nrf Connect SDK in private repo

RE: nrf Connect SDK in private repo

dejans — Tue, 11 Oct 2022 09:51:32 GMT

Hi,

As west is dependent on git, it is not possible.

Best regards,
Dejan

RE: nrf Connect SDK in private repo

embeddedER — Mon, 10 Oct 2022 21:06:08 GMT

Hi Dejan,

[quote userid="111786" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/92410/nrf-connect-sdk-in-private-repo/389699"]sdk-nrf is a repository which contains .git folders as part of repository initialization. If you would like to push repository with multiple .git folders.to a new repository, you would need to copy source files into another repository. [/quote]

Yes, I am aware of this. And if you have read my previous posts, I clearly mentioned the steps I did to achieve this. And after doing this, I faced the issues with compilation and that's what I've been asking you to help me out.

[quote userid="111786" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/92410/nrf-connect-sdk-in-private-repo/389699"]You should be aware that sdk-nrf is public repository and that you might have regrets in the future while trying to synchronize your private repository with sdk-nrf.[/quote]

Yes, we are aware and are ready to take the risk. Once we freeze our development, we won't be rebasing our app with newer versions of sdk-nrf. We may cherry-pick change in case we need it.

Having said everything, I would once again ask you the same question, could you help me to figure out how to compile sdk-nrf after removing .git folders?

I would really appreciate the straight NO, if this is impossible to do.

Thanks!

RE: nrf Connect SDK in private repo

dejans — Thu, 06 Oct 2022 17:51:08 GMT

Hi,

sdk-nrf is a repository which contains .git folders as part of repository initialization. If you would like to push repository with multiple .git folders.to a new repository, you would need to copy source files into another repository.
You should be aware that sdk-nrf is public repository and that you might have regrets in the future while trying to synchronize your private repository with sdk-nrf.

Best regards,
Dejan

RE: nrf Connect SDK in private repo

embeddedER — Tue, 04 Oct 2022 17:12:33 GMT

Hi Dejan,

Thanks for reply. However, this is not helping. You are giving me the same link which I already mentioned in my original request. I've already seen those links and still not getting what I want to do and that's the reason for this post.

I do understand the way of managing multiple repos using west. But we don't want to do that. Why can't we just push everything as single package in our private repo? We've been using multiple MCU and managing all the SDK in such a way in our private single repo.

As I asked multiple time in previous posts, could you please let me know how to get rid off this error (build fail without .git directory)? Why the ncs SDK build is dependent on the .git?

Thanks!

RE: nrf Connect SDK in private repo

dejans — Tue, 04 Oct 2022 12:53:23 GMT

Hi,

You shouldn't be thinking about removing .git folders, but rather of various repositories that exist inside NCS. In order to maintain changes in NCS, you can fork required repositories and change them according to your needs. Instead of having one combined directory, you should maintain separate repositories. After you have done making changes, you can push the changes to a proper remote. When you make changes to one repository, you would then push those changes only to that particular repository. When you make your VS Code Workspace application, you can specify desired nRF Connect SDK repository which will be included. Managing your own repositories is possible through the use of west. File west.yml specifies particular repositories which will be cloned. You can read more about adding your own code in the documentation. In your case, you should not push combined folder which consists of application and nrf, but each part separately.

Best regards,
Dejan

RE: nrf Connect SDK in private repo

embeddedER — Mon, 03 Oct 2022 17:41:35 GMT

Hi Dejan,

Thanks for the response. However, I do understand I can use west to clone individual repo and all.

But as I said we need to maintain our changes over nRF SDK and we want to maintain a copy of SDK in our private repo. We may not take up upstream changes once we go into production.

Could you explain me, if there is a way to get rid off this error? Why the build process is dependent on the .git folder?

Thanks!

RE: nrf Connect SDK in private repo

dejans — Mon, 03 Oct 2022 16:46:04 GMT

Hi,

You should not treat all different repositories inside NCS as one independent repository, but rather keep all needed repositories separated from each other. Most of the work for you can be done by the west tool. You can have a look at the structure of the west.yml file inside ncs\<your_version>\nrf.

Best regards,
Dejan

RE: nrf Connect SDK in private repo

embeddedER — Fri, 30 Sep 2022 17:40:34 GMT

Hi Dejan,

Let me add all the steps I followed in details:

1. I cloned my private repo in the local filesystem. Under "myprivategitrepo/"

2. Opened VS Code (v1.68.0), from the nRF Connect Extension selected, Create New Application. Under create application selected Option "Workspace". Selected: nRF Connect SDK Tag: v1.8.0, Toolchain (already installed in standard path C:\ncs\v1.8.0\toolchain), Workspace location: myprivategitrepo/, Workspace Name: ncs_v1.8.0, Application Template: peripheral_lbs, Application name: peripheral_lbs

3. After step-2, entire ncs v1.8.0 is cloned under "myprivategitrepo/" along with the peripheral_lbs:

4. At this point I can build the peripheral_lbs in VS Code.

5. Now I want to push this entire "ncs_v1.8.0/" to our private repo. However, since this flder has multiple git repo (.git directories), I can't add entire folder to my private repo. So, searched and removed all the ".git" folders under "ncs_v1.8.0/".

6. At this point, If I try to build the peripheral_lbs again, it fails. And the error is what I mentioned earlier:

usage: west [-h] [-z ZEPHYR_BASE] [-v] [-V] <command> ...
west: error: argument <command>: invalid choice: 'build' (choose from 'init', 'update', 'list', 'manifest', 'diff', 'status', 'forall', 'help', 'config', 'topdir', 'selfupdate')

So, it seems VS Code build is somehow dependent on the .git directories. I debugged this little bit more and found out that, if I put back two (nrf/ and zephyr/) ".git" directories back, application compiles.

I hope I answered all your questions. This should be easily reproducible at your end too.

At the end, our goal is to maintain the modified (we have our specific changes on top of the v1.8.0) ncs in our private git repo and use it.

Thanks!

RE: nrf Connect SDK in private repo

dejans — Fri, 30 Sep 2022 08:10:02 GMT

Hi,

[quote user="harshal034"]I was able to compile the sample application from the standalone NCS.[/quote]

What do you refer to as standalone NCS? How did you create your standalone NCS? Where is this standalone NCS located? Does it have .git folder?

[quote user="harshal034"]However, now to add this to our private repo, I removed the .git folders from this standalone SDK.[/quote]

Which .git folders have you removed? Did you remove .git folders before or after the addition to your private repo? How did you add standalone NCS to your private repo?

[quote user="harshal034"]After digging a little, t looks like, it's renaming the .git in the nrf/ and zephyr/ is causing this issue. [/quote]

Could you explain mentioned renaming? What is the issue that appeared? Can you show the issue?

[quote user="harshal034"]we just need to clone our repo, install toolchain and start compiling our app against stand-alone (modified ncs).[/quote]

Which NCS do you want to use with your application? What is modified NCS?

Best regards,
Dejan

RE: nrf Connect SDK in private repo

embeddedER — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 18:55:06 GMT

Hi Dejan,

I tried creating new application using Workspace using VS Code. I was able to compile the sample application from the standalone NCS. However, now to add this to our private repo, I removed the .git folders from this standalone SDK.

After doing this I ended with the same error:

usage: west [-h] [-z ZEPHYR_BASE] [-v] [-V] <command> ...
west: error: argument <command>: invalid choice: 'build' (choose from 'init', 'update', 'list', 'manifest', 'diff', 'status', 'forall', 'help', 'config', 'topdir', 'selfupdate')

After digging a little, t looks like, it's renaming the .git in the nrf/ and zephyr/ is causing this issue. I couldn't understand the dependency of the .git in the building.

Could you please let me know how to get around this? I want to push this stand-alone ncs to our private repo. So, that anytime we want to work with our app, we just need to clone our repo, install toolchain and start compiling our app against stand-alone (modified ncs).

Thanks!

RE: nrf Connect SDK in private repo

embeddedER — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 16:38:39 GMT

Hi Dejan,

Thanks for the reply.

[quote userid="111786" url="~/f/nordic-q-a/92410/nrf-connect-sdk-in-private-repo/388584"]VS Code also allows you to create new application in the Workspace. Workspace applications use west workspace for NCS versioning and they will have their own NCS instance which does not to be preinstalled. When you create your application in this way, you would also need to specify NCS repository of your choice.[/quote]

Could you point me to any link or document on how to achieve this using VS Code? We are expecting to work with VS Code on Windows and compile/flash the programs from there. Not from the command line tool.

Thanks!

RE: nrf Connect SDK in private repo

dejans — Thu, 29 Sep 2022 13:24:21 GMT

Hi,

You can read more about workspace concepts, west configuration files and west manifests in the documentation.

Additionally, you can also have a look at the tutorial about improving zephyr project structure with west manifest files.

VS Code also allows you to create new application in the Workspace. Workspace applications use west workspace for NCS versioning and they will have their own NCS instance which does not to be preinstalled. When you create your application in this way, you would also need to specify NCS repository of your choice.

Best regards,
Dejan

RE: nrf Connect SDK in private repo

embeddedER — Wed, 28 Sep 2022 18:31:54 GMT

Well, we figured out the issue for empty build. It was due to .gitignore settings, not the entire SDK was committed to out private repo.

However, now if we try to build our application using this cloned SDK from our repo, it gives below error:

usage: west [-h] [-z ZEPHYR_BASE] [-v] [-V] <command> ...
west: error: argument <command>: invalid choice: 'build' (choose from 'init', 'update', 'list', 'manifest', 'diff', 'status', 'forall', 'help', 'config', 'topdir', 'selfupdate')