platformio-build-esp32*.py scripts do not respect upload.extra_flags

[maxgerhardt]

Hardware:

Board: Feather ESP32-S2 and related
Core Installation version: current git version, a618fc1
IDE name: PlatformIO
Flash Frequency: 80Mhz
PSRAM enabled: no
Upload Speed: 115200
Computer OS: Windows 10

Description:

Looking at the Arduino IDE description of the board

arduino-esp32/boards.txt

Lines 3772 to 3774 in a618fc1

	adafruit_feather_esp32s2_nopsram.upload.flags=
	adafruit_feather_esp32s2_nopsram.upload.extra_flags=0x2d0000 "{runtime.platform.path}/variants/{build.variant}/tinyuf2.bin"
	adafruit_feather_esp32s2_nopsram.upload.use_1200bps_touch=true

and the PlatformIO board definition, I do not see anything in the build script that would implement the extra_flags with the TinyUF2 bootloader in PlatformIO.

I would have expected that the information of this "extra flash image" is encoded in e.g. the board JSON definition and in the builder script, which can then use FLASH_EXTRA_IMAGES to trigger the uploading of that binary file.

https://github.com/platformio/platform-espressif32/blob/4cb06337d678312dbcb293f508d7de7d7124ee68/builder/main.py#L318-L319

so e.g. in or after

arduino-esp32/tools/platformio-build-esp32s2.py

Lines 289 to 293 in a618fc1

	FLASH_EXTRA_IMAGES=[
	("0x1000", join(FRAMEWORK_DIR, "tools", "sdk", "esp32s2", "bin", "bootloader_${BOARD_FLASH_MODE}_${__get_board_f_flash(__env__)}.bin")),
	("0x8000", join(env.subst("$BUILD_DIR"), "partitions.bin")),
	("0xe000", join(FRAMEWORK_DIR, "tools", "partitions", "boot_app0.bin"))
	]

I would have expected a check if the board needs extra flash images (currently in the boards.txt, 4 boards use extra flags), and then add these to the array, as e.g. with

    ("0x2d0000", join(FRAMEWORK_DIR, "variants", env.BoardConfig().get("build.variant"), "tinyuf2.bin")

or somewhere between the lines (above code is simplified and would not work with a changed build.variants_dir, just PoC). With that missing, these 4 boards are probably only working within the Arduino IDE right now (with regards to the TinyUF2 bootloader).

This would also resolve this where people are asking how to use new board definitions with PlatformIO.

[brentru]

Bumping this issue - having the same issue as @maxgerhardt

[me-no-dev]

this issue is particular to PlatformIO. Please take the problem there :) This should be done in the PIO board config (or maybe added to the project)

cc: @ivankravets @valeros

[maxgerhardt]

The current builder scripts already declare the extra images to flash, and the TinyUF2 bootloader is specific to Arduino-ESP32. In my view this must by handled in the platformio-build-*.py, not in platform-espressif32. The platform scripts directly call into the framework's script, expecting them to do the heay platform-specific lifting (source)

[me-no-dev]

the TinyUF2 bootloader is specific to particular boards. It is not used in general to be in platformio-build-*.py

[VojtechBartoska]

Hello @maxgerhardt , I'm closing this issue as there is nothing to do on our side. Thanks for your contribution.

[maxgerhardt]

Doing it in only platform-espressif32 scripts is way more complicated. The board definitions for the boards using the TinyUF2 bootloader should be expanded by an attribute (say, board.build.arduino.tinyuf2_bootloader = true) which can then be reacted to in the builder scripts in this respository. Otherwise code for some bootloaders is in the builder script here and some others in some weird post-fixup-things-not-done-in-arduino-esp32-script. Please rethink this design decision.

[VojtechBartoska]

Thanks for fast reply, @me-no-dev can you please take a look in meantime on last comment and if it's applicable? Thanks!

[VojtechBartoska]

Hello, at this moment we are not able to consider this, marking us won't fix for now.