CMSIS-Toolbox » Pack Creation
This chapter describes how to create software packs and explains the tools packchk
(software pack verification) and svdconv
(SVD file converter).
Chapter Contents:
The following tools support the creation of Software Packs in CMSIS-Pack format:
Tool | Description |
---|---|
packchk | Pack Validation: installs and manages software packs in the local development environment. |
svdconv | SVD Check / Convert: validate and/or convert System View Description (SVD) files. |
Several tools and scripts help to automate the pack creation.
These scripts are in several hands-on tutorials.
Hands-on Tutorial | Description |
---|---|
DFP-Pack-HandsOn | Explains the structure and creation of a Device Family Pack (DFP). |
BSP-Pack-HandsOn | Explains the structure and creation of a Board Support Pack (BSP). |
SW-Pack-HandsOn | Explains the steps to create a simple software pack using the Open-CMSIS-Pack technology. |
Create-Scaleable-SW | Explains how to structure complex middleware stacks. |
- Use C startup files that allows to use a DFP with any toolchain.
- For elements use a brief description text with less than 128 characters to explain the purpose. When possible link to documentation with detailed information.
- Example: A component
Device:HAL:ENET
should not have descriptionENET HAL Driver
, useEthernet HAL driver
instead.
- Example: A component
- Consider adding project templates to help get started with more complex projects.
- This is useful when devices are are configured using generators or provide multiple linker scripts (i.e. RAM/ROM execution).
- To distribute toolchain agnostic examples as part of packs:
- Consider to use
select-compiler
to make projects toolchain independent. - To avoid that examples need updates with every pack release, specify the minium pack version required.
- Use CI workflows to validate that projects compile correctly.
- Consider to use
- Add an overview.md file that describes the overall usage of the software pack. These files are displayed on www.keil.arm.com/packs and index by Web search engines.
Project examples help to get started with new devices, boards, and middleware software components. The CMSIS-Pack format supports therefore different types of project examples:
- Template Projects are stub projects that help to get started. Some software packs may contain device specific templates.
- Examples are created for a specific hardware or evaluation board. These are typically complete projects that directly interface with board and device peripherals.
- Reference Applications are hardware agnostic project examples that required layers to add the hardware abstraction of a target (typically a board).
In addition packs may contain:
- Layers are pre-configured software components or source code that can be shared across multiple projects.
- Code Templates are stub source files for middleware components that can be incorporated into user code.
The picture below shows the different packs that are used to publish project examples. These examples are available for software developers on web pages and can be directly accessed from IDEs that are for example enabled with the VS Code Arm CMSIS Solution extension.
The following section explains how the different types of project examples are structured and registered within a CMSIS-Pack.
To make project examples independent of a specific compiler toolchain, the *.csolution.yml
file should include the select-compiler:
node with a list of tested compilers. When a user or IDE starts such an example, the compiler:
node that selects the compiler gets added.
Example:
solution:
description: <brief description of the project example>
created-for: [email protected]
cdefault:
select-compiler: # list of tested compilers that can be selected
- compiler: AC6
- compiler: GCC
- compiler: IAR
- compiler: CLANG
:
The *.csolution.yml
file may contain several related projects that share the same target-types:
and build-types:
.
Example:
solution:
:
projects:
- project: BSD_Server/BSD_Server.cproject.yml
- project: FTP_Server/FTP_Server.cproject.yml
- project: HTTP_Server/HTTP_Server.cproject.yml
A template project does not define a device:
or board:
in the *.csolution.yml
file. When a IDE starts such an template the device:
and/or board:
information along with pack:
information is added depending on user selection. The target-types:
contains a Name
that may be replaced by a descriptive target name.
Note:
A template project should not specify the DFP or BSP with a
pack:
node as this gets added by the IDE during project start.
Simple Template:
A simple template only defines one target.
solution:
:
target-types:
- type: Name
# board: # added during creation of solution
# device: # added during creation of solution
:
Multi-Target Template:
A multi-target template may contain different configurations for the same target, for example a configuration that executes from ROM and another that executes from RAM. The example below shows how this could be achieved using variables:
.
solution:
:
target-types:
- type: Name-ROM
# board: # added during creation of solution
# device: # added during creation of solution
variables:
- regions_header: path/region_ROM.h
- type: Name-RAM
# board: # added during creation of solution
# device: # added during creation of solution
variables:
- regions_header: path/region_RAM.h
:
In the example above, projects can use the linker:
node in the *.cproject.yml
file to reference the regions header file of the selected target.
project:
linker:
- regions: $regions_header$
Note:
Templates should compile when the above information is added to the
*.csolution.yml
file. The exception is when templates require parts of the code provided by a generator.
Register Template in PDSC File:
Templates are published using the <csolution>
element in the PDSC file. Device-specific Templates should be part of the DFP. Board-specific templates should be part of the BSP.
<csolution>
<template name="Simple Device project" path="/device/Simple" file="Simple.csolution.yml" condition="Device_Spec">
<description>Single-core project with empty main function configured for device</description>
</template>
<template name="Simple Board project" path="/board/Simple" file="Simple.csolution.yml" condition="Board_Spec">
<description>Single-core project with empty main function configured for board</description>
</template>
</csolution>
Examples are complete projects that typically run on a board. They should therefore specify a target-type
with board:
and list the packs:
that are used, specifically the DFP and BSP.
To minimize maintenance of Examples that are part of a pack, consider these rules:
- IMPORTANT: Store all files that are part of the
./RTE
directory. These files store configuration and are important for PLM. - Use
select-compiler:
when the Example works with several toolchains. Do not specifycompiler:
. - Specify minimum pack version. Do not store
*.cbuild-pack.yml
. - The tool selects first
target-type
and firstbuild-type
whencbuild-set.yml
is missing. For simple projects do not store*.cbuild-set.yml
. - For simple projects, rely on the
cdefault.yml
file that is provided with CMSIS-Toolbox.
Examples that work with several compiler toolchains should use select-compiler:
and not define compiler:
explicit. The compiler:
node of the available toolchain is added when the Example is loaded into the IDE.
When minimum pack versions are specified, the semantic versioning of packs should ensure that newer pack versions work also. As the *.cbuild-pack.yml
file fixes pack versions, this file should be not stored in the pack.
Examples may contain in the *.csolution.yml
file multiple related projects that for example cover different aspects of a peripheral or middleware. For such Examples it is not required to store the *.cbuild-set.yml
file as the tools select the first target-type
and build-type
of the *.csolution.yml
file.
Examples that do not require special compiler controls may rely on the cdefault.yml
file that is provided with CMSIS-Toolbox as this file contains reasonable default settings. For more complex Examples, provide a local copy of the cdefault.yml
file in the same directory as the *.csolution.yml
file.
Refer to Toolchain Agnostic Project for further information.
csolution.yml
file of an Example:
solution:
# Optional: Add a brief description line (recommendation less than 128 characters)
description: Example that shows the usage of Fault component on an Cortex-M33 with TrustZone
created-for: [email protected] # minimum CMSIS-Toolbox version, newer versions will work also
cdefault:
select-compiler:
- compiler: GCC # GCC is supported
- compiler: AC6 # AC6 is supported
- compiler: IAR # IAR is supported
packs:
- pack: Keil::STM32U5xx_DFP@^2.1.0 # minimum compatible pack version
- pack: Keil::B-U585I-IOT02A_BSP@^1.0.0
target-types:
- type: B-U585I-IOT02A
board: STMicroelectronics::B-U585I-IOT02A
device: STMicroelectronics::STM32U585AIIx
build-types:
- type: Debug
debug: on
optimize: debug
- type: Release
debug: off
optimize: balanced
projects:
- project: ./Secure/Fault_S.cproject.yml
- project: ./NonSecure/Fault_NS.cproject.yml
Register Examples in PDSC File:
Examples can be part of any pack and are published using the <examples>
element in the PDSC file. Note that it is possible to register multiple project formats to support different tool environments.
<examples>
<example name="Fault example" folder="Examples/Fault/B-U585I-IOT02A" doc="README.md">
<description>Example that shows the usage of Fault component on an Cortex-M33 with TrustZone</description>
<board name="B-U585I-IOT02A" vendor="STMicroelectronics"/>
<project>
<environment name="csolution" load="Fault.csolution.yml"/>
<environment name="uv" load="Fault.uvmpw"/>
</project>
</example>
</examples>
Reference applications can run on many different target hardware boards. Similar to template projects the device:
and board:
along with the required DFP and BSP pack:
is not specified in the *.csolution.yml
file.
solution:
description: IPv4/IPv6 Network examples
created-for: [email protected]
cdefault:
select-compiler: # list of tested compilers that can be selected
- compiler: AC6
- compiler: GCC
- compiler: IAR
- compiler: CLANG
target-types:
- type: Name
# board: # added during creation of solution
# variables:
# - Board-Layer: <board_layer>.clayer.yml
Note:
The MDK-Middleware contains several reference applications that exemplify the overall structure.
Register Reference Applications in PDSC File:
Reference Applications are typically part of a middleware software pack and publish using the <examples>
element in the PDSC file. The difference to examples is that no <board> element
is used as the reference application is hardware agnostic.
<examples>
</example>
<example name="Network" doc="README.md" folder="Examples/Network">
<description>MDK-Middleware: IPv4/IPv6 Client and Server applications via Ethernet</description>
<project>
<environment name="csolution" load="Network.csolution.yml"/>
</project>
</example>
Layers with connections are used to by Reference Applications to target hardware. These layers are added when a reference application is configured for a board:
, typically in the IDE.
Register Layers in PDSC File:
Layers are part of a BSP and published using the <csolution>
element in the PDSC file.
<csolution>
<clayer type="Board" path="Layers/Default" file="Board.clayer.yml" copy-to="Board/MyBoard" condition="Board-Spec"/>
</csolution>
Note:
Several STM32 Board Support Packs (BSP) contain layers that are pre-configured for certain applications. For example, the layer in the ST_NUCLEO-F756ZG_BSP supports applications that require Ethernet, USB Device, UART, or I2C interfaces.
Code templates are part of the components files in the PDSC file and can be manually added by the user to a software project. Code templates show how a software component is used and the source code can be directly adapted to the requirements of the application program.
Register Code Templates in PDSC File:
Code Templates are part of a software component and published using the <components>
element using attr="template"
in the PDSC file.
<component Cgroup="Socket" Csub="UDP" condition="Network Interface">
:
<files>
<file category="doc" name="Documentation/html/Network/group__netUDP__Func.html"/>
<file category="header" name="Components/Network/Config/Net_Config_UDP.h" attr="config" version="5.1.1"/>
<file category="source" name="Components/Network/Template/UDP_Socket.c" attr="template" select="UDP Socket"/>
<!-- Library source files -->
<file category="source" name="Components/Network/Source/net_udp.c"/>
</files>
Note:
The CMSIS-RTX and MDK-Middleware pack contains several code templates that exemplify the overall structure.
Several pack examples available on github.com/Open-CMSIS-Pack exemplify how to create software packs. Other packs that are a good reference are the various Arm CMSIS packs or the MDK Middleware pack. The source of these packs is available on Github/Arm-software.