guiconfig not working properly?

[novalisek]

Describe the bug
Hello,
I am trying to run west build -t guiconfig, make some changes, they are writen to zephyr/.config, but still not used by west build.

To Reproduce

west init test2
cd test2`
west update
cd zephyr
zephyr-env.cmd
west build -b nrf52810_pca10040 samples\bluetooth\peripheral
 builds fine
west build -t guiconfig
 select Boot options - MCUBoot support (BOOTLOADER_MCUBOOT)
 save
settins are saved to build\zephyr\.config
west build -b nrf52810_pca10040 samples\bluetooth\peripheral
 still no MCUBOOT support, same parition scheme
I have to manualy modify samples\bluetooth\peripheral\prj.conf and add
CONFIG_BOOTLOADER_MCUBOOT=y

then
west build -b nrf52810_pca10040 samples\bluetooth\peripheral starts to build with new flash partition schema (and doesn't finish linking, because for nrf52810 FW partition size if 54kB, but compiled binary takes 140kB - does anybody know how to make it smaller? to remove debug info or something? but this is for anothe thread may be)

Expected behavior
changes I make in GUI should be used while building

Impact
I have to search config defines and do the editing of prj.conf manuly

Environment (please complete the following information):

• OS: Windows 7 64bit
• Toolchain Zephyr, Arm toolchain 9-2019-q4
• Commit SHA or Version used: aae2c84

[ulfalizer]

If zephyr\.config looks correct, then the problem is in CMake or west. guiconfig only deals with writing the configuration file.

I'm not sure what west expects re. manually modifying zephyr\.config (changing the configuration in the configuration interfaces works like manually modifying the file, except it's safer).

[ulfalizer]

Could try leaving off the -b <board> in the second command maybe. Maybe it re-initializes things. I'm not a west expert though.

[mbolivar]

Could try leaving of the -b <board> in the second command maybe. Maybe it re-initializes things. I'm not a west expert though.

That's fine and won't recreate .config. No changes are needed in the west command line.

still no MCUBOOT support, same parition scheme

What do you mean by this? How can you tell there's no mcuboot support and the partition scheme is not changed?

I can't reproduce this at least on Linux. When I look at my DTS files after running the above steps, I see this:

$ grep -B 9 -A 1 code-partition build/zephyr/nrf52810_pca10040.dts_compiled 

	chosen {
		zephyr,console = "/soc/uart@40002000";
		zephyr,shell-uart = "/soc/uart@40002000";
		zephyr,uart-mcumgr = "/soc/uart@40002000";
		zephyr,bt-mon-uart = "/soc/uart@40002000";
		zephyr,bt-c2h-uart = "/soc/uart@40002000";
		zephyr,sram = "/soc/memory@20000000";
		zephyr,flash = "/soc/flash-controller@4001e000/flash@0";
		zephyr,code-partition = "/soc/flash-controller@4001e000/flash@0/partitions/partition@c000";
	};
$ grep -B 8 -A 1 code-partition build/zephyr/nrf52810_pca10040.dts.pre.tmp 
 chosen {
  zephyr,console = &uart0;
  zephyr,shell-uart = &uart0;
  zephyr,uart-mcumgr = &uart0;
  zephyr,bt-mon-uart = &uart0;
  zephyr,bt-c2h-uart = &uart0;
  zephyr,sram = &sram0;
  zephyr,flash = &flash0;
  zephyr,code-partition = &slot0_partition;
 };

Both of these indicate that the code was relinked into the appropriate partition for MCUboot.

@novalisek can you clarify what you mean by " still no MCUBOOT support, same parition scheme"? What exactly is going wrong?

[novalisek]

@ulfalizer - changes are not reset, because if you run guiconfig again, they are still there and yes, may be I should have chosen another subject than "guiconfig not working", it seems that it is working, but it's changes aren't used by west build

@mbolivar
When you don't use MCUBOOT, build ends like this:

Memory region         Used Size  Region Size  %age Used
           FLASH:      140130 B       192 KB     71.27%
            SRAM:       24396 B        24 KB     99.27%
        IDT_LIST:         136 B         2 KB      6.64%

region size = 192KB - thats the whole flash for nrf52810 

but when you use it, it ends like this:

Memory region         Used Size  Region Size  %age Used
           FLASH:      140642 B        52 KB    264.13%
            SRAM:       24396 B        24 KB     99.27%
        IDT_LIST:         136 B         2 KB      6.64c:/gnu_arm_embedded/bin/..
/lib/gcc/arm-none-eabi/9.2.1/../../../../arm-none-eabi/bin/ld.exe: zephyr\zephyr
_prebuilt.elf section `_TEXT_SECTION_NAME_2' will not fit in region `FLASH'
c:/gnu_arm_embedded/bin/../lib/gcc/arm-none-eabi/9.2.1/../../../../arm-none-eabi
/bin/ld.exe: region `FLASH' overflowed by 87394 bytes
collect2.exe: error: ld returned 1 exit status

it is trying to fit into 52KB, that is correct to me, but the binary won't fit in, because its size is 138kB (but thats another problem - I don't know if it's possible to use BLE + MCUBOOT with nrf52810, that would be a problem for me, if not, because thats the main feature I need - BLE + OTA )

still DTS is same in both cases, both have code-partition = &slot0_partition and both have

slot0_partition: partition@c000 {
 label = "image-0";
 reg = < 0xc000 0xd000 >;
};

somehow it alters linker.cmd

diff --git "a/zephyr\\build\\zephyr\\linker.cmd.boot" "b/zephyr\\build\\zephyr\\linker.cmd.noboot"
index 6ae14c312d..02fe735eb2 100644
--- "a/zephyr\\build\\zephyr\\linker.cmd.boot"
+++ "b/test2\\zephyr\\build\\zephyr\\linker.cmd.noboot"
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 _region_min_align = 32;
 MEMORY
     {
-    FLASH (rx) : ORIGIN = (0x0 + 0xc000), LENGTH = 0xd000
+    FLASH (rx) : ORIGIN = (0x0 + 0x0), LENGTH = (192*1K - 0x0)
     SRAM (wx) : ORIGIN = 0x20000000, LENGTH = (24 * 1K)
     IDT_LIST (wx) : ORIGIN = (0x20000000 + (24 * 1K)), LENGTH = 2K
     }
@@ -40,10 +40,10 @@ SECTIONS
  *(.iplt)
  }
    
- _image_rom_start = (0x0 + 0xc000);
+ _image_rom_start = (0x0 + 0x0);
     text :
  {
- . = 0x200;
+ . = 0x0;
  _vector_start = .;
  KEEP(*(.exc_vector_table))
  KEEP(*(".exc_vector_table.*"))

[carlescufi]

Downgraded to question since it's unclear whether this is a bug.

[novalisek]

@carlescufi I think it is a bug, may be not in guiconfig, but somewhere else and may be there should be another issue for that problem. I am new to Zephyr and don't know it into deep so I first thought it was guiconfig problem.
BTW I see you are from Nordic Semi, can I ask if it is possible to use Zephyr+BLE+MCUBOOT on nrf52810, or is the flash too small? Or should I better ask at users@lists.zephyrproject.org or slack so that it's not too much off-topic for this issue?

[mbolivar]

still DTS is same in both cases, both have code-partition = &slot0_partition and both have

You're right. I see now that the way this works has changed since the last time I looked at the details on this. The chosen partition now takes effect via CONFIG_FLASH_LOAD_OFFSET and CONFIG_FLASH_LOAD_SIZE.

I think it is a bug, may be not in guiconfig, but somewhere else and may be there should be another issue for that problem. I am new to Zephyr and don't know it into deep so I first thought it was guiconfig problem.

However, there's no bug here.

At least not as far as I can see at any layer (guiconfig, west, or the build system).

$ west build -b nrf52810_pca10040 -s samples/bluetooth/peripheral -p
$ grep FLASH_LOAD build/zephyr/.config
CONFIG_HAS_FLASH_LOAD_OFFSET=y
CONFIG_FLASH_LOAD_OFFSET=0
CONFIG_FLASH_LOAD_SIZE=0

versus

$ west build -b nrf52810_pca10040 -s samples/bluetooth/peripheral -- -DCONFIG_BOOTLOADER_MCUBOOT=y
$ grep FLASH_LOAD build/zephyr/.config
CONFIG_HAS_FLASH_LOAD_OFFSET=y
CONFIG_FLASH_LOAD_OFFSET=0xc000
CONFIG_FLASH_LOAD_SIZE=0xd000

it is trying to fit into 52KB, that is correct to me, but the binary won't fit in, because its size is 138kB

The build failure is to be expected since slot0 is too small to hold this sample. Its partition size is indeed 0xd000 (52 KiB), which is configured in nrf52810_pca10040.dts. So asking for MCUboot support from Kconfig reduces the amount of flash you have available for your application.

Please take a look at this video for a tutorial on how mcuboot works: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tv502SMhwYE

And see the zephyr devicetree documentation for how flash partitions are configured.

(but thats another problem - I don't know if it's possible to use BLE + MCUBOOT with nrf52810, that would be a problem for me, if not, because thats the main feature I need - BLE + OTA )

Perhaps you need to configure out some other bluetooth features to make the application smaller, or change the partition map in nrf52810_pca10040.dts to allocate more space to slot0_partition and slot1_partition. (From the youtube video, they must be the same size).

I can't comment on what subset of bluetooth you can fit into 52 KiB (the default partition size). I don't know enough about bluetooth.

However, I can say that guiconfig is working, and so is the build system, so I'm going to close this issue.

Please feel free to ask for help from the community elsewhere if the existing documentation about partitions and configuring bluetooth is not enough to answer your questions.