How to find Zephyr version with nRF Connect for VS Code Addin and how to see what Zephyr versions are supported and how to upgrade Zephyr

[lcj]

I am never sure what version of Zephyr I am using through the nRF Connect for VS Code Addin. I have to build to see, but I'm sure there's a better way:

-- Zephyr version: 3.3.99 (/opt/nordic/ncs/v2.4.2/zephyr)

I am running v2.5.0 of the nRF Toolchain and Zephyr is on 3.5, which I would like to be using. Is there a way to upgrade?

1. How can I find what version of Zephyr I'm running using nRF Connect for VS Code Add-In

2. Can I upgrade the version of Zephyr and if so, how do I?

3. What versions of Zephyr are being used for what versions of nRF Connect for VS Code (I guess just the nRF Connect Toolchain)?

[runsiv]

Hi Leo

1.You can find the matching between NCS release and Zephyr release in the release notes overview for each version of the SDK. 

Update: As we are running a fork of Zephyr containing Nordic software, our SDK release will never be exactly the same as the zephyr releases.  

2. If you would like to change NCS version, you can do it by installing a new SDK from within Vscode

3. See question 1

Regards

Runar

[lcj]

So, if I want to swap out the Nordic Zephyr with Zephyr project version I can do so. Can I toggle back and forth easily after they are both installed? Is this a common practice, I don't want to be an outlier.

[runsiv]

I'm not sure if I follow. I would not recommend trying to change between NCS and Zephyr for the same product. If you want to develop for different products there is no problem with switching between our SDK and Zephyrs SDK as I know of. Our newest SDK release is almost Zephyr 3.5 however we don't always follow Zephyr release schedule so at time we might be a bit behind or maybe a bit ahead. 

Regards
Runar

[lcj]

My thought was that I would change the toolchain and test and if it didn't work right or there were to many problems I would switch back. Is there any roadmap or target date? When I go for support in the Zephyr forum I get back responses to get up to the latest version. In this case it was around https://docs.zephyrproject.org/latest/build/version/index.html, where I was getting

fatal error: app_version.h: No such file or directory.

The documentation said:

To use the version information in application code, the version file must be included, then the fields can be freely used. The include file name is app_version.h (no path is needed)

[runsiv]

I can unfortunately not give you any roadmap detail here on Devzone, for that you will need to contact your regional sales manager who can provide you with the information. 

The Zephyr SDK will be missing the parts we are adding to our fork, so I don't think it will be able to build anything if you switch interswitch for the same project. 

The feedback i got earlier today was that our latest build NCS 2.5 is "almost Zephyr 3.5" however due to differences we can't say it's Zephyr 3.5 

Regards

Runar

[lcj]

It would be great to have a simple way to see it in the VSC interface.