Building a Connect SDK v1.9 project

RE: Building a Connect SDK v1.9 project

Adamcs — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 17:45:12 GMT

Sorry for the late replay. I managed to get past this issue after enough trial and error, though I'm not entirely sure what I did differently. I was going through the dev academy lessons and I think they helped my general understanding as well. Thanks Edvin

RE: Building a Connect SDK v1.9 project

Edvin — Wed, 03 Sep 2025 13:21:02 GMT

Did you run the command "west update" after adding this to the west.yml file? Is the external driver added at all (physically, in the path that you selected)?

I only tested this once before, following this guide:
https://github.com/Protocentral/protocentral_max30001_zephyr_driver

Perhaps try putting it in the modules folder, and give it a name that doesn't already exist in Zephyr.

Best regards,

Edvin

RE: Building a Connect SDK v1.9 project

Adamcs — Tue, 02 Sep 2025 14:24:01 GMT

Thanks, upon changing the LIS3MDL compatible field to "st,lis3mdl-magn" the build will no longer throw an error.

However, I now realize that the issue appears to be due to the project using a custom driver.
Here are the contents of the project's west.yml file.

manifest:
  remotes:
    - name: nrfconnect
      url-base: https://github.com/nrfconnect
  projects:
    - name: nrf
      repo-path: sdk-nrf
      remote: nrfconnect
      revision: v1.9.0
      import: true
    # LIS3MDL driver
    - name: lis3mdl
      path: lis3mdl
      revision: main
      url: https://github.com/circuitdojo/lis3mdl-zephyr.git
  self:
    # This repository should be cloned to 
    path: wmv2

This custom LIS3MDL driver appears to use "st,lis3mdl" instead of the official "st,lis3mdl-magn" compatible value. How can I determine where "DT_N_INST_0_st_lis3mdl_magn_REG_IDX_0_VAL_ADDRESS" is missing?

How can I tell if west is even pulling in the custom driver from github to begin with? I tested changing the compatible field to something random, i.e. "st,lis3mdl-abcd", and I can reproduce the same error. It appears that the LIS3MDL driver defined in west.yml is not being used.

C:/wmtest/zephyr/drivers/sensor/lis3mdl/lis3mdl.c: In function 'lis3mdl_sample_fetch':
C:/wmtest/zephyr/include/devicetree.h:305:40: error: 'DT_N_INST_0_st_lis3mdl_magn_REG_IDX_0_VAL_ADDRESS' undeclared (first use in this function)
  305 | #define DT_INST(inst, compat) UTIL_CAT(DT_N_INST, DT_DASH(inst, compat))

Edit: I tested renaming c:\west\zephyr\drivers\sensor\lis3mdl and I can confirm that the build process is trying to use the default LIS3MDL driver instead of the custom one from west.yml.

RE: Building a Connect SDK v1.9 project

Edvin — Mon, 01 Sep 2025 12:12:22 GMT

Sorry, I read that a little fast. I thought you wanted to port the entire application to NCS v3.X.X.

Either way, note that in the course, you can select the NCS version on top (in those places where the NCS versions affect the behavior):

However, looking at your project, it seems you are using the wrong "compatible" for the lis3mdl. Try this:

&i2c2 {
	status = "okay";
	label = "I2C_2";
	sda-pin = < 0x1e >;
	scl-pin = < 0x1f >;

	lis3mdl: lis3mdl@1e {
		compatible = "st,lis3mdl-magn";
		reg = <0x1e>;
		label = "LIS3MDL";
        irq-gpios = <&gpio0 20 GPIO_ACTIVE_HIGH>;
	};
};

Note that I also stripped away some of the i2c configurations, such as the "compatible", "reg", "clock-frequency", as they are no different than the default configuration from the board files. You only need to include the parts that you want to change in your .overlay files (but it doesn't harm either, so it is up to you).

Best regards,

Edvin

RE: Building a Connect SDK v1.9 project

Adamcs — Fri, 29 Aug 2025 18:46:47 GMT

Hello,

Thank you for the resources, I will be sure to go over them once I have sufficient time to begin the migration process.

Just to reiterate, the issue is that we have a legacy project which was built for SDK v1.9.X but we need to make some minor changes to the application logic. The instructions which were left for how to build the project do not appear to be working, as myself and another colleague both are hitting build errors.

Is there any documentation specifically regarding lis3mdl usage in SDK v1.9.0?
I can see lis3mdl listed in the link below, but when I click it I'm seeing a 404 page not found.

docs.nordicsemi.com/.../bindings.html

This appears to be the current error which is being hit.

C:/wmtest/zephyr/drivers/sensor/lis3mdl/lis3mdl.c: In function 'lis3mdl_sample_fetch':
C:/wmtest/zephyr/include/devicetree.h:305:40: error: 'DT_N_INST_0_st_lis3mdl_magn_REG_IDX_0_VAL_ADDRESS' undeclared (first use in this function)
  305 | #define DT_INST(inst, compat) UTIL_CAT(DT_N_INST, DT_DASH(inst, compat))

RE: Building a Connect SDK v1.9 project

Adamcs — Fri, 29 Aug 2025 18:26:38 GMT

That's what I have in main.c from the test project I attached in my follow up post. The build output spits out quite a bit, but it seems to stem from this specific error earlier in the process.

C:/wmtest/zephyr/drivers/sensor/lis3mdl/lis3mdl.c: In function 'lis3mdl_sample_fetch':
C:/wmtest/zephyr/include/devicetree.h:305:40: error: 'DT_N_INST_0_st_lis3mdl_magn_REG_IDX_0_VAL_ADDRESS' undeclared (first use in this function)
  305 | #define DT_INST(inst, compat) UTIL_CAT(DT_N_INST, DT_DASH(inst, compat))

RE: Building a Connect SDK v1.9 project

Edvin — Fri, 29 Aug 2025 13:38:43 GMT

Hello,

Sorry for jumping in late. NCS v1.9.X -> v3.1.0 is a long jump. A lot have happened in that time, modules like pinctrl and sysbuild have been added. I believe these are the two biggest changes between these NCS versions.

I strongly recommend that you look into the Nordic Developer Academy. The very first course, nRF Connect SDK Fundamentals has a lesson on I2C. Look at that one in particular to see how to set up your devicetree after pinctrl was introduced. But feel free to at least peek trough the first couple of lessons as well, to familiarize yourself with NCS, if you haven't used it much before.

Best regards,

Edvin

RE: Building a Connect SDK v1.9 project

mackz — Fri, 29 Aug 2025 05:50:49 GMT

based on the overlay you posted:

&i2c2 {
	compatible = "nordic,nrf-twim";
	#address-cells = < 0x1 >;
	#size-cells = < 0x0 >;
	reg = < 0xa000 0x1000 >;
	clock-frequency = < 0x61a80 >;
	interrupts = < 0xa 0x1 >;
	status = "okay";
	label = "I2C_2";
	sda-pin = < 0x1e >;
	scl-pin = < 0x1f >;

	lis3mdl: lis3mdl@1e {
		compatible = "st,lis3mdl";
		reg = <0x1e>;
		label = "LIS3MDL";
        irq-gpios = <&gpio0 20 GPIO_ACTIVE_HIGH>;
	};
};

I think you should do:
const struct device *mag = DEVICE_DT_GET(DT_NODELABEL(lis3mdl));

RE: Building a Connect SDK v1.9 project

Adamcs — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 20:54:43 GMT

Okay it looks like I may have not properly set things up originally, I never specified v1.9.0 when issuing west init. I've tried changing the procedure as follows, and I no longer get early device tree overlay errors, but unfortunately still fails to build.

0. clone project repo/copy sample to c:\test
1. make c:\west
2. cd c:\west
3. west init -m https://github.com/nrfconnect/sdk-nrf --mr v1.9.0
4. west update
5. west build -b nrf9160dk_nrf9160_ns -s c:\test --pristine

I've attached a minimal complete reproducible project if someone else can test out the procedure as well. I used the hello-world sample as a basis, and then modified main.c to add some calls to DEVICE_DT_GET(...). When I test trying to get "sw0", I have no issues building. When I test trying to get "lis3mdl" then there are a bunch of warnings and errors (see output.txt).

test project:

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../6153.test.zip

build output:

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../1205.output.txt

RE: Building a Connect SDK v1.9 project

Adamcs — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 14:21:53 GMT

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction, it does appear to be related to the project overlay(s).

Here are relevant snippets from the overlay which appear to be triggering the errors.

devicetree error: 'sda-pin' appears in /soc/peripheral@40000000/i2c@a000 in C:/wm2build/zephyr/zephyr.dts.pre, but is not declared in 'properties:' in C:/wm2/zephyr/dts/bindings\i2c\nordic,nrf-twim.yaml

&i2c2 {
	compatible = "nordic,nrf-twim";
	#address-cells = < 0x1 >;
	#size-cells = < 0x0 >;
	reg = < 0xa000 0x1000 >;
	clock-frequency = < 0x61a80 >;
	interrupts = < 0xa 0x1 >;
	status = "okay";
	label = "I2C_2";
	sda-pin = < 0x1e >;
	scl-pin = < 0x1f >;

	lis3mdl: lis3mdl@1e {
		compatible = "st,lis3mdl";
		reg = <0x1e>;
		label = "LIS3MDL";
        irq-gpios = <&gpio0 20 GPIO_ACTIVE_HIGH>;
	};
};

devicetree error: 'ch0-pin' appears in /soc/peripheral@40000000/pwm@21000 in C:/wm2build/zephyr/zephyr.dts.pre, but is not declared in 'properties:' in C:/wm2/zephyr/dts/bindings\pwm\nordic,nrf-pwm.yaml

&pwm0 {
	status = "okay";
	ch0-pin = <2>;
	ch1-pin = <3>;
};

devicetree error: missing data after phandle in <Property 'pwms' on /pwmleds0/pwm_led_0 in C:/wm2/boards/nrf9160dk_nrf9160_ns.overlay:58>

pwmleds0 {
		compatible = "pwm-leds";
		pwm_led0: pwm_led_0 {
			pwms = <&pwm0 2>;
		};
	};

	pwmleds1 {
		compatible = "pwm-leds";
		pwm_led1: pwm_led_1 {
			pwms = <&pwm0 3>;
		};
	};

I can remove those blocks from the overlay to get around the above errors. My assumption was that the project would be in a buildable state given the correct SDKs are setup. Could it be that the overlay was meant for a different version of nRF Connect SDK and/or Zephyr?

RE: Building a Connect SDK v1.9 project

mackz — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 07:42:46 GMT

What is in the C:/wm2/boards/nrf9160dk_nrf9160_ns.overlay? Seems like the error comes from that file