Set up of Toolchain for Linux

Step 0: Prerequisites

Install some packages

To compile with ESP-IDF you need to get the following packages:

  • Ubuntu and Debian:

    sudo apt-get install git wget make libncurses-dev flex bison gperf python python-serial
    
  • Arch:

    sudo pacman -S --needed gcc git make ncurses flex bison gperf python2-pyserial
    

Step 1: Download binary toolchain for the ESP32

ESP32 toolchain for Linux is available for download from Espressif website:

  • for 64-bit Linux:

    https://dl.espressif.com/dl/xtensa-esp32-elf-linux64-1.22.0-61-gab8375a-5.2.0.tar.gz
    
  • for 32-bit Linux:

    https://dl.espressif.com/dl/xtensa-esp32-elf-linux32-1.22.0-61-gab8375a-5.2.0.tar.gz
    

Download this file, then extract it to the location you prefer, for example:

mkdir -p ~/esp
cd ~/esp
tar -xzf ~/Downloads/xtensa-esp32-elf-linux64-1.22.0-61-gab8375a-5.2.0.tar.gz

The toolchain will be extracted into ~/esp/xtensa-esp32-elf/ directory.

To use it, you will need to update your PATH environment variable in ~/.bash_profile file. To make xtensa-esp32-elf available for all terminal sessions, add the following line to your ~/.bash_profile file:

export PATH=$PATH:$HOME/esp/xtensa-esp32-elf/bin

Alternatively, you may create an alias for the above command. This way you can get the toolchain only when you need it. To do this, add different line to your ~/.bash_profile file:

alias get_esp32="export PATH=$PATH:$HOME/esp/xtensa-esp32-elf/bin"

Then when you need the toolchain you can type get_esp32 on the command line and the toolchain will be added to your PATH.

Arch Linux Users

To run the precompiled gdb (xtensa-esp32-elf-gdb) in Arch Linux requires ncurses 5, but Arch uses ncurses 6. Backwards compatibility libraries are available in AUR for native and lib32 configurations: - https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/ncurses5-compat-libs/ - https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/lib32-ncurses5-compat-libs/

(Alternatively, use crosstool-NG to compile a gdb that links against ncurses 6.)

Alternative Step 1: Compile the toolchain from source using crosstool-NG

Instead of downloading binary toolchain from Espressif website (Step 1 above) you may build the toolchain yourself.

If you can’t think of a reason why you need to build it yourself, then probably it’s better to stick with the binary version. However, here are some of the reasons why you might want to compile it from source:

  • if you want to customize toolchain build configuration
  • if you want to use a different GCC version (such as 4.8.5)
  • if you want to hack gcc or newlib or libstdc++
  • if you are curious and/or have time to spare
  • if you don’t trust binaries downloaded from the Internet

In any case, here are the steps to compile the toolchain yourself.

  • Install dependencies:

    • Ubuntu:

      sudo apt-get install gawk gperf grep gettext libncurses-dev python python-dev automake bison flex texinfo help2man libtool
      
    • Debian:

      TODO
      
    • Arch:

      TODO
      

Download crosstool-NG and build it:

cd ~/esp
git clone -b xtensa-1.22.x https://github.com/espressif/crosstool-NG.git
cd crosstool-NG
./bootstrap && ./configure --prefix=$PWD && make install

Build the toolchain:

./ct-ng xtensa-esp32-elf
./ct-ng build
chmod -R u+w builds/xtensa-esp32-elf

Toolchain will be built in ~/esp/crosstool-NG/builds/xtensa-esp32-elf. Follow instructions given in the previous section to add the toolchain to your PATH.

Step 2: Getting ESP-IDF from github

Open terminal, navigate to the directory you want to clone ESP-IDF and clone it using git clone command:

cd ~/esp
git clone --recursive https://github.com/espressif/esp-idf.git

ESP-IDF will be downloaded into ~/esp/esp-idf.

Note the --recursive option! If you have already cloned ESP-IDF without this option, run another command to get all the submodules:

cd ~/esp/esp-idf
git submodule update --init

IMPORTANT: The esp-idf build system does not support spaces in paths to esp-idf or to projects.

Step 3: Starting a project

ESP-IDF by itself does not build a binary to run on the ESP32. The binary “app” comes from a project in a different directory. Multiple projects can share the same ESP-IDF directory.

The easiest way to start a project is to download the template project from GitHub:

cd ~/esp
git clone https://github.com/espressif/esp-idf-template.git myapp

This will download esp-idf-template project into ~/esp/myapp directory.

Step 4: Building and flashing the application

In terminal, go to the application directory which was obtained on the previous step:

cd ~/esp/myapp

Type a command like this to set the path to ESP-IDF directory:

export IDF_PATH=~/esp/esp-idf

At this point you may configure the serial port to be used for uploading. Run:

make menuconfig

Then navigate to “Serial flasher config” submenu and change value of “Default serial port” to match the serial port you will use. Also take a moment to explore other options which are configurable in menuconfig.

Special note for Arch Linux users: navigate to “SDK tool configuration” and change the name of “Python 2 interpreter” from python to python2.

Now you can build and flash the application. Run:

make flash

This will compile the application and all the ESP-IDF components, generate bootloader, partition table, and application binaries, and flash these binaries to your development board.

Further reading

If you’d like to use the Eclipse IDE instead of running make, check out the Eclipse setup guide in this directory.