[Feature Request] Save as an older (i.e. current release) version for nightly build
Description
I always want to help contribute to the new release of KiCad by testing the nightly version. However, a few obstacles are blocking me from that:
- The saved project cannot be opened by the release version of KiCad.
- The nightly version may cause data loss due to the software bug.
Given that I use it mostly for some serious jobs and my hobby projects, I do not want my hours of work unable to be shared and have some data loss.
I can tolerate the data loss by periodically save the project with local Git commits but that the project might not be properly handled by the release stable version really pulls me back.
There might be some bugs that have to be found during the specific operations with continuous usage but the things above would make people not tend to use it to experience new features and test the code. It would make some bugs actually appear in the release version instead of spotting them during the nightly builds or release candidates. Quote the saying from a user in EEVBlog:
I usually wait about 6 months when a new version is released before switching to it. Yes often the first couple of months are a bug fest. But I don't blame. Really the KiCad dev team has very limited means, and there's never enough testers before the releases. The problem being that the people using KiCad for anything serious rarely want to use a beta version for day-to-day work, and thus the real issues begin to show up when the software is finally released. Not specific to KiCad either...
Therefore, I think that saving the current edit as an older version (i.e. current release version) of KiCad would clear one of the obstacles for many potential testers.
Steps to reproduce
- Create a new project in nightly version.
- Click "Save as ..." and choose the format as "KiCad 7.0" for KiCad 7.99 for example.
KiCad Version
Application: KiCad x86_64 on x86_64
Version: 7.0.10-7.0.10~ubuntu23.10.1, release build
Libraries:
wxWidgets 3.2.2
FreeType 2.13.1
HarfBuzz 8.0.1
FontConfig 2.14.2
libcurl/8.2.1 OpenSSL/3.0.10 zlib/1.2.13 brotli/1.0.9 zstd/1.5.5 libidn2/2.3.4 libpsl/0.21.2 (+libidn2/2.3.3) libssh/0.10.5/openssl/zlib nghttp2/1.55.1 librtmp/2.3 OpenLDAP/2.6.6
Platform: Ubuntu 23.10, 64 bit, Little endian, wxGTK, KDE, wayland
Build Info:
Date: Dec 31 2023 13:35:26
wxWidgets: 3.2.2 (wchar_t,wx containers) GTK+ 3.24
Boost: 1.74.0
OCC: 7.6.3
Curl: 8.2.1
ngspice: 40
Compiler: GCC 13.2.0 with C++ ABI 1018
Build settings:
KICAD_SPICE=ON