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 the creation and maintenance of such packs.

CMSIS-Toolbox is part of the Open-CMSIS-Pack project .

Windows, Linux, and MacOS host platforms are supported.

The below assumes Ubuntu Linux on an Arm based host. Instructions are similar for other platforms.

Dependencies

You will need to install cmake and ninja:

    

        
        
            sudo apt update
sudo apt install cmake ninja-build -y
        
    

Check the versions of each tool:

    

        
        
            cmake --version
ninja --version
        
    

If cmake is earlier than 3.25.2, or ninja is earlier than 1.10.2, you will need to uninstall that version and install by other means:

cmake

    

        
        
            sudo apt remove -y cmake
sudo snap install cmake
        
    

ninja

    

        
        
            sudo apt remove -y ninja-build
wget http://mirror.archlinuxarm.org/aarch64/extra/ninja-1.11.1-3-aarch64.pkg.tar.xz
tar -xf ninja-1.11.1-3-aarch64.pkg.tar.xz
        
    

Download

Download and unpack the latest install file from GitHub. Downloads are provided in the Releases area of the repository.

    

        
        
            wget https://github.com/Open-CMSIS-Pack/cmsis-toolbox/releases/download/2.0.0/cmsis-toolbox-linux-arm64.tar.gz
tar -xf cmsis-toolbox-linux-arm64.tar.gz
        
    

Install the appropriate compiler toolchain

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

For further setup instructions see these Install Guides:

• Arm Compiler for Embedded
• Arm GNU Toolchain

Arm Compiler for Embedded is installed below.

Set up environment variables

Set environment variables as below. Note the exact name of the TOOLCHAIN variables will be based on the tool and version installed. In this way, multiple build tools can be registered.

For example:

    

        
        
            export AC6_TOOLCHAIN_6_20_1=$HOME/ArmCompilerforEmbedded6.20.1/bin
export CMSIS_PACK_ROOT=$HOME/packs
export CMSIS_COMPILER_ROOT=$HOME/cmsis-toolbox-linux-arm64/etc
export PATH=$HOME/cmsis-toolbox-linux-arm64/bin:$PATH
cpackget init https://www.keil.com/pack/index.pidx
        
    

Test setup

Example projects are provided on the GitHub repository .

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
        
    

Set up the build

Determine and install the necessary CMSIS-Packs for the project:

    

        
        
            csolution list packs -s Hello.csolution.yml -m >packs.txt
cpackget add -f packs.txt
        
    

Generate .cprj project file(s)

Generate cprj project files for build targets within the solution project.

    

        
        
            csolution convert -s Hello.csolution.yml
        
    

Build a generated project

Use the cbuild utility to build a project.

    

        
        
            cbuild Hello.Release+AVH.cprj
        
    

The build will proceed and generate an executable image:

    

        
        info cbuild: Build Invocation 2.0.0 (C) 2023 Arm Ltd. and Contributors

M650: Command completed successfully.

M652: Generated file for project build: '/home/ubuntu/csolution-examples/Hello/tmp/Hello/AVH/Release/CMakeLists.txt'
-- The ASM compiler identification is ARMClang
-- Found assembler: /home/ubuntu/ArmCompilerforEmbedded6.20.1/bin/armclang
-- The C compiler identification is ARMClang 6.20.1
-- Detecting C compiler ABI info
-- Detecting C compiler ABI info - done
-- Check for working C compiler: /home/ubuntu/ArmCompilerforEmbedded6.20.1/bin/armclang - skipped
-- Detecting C compile features
-- Detecting C compile features - done
-- Configuring done (0.6s)
-- Generating done (0.0s)
-- Build files have been written to: /home/ubuntu/csolution-examples/Hello/tmp/Hello/AVH/Release
[1/27] Building ASM object CMakeFiles/Hello.dir/home/ubuntu/packs/ARM/CMSIS/5.9.0/CMSIS/RTOS2/RTX/Source/GCC/irq_armv8mml.o
...
[27/27] Linking C executable /home/ubuntu/csolution-examples/Hello/out/AVH/Hello.axf
info cbuild: build finished successfully!