> > 3. There should be native support for elongated vias (they
> > are called "pads" in Eagle) when defining an element.
>
> The way to do this in pcb is to put a pin and a pad in the same place.
> The pin gives you the drill hole, and the pad defines the elongated
> copper shape.
Yes, I've tried this with my footprints. The problem is that you need two
pads (for a traditional double-layer footprint) and you need to edit the
text file of the element to set the numbering of the pads. (Can I set the
pad number through the GUI of PCB the way I can for the pin number
by pressing 'n'?) This approach is error-prone, I felt. When I open up
the text file of the element, I see a list of pads but I don't know which
two pads are associated with pin 1, and so on.