Does ESP32 need to be waiting in bootloader for parttool.py to work?

[jsam589]

Hi - I am using IDF v4.0-beta1 and trying to get familiar with using parttool.py. I have a good load that I have created with custom partition CSV table. When I try to use example commands from documentation page, I usually don't get a response from the device. I have tried to just get partition size info per the example. When I type the command, I don't get a response until I reset the board into bootloader mode, then I get the response.

parttool.py -p "/dev/ttyUSB0" get_partition_info -t data -s phy --info size
0x1000

Mostly, the command line just waits, but sometimes some errors will finally appear, such as this:

parttool.py -p "/dev/ttyUSB0" get_partition_info -n dump
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/home/sensorscall/ESP40/idf_40b1_z/esp-idf/components/partition_table/parttool.py", line 338, in <module>
main()
File "/home/sensorscall/ESP40/idf_40b1_z/esp-idf/components/partition_table/parttool.py", line 334, in main
op(**common_args)
File "/home/sensorscall/ESP40/idf_40b1_z/esp-idf/components/partition_table/parttool.py", line 204, in _get_partition_info
for i in info:
TypeError: 'NoneType' object is not iterable

So, what state should the ESP32 have in order for the parttool.py to work smoothly?

Thanks!