What is GLIF?

GLIF is a Gerber writer written in python. It takes graphical primitives such as lines, arcs, circles, polygons, and ASCII text and writes out valid RS-274X "Gerber" files. These files are typically used to manufacture PCBs.

Features

• Working Gerber import and export (import needs work to add support for few more primitives such as Arcs)

Gerber import

• A working example of using the excellent pcb-tools library imports a Gerber (example.gbr) as a list of primitives is provided in pcb_tools_import.py. After it has been read in modification of the design is easy; the board is then written out as a standard Gerber again (pcb_tools_export.gbr).

Gerber export

1. (TODO) Groups and primitives are read from a file. This is either a standard Gerber file, a primitive initialization list, or both.
2. (TODO) Groups are rotated and flattened into a list of primitives
3. This is fed to gerber_writer.py which takes the five primitives (line, arc, polygon, circle, text) and writes them into a standard Gerber RS-274X file with the aid of gerber_writer_core.py

Issues

1. The units used inside of GLIF are closely tied to the units written out by gerber_writer.py. Support needs to be added to convert units on the fly.