Is having 2 IDF versions installed for development possible?

[wirvine90]

Hello,

Got a question about ESP-IDF versions and whether or not it is possible to have 2 versions installed at the same time to switch between if I needed to.

I have a project at 3.3.2 and I want to update this to current stable (4.2 I believe).

I did some testing on a separate machine at version 4.2 and found that I have some errors with the new version that need to be worked out in my project.

Now that you know a little of my story, I was hoping someone could possible point me to some documentation on how to be able to switch between IDF versions.

I would like to be able on one machine just clone my 3.3.2 to a new project, switch IDF versions to 4.2 to work on fixing errors and testing, and switch back to work on my 3.3.2 project in the meantime if need be.

Any information would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Bill

[ESP_Sprite]

The general answer is 'yes, it's possible'. What OS are we talking about? Are you using an IDE?

[wirvine90]

Thank you for the reply!

I am on windows 10, and I am using Eclipse as my IDE currently.

[wirvine90]

Hey All,

I'm still hung up on this. Any info would be a great help.

Thanks again,
Bill

[ESP_georgik]

Yes, it's possible to have multiple installations of ESP-IDF on the same machine.
Please, use latest version of the installer. The installer will also create separate desktop links for each major release of ESP-IDF. e.g 4.1, 4.2.
You can download installer from: https://dl.espressif.com/dl/esp-idf/

You can use the installer also to fix existing installation if the link on desktop is not working. Simply start installer, pick existing IDF and run the full process to the end. After the installation you'll see links to CMD and PowerShell which will initialize correct version of ESP-IDF.

If you find any issue regarding installation or reparation process, pleas report the issue to idf-installer project https://github.com/espressif/idf-installer , we appreciate feedback.

[wirvine90]

Thank you Juraj!

You're a hero. I will go ahead and try this.

I'd buy you a beer if I could sir.

Thanks,
Bill

[Dimi_Island]

Hi,
I have SDK-Idf 4.2 version installed on Windows 10 and it works fine. When I went to install version 3.3.3 in the last command line inside MINGw32:
python -m pip install –user -r $IDF_PATH/requirements.txt
Generates this error below:

Code: Select all

DEPRECATION: Python 2.7 will reach the end of its life on January 1st, 2020. Please upgrade your Python as Python 2.7 won't be maintained after that date. The future version of pip will drop support for Python 2.7.
ERROR: Invalid requirement: '▒user'

Even if I installed Python 3.10.1 64 bits for Windows 10 I still get this error.
Can you help me please?
Thank you very much for your invaluable help.
Dimi_Island from Brazil

[leschge]

I have installed the Espressif-IDE 2.4.2 with ESP-IDF v4.4, how can I add the upcoming 5.0 version?

I downloaded the latest v5.0-dev tag into C:\Espressif\frameworks next to the esp-idf-v4.4 folder and hoped to find a setting in the IDF to switch between the two installed versions. But I could not find one.
Otherwise is it possible to switch between versions via git commands?

Edit: I can change the version under Espressif -> Download and Configure ESP-IDF.
However when trying to build with the v4.4.1 or 5.0 I get the following error.

Code: Select all

[2/6] Performing configure step for 'bootloader'
FAILED: bootloader-prefix/src/bootloader-stamp/bootloader-configure 
cmd.exe /C "cd /D C:\Users\ddufner\Documents\esp\workspace_test1\https_request\build\bootloader && C:\Espressif\tools\cmake\3.20.3\bin\cmake.exe -DSDKCONFIG=C:/Users/ddufner/Documents/esp/workspace_test1/https_request/sdkconfig -DIDF_PATH=C:/Espressif/frameworks/esp-idf-v4.4 -DIDF_TARGET=esp32 -DPYTHON_DEPS_CHECKED=1 -DPYTHON=python -DEXTRA_COMPONENT_DIRS=C:/Espressif/frameworks/esp-idf-v4.4/components/bootloader -DPROJECT_SOURCE_DIR=C:/Users/ddufner/Documents/esp/workspace_test1/https_request -DLEGACY_INCLUDE_COMMON_HEADERS= -GNinja C:/Espressif/frameworks/esp-idf-v4.4/components/bootloader/subproject && C:\Espressif\tools\cmake\3.20.3\bin\cmake.exe -E touch C:/Users/ddufner/Documents/esp/workspace_test1/https_request/build/bootloader-prefix/src/bootloader-stamp/bootloader-configure"
CMake Warning at C:/Espressif/frameworks/esp-idf-v4.4/tools/cmake/idf.cmake:18 (message):
  IDF_PATH environment variable is different from inferred IDF_PATH.

                              Check if your project's top-level CMakeLists.txt includes the right
                              CMake files. Environment IDF_PATH will be used for the build:
                              C:/Espressif/frameworks/esp-idf-v4.4.1
Call Stack (most recent call first):
  C:/Espressif/frameworks/esp-idf-v4.4/tools/cmake/project.cmake:12 (include)
  CMakeLists.txt:52 (include)


-- Building ESP-IDF components for target esp32
-- Project sdkconfig file C:/Users/ddufner/Documents/esp/workspace_test1/https_request/sdkconfig
CMake Error at C:/Espressif/frameworks/esp-idf-v4.4.1/tools/cmake/crosstool_version_check.cmake:37 (message):
  

  Toolchain:
  C:/Espressif/tools/xtensa-esp32-elf/esp-2021r2-patch2-8.4.0/xtensa-esp32-elf/bin/xtensa-esp32-elf-gcc.exe,
  crosstool-ng version esp-2021r2-patch2 doesn't match supported version
  esp-2021r2-patch3

  Please try to run 'idf.py fullclean' to solve it quickly.

  Check Getting Started documentation if the error continues.

  You can override this error and proceed with build by defining the
  IDF_MAINTAINER environment variable.

Call Stack (most recent call first):
  C:/Espressif/frameworks/esp-idf-v4.4.1/components/esp_common/project_include.cmake:7 (crosstool_version_check)
  C:/Espressif/frameworks/esp-idf-v4.4.1/tools/cmake/build.cmake:324 (include)
  C:/Espressif/frameworks/esp-idf-v4.4.1/tools/cmake/build.cmake:537 (__build_process_project_includes)
  C:/Espressif/frameworks/esp-idf-v4.4/tools/cmake/project.cmake:378 (idf_build_process)
  CMakeLists.txt:59 (project)

[xenpac]

I just re-activated an older PC running WIN7: Windows 7 Ultimate Version 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 Build 7601, for my devel work.
It got powershell:
CLRVersion 2.0.50727.8805
BuildVersion 6.1.7601.17514
PSVersion 2.0
WSManStackVersion 2.0
PSCompatibleVersions {1.0, 2.0}
SerializationVersion 1.1.0.1
PSRemotingProtocolVersion 2.1

I needed to update KB2999226 and KB3063858.
Also installed:
https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.8.9 ... -amd64.exe
and Git.

I know, win7 is not supported any more, but hey give it a try.

After running the installer (succeed;) it created a powershell shortcut.
using it, didnt succeed in build an app, but worked with cmd.exe .

So yeah, this powershell V2.0 seems to be too old.
But using the cmd shell works fine.

I just work on command-line, no IDE.

I also have some older IDF 3.3 projects.

My guess is, that all tools and python etc is stored under the "espressif" folder, and NOT under the USER dir.
Which i like.

So adding more Versions to the environment would mean to run the web-installer again and select a different IDF version.
This would install another espressif/frameworks/subdir_idf with the idf version, and also another cmd.exe shortcut on the desctop.

So you can choose which version you want to use by clicking on the wanted cmd-shortcut to get the desired environment.

Is this really working?

[xenpac]

So yes, its working.
just installed 4.2 and then 4.4.2.
creating each a cmd-shortcut.

( i start liking windows;)

compiles fine, even in parallel. i used an example project.

Some observations:

if you re-run the installer to modify your installation, make sure u select "existing idf" with path to esp-idf-version.
otherwise it will extract the existing zip file again to another subdir, which you dont want.

This should be fixed by checking existing installation beforehand by the installer.

Another thing i observed:
if you select a specific target, like select esp32, it will only install compilers for esp32, which is fine.
However, when you start your session by clicking the cmd-shortcut, the "export" will always assume you must have ALL compilers installed.
It eventually fails to succeed then.
This must be fixed by identifying a target selection.