DWG files

DWG is AutoCAD’s own file format. Musa CAD opens and saves DWG files with the help of a free converter program. Setting it up takes one click.

Set it up once

1. Choose DWG Setup… from the application menu (the Musa CAD logo at the top left).
2. Click Download ODA File Converter… and Musa CAD downloads the free converter from the Open Design Alliance website. It sets it up for you.
3. Musa CAD confirms where it installed the converter. DWG files work from now on.

You only do this once. If you open a DWG before setting up a converter, Musa CAD offers DWG Setup.

Use a converter you already have

Musa CAD can use either of these converters:

• ODA File Converter, free from opendesign.com. On Windows, Musa CAD finds it in Program Files\ODA by itself.
• LibreDWG’s dwg2dxf and dxf2dwg programs, free software available in many Linux distributions.

Musa CAD finds a converter on your PATH. Or click Browse… in DWG Setup and pick the program.

Open and save DWG

• Open a DWG: choose Import ▸ DWG… from the application menu, or type DWGIN. It opens in a new tab.
• Save as DWG: choose Export ▸ DWG…, or type DWGOUT.

How it works

Opening a DWG takes two steps. The converter turns the DWG into a DXF file, and Musa CAD then reads that DXF. Saving works the other way round: Musa CAD writes a DXF, and the converter turns it into a DWG in AutoCAD 2018 format.

So a DWG keeps exactly what a DXF keeps. DXF files lists what comes in, what is skipped, and what changes on the way out.

After an import, Musa CAD lists what it skipped, and saves that list in a log beside the file, such as plan.dwg.import.log.

Why the converter is separate

Musa CAD is free software under the LGPL. The libraries that read DWG are either proprietary or under the GPL, and building one in would change Musa CAD’s licence. Running a separate program keeps Musa CAD free to use, change and share. It is also why no package includes a converter.

In the Flatpak

The Flatpak downloads and uses the ODA File Converter like any other install. The converter needs an X11 display, though:

• On an X11 desktop, it runs inside the sandbox. Nothing else to do.
• On a Wayland desktop, it has to run outside the sandbox. Allow that once in a terminal:

flatpak override --user --talk-name=org.freedesktop.Flatpak org.musacad.MusaCAD

The same permission lets the Flatpak use a converter installed on your system. Turn on Use a converter installed on the host (Flatpak) in DWG Setup.

Next

If something goes wrong, see DWG files do nothing or fail.