MCUBoot without Partition Manager

[BenKrug]

Hi, I want to implement DFU on an nRF52832 with a mx25r1635f external flash, originally I implement the partitions and everything using the devicetree since I find it a lot more comfortable to use. I followed this proccess: https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/guides/nrf-connect-sdk-guides/b/software/posts/ncs-dfu , but the CONFIG_BOOTLOADER_MCUBOOT option enables the partition manager by default, is there a way to use it with the devicetree method for partitions? I saw that most applications on Zephyr do actually use the devicetree instead of the partition manager, so I expect it to be possible, but couldn't find a way to do it.

[BenKrug]

Hi, I tried to compile the code following this process, however it uses the Partition Manager(in the build folder you can see there is a pm.config) and I don't want to use it, that was my original question, is there a way to use the DFU Update without using the partition manager?

[Amanda Hsieh]

Unfortunately, the Partition Manager cannot be disabled, but you can use static partitions to modify the memory layout as you desire. See Configuring static partitions and this example. 

-Amanda H.

[BenKrug]

Ok, that's very unfortunate, but if there's no alternative I'll have to use it. So I added the pm.yml file and now I'm having trouble with defining my own partition, it gives this error:

C:\ncs\v2.2.0\nrf\include\flash_map_pm.h:41:22: error: 'PM_lfs1_part_ID' undeclared here (not in a function)
   41 | #define PM_ID(label) PM_##label##_ID
      |                      ^~~
C:\ncs\v2.2.0\nrf\include\flash_map_pm.h:46:35: note: in expansion of macro 'PM_ID'
   46 | #define FIXED_PARTITION_ID(label) PM_ID(label)
      |                                   ^~~~~
c:\Projetos\Smartpet\sirros_smartpet\firmware\Smartpet_NRF52_SDK\src\Sirros_NRF52_configHandler.c:25:32: note: in expansion of macro 'FIXED_PARTITION_ID'
   25 |         .storage_dev = (void *)FIXED_PARTITION_ID(lfs1_part),

The pm.yml file is this:

app:
  address: 0x20200
  region: flash_primary
  size: 0xdfe00
mcuboot:
  address: 0x0
  region: flash_primary
  size: 0x20000
mcuboot_pad:
  address: 0x20000
  region: flash_primary
  size: 0x200
mcuboot_primary:
  address: 0x20000
  orig_span: &id001
  - mcuboot_pad
  - app
  region: flash_primary
  size: 0xe0000
  span: *id001
mcuboot_primary_app:
  address: 0x20200
  orig_span: &id002
  - app
  region: flash_primary
  size: 0xdfe00
  span: *id002
mcuboot_primary_1:
  address: 0x0
  size: 0x40000
  device: flash_ctrl
  region: ram_flash
mcuboot_secondary:
  address: 0x00000
  size: 0xe0000
  device: MX25R16
  region: external_flash
mcuboot_secondary_1:
  address: 0xe0000
  size: 0x40000
  device: MX25R16
  region: external_flash
lfs1_part:
  address: 0x120000
  size: 0x6e0000
  device: MX25R16
  region: external_flash

Do you know what I'm doing wrong?

[Amanda Hsieh]

Hi, 

Are you trying to allocate a separate partition for littleFS? If so, you can take a look at this post. 

The pm_static.yml example is for nRF5340 which has two cores and that might mislead you, so I have updated it for nRF52. I also update my example in the previous reply with the pm_static.yml as 

mcuboot_primary:
    orig_span: &id001
        - mcuboot_pad
        - app
    span: *id001
    address: 0xc000
    size: 0xf2000
    region: flash_primary
mcuboot_primary_app:
    orig_span: &id002
        - app
    span: *id002
    address: 0xc200
    size: 0xf1e00

settings_storage:
    address: 0xfe000
    size: 0x2000
    region: flash_primary

mcuboot_secondary:
    address: 0x0
    size: 0xf2000
    device: MX25R64
    region: external_flash
    

littlefs_storage:
    address: 0xf2000
    size: 0x7000
    device: MX25R64
    region: external_flash
 
external_flash:
   address: 0xf9000
   size: 0x707000
   device: MX25R64
   region: external_flash 

It would look like this

-Amanda H.

[BenKrug]

I made the changes you showed, but now I'm getting this error:

error: 'PM_MCUBOOT_SECONDARY_ID' undeclared (first use in this function); did you mean 'PM_MCUBOOT_PRIMARY_ID'