Arduino CLI 0.23 makes your initiatives future-proof with Construct Profiles

This new launch of Arduino CLI delivers greater than the same old bug fixes and efficiency enhancements. Immediately we’re delighted to convey you Construct Profiles. These have been lengthy within the works and we saved it a bit hush-hush regardless of releasing a public RFC a bit shy of a yr in the past.

Construct Profiles

Typically Arduino customers find yourself not having the ability to construct and add a Sketch after the undertaking is accomplished, and this is perhaps as a consequence of libraries altering an API, or cores having deprecated some elements in favor of a extra trendy method.

Legacy is the enemy of progress, and typically builders want to tear the band-aid off and break issues. We see this on a regular basis.

Construct Profiles intention at fixing this, and permit customers of Arduino CLI to outline a configuration file which accommodates the precise model of platforms and libraries to make use of, making certain the undertaking may be constructed at any time sooner or later.

This depends on the libraries being a part of the Arduino Library Registry and the platforms to be source-able by the Arduino CLI. All platforms developed by Arduino can be found by default, however customers can add further URLs to their configuration and ensure the required platform can all the time be discovered and put in.

For detailed documentation, check out the official Arduino CLI docs on GitHub. However let’s take a better take a look at the way it works so you will get began making your Arduino undertaking future-proof.

How does this work?

Let’s assume you may have an Arduino IoT Cloud undertaking working on an Arduino Nano RP2040 Join that’s primarily based on the next:

• Platform: Arduino Mbed OS Nano Boards 3.1.1
• Libraries:
  • ArduinoIoTCloud 1.6.0
  • Arduino_ConnectionHandler 0.6.6
  • WiFiNINA 1.8.13
  • Arduino_DebugUtils 1.1.0
  • ArduinoECCX08 1.3.6
  • ArduinoMqttClient 0.1.5

Your undertaking will compile efficiently, however what about 5 years from now?

Libraries get up to date. That’s the fantastic thing about the open supply philosophy that has made Arduino so fashionable and the identical occurs with platforms.

Any dependency would possibly discontinue an API or introduce other forms of breaking adjustments, and your sketch could not compile. At that time, you received’t be capable of add it to a board.

We are able to lastly handle this shortcoming by making a Construct Profile for the long run.

Let’s discover ways to generate one and use it when the day comes.

To create a Construct Profile we have to know which libraries and platforms are used throughout compilation,, and such dependencies may be made obtainable to the consumer when compiling utilizing `arduino-cli` and including `–dump-profile` to the `compile` command as follows.

`arduino-cli compile -b arduino:mbed_nano:nanorp2040connect --dump-profile`

Core platforms and libraries used through the construct might be listed within the report on the finish of the operation, and may be copied and saved into your Construct Profile, however sooner or later it is possible for you to to immediately create a Profile entry from a `compile` directive so the leg work won’t be required.

Be aware that a number of profile configurations may be entered into the Construct Profile and used at a later time.

The output will look one thing like this.

```
arduino-cli compile -b arduino:mbed_nano:nanorp2040connect --dump-profile

Sketch makes use of 387234 bytes (2%) of program cupboard space. Most is 16777216 bytes.
International variables use 68868 bytes (25%) of dynamic reminiscence, leaving 201468 bytes for native variables. Most is 270336 bytes.

profile:
  nanorp2040connect:
    fqbn: arduino:mbed_nano:nanorp2040connect
    platforms:
      - platform: arduino:mbed_nano (3.0.1)
    libraries:
      - ArduinoIoTCloud (1.6.0)
      - Arduino_ConnectionHandler (0.6.6)
      - WiFiNINA (1.8.13)
      - Arduino_DebugUtils (1.1.0)
      - ArduinoECCX08 (1.3.6)
      - ArduinoMqttClient (0.1.5)

```

Adopted by a full report of dependencies and their paths in your system, which we’ll ignore on this information.

Making a Construct Profile

Utilizing the knowledge above we will create a file named `sketch.yaml` and add the next content material to it.

```
profile:
  nanorp2040connect:
    fqbn: arduino:mbed_nano:nanorp2040connect
    platforms:
      - platform: arduino:mbed_nano (3.0.1)
    libraries:
      - ArduinoIoTCloud (1.6.0)
      - Arduino_ConnectionHandler (0.6.6)
      - WiFiNINA (1.8.13)
      - Arduino_DebugUtils (1.1.0)
      - ArduinoECCX08 (1.3.6)
      - ArduinoMqttClient (0.1.5)

```

We are able to now depend on this file to compile our undertaking even when we don’t have any of the libraries or the Mbed core put in by doing as follows:

`arduino-cli compile --profile nanorp2040connect`

This command will set up the suitable platforms and libraries and proceed to construct your sketch right into a working firmware on your board.

You’ll be able to add a number of profiles within the Challenge file and construct with completely different variations of a platform or any library.

Once you retailer or distribute your sketch ensure that your `sketch.yaml` file can be a part of the archive, and you’ll have the sketch compiled cleanly at any time sooner or later. 

No, we will’t do something concerning the previous, however you possibly can spend a while upgrading your previous initiatives and creating their very own `sketch.yaml` file, which can make your work future-proof.

Sit again, calm down and be careful for Terminators coming again to hunt you down.