How to configure Settings API to work on a specific partition defined in the pm_static.yaml file

RE: How to configure Settings API to work on a specific partition defined in the pm_static.yaml file

Amanda Hsieh — Tue, 14 Jan 2025 22:21:00 GMT

v2.6.1 is optional to use sysbuild, so you also can use CONFIG_BOOTLOADER_MCUBOOT=Y in the prj.conf.

[quote user="lcj"]

How would I get the board to:

Use littlefs vs NVS for everything (settings)?

[/quote]

You can refer to samples/subsys/settings and tests/subsys/settings/file in the Zephyr tree.

[quote user="lcj"]Use SPI vs QSPI[/quote]

You can compare the differences by referring to the files under the boards folder:

RE: How to configure Settings API to work on a specific partition defined in the pm_static.yaml file

lcj — Fri, 10 Jan 2025 11:54:05 GMT

With Sysbuild:

It works:

What is sysbuild vs build system defaults? I notice the build configuration looks different:

vs with build system defaults:

Why with sysbuild is it picking the external flash? Is it utilizing a .conf or .overlay not being included using build system defaults? If so, which one? Actually, I copied the .conf/.overlay in the boards file into another project and see the same result.

How would I get the board to:

Use littlefs vs NVS for everything (settings)?
Use SPI vs QSPI

And where is the use of partition manager described along with settings like:

CONFIG_PM_PARTITION_SIZE_SETTINGS_STORAGE=0x200000
CONFIG_PM_PARTITION_REGION_SETTINGS_STORAGE_EXTERNAL=y
CONFIG_PM_PARTITION_REGION_LITTLEFS_EXTERNAL=y
CONFIG_PM_PARTITION_SIZE_LITTLEFS=0x200000

If I'm putting using CONFIG_PM_PARTITION_SIZE_SETTINGS_STORAGE=0x200000 and CONFIG_PM_PARTITION_SIZE_LITTLEFS=0x200000, doesn't that mean I'm setting the partition size? Why would I use those settings over the pm_static.yml?

And why do you put SB_CONFIG_BOOTLOADER_MCUBOOT=y in sysbuild.conf? The Nordic video on Adding DFU shows using CONFIG_BOOTLOADER_MCUBOOT=Y in the prj.conf as does DevAcademy.

RE: How to configure Settings API to work on a specific partition defined in the pm_static.yaml file

lcj — Thu, 09 Jan 2025 22:25:46 GMT

RE: How to configure Settings API to work on a specific partition defined in the pm_static.yaml file

Amanda Hsieh — Thu, 09 Jan 2025 19:37:55 GMT

[quote user="lcj"]Does the way you're doing it mean the prj.conf and the nrf5340dk_nrf5340_cpuapp.conf are both being used?[/quote]

Yes.

[quote user="lcj"]Are you using NVS and LittleFS? [/quote]

The non-volatile storage is used by Setting in that sample.

RE: How to configure Settings API to work on a specific partition defined in the pm_static.yaml file

lcj — Wed, 08 Jan 2025 23:37:54 GMT

I'm using the nRF Connect for VS Code. Does the way you're doing it mean the prj.conf and the nrf5340dk_nrf5340_cpuapp.conf are both being used?

Are you using NVS and LittleFS? I see CONFIG_FILE_SYSTEM_LITTLEFS=y in the prj.conf.

Running "ninja partition_manager_report" in the build directory is giving me: zsh: command not found: ninja

RE: How to configure Settings API to work on a specific partition defined in the pm_static.yaml file

Amanda Hsieh — Wed, 08 Jan 2025 22:39:23 GMT

[quote user="lcj"]Wouldn't there be more blocks?[/quote]

Could you build the code with sysbuild (--sysbuild)?

west command:
west build -p -b nrf5340dk_nrf5340_cpuapp -d build_nrf5340dk_nrf5340_cpuapp --sysbuild && west flash --build-dir build_nrf5340dk_nrf5340_cpuapp --recover

The output log would look like this:

*** Booting nRF Connect SDK v3.5.99-ncs1-1 ***
I: Starting bootloader
I: Primary image: magic=unset, swap_type=0x1, copy_done=0x3, image_ok=0x3
I: Secondary image: magic=unset, swap_type=0x1, copy_done=0x3, image_ok=0x3
I: Boot source: none
I: Image index: 0, Swap type: none
I: Bootloader chainload address offset: 0xc000
I: littlefs partition at /lfs1slot
I: LittleFS version 2.5, disk version 2.0
I: FS at mx25r6435f@0:0x200000 is 512 0x1000-byte blocks with 512 cycle
I: sizes: rd 16 ; pr 16 ; ca 64 ; la 32
I: Automount /lfs1 succeeded
*** Booting nRF Connect SDK v3.5.99-ncs1-1 ***
Sample program to r/w files on littlefs
Area 8 at 0x200000 on mx25r6435f@0 for 2097152 bytes
/lfs1 automounted
/lfs1: bsize = 16 ; frsize = 4096 ; blocks = 512 ; bfree = 509

Listing dir /lfs1 ...
[FILE] boot_count (size = 1)
[FILE] pattern.bin (size = 547)
/lfs1/boot_count read count:1 (bytes: 1)
/lfs1/boot_count write new boot count 2: [wr:1]
------ FILE: /lfs1/pattern.bin ------
02 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 03 55 55 55 55 55 55 55
04 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 05 55 55 55 55 55 55 55
06 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 07 55 55 55 55 55 55 55
08 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 09 55 55 55 55 55 55 55
0a 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 0b 55 55 55 55 55 55 55
0c 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 0d 55 55 55 55 55 55 55
0e 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 0f 55 55 55 55 55 55 55
10 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 11 55 55 55 55 55 55 55
12 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 13 55 55 55 55 55 55 55
14 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 15 55 55 55 55 55 55 55
16 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 17 55 55 55 55 55 55 55
18 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 19 55 55 55 55 55 55 55
1a 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 1b 55 55 55 55 55 55 55
1c 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 1d 55 55 55 55 55 55 55
1e 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 1f 55 55 55 55 55 55 55
20 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 21 55 55 55 55 55 55 55
22 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 23 55 55 55 55 55 55 55
24 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 25 55 55 55 55 55 55 55
26 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 27 55 55 55 55 55 55 55
28 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 29 55 55 55 55 55 55 55
2a 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 2b 55 55 55 55 55 55 55
2c 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 2d 55 55 55 55 55 55 55
2e 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 2f 55 55 55 55 55 55 55
30 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 31 55 55 55 55 55 55 55
32 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 33 55 55 55 55 55 55 55
34 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 35 55 55 55 55 55 55 55
36 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 37 55 55 55 55 55 55 55
38 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 39 55 55 55 55 55 55 55
3a 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 3b 55 55 55 55 55 55 55
3c 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 3d 55 55 55 55 55 55 55
3e 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 3f 55 55 55 55 55 55 55
40 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 41 55 55 55 55 55 55 55

42 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 43 55 55 55 55 55 55 55
44 55 55 55 55 55 55 55 45 55 55 55 55 55 55 55
46 55 ab 
I: /lfs1 unmounted
/lfs1 unmount: 0

Executing "ninja partition_manager_report" under the build folder would get the memory layout like this:

[quote user="lcj"]How do you have settings running without something like this in the prj.conf:[/quote]

I use non-volatile storage (CONFIG_SETTINGS_NVS) by setting in the nrf5340dk_nrf5340_cpuapp.conf:

#
# Copyright (c) 2019 Peter Bigot Consulting, LLC
# Copyright (c) 2019 Nordic Semiconductor ASA
#
# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
#

# Need this when storage is on flash
CONFIG_MPU_ALLOW_FLASH_WRITE=y

# Need this when storage is on MX25R64
CONFIG_NORDIC_QSPI_NOR=y
CONFIG_NORDIC_QSPI_NOR_FLASH_LAYOUT_PAGE_SIZE=4096

################################################################################
# Settings - Used to store real-time device configuration to flash.
CONFIG_NVS=y 
CONFIG_SETTINGS=y 
CONFIG_SETTINGS_NVS=y
CONFIG_PM_PARTITION_SIZE_SETTINGS_STORAGE=0x200000 
CONFIG_PM_PARTITION_REGION_SETTINGS_STORAGE_EXTERNAL=y
CONFIG_PM_PARTITION_REGION_LITTLEFS_EXTERNAL=y
CONFIG_PM_PARTITION_SIZE_LITTLEFS=0x200000

MCUBoot is enabled by SB_CONFIG_BOOTLOADER_MCUBOOT=y in the sysbuild.conf.

RE: How to configure Settings API to work on a specific partition defined in the pm_static.yaml file

lcj — Wed, 08 Jan 2025 15:26:33 GMT

I get:

(3.8.0) xxx build % ninja partition_manager_report
zsh: command not found: ninja

Also prints are:

I: littlefs partition at /lfs1
I: LittleFS version 2.5, disk version 2.0
I: FS at flash-controller@39000:0xf8000 is 8 0x1000-byte blocks with 512 cycle
I: sizes: rd 16 ; pr 16 ; ca 64 ; la 32
I: Automount /lfs1 succeeded
*** Booting nRF Connect SDK v3.5.99-ncs1-1 ***
Sample program to r/w files on littlefs
Area 0 at 0xf8000 on flash-controller@39000 for 32768 bytes
/lfs1 automounted
/lfs1: bsize = 16 ; frsize = 4096 ; blocks = 8 ; bfree = 5

Wouldn't there be more blocks?

How do you have settings running without something like this in the prj.conf:

CONFIG_SETTINGS=y
CONFIG_SETTINGS_RUNTIME=y
CONFIG_SETTINGS_FS=y
CONFIG_SETTINGS_FS_DIR="/lfs/settings"
CONFIG_SETTINGS_FS_FILE="/lfs/settings/run"

or MCUBoot without:

# Enable MCUboot and FOTA
CONFIG_BOOTLOADER_MCUBOOT=y
CONFIG_NCS_SAMPLE_MCUMGR_BT_OTA_DFU=y
CONFIG_MCUBOOT_SIGNATURE_KEY_FILE="mcuboot/root-rsa-2048.pem"

RE: How to configure Settings API to work on a specific partition defined in the pm_static.yaml file

Amanda Hsieh — Wed, 08 Jan 2025 13:43:48 GMT

Executing "ninja partition_manager_report" under the build folder would show the memory layout, as my figure in the previous reply. My example is already enabled External Flash/Settings/MCUBoot as the memory layout indicates.

RE: How to configure Settings API to work on a specific partition defined in the pm_static.yaml file

lcj — Wed, 08 Jan 2025 12:57:32 GMT

I redownloaded the file and ran it successfully. I can also do that with the generic littlefs same. Now I need it to:

Use External Flash on the DK
Use Settings
Use MCUBoot

RE: How to configure Settings API to work on a specific partition defined in the pm_static.yaml file

lcj — Wed, 08 Jan 2025 00:39:02 GMT

Did you have:

CONFIG_PARTITION_MANAGER_ENABLED=y

I tried to build and got when building:

/opt/nordic/ncs/v2.6.1/nrf/subsys/partition_manager/flash_map_partition_manager.c:12:10: fatal error: pm_config.h: No such file or directory
   12 | #include <pm_config.h>
      |          ^~~~~~~~~~~~~
compilation terminated.
[59/168] Building C object CMakeFiles/app.dir/src/main.c.obj
/Users/xxx/Downloads/littlefs/src/main.c: In function 'littlefs_flash_erase':
/Users/xxx/Downloads/littlefs/src/main.c:259:22: warning: implicit declaration of function 'flash_area_flatten'; did you mean 'flash_area_align'? [-Wimplicit-function-declaration]
  259 |                 rc = flash_area_flatten(pfa, 0, pfa->fa_size);
      |                      ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
      |                      flash_area_align
ninja: build stopped: subcommand failed.
FATAL ERROR: command exited with status 1: /opt/nordic/ncs/toolchains/580e4ef81c/bin/cmake --build /Users/leojunquera/Downloads/littlefs/build

RE: How to configure Settings API to work on a specific partition defined in the pm_static.yaml file

Amanda Hsieh — Tue, 07 Jan 2025 19:06:11 GMT

[quote user="lcj"]My intent was to start with littlefs, get partition manger working, get external flash working, get settings working, then get MCU Boot working. [/quote]

Are you able to run my uploaded example without issue?

RE: How to configure Settings API to work on a specific partition defined in the pm_static.yaml file

lcj — Fri, 03 Jan 2025 14:56:23 GMT

I don't know if I should start a new thread on this given that the request has changed based on the feedback but, if I am going to use dynamic partitioning using partition manger as recommended here and on this Nordic video ("I recommend that, while developing, you use dynamic partitioning"). I want to use partition manager for setting up partitions to support littlefs, settings, and MCU boot using external flash on the nRF5340 DK.

I started as Amanda Hsieh did with the littlefs sample. I added CONFIG_PARTITION_MANAGER_ENABLED=y to the prj.conf.

#
# Copyright (c) 2019 Peter Bigot Consulting, LLC
#
# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
#

# Optionally force the file system to be recreated
#CONFIG_APP_WIPE_STORAGE=y

# fs_dirent structures are big.
CONFIG_MAIN_STACK_SIZE=4096

# Let __ASSERT do its job
CONFIG_DEBUG=y

CONFIG_LOG=y
CONFIG_LOG_MODE_MINIMAL=y

CONFIG_FLASH=y
CONFIG_FLASH_MAP=y

CONFIG_FILE_SYSTEM=y
CONFIG_FILE_SYSTEM_LITTLEFS=y

CONFIG_SPI=y
CONFIG_PARTITION_MANAGER_ENABLED=y
#CONFIG_PM_PARTITION_REGION_SETTINGS_STORAGE_EXTERNAL=y

and got this error on build:

fatal error: pm_config.h: No such file or directory
   12 | #include <pm_config.h>

My intent was to start with littlefs, get partition manger working, get external flash working, get settings working, then get MCU Boot working. I got stuck on the first step.

RE: How to configure Settings API to work on a specific partition defined in the pm_static.yaml file

lcj — Sat, 28 Dec 2024 20:34:52 GMT

Does it basically make mcuboot partitions for primary and secondary and everything else is just mount point we use for settings and mcuboot?

I guess I need to delete the pm_static.yml file:

littlefs_storage:
  address: 0x0
  region: external_flash
  size: 0x200000
lvgl_raw_partition:
  address: 0x200000
  region: external_flash
  size: 0x200000
settings_storage:
  address: 0x400000
  size: 0x100000
  region: external_flash

And the code in the overlay:

/delete-node/ &storage_partition;

&mx25r64 {
	partitions {
		compatible = "fixed-partitions";
		#address-cells = <1>;
		#size-cells = <1>;

		littlefs_storage: partition@0 {
			label = "littlefs_storage";
			reg = <0x00000000 0x00200000>;
		};
		lvgl_raw_partition: partition@200000 {
			label = "lvgl_raw_partition";
			reg = <0x00200000 0x00200000>;
		};
        settings_partition: partition@400000 {
            label = "settings_partition";
            reg = <0x400000 0x100000 >;
        };
	};
};

I made the changes and with this code:

    LOG_DBG("%s: bsize = %lu ; frsize = %lu ;blocks = %lu ; bfree = %lu", 
		mp->mnt_point,sbuf.f_bsize, 
		sbuf.f_frsize,sbuf.f_blocks, sbuf.f_bfree);

The output is:

filesystem_manager_init: /lfs: bsize = 16 ; frsize = 4096 ;blocks = 6 ; bfree = 0

Which doesn't seem right. This is a nRF5340 DK with external flash. When I do it with the manual partitions I get:

filesystem_manager_init: /lfs: bsize = 16 ; frsize = 4096 ;blocks = 512 ; bfree = 492

I would like some way to use the 1 MB flash on the nRF5340 and the 64 megabit external flash memory for mcu boot primary/secondary, files, and settings.

I tried with the littlefs sample and got this:

/lfs: bsize = 16 ; frsize = 4096 ; blocks = 8 ; bfree = 6

From the code:

	LOG_PRINTK("%s: bsize = %lu ; frsize = %lu ;"
		   " blocks = %lu ; bfree = %lu\n",
		   mountpoint->mnt_point,
		   sbuf.f_bsize, sbuf.f_frsize,
		   sbuf.f_blocks, sbuf.f_bfree);

Which does not seem to be the external flash drive on the dk which should be 64megabit, right?

What is the right way to configure external flash for lfs, settings, and MCUboot? Should I use partition manager or have a pm_static.yml?

RE: How to configure Settings API to work on a specific partition defined in the pm_static.yaml file

Amanda Hsieh — Mon, 16 Dec 2024 21:47:46 GMT

[quote user="lcj"]If I want to manage the partition size, so I can accurately relay how much space can support a device (like sensor log file size along with settings along with mcuboot)[/quote]

I can understand your situation. There are common variants of the Kconfig option to adjust the partition size. See Configuring dynamic partitions.

I would still suggest letting the Partition Manager generate the partition file (under the build folder), and then duplicate and rename it to pm_static.yaml.

[quote user="lcj"]

I want to have multiple partitions and use them for:

Files
Settings
MCUBoot

and be able to configure it so the setting subsystem will work.

[/quote]

Here is my example project devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../littlefs.7z based on the littlefs sample to enable mcuboot/Setting/LittleFileSystem and set the littlefs_storage and settings_storage on the nRF5340DK external flash. The memory layout generated by Partition Manager looks like this:

Regards,
Amanda H.

RE: How to configure Settings API to work on a specific partition defined in the pm_static.yaml file

lcj — Sat, 14 Dec 2024 14:14:06 GMT

If I want to manage the partition size, so I can accurately relay how much space can support a device (like sensor log file size along with settings along with mcuboot) I would think the best approach would be to specify the partition. As nice has handling the partition automatically would be, it might not be right for every circumstance. I am using the nRF5340 DK currently and have a setting:

CONFIG_NORDIC_QSPI_NOR=y

in the prj.conf.

The link you provided is helpful, and I will re-read it, but I have found it complex to implement what I am looking to do with it and some of the other materials on the same topic. I have communicated with some people who have more experience than I and they found it challenging as well. I thought this forum might be better if I asked a specific enough question.

I want to have multiple partitions and use them for:

Files
Settings
MCUBoot

and be able to configure it so the setting subsystem will work. I will need to move from the DK to custom hardware so I think it's important to understand how this works and configure it cleanly.

RE: How to configure Settings API to work on a specific partition defined in the pm_static.yaml file

Amanda Hsieh — Tue, 10 Dec 2024 17:21:30 GMT

Hi,

What NCS version are you using? Are you using QSPI or SPI external flash?

The Partition Manager will handle the partition automatically. See the External flash memory partitions and Using external flash memory partitions for more details on using external flash memory with MCUboot.

-Amanda H.

RE: How to configure Settings API to work on a specific partition defined in the pm_static.yaml file

lcj — Mon, 09 Dec 2024 19:04:11 GMT

I have littlefs working for one of the partitions. I would like to keep that working. I would like to get multiple partitions to work. One specifically for settings and another for MCU Boot. This is a step in that direction. I want to get the 2nd partition running for settings and have the settings subsystem us it.

RE: How to configure Settings API to work on a specific partition defined in the pm_static.yaml file

Amanda Hsieh — Mon, 09 Dec 2024 16:31:36 GMT

Hi,

[quote user=""]but I'm not sure how to configure the settings_storage partition to be used for settings.[/quote]

You can enable CONFIG_PM_PARTITION_REGION_SETTINGS_STORAGE_EXTERNAL to let the partition manager decide automatically.

However, the error looks like it concerns the file system. The error "fs: file open error (-2)" corresponds to ENOENT (No such file or directory) and typically indicates that the file you're trying to open does not exist or cannot be found. You can take a look at the littlefs sample.

Regards,
Amanda H.