Elegant naming convention for pins with (many) multiple functions in gEDA
As many stressed on that, hiding information (i.e. pin functions) is not advisable. So far, so good, that was not the intent. The goal is twofold:


make pin names somewhat "shorter" while keeping the necessary datasheet information about pin features
prevent pin names from cluttering the PCB layout... whenever one needs to check the correct wiring of a newly created symbol/footprint.


The idea I had in mind was to split pin names into separate pin attributes, of which I'd use pinlabel multiple times. I still don't know if gEDA supports multiple pin labels but I found out using comments would just fit my requirements:


set pinlabel to the port name only
add a comment attribute to the pin with all the alternate functions of the pin.


Split port name and alternate features in pin label and comment:


Align pin label and comment vertically:


The space gain is not huge (though at least 6 characters across) but the following does the trick:


all pin information is kept visible
pin label is kept short for less PCB clutter
with smart pin placement, the symbol can be shrunk.


PCB layout shows pin labels with port names only for less clutter, more clarity:


Symbol went physical, lost weight:


Here's how the comment appears in the symbol definition file:

P 100 1900 400 1900 1 0 0
{
    T 450 1800 5 8 0 1 0 0 1
    pintype=io
    T 455 1895 9 8 1 1 0 0 1
    pinlabel=PC1
    T 305 1945 5 8 1 1 0 6 1
    pinnumber=16
    T 150 1750 5 8 0 1 0 0 1
    pinseq=14
    T 450 1775 9 8 1 1 0 0 1
    comment=PCINT13/ADC10/ICP1/SCL/USCK/XCK1
}


You can later toggle between showing pin names or numbers in PCB for further checking the pin label/number assignment with D and/or N.