RepRapFirmware CMake Build

Hi folks, just posting about some stuff some might find interesting!

I'm doing some work to port RepRapFirmware to another chip (non-ARM). I've found using Eclipse thing to be somewhat cumbersome, and have done some work to add support so that it can be built with CMake.
The repo is here: [github.com] (branch name is v3-cmake-build), which also contains the instructions. I am hoping to be able to upstream the changes, so feedback is welcome (especially pain points on the instructions and ease of build).

Hopefully, this makes RepRapFirmware more accessible to other developers: those who don't want to use an IDE, and those who want to use another IDE (CLion supports CMake natively; theoretically can generate project files for Visual Studio). Since this allows building in the command-line, this should also facilitate
builds in CI.

Yeah I'm not a fan of the eclipse setup either which is one reason why I didn't use it when I did the LPC port of RRF.

I notice that every source file is individually listed in the sources in the cmake version. So every time a new file is added, renamed or moved the makefiles will need updating - personally I think this would get a bit frustrating to update them every time that occurs.

What chip/board are you porting to?

I'm trying to port it to ESP32. The build system is the least of my problems though - there are some pain points on `include`s, for example which makes it hard to do the port piecewise.

Regarding listing source files manually, it's a CMake best practice kinda thing. From [cmake.org]:

Quote

Note We do not recommend using GLOB to collect a list of source files from your source tree. If no CMakeLists.txt file changes when a source is added or removed then the generated build system cannot know when to ask CMake to regenerate.

It's also generally written about by other people: [gist.github.com], [github.com].

Ah right. I haven't used cmake much before, I looked at it briefly for the LPC port couple of years ago but didn't like it so stuck with makefiles (which fortunately didn't need much maintenance over the years).

I did an initial partial port of RRF v2.01 for the ESP32 quite a while ago. Just enough to get it the main part running, loading configs from sd, connecting to WIFI with dwc and IO extenders etc, but didn't get around to finishing the stepping etc. It would be good to see a RRF V3 running on the esp - good luck with the port.

@sdavi Yeah, the ESP has a lot to offer. I'm actually not planning to have the final target to be ESP32, but ESP32-S2 (or a speculated successor). It has more pins and native USB.


Update: The branch now builds for Duet Maestro and Duet 3!

@likha3d

A STM32 Port would.be great


Best

From the entry on RepRap wiki, it mentions an ongojng effort to port RRF to STM. There was also some guy porting it to his STM32 based board [3dtoday.ru] . Don't know the status of these though.

Yep. This is the Guy. But no new Information yet ;(

are you going to do the same for the 3.1 branch (the current release) and the 3.2 branch (the next release)?

---

Based in Darlington, North East

The plan is to periodically merge v3-dev into the cmake branch. I couldn't build 3.1.1 (might be versions mismatch between required libraries), so Im going to wait a little while. I could not find resources on what commits of each library goes into the releases build.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/08/2020 02:37AM by likha3d.

Use the library commits tagged 3.1.0 for the RRF 3.1.1 build.

---

Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

Update: This builds both half of RepRapFirmware for Luna: [reprap.org].

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/02/2021 07:30AM by likha3d.