Partition Manager for External Memory doesn't create correctly the partitions.

[FlavioPiracicaba]

Hello,

   I created the regions.yml and pm_static.yml. If I enable this flag the compiler works well

but doesn't create the correct partitions I wrote on pm_static.

##CONFIG_PM_PARTITION_REGION_SETTINGS_STORAGE_EXTERNAL=y

  If I uncomment, these errors appears:

-- Found partition manager static configuration: C:/Nordic/peripheral_uart/pm_static.yml
Dropping partition 'nonsecure_storage' since it is empty.
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:/ncs/v2.3.0-rc1/nrf/scripts/partition_manager.py", line 1978, in <module>
    main()
  File "C:/ncs/v2.3.0-rc1/nrf/scripts/partition_manager.py", line 1028, in main
    solution.update(solve_region(pm_config, region, region_config,
  File "C:/ncs/v2.3.0-rc1/nrf/scripts/partition_manager.py", line 971, in solve_region
    get_region_config(partitions, region_config, static_partitions, system_reqs=pm_config)
  File "C:/ncs/v2.3.0-rc1/nrf/scripts/partition_manager.py", line 742, in get_region_config
    solve_simple_region(pm_config, start, size, placement_strategy, region_name, device,
  File "C:/ncs/v2.3.0-rc1/nrf/scripts/partition_manager.py", line 790, in solve_simple_region
    address += pm_config[partition_name]['size']
KeyError: 'size'
CMake Error at C:/ncs/v2.3.0-rc1/nrf/cmake/partition_manager.cmake:304 (message):
  Partition Manager failed, aborting.

   Could you help me?

Thanks,

Flavio.

  

file app.overlay

/{

   

    chosen {

        nordic,nus-uart = &uart0;

        nordic,pm-ext-flash = &mx25r64;

        nordic,nrf-adc  = &adc;

    };

    aliases {

        adc = &adc;

        dg0 = &dig0;

        dg1 = &dig1;

        dg2 = &dig2;

        dg3 = &dig3;

        dg4 = &dig4;

    };

file prj.conf

CONFIG_NORDIC_QSPI_NOR=y

CONFIG_FLASH=y

CONFIG_FLASH_PAGE_LAYOUT=y

CONFIG_FLASH_MAP=y

CONFIG_MPU_ALLOW_FLASH_WRITE=y

CONFIG_NORDIC_QSPI_NOR_FLASH_LAYOUT_PAGE_SIZE=1024

CONFIG_SETTINGS_NVS=y

CONFIG_NVS=y

CONFIG_SETTINGS=y

CONFIG_PARTITION_MANAGER_ENABLED=y

CONFIG_FILE_SYSTEM=y

CONFIG_FILE_SYSTEM_LITTLEFS=y

CONFIG_PM_PARTITION_REGION_LITTLEFS_EXTERNAL=y

CONFIG_PM_PARTITION_REGION_SETTINGS_STORAGE_EXTERNAL=y

CONFIG_PM_PARTITION_REGION_NVS_STORAGE_EXTERNAL=y

file regions.yml

external_flash:

  base_address: 0x0

  default_driver_kconfig: CONFIG_PM_EXTERNAL_FLASH_HAS_DRIVER

  device: DT_CHOSEN(nordic_pm_ext_flash)

  dynamic_partition: null

  name: external_flash

  placement_strategy: start_to_end

  size: 0x800000

file pm_static.yml

partition_1:

  address: 0x0

  end_address: 0x7FFFFF

  region: external_flash

  size: 0x800000

Created by build:

file regions.yml

external_flash:

  base_address: 0x0

  default_driver_kconfig: CONFIG_PM_EXTERNAL_FLASH_HAS_DRIVER

  device: DT_CHOSEN(nordic_pm_ext_flash)

  dynamic_partition: null

  name: external_flash

  placement_strategy: start_to_end

  size: 0x800000

flash_primary:

  base_address: 0x0

  default_driver_kconfig: CONFIG_SOC_FLASH_NRF

  device: flash_controller

  dynamic_partition: null

  name: flash_primary

  placement_strategy: complex

  size: 0x100000

file partitions.yml

app:

  address: 0x8000

  end_address: 0xfc000

  region: flash_primary

  size: 0xf4000

external_flash:

  address: 0x0

  end_address: 0x800000

  region: external_flash

  size: 0x800000

nonsecure_storage:

  address: 0xfc000

  end_address: 0xfe000

  orig_span: &id001

  - settings_storage

  region: flash_primary

  size: 0x2000

  span: *id001

[FlavioPiracicaba]

Hi 3Nigma,

   Worked very well with your suggestion on makefile.

   On the file partitions , it's ok with two partitions created (partition_0 and partition_1). One thing I didn't understand is why was created automacatily a partition external_partition with negative size. Do you know if it's possible don't create this external_partition?

Thanks,

Flavio.

   

EMPTY_0:
  address: 0xfe000
  end_address: 0x100000
  placement:
    after:
    - littlefs_storage
  region: flash_primary
  size: 0x2000
app:
  address: 0x8000
  end_address: 0xf8000
  region: flash_primary
  size: 0xf0000
external_flash:
  address: 0x802000
  end_address: 0x800000
  region: external_flash
  size: -0x2000
littlefs_storage:
  address: 0xf8000
  end_address: 0xfe000
  inside:
  - nonsecure_storage
  placement:
    align:
      start: 0x4000
    before:
    - end
  region: flash_primary
  size: 0x6000
nonsecure_storage:
  address: 0xf8000
  end_address: 0xfe000
  orig_span: &id001
  - littlefs_storage
  region: flash_primary
  size: 0x6000
  span: *id001
otp:
  address: 0xff8100
  end_address: 0xff83fc
  region: otp
  size: 0x2fc
partition_0:
  address: 0x0
  end_address: 0x400000
  region: external_flash
  size: 0x400000
partition_1:
  address: 0x400000
  end_address: 0x800000
  region: external_flash
  size: 0x400000
rpmsg_nrf53_sram:
  address: 0x20070000
  end_address: 0x20080000
  placement:
    before:
    - end
  region: sram_primary
  size: 0x10000
settings_storage:
  address: 0x800000
  device: DT_CHOSEN(nordic_pm_ext_flash)
  end_address: 0x802000
  inside:
  - nonsecure_storage
  placement:
    align:
      start: 0x4000
    before:
    - tfm_storage
    - end
  region: external_flash
  size: 0x2000
sram_nonsecure:
  address: 0x20008000
  end_address: 0x20080000
  orig_span: &id002
  - sram_primary
  - rpmsg_nrf53_sram
  region: sram_primary
  size: 0x78000
  span: *id002
sram_primary:
  address: 0x20008000
  end_address: 0x20070000
  region: sram_primary
  size: 0x68000
sram_secure:
  address: 0x20000000
  end_address: 0x20008000
  orig_span: &id003
  - tfm_sram
  region: sram_primary
  size: 0x8000
  span: *id003
tfm:
  address: 0x0
  end_address: 0x8000
  placement:
    before:
    - app
  region: flash_primary
  size: 0x8000
tfm_nonsecure:
  address: 0x8000
  end_address: 0xf8000
  orig_span: &id004
  - app
  region: flash_primary
  size: 0xf0000
  span: *id004
tfm_secure:
  address: 0x0
  end_address: 0x8000
  orig_span: &id005
  - tfm
  region: flash_primary
  size: 0x8000
  span: *id005
tfm_sram:
  address: 0x20000000
  end_address: 0x20008000
  inside:
  - sram_secure
  placement:
    after:
    - start
  region: sram_primary
  size: 0x8000

[3Nigma]

Hey Flavio,

I think this code explains why an external_flash region is being generated: if you have a chosen a nordic,pm-ext-flash value, then an external_region is provided to you.

So if you do a

/{
	chosen {
		/delete-property/ nordic,pm-ext-flash;
	}
}

it should, in theory, work. But you will need to change your main.c code a bit (saw that you are using 

DEVICE_DT_GET(DT_CHOSEN(nordic_pm_ext_flash)) there).

One thing to mention here is that, if you remove the nordic,pm-ext-flash chosen value, 

CONFIG_PM_PARTITION_REGION_SETTINGS_STORAGE_EXTERNAL also becomes unavailable due to the way it's Kconfig is defined. This leads, in your case, to no external_flash partitions being generated.

V

[FlavioPiracicaba]

Hello 3Nigma,

I edited the partition_manager.cmake and added manualy the region. Removed nordic,pm-ext-flash from chosen.

Now it's creating the partitions.yml correctly and the regions.yml too.

And don't have the size negative on partition external_flash.

Do you know if there is another way to create this region without edit the partition_manager.cmake?

Thanks,

Flavio.

dt_chosen(ext_flash_dev PROPERTY nordic,pm-ext-flash)
if (DEFINED ext_flash_dev)
  dt_prop(num_bits PATH ${ext_flash_dev} PROPERTY size)
  math(EXPR num_bytes "${num_bits} / 8")

  set(external_flash_driver_kconfig CONFIG_PM_EXTERNAL_FLASH_HAS_DRIVER)

  add_region(
    NAME external_flash
    SIZE ${num_bytes}
    BASE ${CONFIG_PM_EXTERNAL_FLASH_BASE}
    PLACEMENT start_to_end
    DEVICE "DT_CHOSEN(nordic_pm_ext_flash)"
    DEFAULT_DRIVER_KCONFIG ${external_flash_driver_kconfig}
    )
endif()


add_region(
  NAME external_flash
  SIZE 0X800000
  BASE 0
  PLACEMENT start_to_end
  DEVICE "DT_ALIAS(external-mx25)"
  DEFAULT_DRIVER_KCONFIG CONFIG_PM_EXTERNAL_FLASH_HAS_DRIVER
  )

[3Nigma]

Hey Flavio,

Why do you want to keep the external_flash region around if you don't want to put any partition in it? 

By the way, I would not edit the partition_manager.cmake directly since, unlike the previous discussion (eg. with the pm.yml.settings file), the partition_manager.cmake code behaves correctly (it is not a bug).

Depending on what you are trying to achieve, I think there are other solutions that would help instead of forcing a region to be defined.

Best wishes,

V

[dejans]

Hi Flavio,

Have you achieved progress on your initial issue? Could you provide an update on the current status? 

Best regards,
Dejan