Documentation paths not correct for testing repo in IDE

[scottchiefbaker]

I see esptool version 2.6.0 has been in the tree since October. This version offers a lot of improvements over previous esptool versions. Most namely that it supports compression of images on the fly. This greatly increases upload speed, and would really help my workflow.

I've attempted to follow the instructions from the README but I don't think they're correct. On Linux the various packages are stored in ~/.arduino15/packages not ~/arduino.

Following the instructions from the README I end up with ~/.arduino15/packages/hardware/esp8266com/esp8266/ which should probably just be ~/.arduino15/packages/esp8266/hardware? Before I go too far down the rabbit hole am I on the right track?

[scottchiefbaker]

If I install the official release from the IDE I get:

~/.arduino15/packages/esp8266/hardware
~/.arduino15/packages/esp8266/tools

I'm assuming if I clone this repo it should go in to hardware and then I download the tools via the python script to tools?

[oddstr13]

You should clone this repo into your arduino sketch folder, under hardware - not where the boards manager installs the packages.

[devyte]

No, you're not on the right track. The instructions are correct, the ~/.arduino15 dir is different. When you install git, the correct place is ~/arduino, or whatever dir you specify in the IDE preferences (I personally have ~/workspace/arduino).

My own setup is as follows (in case anyone reading this is interested in an alternate setup):

• in the above dir, I have the dir structure shown in the instructions: ~/workspace/arduino/hardware/esp8266com
• I forked the repo from the webpage to have my own copy
• I cloned this main repo into ~/workspace/Arduino.esp8266
• I cloned my forked repo into ~/workspace/Arduino.devyte
• I created a symlink inside esp8266com called esp8266 that points to one of the two above.
  For official business and testing:

cd ~/workspace/arduino/hardware/esp8266com
symlink -s ../../../Arduino.esp8266 esp8266

For messing around with my own fork, or making PRs:

cd ~/workspace/arduino/hardware/esp8266com
rm esp8266
symlink -s ../../../Arduino.devyte esp8266

In other words, I can switch between the two.
That's advanced (and paranoid) usage, though, it's probably enough for you to just clone directly into esp8266com/esp8266, as explained in the git instructions (basic).

Closing as not an issue.

[scottchiefbaker]

Ah OK this makes a lot more sense. I have the repo working and recognized by Arduino now. When I attempt to upload to my 8266 the upload.py I get an error:

Error in command line, need pyserial path as 1st arg and esptool path as 2nd.

When I check the /esptool and /pyserial directories they're totally empty? Even after running get.py.

I think there is room for some cleanup on the documentation. I'll be happy to whip up a PR after I get this working 100%.

[scottchiefbaker]

Oh I see /esptool and /pyserial are sub-modules. I just submitted a pull-request (#5816) to clarify this.