Segger Embedded Studio: Debug and Release build configurations

[Learner]

I created two build configurations a Debug and a Release in SES IDE.

Build > Build Configurations...

I wanted to select the  DEBUG_OPTIMIZATIONS level for the Debug build configuration and the SPEED_OPTIMIZATIONS for the Release one.

In Project Explorer, select the top Solution then select the 'Debug' build Configuration

Project > Configure nRF Connect Project... > DEBUG_OPTIMIZATIONS > Configure > Save solution (if prompted)

Then in Project Explorer, select the top Solution then select the 'Release' build Configuration

Project > Configure nRF Connect Project... > SIZE_OPTIMIZATIONS > Configure > Save solution (if prompted)

However, when I go back and select the 'Debug' build configuration to view its optimisation setting I find

Project > Configure nRF Connect Project... > SIZE_OPTIMIZATIONS   

NOT DEBUG_OPTIMIZATIONS as expected.

It looks like whichever build configuration is set last overwrites the other one.

Can you please tell me what I am doing wrong.

Thank you.

Mohamed Belaroussi

[Kenneth]

This seems like a bug in SES, I can report it, I assume you are using v4.52?

In the meantime you can also control this in prj.conf by setting e.g. CONFIG_DEBUG_OPMTIMIZATIONS=y

[Learner]

Thank you Kenneth.

I don't use the command line tools. I am using SES IDE and like any other IDE I used before I should be able to set debug and release configurations within SES Nordic Edition. I tried to get help from Segger but they directed me to Nordic because SES (Nordic Edition) is not supported by Segger. 

Kenneth said:

I don't know how this can be done in SES, but

If you don't know how it can be done maybe you can ask one of your colleagues or even Segger.

I asked this question over six months ago, I was hoping by now someone somewhere would have figured out how to do this within SES. As I said earlier Segger were not willing to help me but if someone from Nordic approached them they might be be more accommodating.

While waiting for a resolution to my ticket I am using two project configuration files prj-debug,conf and prj-release.conf, an extract from the two variants is shown below. My question is this,

Do I need to remove the logging configurations (text in blue below) from the release project file prj-release.conf ?

prj-debug.conf

---------------------

...

### COMPILER OPTIONS ###
#
CONFIG_DEBUG_OPTIMIZATIONS=y

### Logging ####
#
# For the PID 4 hardware we must set CONFIG_SERIAL=n because otherwise the SPI CS/BUSY
# pins will be allocated to UART0 CTS/RTS pins.
CONFIG_SERIAL=n
CONFIG_LOG=y
CONFIG_USE_SEGGER_RTT=y
CONFIG_RTT_CONSOLE=y
#CONFIG_UART_CONSOLE=n
CONFIG_NEWLIB_LIBC=y
CONFIG_NEWLIB_LIBC_FLOAT_PRINTF=y
CONFIG_PRINTK=y

...

prj-release.conf

----------------------

...

### COMPILER OPTIONS ###
#
#CONFIG_CODING_GUIDELINE_CHECK is not set
# CONFIG_NATIVE_APPLICATION is not set
CONFIG_SIZE_OPTIMIZATIONS=y
CONFIG_SPEED_OPTIMIZATIONS=y
CONFIG_DEBUG_OPTIMIZATIONS=n
# CONFIG_NO_OPTIMIZATIONS is not set
CONFIG_COMPILER_OPT=""
# end of Compiler Options

### Logging ####
#
# For the PID 4 hardware we must set CONFIG_SERIAL=n because otherwise the SPI CS/BUSY
# pins will be allocated to UART0 CTS/RTS pins.
CONFIG_SERIAL=n
CONFIG_LOG=y
CONFIG_USE_SEGGER_RTT=y
CONFIG_RTT_CONSOLE=y
#CONFIG_UART_CONSOLE=n
CONFIG_NEWLIB_LIBC=y
CONFIG_NEWLIB_LIBC_FLOAT_PRINTF=y
CONFIG_PRINTK=y

...

Kind regards

Mohamed

[Kenneth]

You may find this useful: 
https://developer.nordicsemi.com/nRF_Connect_SDK/doc/latest/nrf/gs_modifying.html#selecting-a-build-type-in-ses 

Kenneth

[Learner]

Hi Kenneth,

Kenneth said:

ou may find this useful: 
https://developer.nordicsemi.com/nRF_Connect_SDK/doc/latest/nrf/gs_modifying.html#selecting-a-build-type-in-ses 

Is it possible to specify more than one prj.conf file via the 'Extended Settings' in the field 'Extra CMake Build Options'. If yes, then what is the syntax?

-DCONF_FILE=prj_1.conf prj_2.conf prj_3.conf

or

-DCONF_FILE=prj_1.conf -DCONF_FILE=prj_2.conf -DCONF_FILE=prj_3.conf

Thank you.

Kind regards

Mohamed

[Kenneth]

Not tried it myself, but you can try -DCONF_FILE="prj_1.conf prj_2.conf prj_3.conf"

[Learner]

How can I check if my project configurations have been applied?

Also, are the quotation marks " " necessary?

I built a debug version of my project using prj_debug.conf and a release version using prj_release.conf in two different build folders but when I compare the debug and release .config files I find they are identical. I disabled logs in the release build CONFIG_LOG=n but in it is set to 'y' in .config. 

This is not what I was expecting. What am I doing wrong?

Kind regards

Mohamed

[Kenneth]

I suggest to use Visual Studio Code instead of SES, I know that SES may "cache" some of the configuration unless you re-open the project in SES after doing modifications to prj conf files.

Kenneth