stm32-installer

Installs NimaLTD embedded C libraries into an STM32 project.

Copying two files into a project is easy. Doing it so the build actually picks them up, without clobbering the settings you changed last month, is the part this handles.

Every command below uses example as the library name. Put the real one in its place.

Installing a library

Install the installer once. This needs internet:

pip install stm32-installer

Then, from the root of your STM32 project:

stm32-installer nimaltd/example

To update it later, pip install --upgrade stm32-installer. To remove it, pip uninstall stm32-installer.

On Windows, if stm32-installer is not found after installing, pip put it in a folder that is not on your PATH. python -m stm32_installer nimaltd/example runs the same thing.

On Linux or macOS, if pip refuses with externally-managed-environment, use pipx install stm32-installer instead, and pipx upgrade stm32-installer to update.

A library can need a newer installer than the one you have. It then says so and changes nothing:

Error: This library needs stm32-installer 1.2.0 or newer, and this one is 1.1.1. Nothing was changed.
Update it with:
    pip install --upgrade stm32-installer

Without internet

On a machine that has internet, save the installer as a file:

pip download stm32-installer

That saves one file, such as stm32_installer-1.1.2-py3-none-any.whl, where the number is the installer's version. Download the library too, from the green Code button, Download ZIP. Copy both to the machine that has no internet, then from your project:

pip install stm32_installer-1.1.2-py3-none-any.whl
stm32-installer D:/Downloads/example-main.zip

Neither line needs the internet. The installer needs nothing but itself, and the library comes from the zip.

If the library needs another one, such as osal, download that zip as well and give both on one line:

stm32-installer D:/Downloads/example-main.zip D:/Downloads/osal-main.zip

Forget it, and the installer stops before writing anything, naming the zip it is missing.

A private repository

Give the installer a GitHub token that can read the repository, in the GITHUB_TOKEN environment variable, and install by name as usual.

Windows, PowerShell:

$env:GITHUB_TOKEN = "github_pat_..."
stm32-installer yourname/your-library

Windows, Command Prompt:

set GITHUB_TOKEN=github_pat_...
stm32-installer yourname/your-library

Linux and macOS:

export GITHUB_TOKEN=github_pat_...
stm32-installer yourname/your-library

A fine-grained token is enough. On GitHub, under Settings, Developer settings, Personal access tokens, Fine-grained tokens, give it the repository and Contents read-only. If you use the gh command, gh auth token prints the token you are signed in with, and GH_TOKEN works as well as GITHUB_TOKEN.

The token is read from the environment only, never from the command line, where it would stay in your shell's history. It is sent to GitHub and nowhere else.

What to install

The argument can be any of these, and you can give several at once:

A bare name like example means nimaltd/example on GitHub, unless a folder of that name exists where you run it, in which case the folder is used. A path that does not exist is reported as missing rather than looked up on GitHub, so a typo in D:/Downloads/... gets a straight answer.

The zip does not need unpacking first. If you did unpack it with Windows' Extract All, which puts example-main inside another example-main, either folder works. A repository still on master gives example-master, which works the same.

Options

--ref holds a project on one release, which is useful when you need exactly what you built with last time:

stm32-installer nimaltd/example --ref v2.0.0         # a tag
stm32-installer nimaltd/example --ref develop        # a branch
stm32-installer nimaltd/example --ref 00949e695e16   # an exact commit

Where the files go

From GitHub, from a zip, or from a folder outside your project, the files the library's library.yml lists are copied into a folder of your project. Nothing else comes with them, so the library's tests never reach your build. The zip or folder you gave is left exactly as it was.

A folder already inside your project becomes the library where it stands. The header and source move to its top, your config file is created, and everything that belongs to the repository rather than your firmware is removed from it, the test folder above all. --dir does not apply here, since the folder is already where it is going. Rename it first if you want it called something else.

The folder question

Without --dir, you are asked where the library should go:

Folder to install example into [example]:

Press Enter for the default: the library's name, or the folder it is already in when this is an update. In a script or on a build server, where nobody is there to answer, the default is taken without asking, rather than waiting for ever.

Updating a library

Run the same command again. Every file of the library is replaced, so an update updates, and a library you broke by accident is put right. What you wrote between USER CODE BEGIN and USER CODE END is kept, the way STM32CubeMX keeps your code when it generates again:

/* USER CODE BEGIN EXAMPLE_CONFIGURATION */
#define EXAMPLE_SIZE  32
/* USER CODE END EXAMPLE_CONFIGURATION */

Files
  written example/example.h
  written example/example_config.h
  written example/example.c
  kept    example/example_config.h  your USER CODE EXAMPLE_CONFIGURATION

This was an update. The library replaced, what was yours kept.

Put your settings, and anything else you add to a library file, inside those sections. Outside them, the next install replaces it. When that would lose something of yours, the file as it was is saved beside it first, and the report says why:

  saved   example/example.c.20261006-165940.bak  it was changed outside its USER CODE sections

That happens when you edited the library outside a section, when its markers no longer pair, or when the new version no longer has a section you had written in. Take what you need from the .bak file, then delete it. A file nobody touched is left as it is, so your build does not compile it again for nothing.

When a new version keeps its files somewhere else, say in src/, the update moves your project along with it. Your example_config.h goes where the new version looks for it, with your settings still in it, rather than a fresh default turning up next to the header. Files the old version installed and the new one no longer has are removed, so an old example.c cannot end up compiled beside the new one. Keil, IAR and the Makefile are pointed at the new places, and a file the library gained joins its group there. Anything you put in the library's folder yourself is left alone.

Files
  written example/src/example.h
  written example/src/example.c
  moved   example/example_config.h -> example/src/example_config.h  yours, kept as it was
  removed example/example.h  no longer part of the library
  removed example/example.c  no longer part of the library

A library that needs another

Some libraries build on another one, such as osal for the RTOS. You install only the one you want, and what it needs goes in first:

example 2.0.0 needs osal >= 1.0.0, which is not in this project. Installing osal first.
...
Done. #include "osal.h" and you are away.
...
Done. #include "example.h" and you are away.

You are asked for its folder like any library. Install a second library that needs osal, and the one already in your project is used:

spif 3.0.0 needs osal >= 1.0.0. osal 1.0.0 is already in this project, kept.

Nothing is asked about it then. If a library needs a newer osal than the one you have, it is updated where it is, and your osal_config.h is kept as always. Everything is fetched before anything is installed, so when a library cannot be had, your project is left as it was.

What you see

A first install from a downloaded zip, into a CubeMX project that builds with both CMake and STM32CubeIDE:

Reading example-main.zip ...

example 2.0.0
What this library does, in one line
middleware / system

Files
  written example/example.h
  written example/example.c
  written example/LICENSE.md
  written example/NOTICE
  written example/README.md
  created example/example_config.h  yours to edit

Project
  updated CMake  Added example to CMakeLists.txt, linked to ${CMAKE_PROJECT_NAME}.
          backup: CMakeLists.txt.20260923-193649.bak
  updated STM32CubeIDE  Added example to the include path and source folders in .cproject.
          Refresh the project in CubeIDE (F5) so it picks up the new files.
          backup: .cproject.20260923-193649.bak

Done. #include "example.h" and you are away.

The first line says where the library came from: Fetching nimaltd/example ... from GitHub, Reading ... from a zip or a folder.

What it does for you

Finds your IDE and wires the library in. CMake, STM32CubeIDE, Keil MDK, IAR and CubeMX's Makefile are all handled, and a project can be more than one of them at once.

CubeMX can write its Makefile again when it generates code, and the library's lines go with it. Run the installer again after that and they are back.

Never loses your settings. What you write inside USER CODE BEGIN and USER CODE END survives every install. Reinstall as often as you like: the library is replaced, your sections are not, and anything else of yours that would be lost is saved to a .bak file first.

Leaves the file looking like you wrote it. An added line copies the indentation, the line ending and the path separator of the lines around it. These files go into version control, so a correct edit that shows up as a whole file diff is still a bad edit.

Keeps your CMakeLists.txt short. Your project gets two lines that never change, and the library's file list lives with the library:

# >>> stm32-installer: example >>>
add_subdirectory(example)
target_link_libraries(${CMAKE_PROJECT_NAME} PRIVATE example_lib)
# <<< stm32-installer: example <<<

The target is called example_lib rather than example, because a project is often named after the library being tried out in it and CMake allows only one target per name. The PRIVATE keyword is dropped when your project links its libraries without one, since CMake refuses to mix the two forms.

The generated example/CMakeLists.txt declares an INTERFACE target, not a STATIC one. That matters: an INTERFACE target hands its sources to whoever links it, so they are compiled as part of your application and inherit its defines and include paths. That is what lets a driver's .c file find main.h and the HAL headers. A STATIC library would not see them and would fail to compile.

Backs up before editing. Every project file is copied to a timestamped .bak first. If the file is not one it recognises, it changes nothing and prints what to click instead.

Edits the project, not a copy of it. IAR leaves a Backup of <name>.ewp beside the real project when it upgrades one, and that copy is a valid project file whose name sorts first. The workspace file is asked which project is the real one, and backups are skipped.

Keeps the repository out of your build. CubeIDE compiles every .c under your project, and a library repository ships a test suite with its own main(). Left in place, that breaks your build with an error that points nowhere useful. So only the listed files are copied, and a repository that sits inside your project has everything else removed from it.

Tells you what the library needs. It reads your stm32xxxx_hal_conf.h and .ioc and warns before you hit a confusing compile error:

Requirements
  check   HAL SPI module is not enabled
          Uncomment HAL_SPI_MODULE_ENABLED in stm32f4xx_hal_conf.h
  ok      GPIO is configured
  check   This library needs an RTOS and none was found
          It expects freertos. Enable it in CubeMX under Middleware.

It cannot switch a peripheral on for you. The .ioc belongs to CubeMX, and editing it behind CubeMX's back goes wrong quietly.

For someone writing a library

Put a library.yml at the root of the repository.

name: example
description: What this library does, in one line
repository: https://github.com/nimaltd/example
license: Apache-2.0

kind: middleware        # driver, middleware, rtos, protocol, filesystem, utility, bsp
category: system        # sensor, storage, display, communication, wireless,
                        # rtos, timing, power, input, math, system

provides: []            # what this gives other libraries. An RTOS says [rtos]

requires:
  installer: 1.1.0      # the oldest stm32-installer that reads this file
  libraries: []         # other libraries this one needs, like [osal >= 1.0.0]
  hal: true
  cmsis: true
  rtos: none            # none, optional, any, freertos, cmsis-os2, threadx
  hal_modules: [spi]    # must be enabled in stm32xxxx_hal_conf.h
  peripherals:
    - type: spi
      count: 1
      note: Master mode, 8 bit
  c_standard: c11

install:
  layout: mirror        # mirror keeps the repository's own folders, so the
                        # code lands in src/ just as it sits here. flat (the
                        # default) puts every file at the top of the folder.

files:
  headers:
    - src/example.h           # listed first: the one "#include" is printed for
    - src/port/*.h            # a wildcard, matched the way a shell would
  sources:
    - src/example.c
    - from: src/port/spi.c    # a file can say exactly where it goes, which
      to: port/spi.c          # overrides the layout for that one file

once:                   # older libraries only: copied once, then the user's.
  - from: src/example_port.c  # USER CODE sections, below, replace this
    to: my_port.c             # "to" only when the name should change

extras:                 # copied as they are, no compiling
  - LICENSE.md          # LICENSE.md and NOTICE are the default, so this
  - NOTICE              # section can be left out entirely
  - README.md
  - docs                # a folder, copied whole and keeping its shape

There is no version in it. The installer reads the version from the @version tag in the file comment of the first header listed, so it is written in the code and nowhere else:

/**
 * @file        example.h
 * @version     2.0.0
 */

requires.installer is the oldest stm32-installer that reads the file correctly. It is checked before anything else in the file is read, so when a manifest starts using something only a newer installer understands, raising this makes an older one stop with a message saying to update, rather than read the file wrongly without a word. Write it as three numbers, 1.1.0: unquoted, YAML reads 1.10 as the decimal number 1.1, and that is refused.

requires.libraries lists the libraries yours needs, each as its name, or its name with the oldest version that will do:

requires:
  installer: 1.5.0      # the first that installs them, rather than only naming them
  libraries:
    - osal >= 1.0.0     # a NimaLTD library, from github.com/nimaltd/osal
    - someone/lib       # anyone else's, by owner and name

What is missing or older than that goes in first, from its main, or its master when it has no main. What is already in the project at a version that will do is left alone. An installer older than 1.5.0 only names them at the end and installs nothing, which is why requires.installer goes up with the first library that lists any.

USER CODE sections

Mark what the user is meant to change, the way STM32CubeMX marks its generated files. A configuration header, for instance, lists like any other header and carries its settings in a section:

/* USER CODE BEGIN EXAMPLE_CONFIGURATION */
#define EXAMPLE_SIZE  8
/* USER CODE END EXAMPLE_CONFIGURATION */

Every install copies all the library's files again and carries each section's text from the user's copy into the section of the same name. So keep a section's name from one version to the next. A section a new version adds starts with what you ship in it, and what is inside a section is never changed by an update, defaults included. Each name is one word, used once per file. Markers that do not pair, a BEGIN with no END or one inside another, stop the install before anything is written.

A library that moves a file from once into files this way must say requires.installer: 1.7.0. An older installer replaces the file without keeping its sections, and the user's settings would be lost.

once

A file listed under once is copied only when it is missing, so the user's own edits survive every update. Libraries released before 1.7.0 use it, and it still works the same. It keeps its own name unless you give it a to, and it lands at the top of the library's folder whatever the layout. With mirror, give a configuration header a to that puts it beside the header including it, as above. At the top, the include path the layout gives would not reach it.

The key says what happens rather than what the file is. It is usually a configuration header, but the same rule fits a port layer someone fills in, or a table they tune: anything that is the library's to start and theirs from then on.

One catch worth knowing: #include "x.h" searches the including file's own folder before any include path, so a config sitting beside the header that includes it will always win. That is fine when the library's tests use the same config, and it is why the tests in these libraries are written against EXAMPLE_MAX_TASKS rather than a fixed number.

The include path follows the layout on its own: flat gives the library folder, mirror gives wherever the headers landed. Add install.include_dirs only when that guess is wrong.

Three things about this that are easy to get wrong:

A .c template is a source. If you ship a port layer as src/example_port.c that lands as my_port.c, it is added to the build like any other source. Leaving it out would fail at link time with undefined references and no clue why.

kind: rtos implies provides: [rtos]. A library that is an operating system satisfies another library's RTOS requirement, whether or not you remembered to write it down.

LICENSE.md and NOTICE travel with the code. The Apache licence requires it, and the NOTICE file is what carries your attribution into someone else's product. They are never removed during cleanup.

That is everything the repository needs. There is no installer script to copy in: put the install lines from the top of this page in your README, with your library's name in them.

Running the tests

python test/run_tests.py

Support

I write these tools and libraries in my own time and give them away, because good tools should be easy to get. If this one saved you an afternoon, there are two things that genuinely help:

Star the repo. It costs you one click, it helps other engineers find the tool, and it is the main reason I keep going.

Buy me a coffee on Ko-fi. Any amount is a real motivation to keep writing, documenting and maintaining this work.

License

Apache License 2.0. See LICENSE.