Partition Manager migration to DTS breaks NSIB compatibility

[NV0]

Hello,

We have a project currently using NCS v3.2.3. We delivered the first production series of 50 units already, with the NSIB from this NCS version. We use the NSIB with the S0 and S1 update slots for MCUboot.

When updating the NCS to LTS v3.4.0 and migrating the partition manager to the DTS configuration, compatibility with the NSIB from NCS v3.2.3 is broken. The way the MCUboot firmware is signed for the NSIB is changed. Therefore, the NSIB from v3.2.3 cannot boot S0 or S1 firmware from NCS v3.4.0.

Please advice on what to do, since this causes major issues for us and any other projects which already have shipped devices to customers with the NSIB.

Best regards,
Niels

[Vidar Berg]

Hello Niels,

I'm currently checking with the developers to see if there are any obvious explanations for this. I was unable to identify any relevant changes between these releases myself. I will update you as soon as I know more.

Best regards,

Vidar

EDIT: would you able to share your PM and DTS files here so I can try to reproduce the issue?

[NV0]

Hello Vidar,

Thanks for looking into it. Attached are the dts files we tried for dts based partitioning in NCS 3.4.0, as well as the previous PM based dts file and pm_static file, we used in NCS 3.2.3.

Best regards,

Niels
dts_partitioning_board.zippm_partitioning.zip

[Vidar Berg]

Hello Niels,

Thanks for sharing these files. I see the size and placement of the PM partitions are not matching the DTS partitions. This will break DFU compatibility between these 2 versions. Please update the DTS partitions so that the size and location of the mcuboot slots matches your PM file. Hopefully this will fix the problem you are experiencing.

Best regards,

Vidar