build-properties are only usable for compiler flags, not for the general case

[jackjansen]

I'm trying to pass build.partition=no_ota to arduino-cli (so that my sketch compiles and links correctly: it uses HTTPS and BLE, so the resultant binary is too big to fit into the available Flash otherwise).

But the command line generated by arduino-test-compile is

arduino-cli compile --verbose --warnings all --fqbn esp32:esp32:lolin32  --build-properties compiler.cpp.extra_flags="build.partition=no_ota" --build-properties compiler.c.extra_flags="build.partition=no_ota" --build-properties compiler.S.extra_flags="build.partition=no_ota" /home/runner/iotsaDMXSensor

So this works fine (and is actually quite convenient) for compiler flags, and solely for such parameters it is used in the documentation indeed.

Is there a way to pass general --build-properties flags?

[ArminJo]

can arduino-cli recogniize the parameter build.partition=no_ota
What is the commandline you want to have generated

[jackjansen]

The --build-properties accepts any dotted.name=value and simply overrides those settings. So by passing, say, compiler.cpp.extra_flags=-blabla you will pass the -blabla option to cpp. But by setting build.partition=no_ota you will set that value so it's going to be passed to (I think) the linker driver or the elf-to-binary-converter or whatever.

For my use case I could revert to not using arduino-test-compile but in stead use manual steps with arduino-cli invocations, but that would be a bit of a shame, I really like the convenience of arduino-test-compile for many cases.

If this turns out to be difficult my suggestion is that you at least update the documentation to state that you can basically only pass -D and -U options through build-properties...

[ArminJo]

I fear I did not get it.
What is the commandline you want to have generated?

[jackjansen]

Sorry, I wasn't clear. For this specific use case, I would need

arduino-cli compile --verbose --warnings all --fqbn esp32:esp32:lolin32  --build-properties "build.partition=no_ota"  /home/runner/iotsaDMXSensor

[jackjansen]

Actually, now that I think of it there are more arduino-cli arguments that may be useful in specific circumstances. Maybe if you add a parameter extra-arduino-cli-args that you just pass verbatim to the command line that would be useful.

[ArminJo]

Maybe if you add a parameter extra-arduino-cli-args that you just pass verbatim to the command line that would be useful.

Good idea, but what is about the double quotes? are they required around "build.partition=no_ota"

[per1234]

There is some information here that might be of interest:
arduino/arduino-cli#1044

• Deprecation of the --build-properties flag in favor of the new --build-property flag
• Handling of quotes.

[ArminJo]

* Deprecation of the `--build-properties` flag in favor of the new `--build-property` flag

Already done, thanks!!!

* Handling of quotes.

Thanks again, I was not aware of 👍

[ArminJo]

@jackjansen
Please check the latest version. Your extra-arduino-cli-args is implemented 😀
Maybe you must test quotes or escaping quotes with \" to get it working.
Please give me feedback. I would like to add a meaningful and working example for this parameter.

[jackjansen]

It works, thanks!

A meaningful example would probably be specifically this use case: setting the partition table for esp8266/esp32 builds.

Here's a quick cut-and-paste from my iotsaDMXSensor repo (https://github.com/cwi-dis/iotsaDMXSensor/commits/0d228e4e6c53e89317436bd4e64d1abf97352d5b/.github/workflows/build-arduino.yml):

    strategy:
      matrix:
        arduino-board-fqbn:
        - esp32:esp32:lolin32
        include:
          - arduino-boards-fqbn: esp32:esp32:lolin32
            extra-arduino-cli-args: "--build-property build.partitions=no_ota --build-property upload.maximum_size=2097152"
    ...
    steps:
    - name: Arduino build
      uses: ArminJo/arduino-test-compile@2e04e8c
      with:
        ...
        arduino-board-fqbn: ${{ matrix.arduino-board-fqbn }}
        extra-arduino-cli-args: ${{ matrix.extra-arduino-cli-args }}

This will tell arduino-cli to do the lolin32 build for what the Arduino IDE calls Tools -> Partition Scheme -> No OTA (Large APP).

[ArminJo]

Thanks, I included it in the Readme 👍

[per1234]

A meaningful example would probably be specifically this use case: setting the partition table for esp8266/esp32 builds.

@jackjansen this is a fragile and unnecessarily complex approach. The right way to do it is by setting the PartitionScheme board option via the FQBN:

arduino-boards-fqbn: esp32:esp32:lolin32:PartitionScheme=no_ota

See this documentation for details:
https://arduino.github.io/arduino-cli/latest/platform-specification/#custom-board-options