WIP CMake Improvements

[gojimmypi]

New Features

• New VSCode IDE Support
• New CMakePresets.json Proof of concept for a handful of STM32 devices.
• New .config cmake reader, see cmake function: load_dot_config(path)
• New .config to cmake presets conversion script.
• New CMake wolfbuild script to build, clean, flash test-app (working on L4)
• Improved Windows cmake builds, better detection of MSVC
• Visual Studio although that PR #623 has been given a lower priority to get things done for the upcoming release.
• Expanded GitHub workflow testing, new testing scripts.

---

CMake reading .config files

This PR adds support for configuring the CMake build directly from a Kconfig-style .config file. When a .config is present at the repository root and USE_DOT_CONFIG=ON is set, CMake reads build options from that file instead of requiring them to be passed manually on the command line.

Example usage:

# From the repo root, with .config already in place
cmake -S . -B build-stm32h7 \
    -DUSE_DOT_CONFIG=ON \
    -DWOLFBOOT_TARGET=stm32h7

cmake --build build-stm32h7

For convenience, tools/scripts/cmake_dot_config.sh demonstrates one way to copy config/examples/<target>.config to .config and then run the CMake configure step using this mechanism, but it is just an example wrapper around the CMake interface shown above.

Test Drive

Work remains on CMake files, but the initial VS Code build should be working:

https://github.com/gojimmypi/wolfBoot.git
cd wolfboot
git checkout pr-cmake-improvements
git pull --recurse-submodules
git submodule update --init --recursive

#launch VS Code and open  wolfBoot.code-workspace  
code  ./IDE/VSCode/wolfBoot.code-workspace

# or your favorite cmake-aware editor such as Visual Studio 2022, etc.

Select STM32L4 wait for Cmake to finish, then click build. The output pane might be not visible. Grab frame to expand up:

I'm not sure yet which extensions are required, but at least the Microsoft ms-vscode.cmake-tools.

Here's a list of what I have installed:

code --list-extensions

davidanson.vscode-markdownlint
github.vscode-github-actions
marus25.cortex-debug
mcu-debug.debug-tracker-vscode
mcu-debug.memory-view
mcu-debug.peripheral-viewer
mcu-debug.rtos-views
ms-dotnettools.csdevkit
ms-dotnettools.csharp
ms-dotnettools.vscode-dotnet-runtime
ms-vscode-remote.remote-containers
ms-vscode-remote.remote-wsl
ms-vscode.cmake-tools
ms-vscode.cpptools
ms-vscode.cpptools-extension-pack
ms-vscode.cpptools-themes
ms-vscode.makefile-tools
nordic-semiconductor.nrf-kconfig
platformio.platformio-ide
trond-snekvik.gnu-mapfiles
twxs.cmake

Development

I use Visual Studio for CMake development but the objective is for an IDE-agnostic CMake build experience.

I use VisualGDB for embedded development; this will be a good exercise for flexible HAL file positioning and config.

I'm using an STM32L4, specifically the B-L475E-IOT01A Discovery kit IoT node that I happened to have on hand related to #585.

Some of the changes are specifically hard-code to the above. My objective is to make everything a configuration setting.

VS Code Presets

Was previously OS-specific, and needed to be launched from VS2022 command prompt. The stm32l4 tested (see above).

Visual Studio 2022

There's currently no VS2022 project file. Simply open the directory.

Select a device from the ribbon bar, shown here for the stm32l4

From Solution Explorer, right-click CmakeLists.txt and then select Configure wolfBoot.

To build, follow the same steps to right click, and select Build.

View the CMake and Build messages in the Output Window. Noter the dropdown to select view:

---

CMake Dev Status:

Status	Environment	Test With
✅	VS 2022	Right-Click on CMakeLists.txt, Build
✅	WSL	./tools/scripts/cmake_test.sh
✅	Mac	test-build-cmake-mac.yml
✅	VS Code, Dev Prompt	Click "build" on bottom toolbar ribbon
✅	DOS Prompt, Dev Prompt	.\tools\scripts\cmake_dev_prompt_test.bat
✅	PowerShell, Dev Prompt	.\tools\scripts\cmake_dev_prompt_test.bat
✅	DOS Prompt, direct launch	.\tools\scripts\cmake_test.bat (needs toolchain path)
✅	PowerShell, direct launch	.\tools\scripts\cmake_test.bat (needs toolchain path)
✅	VS Code, direct launch	Click "build"

Make Dev Status:

Status	Environment	Test With
?	VS 2022	N/A (?)
✅	WSL	./tools/scripts/wolfboot_build.sh --target stm32l4
⚠️	Mac	test-build-cmake-mac.yml
?	VS Code, Dev Prompt	N/A (?)
❌	DOS Prompt, Dev Prompt
❌	PowerShell, Dev Prompt
❌	DOS Prompt, direct launch
❌	PowerShell, direct launch
?	VS Code, direct launch	N/A (?)

---

[danielinux]

Thanks for the PR Jim.

I did not test but I've spotted a bit too much pollution of the / directory. Please move .sh and .bat files under tools/scripts/. There are also some cmake-specific json files that could go under cmake/

The documentation for cmake builds (including existing one) should probably be moved in a new file under docs/ and referred to from /README.md

Let's not put platform-specific (stm32?) information in the main README.md either. This will confuse users on all other targets. Anything target-specific should be in docs/Targets.md.

Some files have meaningless or confusing names (my_test, wolfbuild)

Some instructions point to your private repository

[danielinux]

This documentation seems STM32 specific. Should it be in docs/Target.md or a separate docs/Cmake.md perhaps?

[gojimmypi]

See docs/STM32.md

[danielinux]

The instructions in STM32.md are very confusing. It seems to pull in randomly different build tools. It states that STM32 targets require CUBEMX which is not true (STM32L4 is the exception). Please move to more relevant files. You can add the STM32L4 specific comments to Target.md under its section. You can add a VisualStudio.md in docs if you want to describe other build mechanisms.

[dgarske]

Preset was very nice and worked... it built. But There will be 100's of targets, so idealy the pre-set for each OS and have way for someone to customize that for their board.

Also warnings:

[cmake] CMake Warning:
[cmake]   Manually-specified variables were not used by the project:
[cmake] 
[cmake]     BOARD
[cmake]     CORTEX_M0
[cmake]     DEBUG
[cmake]     DUALBANK_SWAP
[cmake]     STM32L4_PART
[cmake]     V
[cmake]     VTOR
[cmake]     WOLFTPM

[gojimmypi]

Hi @dgarske - yay! That's just what I was looking for, as I don't have a Mac.

As you noted, there are hundreds of targets; I'm working on removing the OS target from the preselects.

For customizations, there are a variety of locations:

• Primarily in CMakeSettings.json (and in there, common settings can be inherited from templates, for example:

    {
      "name": "stm32l4",
      "displayName": "STM32L4",
      "inherits": [
        "base",
        "stm32"
      ],

• Optionally in CMakeUserPresets.json (see CMakeUserPresets.json.sample)

Much work remains, including cleanup... but the end product will be quite nice.

[gojimmypi]

I've trimmed the unused preset cacheVariables

[gojimmypi]

Hi @danielinux

Thanks for your feedback! I realize that I came in for a remodel and left a bunch of trash laying around. I've cleaned this up in my latest 32e46e6 commit.

Thing are still WIP on my dev branch, but things here in this PR should be a bit cleaner now.

@dgarske - I've not yet addressed the unused cmake vars.

Changes of interest since my prior commit include non-os-specific presets. more testing, more docs (including cmake .config), script improvements, VS Code workspace moved to root directory, improved dynamic cmake downloads, main cmake functionality moved to include files in the cmake directory, and more.

There's more work to be done, particularly around supporting all of the targets. I'd like to get this initial update stable and merged before moving on to additional features and target devices.

Suggestions welcome.

EDIT: Launching VS Code from a non-VS2022 dev prompt (compiler NOT in the path by default) is not working, failing here:

[cmake] -- Completed VisualGDB detection.
[cmake] -- No .config files will be read; USE_DOT_CONFIG is disabled
[cmake] -- Tip: If find_program cannot find HOST_CC (not in path?), try launching from VS2022 dev prompt or edit path.
[cmake] CMake Error at CMakeLists.txt:112 (find_program):
[cmake]   Could not find HOST_CC using the following names: gcc, clang, cl

I'm revisiting compiler detection. I had this working, must have broke it. The features still work if everything is in the path (e.g. launch from Visual Studio command prompt), but it should support a fully specified toolchain & include path with no assumptions, nothing in path.

[gojimmypi]

Still WIP, but I've applied cc4d2da that contains most of my current progress on cmake-specific updates from my dev branch.

A variety of other changes are also in the works, but those changes are in separate pull requests.

[gojimmypi]

I've pushed my latest changes to pr-cmake-improvements branch for this PR. See my current workflow results.

There's only new WOLFBOOT_ROOT file: CMakePresets.json.

Required. See CMake docs:

--preset , --preset=
Reads a preset from CMakePresets.json and CMakeUserPresets.json files, which must be located in the same directory as the top level CMakeLists.txt file. The preset may specify the generator, the build directory, a list of variables, and other arguments to pass to CMake. At least one of CMakePresets.json or CMakeUserPresets.json must be present. The CMake GUI also recognizes and supports CMakePresets.json and CMakeUserPresets.json files.

Notable update: NO new VSCode files added to WOLFBOOT_ROOT. All VSCode settings moved to IDE/VSCode.

Open the wolfBoot.code-workspace file from VSCode:

cd ~/workspace/wolfBoot-$USER

code  ./IDE/VSCode/wolfBoot.code-workspace

See blog: CMake Presets integration in Visual Studio and Visual Studio Code

I plan to move ALL Visual Studio files to [WOLFBOOT_ROOT]/IDE/VisualStudio. See #598

Various other CMake improvements, a good spot for testing at 5266e0a .

[gojimmypi]

Although there are more changes that could be here, this is a good stopping point for this initial CMake update.

I've left the structure basically as-is for now. I plan to move blocks of functionality into separate include files in a future PR.

VS Code Quick start from instructions:

git clone https://github.com/wolfssl/wolfBoot.git
cd wolfBoot/IDE/VSCode
git submodule update --init

code wolfBoot.code-workspace

VS Code Quick start to test this PR:

mkdir test
cd test

git clone https://github.com/gojimmypi/wolfBoot.git
cd wolfBoot
git checkout pr-cmake-improvements
cd IDE/VSCode
git submodule update --init

code wolfBoot.code-workspace

[danielinux]

Still reviewing changes. Please re-organize documentation flow. CMake section still growing, so it deserves its own file in docs/

Very important: remove docs/STM32.md and move the relevant info to Target.md (specific to STM32L4, requiring cubeMx, all other STM32 don't have that dependency and these instructions are very confusing because of this).

[danielinux]

This is still adding a file docs/STM32.md with wrong "generic" instructions for STM32 targets, which in fact only apply to STM32L4, plus randomly introducing IDE-specific instructions. Remove that file as per previous comments.

Also, please add CMake build tests in the workflow for other targets as well. The main issue to resolve in this PR is CMake coverage across targets.

[gojimmypi]

@danielinux I've added additional STM32 targets and updated workflows to test them all in 1ad66e9

I've also updated the docs and removed the docs/STM32.md file per your request.

I currently have a sim default preset with spaces in the name so that it shows up like this in the IDE list this:

---

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However, I've had some problems using that from command-line, so those sim tests are disabled for now. See 4474cf8

I started down the road or other ARM targets, but the first one I tried doesn't have a GitHub workflow toolchain, so the imx-rt testing is also disabled for now.