build in parallel and some cleanup

[peterus]

I did some small tasks in this pull request:

• parallel build of host / esp32 (closing github actions: compile host and esp32 build in parallel #152)
• add docker-compose which is the 'standard' tool nowadays if you have repeated setups
• simpler build scripts

[PerMalmberg]

Should we take the opportunity to also set a specific IDF-version as discussed in #150 in this PR or shall we do that in a separate PR?

I'm thinking that using a .env file with the IDF-version would be the best way. That'd allow for a single place to set the IDF-version from which both docker build and docker-compose can pick it up, both when run locally and and in CI, assuming the file can be placed in a location found by both.

By updating docker.compose.yml, Dockerfile and build-docker-image.sh we could even allow easy switching between versions locally if someone wants to run against another version than what we set as default (v4.2?)

[peterus]

from an other thread I was reading that you like building against the latest master branch. So I was not considering this solution.
But if you like to build against a dedicated IDF version I can definitely do this with the .env file. I like your idea with the .env file, with this everything is in one place.

[PerMalmberg]

I do like building against the master branch, but now that Espressif (allegedly) have fixed the PSRAM issues that were only available in master, that need has lessened. And, with the sudden upsurge in users of Smooth, it makes sense to build against an official release of IDF, while still giving the option to build against master by simply changing a file and building the image locally.

[peterus]

as you can see now, with the .env file it is very easy to switch versions. also changing the docker image name is now simple.

If it is okay for you I would try to implement some kind of check if there is a newer IDF image available, building the new image and uploading it to your docker hub or github packages if all tests are successful. of course i would need some kind of API key in the github actions environment.

edit: it would be even possible to try/check different IDF-versions on github actions.

[PerMalmberg]

Very nice.

I'm not sure automatically updating the image is the right way to go as it introduces a moving target in he build chain. However, a step that fails if there is a new release available could be a good thing if it isn't set to be a required success in the branch protection settings.

I like the idea of building against both latest and the latest major branch of IDF.

[peterus]

I had an idea which I want to present to you:

• I splited up the image into a host and esp32 image. As the host image is very small and building up very fast (nearly the same time as docker has to download the image), it will be build as it will be needed. with this you do not have to publish a dedicated docker image.
• with the help of github actions the CI can run against various IDF-versions (I tried 4.0 until 4.3 and the master branch, IDF-version 4.0 and 4.1 are failing because of interface issues (which is expected)).

I like this approach very much as it is very clean and easy to maintain.

[PerMalmberg]

Oh, that's a really nice solution. Once Ubuntu 20.04 is available we can update the script to that.

[peterus]

Ubuntu 20.04 is already available in docker :)
I updated the Dockerfile

edit: i just checked Dockerhub: there is even a 20.10 and 21.04 available. I will try the 21.04 in the end.
edit: Ubuntu 21.04 looks like is not stable. In the CI there was a hickup with the unit test, locally there was an issue with apt-get update. So I switched to 20.10 which is running fine.

[PerMalmberg]

Maybe a note in the readme explaining the build process, how to select an IDF-version locally?

Also, please update the contributors file to list this PR

[peterus]

From my side I am now happy with the current changes.
If you still miss something, I would be happy to hear them.

[PerMalmberg]

Just a few typos to fix before merging.

[peterus]

Ah stupid mistakes. I fixed them all.

[PerMalmberg]

Awesome, merged!