Assembling ChibiStudio from scratch

About

Recently I had to assemble ChibiStudio for Windows from scratch and I decided to write down a simple to-do list to be consistent over time. Locking back to the list, it was so detailed I start to think about an article to share this experience and enable everyone to assembly its own environment and maybe get feedback from experts out there and improve our process.

Premise

The need for an IDE

ChibiStudio was an idea by Giovanni (the creator of ChibiOS) to enable the community to easily ramp-up with ChibiOS. It’s basically an ensemble of free and open-source software and some custom configurations.

When I had to take over this process I was pointed to the “Elder Scroll“, an article from the old wiki of chibios.org written in 2008 and later updated in 2012. Even if aged, the article still provides some references.

The path constraint

If you ever installed ChibiStudio on Windows, you’ll surely remember that you need to extract it having its root folder located at C:\ChibiStudio. This constraint comes from some hard-coded configuration in the Eclipse file that cannot be modified programmatically: for some of them, you need to do some specific procedure from the Eclipse’s GUI.

If you are going to create your own ChibiStudio setup decide the location of your toolchain before starting the procedure because would be complicated to relocate it after. from here and out we will refer to this location as [ChibiStudio root]

A small side note, I actually created a semi-automatic mechanism that allows relocating your ChibiStudio setup but I will talk about that in another How-to.

Let’s start

Premise

Because of some issue with Java and the ChibiOS plugin it would not be possible to extract directly Eclipse 2021-06 and start from there. If we do so the Board file generator and the ChibiOS plugin will not work. But there is a work around that requires to install an older version of Eclipse, together with the plugin and execute the plugin at least once, then update the entire toolchain.

Eclipse installation

ChibiStudio is built starting from Eclipse IDE for Java Developers subsequently extended with the C/C++ Development Tools. The Java version comes with some features that ChibiStudio uses to generate the board files. Picking up the version for C/C++ Developers you need to install and configure more things.

Nowadays Eclipse comes with an installer we strongly discourage in this case because the setup is not portable. My suggestion is to pick up the package from here.

1.  Start from Eclipse IDE for Java Developers 2020-03, download it, and extract Eclipse in the directory [ChibiStudio root]/eclipse
2. Download the OpenJDK 15 from here (the one that worked for me is 15.0.2 (build 15.0.2+9)) and extract its content in the folder [ChibiStudio root]/tools/jdk
3. Modify the file [ChibiStudio root]/eclipse/eclipse.ini adding the following lines in the beginning

-vm
../tools/jdk/bin/javaw.exe

This way Eclipse will run using the jdk we just added

Installing eclipse additional packages

Launch eclipse from [ChibiStudio root]/eclipse/eclipse.exe. At the first launch, he will ask about a workspace: it’s time to prepare things for a later step: choose the folder of your final workspace and check “Use this as the default and to not ask again”

In my case, I am preparing the Workspace User that would be later finalized and duplicated to create all the additional workspaces released with ChibiStudio. The next step is to install all the required packages to Eclipse.

Go in the dropdown menu Help -> Install new Software

Select the repository associated with your release (in my case 2020-03 – http://download.eclipse.org/releases/2020-03) and install the following packages:

• General Purpose Tools -> TM Terminal
• General Purpose Tools -> TM Terminal Serial Connector Extensions
• Mobile and Device Development -> C/C++ GDB Hardware Debugging
• Mobile and Device Development -> C/C++ Memory View Enhancements
• Programming Languages -> C/C++ Development Tools
• Web, XML, Java EE and OSGi Enterprise Development -> Eclipse XML Editor and Tools
• Web, XML, Java EE and OSGi Enterprise Development -> Eclipse XSL Developer Tools

We now need to add some new repositories

• ChibiStudio – http://chibios.org/eclipse/chibistudio_new
• JBoss – http://download.jboss.org/jbosstools/neon/stable/updates
• EmbSysRegView – http://embsysregview.sourceforge.net/update

We now need to install some extra plugin

• ChibiStudio Eclipse Compontents -> ChibiOS Eclipse Tools from ChibiStudio
• JBoss Application Development -> FreeMarker IDE from JBoss
• embsysregview -> Embedded System Register View (SFR) from EmbSysRegView
• embsysregview -> EmbSysRegView Data from EmbSysRegView

Finally as we are using ChibiStudio to prepare even the ChibiOS Debug View plugin we use to install another plugin

• Eclipse Plugin Development Tools -> Eclipse Plug-in Development Environment from The Eclipse Project Updates

Tools preparation

The next step is to set-up the tool folder. This folder is [ChibiStudio root]/tools and it already hosts jdk

Adding GCC for ARM

We usually add the latest version of GCC for ARM from here under the folder [ChibiStudio root]/tools/GNU Tools ARM Embedded/v.v YYYYqQ where

• v.v is the release version (e.g. 9.2)
• YYYY it the release year (e.g. 2019)
• qQ is the release quarter (e.g. q4)

In the past, it happened that the latest version of GCC suffered some bug on some specific architecture. So we usually prefer to bring in, together with the latest version, also the version we largely used in the previous release of ChibiStudio. For example, ChibiStudio 2021-07 comes with:

• GCC ARM toolchain 9.2.1 2019q4
• GCC ARM toolchain 10.3.1 2021.07

For every version of GCC you need to do a small edit: copy .\bin\arm-none-eabi-gcc-x.x.x.exe as .\arm-none-eabi\bin\gcc.exe

Adding msys2

This could be tricky because there is not a simple way to list all the msys2 programs that you need and it is definitely an overkill to dump the entire msys2 in ChibiStudio. I have a list of tools and related dependencies you do need for ChibiStudio that you can copy directly from your msys2.

The root folder is [ChibiStudio root]/tools/msys2/ . In here you do need to create two folders usr and tmp. Finally this is the list of tools I added to the the latest version of ChibiStudio in [ChibiStudio root]/tools/msys2/usr/bin.

17.08.2021  15:32           632.832 awk.exe
17.08.2021  15:32            33.859 basename.exe
17.08.2021  15:32         2.201.842 bash.exe
17.08.2021  15:32            37.695 cat.exe
17.08.2021  15:32           111.647 cp.exe
17.08.2021  15:32            32.782 dirname.exe
17.08.2021  15:32            34.731 echo.exe
17.08.2021  15:32                28 egrep
17.08.2021  15:32                28 fgrep
17.08.2021  15:32           287.353 find.exe
17.08.2021  15:32           209.682 grep.exe
17.08.2021  15:32           201.124 make.exe
17.08.2021  15:32            69.421 mkdir.exe
02.07.2021  10:25         3.609.331 msys-2.0.dll
12.04.2021  23:29            40.313 msys-crypt-0.dll
26.10.2020  15:25            72.966 msys-gcc_s-seh-1.dll
20.12.2020  17:37           581.162 msys-gmp-10.dll
08.09.2020  18:20         1.023.499 msys-iconv-2.dll
31.05.2017  12:56            43.904 msys-intl-8.dll
17.07.2020  08:46         2.717.824 msys-mpfr-6.dll
17.02.2020  08:44           310.530 msys-ncursesw6.dll
18.06.2021  22:00           286.198 msys-pcre-1.dll
23.03.2021  00:23         3.390.663 msys-perl5_32.dll
25.07.2021  23:10           263.878 msys-readline8.dll
17.08.2021  15:32           117.888 mv.exe
17.08.2021  15:32            14.391 perl.exe
17.08.2021  15:32            62.343 rm.exe
17.08.2021  15:32            59.687 rmdir.exe
17.08.2021  15:32           169.392 sed.exe
17.08.2021  15:32         2.201.842 sh.exe
17.08.2021  15:32            34.467 sleep.exe
17.08.2021  15:32            38.316 tee.exe
17.08.2021  15:32           104.903 touch.exe
17.08.2021  15:32            33.828 uname.exe

Adding the OpenOCD

Download the latest version of OpenOCD that I periodically build from the download page of this website or eventually build your own looking at Building OpenOCD under Windows using MSYS2.

Add OpenOCD under [ChibiStudio root]/tools/openocd checking that openocd.exe is located at [ChibiStudio root]/tools/openocd/bin/openocd.exe

Adding ChibiOS

Add the latest stable version of ChibiOS. You can download it from the ChibiOS official release page on OSDN or directly check-out from the SVN repository. There is a stable branch for each release. For example, the branch of ChibiOS 21.6.x is at https://svn.osdn.net/svnroot/chibios/branches/stable_21.6.x.

We usually add the latest stable releases (the zip file instead of the SVN repo) and the latest snapshot of the trunk from https://svn.osdn.net/svnroot/chibios/trunk. For every ChibiOS release added we create an additional workspace.

Creating the launchers

For every GCC version, we need to create a launcher. The launcher is a batch file that temporarily sets some variable

@echo off
set CHIBISTUDIO=%~dp0
set FMPP=%CHIBISTUDIO%\tools\fmpp\bin\fmpp.bat
set BASH=%CHIBISTUDIO%\tools\msys2\usr\bin\bash.exe
set OPENOCD=%CHIBISTUDIO%\tools\openocd\bin\openocd.exe
set JLINK=%PROGRAMFILES(X86)%\SEGGER\JLink\JLinkGDBServerCL.exe
set PATH=%CHIBISTUDIO%\tools\msys2\usr\bin;%PATH%
set PATH=%CHIBISTUDIO%\tools\openocd\bin;%PATH%
set PATH=%CHIBISTUDIO%\tools\GNU Tools ARM Embedded\10.0 2020q4\arm-none-eabi\bin;%PATH%
set PATH=%CHIBISTUDIO%\tools\GNU Tools ARM Embedded\10.0 2020q4\bin;%PATH%
cd eclipse
start eclipse.exe

Configuring the first Workspace

The next step is about configuring our workspace and test our setup. Let’s launch ChibiStudio through the launcher. This will configure the environment variables and make the IDE ready to perform the basic operations.

All the configurations we are going to apply in the next steps will be stored into the metadata of the workspace.

Here the things to do

• add the perspectives C and Debug removing Java clicking Open perspective in the top right corner
• disable all the Code Analysis options in Preferences > C/C++ > Code Analysis
• import the ChibiOS Style XML in Preferences > C/C++ > Code Style > Formatter
• in the C/C++ perspective
  • Change the view of Project Explorer from hierarchical to flat in the three-dot menu > Projects Presentation > Flat
  • Save the perspective as  “C/C++” replacing the existing one
• in the debug perspective
  • close the Project Explorer
  • move the Debug window on top of the Editor
  • close the Debug Shell
  • from Windows > Show View open Registers, Memory, Disassembly, Terminal, EmbSysReg (under Other > Debug) and ChibiOS Debug View (under Other > ChibiOS\RT)
  • move Registers in the top left window
  • move Disassembly in the top left window splitting it horizontally
  • save the perspective as “Debug” replacing the existing one
• Set C/C++ perspective as the default in Preferences > General > Perspectives
• Import the demos you need from the ChibiOS release you intend to use within this workspace (they are under [chibios]/demos, [chibios]/testhal and [chibios]/testex)
• Import ChibiOS tools that are located in under [chibios]/tools
• In Preferences > General > Workspace check the box Refresh using native hooks or polling
• In Preferences > General > Workspace you need to add two linked resource
  • CHIBIOS  pointing to the release in use (e.g. C:\ChibiStudio\chibios203)
  • CHIBISTUDIO pointing to you installation root (e.g. C:\ChibiStudio)
• In Preferences > C/C++ > Editor uncheck Report problems as you type.

At this point, your setup should be ready to go.

Updating Eclipse

Now that we have a running workspace we can run the board file generator. To do so

• import any STM32 project in that workspace (e.g. RT-STM32F401RE-NUCLEO64),
• select its file board\cfg\board.chcfg
• from the menu Configuration select the only available voice
• wait for the confirmation message in the console

Now perform the update of Eclipse choosing Help -> Check for Updates. Select all and confirm. At the next restart you should have the latest version of Eclipse.

Additional operation

We use to perform some optional additional operations

• We change the name of the workspace with the name of the current ChibiStudio version and the version of ChibiOS in use. This in Preferences -> General -> Workspace:
  • Enable Show Name (e.g. “ChibiStudio 2021-07 – ChibiOS 20.3.x”)
  • Enable Show full workspace path
  • Disable Show Product Name
• Copy the Documents Project from an old workspace
• Copy and update the readme (C:/ChibiStudio/readme.txt)
• Import Documents

After testing the first workspace we also duplicate it for every release we have in ChibiStudio. Usually, we create the Workspace User first as it is the more generic and then we duplicate it 3 times (e.g. workspace216, workspace203, workspace_trunk)
For each workspace:

• import the demos from the right release
• update the linked resources changing CHIBIOS
• Update the name indicating the release of ChibiOS in use