tooling: Add make daplink-firmware and make daplink-deploy targets. by nedseb · Pull Request #387 · steamicc/micropython-steami-lib

nedseb · 2026-04-13T03:27:43Z

Closes #377

Summary

Add Makefile targets to build and flash the DAPLink interface firmware from source. The DAPLink firmware runs on the STM32F103 interface chip and provides the I2C bridge, mass-storage, and CMSIS-DAP debug interface.

DAPLink has two parts

Bootloader (first stage, 0x08000000) — installed once at the factory, rarely updated. Provides the MAINTENANCE mode used to update the interface firmware. Updating the bootloader requires an external SWD probe and is not covered by these targets.
Interface firmware (second stage, 0x08002000) — the routine update target. This is what these targets manage.

A future daplink-deploy-bootloader target could be added if needed, with pyocd/openocd flash via external probe.

New targets

Target	Description
`make daplink-firmware`	Clone steamicc/DAPLink and build `stm32f103xb_steami32_if`
`make daplink-update`	Refresh the DAPLink clone
`make daplink-deploy`	Flash DAPLink interface firmware (default: usb mass-storage)
`make daplink-deploy-usb`	Flash interface firmware via MAINTENANCE volume
`make daplink-clean`	Clean DAPLink build artifacts

Maintenance mode

To flash the DAPLink interface firmware, the board must be in maintenance mode:

Power on the board with the RESET button held
A MAINTENANCE USB volume appears (instead of the usual STeaMi volume)
make daplink-deploy-usb copies the firmware to that volume
The board reboots automatically with the new interface firmware

Implementation

Source repo

steamicc/DAPLink (branch release_letssteam).

Build

make daplink-firmware clones the repo into .build/DAPLink/, creates a Python virtualenv inside it, installs requirements.txt, then runs:

python tools/progen_compile.py -t make_gcc_arm stm32f103xb_steami32_if

The output stm32f103xb_steami32_if_crc.bin lands in projectfiles/make_gcc_arm/stm32f103xb_steami32_if/build/.

deploy_usb.py refactoring

scripts/deploy_usb.py is now generic over volume label. It accepts --label (default STeaMi) and provides a contextual error message when the MAINTENANCE volume is not found, instructing the user to enter maintenance mode.

Devcontainer

Added ccache and ninja-build to the Dockerfile (required by progen for the DAPLink build).

Documentation

New "DAPLink firmware" subsection in CONTRIBUTING.md with the bootloader/interface distinction
Updated prerequisites (ccache, ninja-build, dual usage of arm-none-eabi-gcc)
Updated devcontainer description
Documented maintenance mode procedure

Test plan

make help shows all 5 daplink-* targets
make test — 349 mock tests pass
scripts/deploy_usb.py --label MAINTENANCE shows the maintenance mode error message
make daplink-firmware builds successfully (requires ccache/ninja-build)
make daplink-deploy-usb flashes correctly on hardware in MAINTENANCE mode

Copilot

Pull request overview

Adds a DAPLink firmware build/flash workflow to the repo’s tooling so contributors can rebuild and deploy the STM32F103 “interface chip” firmware from source, similar to the existing MicroPython firmware targets.

Changes:

Introduce daplink-* Makefile targets to clone/build/update/deploy/clean DAPLink firmware artifacts.
Add DAPLink build configuration variables in env.mk.
Update developer docs and devcontainer packages (ccache, ninja-build) to support the DAPLink build toolchain.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 4 out of 4 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

File	Description
Makefile	Adds `daplink-firmware`, `daplink-update`, `daplink-deploy*`, `daplink-clean` targets and clone/build logic.
env.mk	Adds `DAPLINK_*` variables and moves `BUILD_DIR` earlier for shared use.
CONTRIBUTING.md	Documents new prerequisites and the new DAPLink firmware workflow/targets.
.devcontainer/Dockerfile	Installs `ccache` and `ninja-build` required for DAPLink progen builds.

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Copilot · 2026-04-13T03:30:44Z

+daplink-deploy: daplink-deploy-usb ## Flash DAPLink firmware (default: usb mass-storage)
+
+.PHONY: daplink-deploy-usb
+daplink-deploy-usb: ## Flash DAPLink firmware via DAPLink USB mass-storage (routine update)


daplink-deploy/daplink-deploy-usb have no prerequisites, so on a fresh checkout make daplink-deploy won’t even clone DAPLink (and will fail with a missing .bin path). For parity with micropython-deploy-usb (which depends on $(MPY_DIR)), consider making the deploy targets depend on $(DAPLINK_DIR) and/or the built artifact (e.g., daplink-firmware) so make daplink-deploy works end-to-end.

Suggested change

daplink-deploy-usb: ## Flash DAPLink firmware via DAPLink USB mass-storage (routine update)

daplink-deploy-usb: daplink-firmware ## Flash DAPLink firmware via DAPLink USB mass-storage (routine update)

Fixed: daplink-deploy-usb now depends on $(DAPLINK_DIR) (parity with micropython-deploy-usb which depends on $(MPY_DIR)). On a fresh checkout, make daplink-deploy will clone the DAPLink repo first. The script then handles the missing-firmware case with a clear error message pointing to make daplink-firmware.

Copilot · 2026-04-13T03:30:44Z

+daplink-deploy-usb: ## Flash DAPLink firmware via DAPLink USB mass-storage (routine update)
+	@$(PYTHON) scripts/deploy_usb.py $(DAPLINK_BUILD_DIR)/$(DAPLINK_TARGET)_crc.bin


daplink-deploy-usb calls scripts/deploy_usb.py, which is written for MicroPython deploys (hardcoded volume label STeaMi, and on missing firmware it prints “Run 'make micropython-firmware' first.”). When used for DAPLink, failures will surface misleading instructions. Consider parameterizing the script (label + “run make … first” hint) or adding a DAPLink-specific USB deploy script.

Fixed: scripts/deploy_usb.py is now generic. It accepts --label (default STeaMi, MAINTENANCE for daplink) and --build-target (default micropython-firmware, can be daplink-firmware for daplink) so the missing-firmware error message points to the right make target depending on the context.

…build. The DAPLink build failed on systems without a `python` symlink (Debian/Ubuntu ship only `python3`) because the generated Makefile invokes `tools/pre_build_script.py` via its `#!/usr/bin/env python` shebang, which silently skips `version_git.h` generation. It also failed on modern toolchains (arm-none-eabi-gcc >= 11) because the firmware overflows the m_text region; DAPLink's docs pin gcc-arm-none-eabi to 10.3-2021.10. Prepend the DAPLink venv to PATH so `python` resolves, and download the pinned toolchain into .build/ on first build, using it only for daplink-firmware.

…ses. Mirror the existing micropython-firmware release job: build the DAPLink interface firmware after each semantic-release publish and upload the CRC-signed .bin / .hex (the artifacts users flash via MAINTENANCE mode).

…uilds. Caches the pinned gcc-arm-none-eabi 10.3-2021.10 toolchain (~150 MB) and the DAPLink Python virtualenv (~250 MB) between release runs. The toolchain key is fixed (the version is pinned), and the venv key is derived from requirements.txt so it invalidates when DAPLink upstream bumps a dependency.

Three issues raised on PR #387: 1. Toolchain download was hard-coded to x86_64-linux. Detect uname and pick the matching ARM-published archive (Linux x86_64, Linux aarch64, Intel macOS). Fail with a clear message — and a pointer to the dev container — on Apple Silicon and Windows, where 10.3-2021.10 is not published. 2. Deprecated `deploy-pyocd` / `deploy-openocd` advertised non-existent `daplink-deploy-pyocd` / `daplink-deploy-openocd` targets. Suggest only the `micropython-` variant until the SWD-based DAPLink targets land (tracked in #388). 3. The DAPLink venv was created once and never refreshed, so a `daplink-update` that bumped requirements.txt would silently reuse stale dependencies. Replace the manual check with a sentinel file that depends on requirements.txt, so pip install re-runs whenever upstream bumps a dep. Also document the platform constraint in CONTRIBUTING.md.

Copilot

Pull request overview

Copilot reviewed 6 out of 6 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

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Copilot · 2026-04-13T04:34:47Z

+# Sentinel: re-runs pip install whenever DAPLink's requirements.txt changes
+# (e.g. after `make daplink-update`).
+$(DAPLINK_DIR)/venv/.installed: $(DAPLINK_DIR)/requirements.txt
+	@echo "Setting up DAPLink Python virtualenv..."
+	@if [ ! -x "$(DAPLINK_DIR)/venv/bin/python" ]; then \
+		$(PYTHON) -m venv $(DAPLINK_DIR)/venv; \
+	fi
+	$(DAPLINK_DIR)/venv/bin/pip install -r $(DAPLINK_DIR)/requirements.txt
+	@touch $@


$(DAPLINK_DIR)/venv/.installed depends on $(DAPLINK_DIR)/requirements.txt, but there’s no rule that produces requirements.txt and it won’t exist until after $(DAPLINK_DIR) is cloned. With parallel builds (make -j) or different prerequisite evaluation order on a fresh checkout, this can fail with “No rule to make target '.../requirements.txt'”. Add an explicit (preferably order-only) dependency on $(DAPLINK_DIR) for the .installed sentinel (and/or for $(DAPLINK_DIR)/requirements.txt) so the clone always happens before venv setup.

Fixed in e8e001f: added an order-only prerequisite | $(DAPLINK_DIR) on the .installed sentinel so the clone runs before make checks requirements.txt, even on a fresh checkout or under make -j.

On a fresh checkout, $(DAPLINK_DIR)/venv/.installed depended on requirements.txt without any rule to produce it before the clone, so make would fail with "No rule to make target requirements.txt" (especially under parallel builds). Add an order-only prerequisite on $(DAPLINK_DIR) so the clone always runs first and the file exists when make resolves the sentinel.

semantic-release-updater · 2026-04-13T04:38:50Z

🎉 This PR is included in version 0.16.7 🎉

The release is available on:

v0.16.7
GitHub release

Your semantic-release bot 📦🚀

Rename the firmware job to micropython-firmware so it does not clash with the daplink-firmware job introduced in #387.

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings April 13, 2026 03:27

github-actions Bot assigned nedseb Apr 13, 2026

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of nedseb April 13, 2026 03:28 View session

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nedseb force-pushed the tooling/daplink-firmware branch from dba854a to 35a319d Compare April 13, 2026 03:47

tooling: Add make daplink-firmware and make daplink-deploy targets.

cddeceb

nedseb force-pushed the tooling/daplink-firmware branch from 35a319d to cddeceb Compare April 13, 2026 03:52

nedseb mentioned this pull request Apr 13, 2026

tooling: Add daplink-deploy-bootloader and SWD-based interface flash targets. #388

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nedseb added 4 commits April 13, 2026 06:13

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nedseb merged commit 118cf2a into main Apr 13, 2026
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nedseb deleted the tooling/daplink-firmware branch April 13, 2026 04:38

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nedseb added a commit that referenced this pull request Apr 13, 2026

ci: Disambiguate firmware job name in release workflow.

122a4de

Rename the firmware job to micropython-firmware so it does not clash with the daplink-firmware job introduced in #387.

nedseb mentioned this pull request Apr 13, 2026

ci: Disambiguate firmware job name in release workflow. #389

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nedseb added a commit that referenced this pull request Apr 13, 2026

ci: Disambiguate firmware job name in release workflow. (#389)

92f0982

Rename the firmware job to micropython-firmware so it does not clash with the daplink-firmware job introduced in #387.

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nedseb commented Apr 13, 2026 •

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	daplink-deploy-usb: ## Flash DAPLink firmware via DAPLink USB mass-storage (routine update)
	daplink-deploy-usb: daplink-firmware ## Flash DAPLink firmware via DAPLink USB mass-storage (routine update)

		daplink-deploy-usb: ## Flash DAPLink firmware via DAPLink USB mass-storage (routine update)
		@$(PYTHON) scripts/deploy_usb.py $(DAPLINK_BUILD_DIR)/$(DAPLINK_TARGET)_crc.bin

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Summary

DAPLink has two parts

New targets

Maintenance mode

Implementation

Source repo

Build

deploy_usb.py refactoring

Devcontainer

Documentation

Test plan

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nedseb commented Apr 13, 2026 •

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