The aim is to create a reproducible build chain for a “Hello World” demo on the Cortex-M7 core of the TQMa117xL using VS code under Ubuntu 24.04.
The following regarding the OS is necessary:
Building under Ubuntu has been tested with the following software and versions.
| Tool | Version |
|---|---|
| GitHub Repository | MBa117xL.SW.MCU.BSP |
| VS-Code | Version 1.88.1 |
| NXP's MCUXpresso SDK | MCUX_2.14.0_UPDATE_ENHC1 |
| CMAKE | Version 3.27.4 |
| West | Version 1.0.0 |
| Python | Version 3.10.4 |
| Segger J-Link for debugging | Version v8.83 |
In order to build and debug the examples via VS-Code you need to add the following VS-Code extentions.
| Extention | Version |
|---|---|
ms-vscode.cmake-tools | CMake tools (from Microsoft): v1.16.3 |
marus25.cortex-debug | Cortex-Debug (from marus25): v1.12.0 |
Install Tools & Dependencies
sudo apt update and sudo apt install gitgit config –global core.longpaths true (to minimize issues with long paths during Git operations). sudo apt install python3 python3-pip python3-venvsudo apt install cmakesudo mkdir -p /opt/arm-gnu-toolchain and sudo tar -xf arm-gnu-toolchain-14.2.rel1-x86_64-arm-none-eabi.tar.xz -C /opt/arm-gnu-toolchain – strip-components=1sudo dpkg -i JLink_Linux_V*.deb The default path is typically /opt/SEGGER/JLink.sudo dpkg -i code_*.deb and sudo apt install -fSet Environment Variables
export ARMGCC_DIR="/opt/arm-gnu-toolchain" export PATH="$ARMGCC_DIR/bin:$PATH" export PATH="/opt/SEGGER/JLink:$PATH" # Adjust if your J-Link path is different
Close and reopen all terminals and VS Code.
To make sure everything is set correctly use the following commands in a new terminal:
which arm-none-eabi-gcc which make # or which mingw32-make if you somehow installed MinGW, but 'make' is standard which cmake which python3 which JLinkGDBServerCL echo $ARMGCC_DIR echo $env:ARMGCC_DIR
If everything is correct, the output should be looking something like this:
$ which arm-none-eabi-gcc /opt/arm-gnu-toolchain/bin/arm-none-eabi-gcc $ which make /usr/bin/make $ which cmake /usr/bin/cmake $ which python3 /usr/bin/python3 $ which JLinkGDBServerCL /opt/SEGGER/JLink/JLinkGDBServerCL $ echo $ARMGCC_DIR /opt/arm-gnu-toolchain
Create Workspace
mkdir ~/workspace cd ~/workspace
Clone the TQMa117xL demo repository:
git clone https://github.com/tq-systems/MBa117xL.SW.MCU.BSP.git cd MBa117xL.SW.MCU.BSP git checkout MBa117xL.SW.MCU.BSP.0003 -b tqma117xl-bsp
Set up Python Virtual Environment
This isolates the Python tools for this project.
python3 -m venv .tqma117xl source ./.tqma117xl/bin/activate
Clone NXP MCUXpresso SDK via West:
pip install west cd dependencies west init -m https://github.com/NXPmicro/mcux-sdk --mr MCUX_2.16.000 mcuxsdk cd mcuxsdk west update
cp ../replace_include_guards.py ./
After downloading the SDK from NXP using West, the Python script replace_include_guards.py must be run once. This is required because targets set to global cannot be built in the same build folder due to the existing include guards in the CMake files in the NXP SDK.
cd ..
python3 replace_include_guards.py
VS-Code additional step:
When using Visual Studio Code as your development environment, the `.vscode` folder plays a critical role in configuring how your project is built and debugged.
These files inside the `.vscode` folder are specific to your local development environment.
.vscode/ ├── settings.json → Environment vars and toolchain path ├── launch.json → Debug configuration (e.g. for J-Link) ├── cmake-variants.yaml → Build variants (Debug/Release + bootDisk)
Place the `.vscode` folder under:
cd .. mv MBa117xL.SW.MCU.BSP/templates .vscode
You can use the templates provided in the `templates/` folder of the repository as a starting point. Open VS-Code
code .
Below you can find a example 'settings.json' and a 'launch.json'
{
/* CMake configurations */
"cmake.configureOnOpen": false,
"cmake.preferredGenerators": [
"Ninja",
"Unix Makefiles"
],
"cmake.generator": "Unix Makefiles",
"cmake.environment": {
"ARMGCC_DIR": "/opt/arm-gnu-toolchain"
//"MCUXSDK_ROOT": "/path/to/mcuxsdk" //can be used as alternative path for the sdk
},
"cmake.buildDirectory": "${sourceDirectory}/build",
"cmake.configureSettings": {
"CMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE": "dependencies/mcuxsdk/core/tools/cmake_toolchain_files/armgcc.cmake"
},
/* Debugger configurations */
"cortex-debug.gdbPath": "/opt/arm-gnu-toolchain/bin/arm-none-eabi-gdb",
"cortex-debug.armToolchainPath": "/opt/arm-gnu-toolchain/bin/",
"cortex-debug.JLinkGDBServerPath": "/opt/SEGGER/JLink/JLinkGDBServerCL",
"cortex-debug.variableUseNaturalFormat": true,
/*Styling configurations*/
"files.insertFinalNewline": true,
"files.trimFinalNewlines": true
}
{
"inputs": [
{
"type": "pickString",
"id": "app",
"description": "choose your app",
"options": [
"demo_hello_world",
"demo_gpio_led",
"demo_flexcan",
"demo_digital_io",
"demo_afe",
"demo_rs485",
"demo_sdcard",
"demo_RTC",
"demo_eeprom",
"demo_iot",
"demo_usb",
"demo_PMIC",
"demo_spi_flash",
"demo_SE97BTP",
"demo_display_dsi",
"demo_ethernet_qos",
"demo_ethernet_1g"
]
}
],
"configurations": [
{
"showDevDebugOutput": "both",
"type": "cortex-debug",
"request": "launch",
"name": "Debug J-Link Ram",
"cwd": "${workspaceFolder}",
"servertype": "jlink",
"device": "MIMXRT1176xxxA_M7",
"interface": "jtag",
"executable": "${workspaceFolder}/build/dist/Debug/TQMa1176xL_${input:app}.elf",
"serverArgs": [
"-endian",
"little",
"-LocalhostOnly",
"-speed",
"4000"
],
"postLaunchCommands": [
"target remote localhost:50000",
"monitor reset",
"monitor halt",
"load"
]
},
{
"showDevDebugOutput": "both",
"type": "cortex-debug",
"request": "launch",
"name": "Debug J-Link Nor-Flash",
"cwd": "${workspaceFolder}",
"servertype": "jlink",
"device": "MIMXRT1176xxxA_M7",
"interface": "jtag",
"executable": "${workspaceFolder}/build/dist/Debug/Flash/TQMa1176xL_${input:app}.elf",
"serverArgs": [
"-endian",
"little",
"-LocalhostOnly",
"-speed",
"4000",
"-device",
"MIMXRT1176xxxA_M7?BankAddr=0x30000000&Loader=nCS@AD18_CLK@AD19_D0@AD20_D1@AD21_D2@AD22_D3@AD23&BankAddr=0x60000000&Loader=nCS@SDB100_CLK@SDB101_D0@SDB102_D1@SDB103_D2@SDB104_D3@SDB105"
],
"postLaunchCommands": [
"monitor reset"
]
},
{
"showDevDebugOutput": "both",
"type": "cortex-debug",
"request": "launch",
"name": "Debug J-Link SD-Ram-Flash",
"cwd": "${workspaceFolder}",
"servertype": "jlink",
"device": "MIMXRT1176xxxA_M7",
"interface": "jtag",
"executable": "${workspaceFolder}/build/dist/Debug/SD-Ram-Flash/TQMa1176xL_${input:app}.elf",
"serverArgs": [
"-endian",
"little",
"-LocalhostOnly",
"-speed",
"4000",
"-device",
"MIMXRT1176xxxA_M7?BankAddr=0x30000000&Loader=nCS@AD18_CLK@AD19_D0@AD20_D1@AD21_D2@AD22_D3@AD23&BankAddr=0x60000000&Loader=nCS@SDB100_CLK@SDB101_D0@SDB102_D1@SDB103_D2@SDB104_D3@SDB105"
],
"postLaunchCommands": [
"monitor reset"
]
}
]
}
After fulfilling the preparations, VS-Code should be displaying the CMake-Tools option on the lower bar.