Board generator

The board generator is a python script originally intended to ease the Arduino IDE’s boards.txt configuration file about the multitude of available boards, especially when common parameters have to be updated for all of them.

This script is also used to manage uncommon options that are currently not available in the IDE menu.

How can I run the script ?

Python 2 needs to be installed on your system.

The script is located in the tools subdirectory of the core’s root installation. It needs to be run from the root directory,

$ tools/boards.txt.py

C:\...> tools\boards.txt.py
C:\...> python tools\boards.txt.py

Running without parameters will show the command line help. They are generally self-explanatory.

What can I do with it ?

As of today you can:

  • in the IDE: change the default serial programming speed of any board
  • in the IDE: add new serial programming speed
  • increase available flash space by disabling floats in *printf functions
  • enable WPS which is now disabled by default (at the cost of a smaller heap by ~4KB)
  • change led pin LED_BUILTIN for the two generic boards
  • change the default lwIP version (1.4 or 2)

When do I need to mess with it ?

The board generator is used to automate generation of configuration files when possible. It needs to be edited for:

  • All information for specific boards. This is the only place where a new board (definition, description) can be updated or added to the existing list.
  • Memory mapping for ldscripts (flash and spiffs size combinations)

Why is my pull-request failing continuous-integration ?

The generator is able to update a number of files (see list in help), and global coherency can be checked by the continuous integration facilities.

After a modification in the generator, it is mandatory to regenerate all files (option --allgen) and add them in the pull-request.

FAQ list :back: