Feature flags

The code can be substantially changed in its behaviour with compile time build flags (sometimes also refered to as feature flags).

The following keywords can be used in the platform.ini file as in the following example line:

build_flags = -DANABRID_DEBUG_INIT -DANABRID_UNSAFE_INTERNET -DANABRID_SKIP_DHCP

On this page is a list of all keywords used so far. Note that all our flags are prepended with ANABRID_ in order to distinguish them for instance from PlatformIO flags (PIO_...) or flags related to third party libraries.

Note

PlatformIO recompiles the complete code base if it detects a change in the platform.ini. If you want to go sure, you can also run pio run -t clean manually.

Note

If you are not familiar with C style preprocessor macros: -DFOOBAR means basically the same as #define FOOBAR within the code, but available in all compile units. Do not be confused by the -D prefix. Furthermore, do not be confused that putting a single #define FOOBAR in a single compile unit (i.e. some file_a.cpp) even at the top will not be sufficient to have that definition to be available in any other compilation unit, such as when compiling file_b.cpp. Therefore, compile time build flags should only be defined centrally, i.e. within the platform.ini file.

Flags related to turning on/off networking features

Using these flags makes the system ignore whatever is currently set by the Permanent Settings. When calling a reset on the permanent settings, the presence of this flags determines the permanent settings. Otherwise, the permanent settings and these flags do not touch.

ANABRID_UNSAFE_INTERNET (Equivalent setting: auth::Gatekeeper::enable_auth)

Disables all authentification mechanisms in the code. Firmware images built this way will treat any ingoing connection with admin privileges. This can be very practical in situations which are known to be safe or when you don’t care about the microcontroller security at all.

ANABRID_SKIP_DHCP (Equivalent setting: net::StartupConfig::enable_dhcp)

Skips to build the DHCP client at startup. Use this if you want to enforce using static IPv4.

ANABRID_SKIP_ETHERNET (Equivalent setting: net::StartupConfig::enable_ethernet)

Skips ethernet setup at startup. Use this if you have problems with the Ethernet you cannot otherwise solve.

Flags related to loading code

These flags allow to generally turn on/off the availability of certain critical code which is very sensitive to IT Security aspects but also has a lot of impact about how to load new code on the microcontroller. Using these features has the possibility to make the system unstable, unreachable or un-flashable (only over OTA). If you change these flags from the default, make sure you know what you do.

Warning

If you enable the plugin system or OTA flashing without enabling the authentification system, anybody with network access can run arbitrary code on your microcontroller. That is, the combination -DANABRID_UNSAFE_INTERNET -DANABRID_ENABLE_GLOBAL_PLUGIN_LOADER and/or -DANABRID_UNSAFE_INTERNET -DANABRID_ENABLE_OTA_FLASHING is dangerous.

ANABRID_ENABLE_GLOBAL_PLUGIN_LOADER

Enables the global storage plugin loader, which reserves a few kB of precious global variable storage for the plugin feature. This option currently also enables the plugin system as-is.

ANABRID_ENABLE_OTA_FLASHING

Enables over-the-air flashing, i.e. firmware update over TCP/IP instead of traditional Teensy USB.

Flags related to shipping/vendoring

ANABRID_WRITE_EEPROM

Enables certain protocol-exposed calls for writing permanent settings on different EEPROMs (both the MCU emulated EEPROM as well as the entitiy eeproms). This is by default not enabled in release builds and used only during device manufacturing.

Flags related to debugging

ANABRID_PEDANTIC

In pedantic mode, the firmware reads some configuration written out to chips over SPI after writing. This takes more time but ensures the write out has happened correctly. We use this only for some pio tests and not in the general production code (main firmware). In the main firmware we assume that the chip communication was properly debugged and is working.

ANABRID_DEBUG

The debugging macro system is (still) the primary way to increase the logging level. It works assuming that in production code there is not much need for debugging. Next to this general flag, there exist various sub-flags to enable more debugging printing in certain sub-systems. Note that all this affects are serial console printouts.

ANABRID_DEBUG_INIT

More debugging information at startup.

ANABRID_DEBUG_DAQ

More debugging information at data aquisition.

ANABRID_DEBUG_STATE

More debugging information at FlexIO state managament.

ANABRID_DEBUG_CALIBRATION

More debugging information at self-calibration.

There might be even more ANABRID_DEBUG_... flags not covered here.