Building and Flashing

Home / Documentation / Repository overview / crazyflie-firmware / 2022.09 / Building and flashing / Building and Flashing
Version: [ , master , 2024.10 , 2023.11 , 2023.06 , 2023.02 , 2022.12 ]

Dependencies

You’ll need to use either the Crazyflie VM, the toolbelt or install some ARM toolchain.

Install a toolchain

Toolchain and compiler version policy

Our policy for toolchain is to follow what is available in the oldest Ubuntu Long Term Support release and treat that as the oldest supported version. At the time of writing this (September 6 2021) the oldest LTS release is 18.04. And in Ubuntu 18.04 (bionic) the version of gcc-arm-none-eabi is 6.3.

This means that if the firmware can not be compiled using gcc 6.3, or anything newer, it should be considered a bug.

OS X

$ brew tap PX4/homebrew-px4
$ brew install gcc-arm-none-eabi

Debian/Ubuntu

For Ubuntu 18.04:

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:team-gcc-arm-embedded/ppa
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt install gcc-arm-embedded

For Ubuntu 20.04 and 20.10:

$ sudo apt-get install make gcc-arm-none-eabi

Arch Linux

$ sudo pacman -S community/arm-none-eabi-gcc community/arm-none-eabi-gdb community/arm-none-eabi-newlib

Windows

The supported way to build the Crazyflie on Windows is to use the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) on Windows 10+. This means that developement happens in a Linux environment. Flashing is handled by installing Python and the Crazyflie client on Windows launched from linux.

To get started you need to enable WSL and install an Ubuntu system. This can be done by opening power shell as administrator and typing:

$ wsl --install

Then follow the install instruction for Ubuntu 20.04 above to install the required build dependencies.

For flashing you need to install Python (=>version 3.7) and the CFclient on Windows. When installing Python, the checkbox to add python to the Path should be checked and then the CFclient can be installed with pip in a powershell or cmd window:

pip.exe install cfclient

The Crazyflie makefile will automatically use the Windows python when running in WSL.

Cloning

This repository uses git submodules. Clone with the --recursive flag

$ git clone --recursive https://github.com/bitcraze/crazyflie-firmware.git

Note Make sure there are no spaces in the folder structure leading up to the repository (example: /a/path/with/no/spaces/crazyflie-firmware/ vs a/path with spaces/crazyflie-firmware/). Our build system can not handle file system paths with spaces in them, and compilation will fail.

If you already have cloned the repo without the --recursive option, you need to get the submodules manually

$ cd crazyflie-firmware
$ git submodule init
$ git submodule update

Compiling

Building the default firmware

Before you can build the firmware, you will need to configure it. To get the default configuration you can write:

$ make cf2_defconfig
$ make -j 12

or with the toolbelt:

$ tb make cf2_defconfig
$ tb make

Bolt and Roadrunner

We have some ready-to-go config files in the configs/ directory. So, for example, if you want to build the Roadrunner (tag) you can go:

$ make tag_defconfig
$ make -j 12

Or for the bolt you can go:

$ make bolt_defconfig
$ make -j 12

Customize the firmware with kbuild (Advanced)

Please note that these instructions are only meant for you if you want to build an custom firmware for a custom platform than the ones we have listed above. You can still configure and change the firmware without kbuild.

Please go to these instructions to learn how to use the menuconfig.

Make targets

General targets

all        : Shortcut for build
compile    : Compile cflie.hex. WARNING: Do NOT update version.c
build      : Update version.c and compile cflie.elf/hex
clean_o    : Clean only the Objects files, keep the executables (ie .elf, .hex)
clean      : Clean every compiled files
mrproper   : Clean every compiled files and the classical editors backup files

cload      : If the crazyflie-clients-python is placed on the same directory level and
             the Crazyradio/Crazyradio PA is inserted it will try to flash the firmware
             using the wireless bootloader.
flash      : Flash .elf using OpenOCD
halt       : Halt the target using OpenOCD
reset      : Reset the target using OpenOCD
openocd    : Launch OpenOCD
rtt        : Start RTT server. Compile the firmware with "DEBUG_PRINT_ON_SEGGER_RTT=1"
             and the console is visible over TCP on port 2000 "telnet localhost 2000".

Noteable Kbuild targets

menuconfig      : Open up a terminal user interface to set configuration options
defconfig       : Generate a `.config` with the default configuration options
cf2_defconfig   : Merge configuration options from `configs/cf2_defconfig` with default
tag_defconfig   : Merge configuration options from `configs/tag_defconfig` with default
bolt_defconfig   : Merge configuration options from `configs/bolt_defconfig` with default
allyesconfig    : Generate a `.config` with the all configuration options enabled
allnoconfig     : Generate a `.config` with the all configuration options disabled
randconfig      : Generate a `.config` with random valid values to all configuration options

Flashing

Writing a new binary to the Crazyflie is called flashing (writing it to the flash memory). This page describes how to flash from the command line and there are a few different ways to do it.

Using Crazyradio

The supported way to flash when developping for the Crazyflie is to use the Crazyradio and the radio bootloader.

Prerequisites

  • A Crazyradio with drivers installed
  • Crazyflie Client installed with Python’s pip (so not by Snap (Ubuntu) or the .exe (Windows))
    • Note than when developping in WSL on Windows, the client needs to be installed on Windows. See the Windows build instruction above.
  • The firmware has been built
  • The current working directory is the root of the crazyflie-firmware project

Manually entering bootloader mode

  • Turn the Crazyflie off
  • Start the Crazyflie in bootloader mode by pressing the power button for 3 seconds. Both the blue LEDs will blink.
  • In your terminal, run
$ make cload

It will try to find a Crazyflie in bootloader mode and flash the binary to it.

Warning: if multiple Crazyflies within range are in bootloader mode the result is unpredictable. This method is not suitable in classroom situation where it is likely that several students are flashing at the same time. Also remember that the Crazyradio PA often reaches into the next room.

Automatically enter bootloader mode

  • Make sure the Crazyflie is on
  • In your terminal, run CLOAD_CMDS="-w radio://0/80/2M" make cload

It will connect to the Crazyflie with the specified address, put it in bootloader mode and flash the binary. This method is suitable for classroom situations.

Note: this method does not work if the Crazyflie does not start, for instance if the current flashed binary is corrupt. You will have to fall back to manually entering bootloader mode.

Using a debug adapter

You need:

  • An ST Link V2 or V3 Debugger
  • open ocd installed (installation intructions)
  • The firmware has been built
  • The current working directory is the root of the crazyflie-firmware project

In your terminal, run

make flash

Unit testing

Running all unit tests

With the environment set up locally

    make unit

with the docker builder image and the toolbelt

    tb make unit

Running one unit test

When working with one specific file it is often convenient to run only one unit test

   make unit FILES=test/utils/src/test_num.c

or with the toolbelt

   tb make unit FILES=test/utils/src/test_num.c

Running unit tests with specific build settings

Defines are managed by make and are passed on to the unit test code. Use the normal ways of configuring make when running tests. For instance to run test for Crazyflie 1

  make unit LPS_TDOA_ENABLE=1

Dependencies

Frameworks for unit testing and mocking are pulled in as git submodules.

The testing framework uses ruby and rake to generate and run code.

To minimize the need for installations and configuration, use the docker builder image (bitcraze/builder) that contains all tools needed. All scripts in the tools/build directory are intended to be run in the image. The toolbelt makes it easy to run the tool scripts.