Re: gEDA-user: PCB: how to clear soldermask from entire footprint

[DJ Delorie <dj@delorie.com>]

> > Areas the autorouter shouldn't put traces through.
> 
> What's the reason for such areas?

Mounting brackets, component contact, EMI, isolation, etc.

For example, on my furnace controller I didn't want the logic lines
getting too close to the power lines, so I manually drew big fat
tracks between them before routing.  If I had keep outs, I could have
drawn those tracks on the keep outs and not had to go back and delete
them later.