0.10 version.

The steps are detailed below, but there is also an unlisted video that can be viewed if desired:

https://youtu.be/oGR4NRogvTk

There is a discussion of the issue on the Kicad Forum: https://forum.kicad.info/t/renaming-create-footprint-wizard-footprints-before-exporting-into-a-library/47858/19

Steps to reproduce

  1. Start the Footprint Editor
  2. Create a new Global Library
  3. Right-click on the library name, and select Create New Footprint
  4. In the Footprint Wizard which will appear. select the SOIC wizard
  5. Immediately click on "Export footprint" to accept the default SOIC, which happens to be a 24-pin SOIC-24
  6. Immediately click on the X at the top-right of the Footprint Editor, to close it. Notice that the Footprint Editor does not prompt the user to save the footprint!
  7. Start the Footprint Editor again, and navigate to the Global Library which was created earlier in step 2. Notice that it contains the SOIC-24! It was automatically saved!
  8. Right-click on the same library, and again select Create New Footprint
  9. Select the SOIC wizard again, but this time in the wizard, change the pad width to something easily distinguishable, such as a very slim 0.1mm. Don't change the number of pins, keep that at 24
  10. Click on "Export footprint" and notice that the slimmer pad version is now displayed in the Footprint Editor.
  11. Click the X at the top-right of the Footprint Editor, and notice that there is no prompt or warning that the footprint is being saved. It will overwrite the earlier footprint!
  12. Re-open the Footprint Editor, go to the library, and notice that only a single SOIC-24 appears, and it is the one with the slimmer pads. The original one is gone!

See the earlier description to watch a video demonstration of all these steps.

KiCad Version

Application: KiCad x64 on x64

Version: 7.0.10, release build

Libraries: wxWidgets 3.2.4 FreeType 2.12.1 HarfBuzz 8.2.1 FontConfig 2.14.2 libcurl/8.4.0-DEV Schannel zlib/1.3

Platform: Windows 11 (build 22621), 64-bit edition, 64 bit, Little endian, wxMSW

Build Info: Date: Dec 28 2023 21:18:15 wxWidgets: 3.2.4 (wchar_t,wx containers) Boost: 1.83.0 OCC: 7.7.1 Curl: 8.4.0-DEV ngspice: 41 Compiler: Visual C++ 1936 without C++ ABI

Build settings: KICAD_SPICE=ON

Edited by Shabaz