1.8.3 malformed SAMD custom board config breaks arduino-cli

[stonehippo]

The currently released version (1.8.3) fails to parse correctly when used with Arduino-cli. For example, when listing boards with arduino-clo board list and the Sparkfun board definitions installed, the following error occurs:

Error initializing instance: loading platform release SparkFun:samd@1.8.3: loading boards: skipping loading of boards SparkFun:samd:samd51_thing_plus, SparkFun:samd:micromod_samd51: malformed custom board options

The fix for this is to add menu.cache=Cache to the boards.txt file. This change has already been made in the repo, but it looks like it’s not yet released.

Any details on the release of 1.8.4?

[bxparks]

Which Board Manager URL are you using?

I think the current URL in the README.md is obsolete:
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sparkfun/Arduino_Boards/master/IDE_Board_Manager/package_sparkfun_index.json

You might try using the secret new URL (note master -> main below, I have no recollection where I got this):
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sparkfun/Arduino_Boards/main/IDE_Board_Manager/package_sparkfun_index.json

That gives me 1.8.4 in the Board Manager, but I'm not sure if it is actually released for not. I get no notifications on the Release Notifications for this GitHub repo, and I don't see any Release artifacts either.

[stonehippo]

Ah! That's it. The repo switched to the main branch convention, and that switched the URL. Resolved, and thanks!

[stonehippo]

I have submitted #91 to update to the new board manager JSON URL (main), since the old one (master) is a cached version that won’t be getting any further updates.