CMSIS-Toolbox

The CMSIS-Toolbox is a suite of utilities for creating, building, and managing projects based on CMSIS Software Packs. It is also used for creating and maintaining Software Packs.

CMSIS-Toolbox is part of the Open-CMSIS-Pack project . It is supported on Windows, Linux, and macOS host platforms.

Before you begin

You’ll need to install CMake and Ninja. For steps to install CMake, see the CMake install guide .

To install Ninja, run:

    

        
        
sudo apt update
sudo apt install ninja-build -y

    

Check the versions of each tool:

    

        
        
cmake --version
ninja --version

    

Ensure that the version of CMake is at least 3.25.2, and Ninja is at least 1.10.2.

You can also download installers for all supported hosts:

• CMake
• Ninja

Download CMSIS-Toolbox

Download and unpack the latest version of CMSIS-Toolbox from the Arm Tools Artifactory .

For more information about the contents of the installation, see Releases .

Download for Arm64 hosts

The commands depend on the host operating system. Replace 2.13.0 with the latest version.

    

        
        

wget https://artifacts.tools.arm.com/cmsis-toolbox/2.13.0/cmsis-toolbox-windows-arm64.zip
tar -xf cmsis-toolbox-windows-arm64.zip
  

    

    

        
        

wget https://artifacts.tools.arm.com/cmsis-toolbox/2.13.0/cmsis-toolbox-linux-arm64.tar.gz
tar -xf cmsis-toolbox-linux-arm64.tar.gz
  

    

    

        
        

curl -L -o cmsis-toolbox-darwin-arm64.tar.gz https://artifacts.tools.arm.com/cmsis-toolbox/2.13.0/cmsis-toolbox-darwin-arm64.tar.gz
tar -xf cmsis-toolbox-darwin-arm64.tar.gz
  

    

Download for x86_64 hosts

The commands depend on the host operating system. Replace 2.13.0 with the latest version.

    

        
        

wget https://artifacts.tools.arm.com/cmsis-toolbox/2.13.0/cmsis-toolbox-windows-amd64.zip
tar -xf cmsis-toolbox-windows-amd64.zip
  

    

    

        
        

wget https://artifacts.tools.arm.com/cmsis-toolbox/2.13.0/cmsis-toolbox-linux-amd64.tar.gz
tar -xf cmsis-toolbox-linux-amd64.tar.gz
  

    

    

        
        

curl -L -o cmsis-toolbox-darwin-amd64.tar.gz https://artifacts.tools.arm.com/cmsis-toolbox/2.13.0/cmsis-toolbox-darwin-amd64.tar.gz
tar -xf cmsis-toolbox-darwin-amd64.tar.gz
  

    

Available compiler toolchains

Projects can be built with Arm Compiler for Embedded 6, Arm GNU Toolchain, LLVM Embedded Toolchain, or IAR tools.

For further setup instructions, see the following Install Guides:

• Arm Compiler for Embedded
• Arm GNU Toolchain
• LLVM Embedded Toolchain for Arm

This Install Guide uses Arm Compiler for Embedded, which is supported on Windows and Linux.

Set up environment variables

Set environment variables as follows.

For example:

    

        
        

set AC6_TOOLCHAIN_6_24_0=%ProgramFiles%/ArmCompilerforEmbedded6.24/bin
set CMSIS_PACK_ROOT=%LocalAppData%/Arm/Packs
set PATH=%PATH%;%UserProfile%/cmsis-toolbox-windows-amd64/bin
set CMSIS_COMPILER_ROOT=%UserProfile%/cmsis-toolbox-windows-amd64/etc
  

    

    

        
        

export AC6_TOOLCHAIN_6_24_0=$HOME/ArmCompilerforEmbedded6.24/bin
export CMSIS_PACK_ROOT=$HOME/packs
export PATH=$HOME/cmsis-toolbox-linux-arm64/bin:$PATH
export CMSIS_COMPILER_ROOT=$HOME/cmsis-toolbox-linux-arm64/etc
  

    

Exact paths will depend on the versions and locations of installed tools.

Initialize the CMSIS-Pack directory

Run the following command to initialize the directory specified by CMSIS_PACK_ROOT:

    

        
        
cpackget init https://www.keil.com/pack/index.pidx

    

CMSIS-Toolbox should now be ready for use.

Test the CMSIS-Toolbox setup

You can find example projects on GitHub .

Clone the repository to your build machine:

    

        
        
git clone https://github.com/Open-CMSIS-Pack/csolution-examples

    

Navigate to the Hello example:

    

        
        
cd csolution-examples/Hello

    

Build the solution

Use the cbuild utility (a component of CMSIS-Toolbox) to build.

Add --packs to the command line to download and install any necessary software packs not currently installed.

    

        
        
cbuild Hello.csolution.yml --packs

    

The build will proceed and generate an executable image(s). The output is similar to:

    

        
        ARM::CMSIS@6.0.0
ARM::CMSIS-Compiler@2.0.0
ARM::CMSIS-RTX@5.8.0
ARM::V2M_MPS3_SSE_300_BSP@1.5.0
I: Downloading ARM.CMSIS.pdsc...
I: Adding pack "ARM::CMSIS@6.0.0"
I: Downloading ARM.CMSIS.6.0.0.pack...
...
...
(1/2) Building context: "Hello.Debug+AVH"
Building CMake target 'Hello.Debug+AVH'
[1/31] Building C object CMakeFiles/Group_Main.dir/home/ubuntu/csolution-examples/Hello/main.o
...
[31/31] Linking C executable /home/ubuntu/csolution-examples/Hello/out/Hello/AVH/Debug/Hello.axf
Program Size: Code=29968 RO-data=1584 RW-data=244 ZI-data=37072
+------------------------------------------
(2/2) Building context: "Hello.Release+AVH"
Building CMake target 'Hello.Release+AVH'
[1/31] Building C object CMakeFiles/Group_App.dir/home/ubuntu/csolution-examples/Hello/hello.o
...
[31/31] Linking C executable /home/ubuntu/csolution-examples/Hello/out/Hello/AVH/Release/Hello.axf
Program Size: Code=17664 RO-data=988 RW-data=196 ZI-data=37112
+------------------------------------------------------------
Build summary: 2 succeeded, 0 failed - Time Elapsed: 00:00:03
+============================================================

        
    

You are now ready to use CMSIS-Toolbox.