Working with Gerber files today is a task done by CAM personnel using extremely expensive and proprietary software. Until today no easy way exists to edit Gerber files through an API. What only few know is that libgerbv from the Geda project has proper support to not only show but also to edit Gerber files.
Using the Ruby bindings for libgerbv it is now possible to edit Gerber files through a simple API.
Working with Gerber files within the PCB manufacturing process takes a large chunk of the work as a lot of tasks like panelization are done directly within these files. However, until today there is no easy or an open source way to work with these files.
The Geda Team has done a great job with their Gerbv software as it is used worldwide to check Gerber files for correctness before production. What most people do not know is that libgerbv, which is used under the hood, is also capable of editing Gerber files. One of the reasons might be, that libgerbv is not accessible by most software engineers. To overcome this we, i.e. AISLER, have developed a simple Ruby binding for libgerbv. Using the API it is possible to load, edit and save Gerber files with just a few lines of code. Possible use cases are panelization, adding fiducials, receiving design information such as drill count and much more.
Right now the libgerbv ruby bindings (which will probably get some more catchy name later) are used within our own PCB manufacturing process at https://go.aisler.net. They'll be published during FOSDEM 2017.
Speakers: Patrick Franken