SDK 7 (forced) migration

[Samuele Forconi]

Hi, we have developed a product based on the nRF51822 using Nordic SDK v6.1.0 and S110 v7.1.0. Now we are on production and we are obliged to use the nRF51822-QFAA with Build Code Hx0. Looking at the document nWP-021 v1.0 "Migrating from the 2 nd to the 3 rd revision of nRF51822", it seems that the Build Code Hx0 is only compatible with SDK v7.x.

I downloaded the SDK v7.2.0 and I discovered that all the directories are heavily changed, the Makefiles for GCC aren't updated for the new directory layout. Moreover with the new directory layout the source files are mixed with the header files in a way that I really don't understand...

I'm writing to ask if there's a simple way to update the GCC Makefiles to use the SDK v7.2.0, or alternatively if I can replace only some files of the SDK v6.1.0 (such as the linker files and the *.s files) and continue to use the SDK v6.1.0.

Thanks for any help/suggestions.

Samuele.

[Krzysztof Loska]

Hi Samuele,

I think the quickest way is to take the linker file suitable for 3rd generation of the chip from SDK 7.x and just use it in your project.

If you want to use SDK 7.x you should not take as a reference Makefile.common file (we released it by mistake - it is outdated), but one of a Makefile from examples (we released separete Makefile for every example - they all have updated paths and other settings).

I think that sources and headers are structured in a pretty logical way - header files are located in the same directory as source files to which they belong. We had to restructure our SDK to be able to support SDK releases in CMSIS-Pack format.

[Makarand K]

But the makefiles provided along with the examples do refer to this Makefile.common, for example:

TEMPLATE_PATH = ../../../../../../components/toolchain/gcc
ifeq ($(OS),Windows_NT)
include $(TEMPLATE_PATH)/Makefile.windows
else
include $(TEMPLATE_PATH)/Makefile.posix
endi

[Krzysztof Loska]

As you can see in the pasted fragment they refer to "Makefile.windows" or "Makefile.posix" but never to "Makefile.common".

[Samuele Forconi]

Hi Krzystof, thanks for your answer. As a first try, I would like to try to make it works with the v6.1.0 SDK.

Could you please tell me exactly which files should I replace? I ask this question because both the gcc_nrf51_s110_xxaa.ld and the gcc_nrf51_common.ld are identical for the v6.1.0 and v7.2.0 (and also the gcc_startup_nrf51.s are identical)...

[Krzysztof Loska]

Sorry for the confusion. Now I noticed that in fact you didn't change the chip variant (like _xxaa to _xxac) but the chip revision. So probably everything should work without any changes, but be aware of the sentence from nWP-021 document: "Earlier versions of the SDK are likely to work on later versions of the device, but this cannot be guaranteed.". A good example is that a new chip revision contains anomaly resolutions. A driver intended for an earlier chip revision could have a workaround for some anomaly not needed for a later chip. Most time it does not influence a later chip but sometime it can disrupt its work.

[Samuele Forconi]

Ok, thanks for your answer. I'll make some tests with v6.1.0 and if something doesn't work I will try to use the 7.2.0 (but this will require to rebuild the correct Makefiles for gcc)...