Building merged binary command issue (IDFGH-11152) (ESPTOOL-750)

[krupis]

Answers checklist.

• I have read the documentation ESP-IDF Programming Guide and the issue is not addressed there.
• I have updated my IDF branch (master or release) to the latest version and checked that the issue is present there.
• I have searched the issue tracker for a similar issue and not found a similar issue.

IDF version.

5.0.1

Operating System used.

Windows

How did you build your project?

VS Code IDE

If you are using Windows, please specify command line type.

PowerShell

What is the expected behavior?

I am trying to build a one-file binary that contains the bootloader, partition, app and all other binaries in a single file.

I have read the official documentation
https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esptool/en/latest/esp32/esptool/basic-commands.html#merge-binaries-for-flashing-merge-bin
He uses a simple command:

esptool.py --chip esp32 merge_bin -o merged-flash.bin "@flash_args"

In my case, instead of using esptool.py, I must use full esptool and python paths (I think this has something to do with the way I have installed esp-idf). I have installed it via the vscode esp-idf extension setup.

So I cd in to my project build dir and run the following command with full python and esptool paths:

What is the actual behavior?

After executing the following command in my project build directory:

C:\Users\kapeika.lu\Desktop\WORK\myproject\myproject2\myproject-fw\build> C:\Users\kapeika.lu\.espressif5\python_env\idf5.0_py3.8_env\Scripts\python.exe C:\Users\kapeika.lu\esp5\esp-idf\components\esptool_py\esptool\esptool.py --chip esp32 merge_bin -o flash_image.bin @flash_args

I am getting an error message that I am missing some arguments (logs attached to Build or Installation Logs section).

Steps to reproduce.

1. cd into build directory
2. Run a command esptool.py --chip ESP32 merge_bin -o merged-flash.bin @flash_args

Keep in mind that you may need to use full paths for python and esptool.py

Build or installation Logs.

usage: esptool merge_bin [-h] --output OUTPUT [--format {r,a,w}] [--flash_freq {keep,80m,60m,48m,40m,30m,26m,24m,20m,16m,15m,12m}] [--flash_mode {keep,qio,qout,dio,dout}]
                         [--flash_size {keep,256KB,512KB,1MB,2MB,2MB-c1,4MB,4MB-c1,8MB,16MB,32MB,64MB,128MB}] [--spi-connection SPI_CONNECTION] [--target-offset TARGET_OFFSET]
                         [--fill-flash-size {256KB,512KB,1MB,2MB,4MB,8MB,16MB,32MB,64MB,128MB}]
                         <address> <filename> [<address> <filename> ...]
esptool merge_bin: error: the following arguments are required: <address> <filename>

More Information.

I would appreciate any clarification regarding this issue.

[dobairoland]

C:\Users\kapeika.lu\Desktop\WORK\myproject\myproject2\myproject-fw\build> C:\Users\kapeika.lu\.espressif5\python_env\idf5.0_py3.8_env\Scripts\python.exe C:\Users\kapeika.lu\esp5\esp-idf\components\esptool_py\esptool\esptool.py --chip esp32 merge_bin -o flash_image.bin @flash_args

It looks like this is the working directory: C:\Users\kapeika.lu\Desktop\WORK\myproject\myproject2\myproject-fw\build.

Have you created there a flash_args file? I mean flash_args and not flash_args.txt or with other file extentions.
Can you show its content?

[krupis]

@dobairoland
Hello. Yes the flash_args file exist in the build directory.
The contents of this file are as following:

--flash_mode dio --flash_freq 40m --flash_size detect
0x1000 bootloader/bootloader.bin
0x10000 myproject.bin
0x8000 partition_table/partition-table.bin
0xd000 ota_data_initial.bin
0xf000 phy_init_data.bin

[jakub-kocka]

Hi @krupis, I have been able to reproduce your issue on Windows machine.

I think the problem will be with the command, there are quotes (") missing around the @flash_args.
In command prompt there is no problem with it but for example in PowerShell the @ is used as array operator and this will probably be the VS Code terminal.

So please try to adjust your command like this:

C:\Users\kapeika.lu\.espressif5\python_env\idf5.0_py3.8_env\Scripts\python.exe C:\Users\kapeika.lu\esp5\esp-idf\components\esptool_py\esptool\esptool.py --chip esp32 merge_bin -o flash_image.bin "@flash_args"

[krupis]

@jakub-kocka
Thanks for the reply. I can confirm that what you have suggested made some progress. Now I am getting different kind of error:

esptool esp32 merge_bin -o flash_image.bin --flash_mode dio --flash_freq 40m --flash_size detect 0x1000 bootloader/bootloader.bin 0x10000 myproject.bin 0x8000 partition_table/partition-table.bin 0xd000 ota_data_initial.bin 0xf000 phy_init_data.bin
usage: esptool merge_bin [-h] --output OUTPUT [--format {r,a,w}] [--flash_freq {keep,80m,60m,48m,40m,30m,26m,24m,20m,16m,15m,12m}] [--flash_mode {keep,qio,qout,dio,dout}]
                         [--flash_size {keep,256KB,512KB,1MB,2MB,2MB-c1,4MB,4MB-c1,8MB,16MB,32MB,64MB,128MB}] [--spi-connection SPI_CONNECTION]
                         [--target-offset TARGET_OFFSET] [--fill-flash-size {256KB,512KB,1MB,2MB,4MB,8MB,16MB,32MB,64MB,128MB}]
                         <address> <filename> [<address> <filename> ...]
esptool merge_bin: error: argument --flash_size/-fs: invalid choice: 'detect' (choose from 'keep', '256KB', '512KB', '1MB', '2MB', '2MB-c1', '4MB', '4MB-c1', '8MB', '16MB', '32MB', '64MB', '128MB')

As you can see from the log above, it no longer complains about the flash_args, but it does not like something about detect option for flash size. Is there any particular reason?

[jakub-kocka]

Hi @krupis,
It looks like the detect option is not fully supported with other arguments in the actual release version. And also it is not needed when only using merge_bin and not flashing.

Could you try to edit flash_args file for example like that:

--flash_mode dio --flash_freq 40m --flash_size keep
0x1000 bootloader/bootloader.bin
0x10000 myproject.bin
0x8000 partition_table/partition-table.bin
0xd000 ota_data_initial.bin
0xf000 phy_init_data.bin

or get rid of the whole first row.

[krupis]

@jakub-kocka
Works like charm when detect is replaced with keep

Thanks.

[jakub-kocka]

Glad to hear that.
You are welcome.