Flipper Build Tool
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FBT is the entry point for firmware-related commands and utilities. It is invoked by ./fbt
in the firmware project root directory. Internally, it is a wrapper around build system.
To use fbt
, you only need git
installed in your system.
fbt
by default downloads and unpacks a pre-built toolchain, and then modifies environment variables for itself to use it. It does not contaminate your global system's path with the toolchain.
However, if you wish to use tools supplied with the toolchain outside
fbt
, you can open an fbt shell, with properly configured environment.
On Windows, simply run
scripts/toolchain/fbtenv.cmd
.On Linux & MacOS, run
source scripts/toolchain/fbtenv.sh
in a new shell.
If your system is not supported by pre-built toolchain variants or you want to use custom versions of dependencies, you can set FBT_NOENV=1
. fbt
will skip toolchain & environment configuration and will expect all tools to be available on your system's PATH
. (this option is not available on Windows)
If FBT_TOOLCHAIN_PATH
variable is set, fbt
will use that directory to unpack toolchain into. By default, it downloads toolchain into toolchain
subdirectory repo's root.
If you want to enable extra debug output for fbt
and toolchain management scripts, you can set FBT_VERBOSE=1
.
fbt
always performs git submodule update --init
on start, unless you set FBT_NO_SYNC=1
in the environment:
On Windows, it's set "FBT_NO_SYNC=1"
in the shell you're running fbt
from
On *nix, it's $ FBT_NO_SYNC=1 ./fbt ...
There are more variables controlling basic
fbt
behavior. Seefbt
&fbtenv
scripts' sources for details.
To build with FBT, call it and specify configuration options & targets to build. For example:
./fbt COMPACT=1 DEBUG=0 VERBOSE=1 updater_package copro_dist
To run cleanup (think of make clean
) for specified targets, add the -c
option.
fbt
builds updater & firmware in separate subdirectories in build
, and their names depend on optimization settings (COMPACT
& DEBUG
options). However, for ease of integration with IDEs, the latest built variant's directory is always linked as built/latest
. Additionally, compile_commands.json
is generated in that folder (it is used for code completion support in IDEs).
build/latest
symlink & compilation database are only updated upon firmware build targets - that is, when you're re-building the firmware itself. Running other tasks, like firmware flashing or building update bundles for a different debug/release configuration or hardware target, does not update built/latest
dir to point to that configuration.
fbt
includes basic development environment configuration for VS Code. Run ./fbt vscode_dist
to deploy it. That will copy the initial environment configuration to the .vscode
folder. After that, you can use that configuration by starting VS Code and choosing the firmware root folder in the "File > Open Folder" menu.
On the first start, you'll be prompted to install recommended plugins. We highly recommend installing them for the best development experience. You can find a list of them in .vscode/extensions.json
.
Basic build tasks are invoked in the Ctrl+Shift+B menu.
Debugging requires a supported probe. That includes:
Wi-Fi devboard with stock firmware (blackmagic).
ST-Link and compatible devices.
Without a supported probe, you can install firmware on Flipper using the USB installation method.
fbt
keeps track of internal dependencies, so you only need to build the highest-level target you need, and fbt
will make sure everything they depend on is up-to-date.
fw_dist
- build & publish firmware to the dist
folder. This is a default target when no others are specified.
fap_dist
- build external plugins & publish to the dist
folder.
updater_package
, updater_minpackage
- build a self-update package. The minimal version only includes the firmware's DFU file; the full version also includes a radio stack & resources for the SD card.
copro_dist
- bundle Core2 FUS+stack binaries for qFlipper.
flash
- flash the attached device with OpenOCD over ST-Link.
flash_usb
, flash_usb_full
- build, upload and install the update package to the device over USB. See details on updater_package
and updater_minpackage
.
debug
- build and flash firmware, then attach with gdb with firmware's .elf loaded.
debug_other
, debug_other_blackmagic
- attach GDB without loading any .elf
. It will allow you to manually add external .elf
files with add-symbol-file
in GDB.
updater_debug
- attach GDB with the updater's .elf
loaded.
blackmagic
- debug firmware with Blackmagic probe (WiFi dev board).
openocd
- just start OpenOCD.
get_blackmagic
- output the blackmagic address in the GDB remote format. Useful for IDE integration.
get_stlink
- output serial numbers for attached STLink probes. Used for specifying an adapter with OPENOCD_ADAPTER_SERIAL=...
.
lint
, format
- run clang-format on the C source code to check and reformat it according to the .clang-format
specs.
firmware_pvs
- generate a PVS Studio report for the firmware. Requires PVS Studio to be available on your system's PATH
.
cli
- start a Flipper CLI session over USB.
faps
- build all external & plugin apps as .faps
.
fbt
also defines per-app targets. For example, for an app with appid=snake_game
target names are:
fap_snake_game
, etc. - build single app as .fap
by its application ID.
Check out --extra-ext-apps
for force adding extra apps to external build.
fap_snake_game_list
, etc - generate source + assembler listing for app's .fap
.
flash
, firmware_flash
- flash the current version to the attached device with OpenOCD over ST-Link.
jflash
- flash the current version to the attached device with JFlash using a J-Link probe. The JFlash executable must be on your $PATH
.
flash_blackmagic
- flash the current version to the attached device with a Blackmagic probe.
firmware_all
, updater_all
- build a basic set of binaries.
firmware_list
, updater_list
- generate source + assembler listing.
firmware_cdb
, updater_cdb
- generate a compilation_database.json
file for external tools and IDEs. It can be created without actually building the firmware.
resources
- build resources and their manifest files
dolphin_ext
- process dolphin animations for the SD card
icons
- generate .c+.h
for icons from PNG assets
proto
- generate .pb.c+.pb.h
for .proto
sources
proto_ver
- generate .h
with a protobuf version
dolphin_internal
, dolphin_blocking
- generate .c+.h
for corresponding dolphin assets
--options optionfile.py
(default value fbt_options.py
) - load a file with multiple configuration values
--extra-int-apps=app1,app2,appN
- force listed apps to be built as internal with the firmware
target
--extra-ext-apps=app1,app2,appN
- force listed apps to be built as external with the firmware_extapps
target
--proxy-env=VAR1,VAR2
- additional environment variables to expose to subprocesses spawned by fbt
. By default, fbt
sanitizes the execution environment and doesn't forward all inherited environment variables. You can find the list of variables that are always forwarded in the environ.scons
file.
Default configuration variables are set in the configuration file: fbt_options.py
. Values set in the command line have higher precedence over the configuration file.
You can find out available options with ./fbt -h
.
You can create customized firmware builds by modifying the list of applications to be included in the build. Application presets are configured with the FIRMWARE_APPS
option, which is a map(configuration_name:str -> application_list:tuple(str))
. To specify an application set to use in the build, set FIRMWARE_APP_SET
to its name. For example, to build a firmware image with unit tests, run ./fbt FIRMWARE_APP_SET=unit_tests
.
Check out fbt_options.py
for details.
J-Link for flashing and debugging (in VSCode only). Note that J-Link tools are not included with our toolchain and you have to them yourself and put them on your system's PATH.
lint_py
, format_py
- run on the Python source code, build system files & application manifests.