IDF Docker Image
IDF Docker image (espressif/idf
) is intended for building applications and libraries with specific versions of ESP-IDF when doing automated builds.
The image contains:
Common utilities such as
git
,wget
,curl
, andzip
.Python 3.8 or newer.
A copy of a specific version of ESP-IDF. See below for information about versions.
IDF_PATH
environment variable is set and points to the ESP-IDF location in the container.All the build tools required for the specific version of ESP-IDF: CMake, Ninja, cross-compiler toolchains, etc.
All Python packages required by ESP-IDF are installed in a virtual environment.
The image ENTRYPOINT
sets up the PATH
environment variable to point to the correct version of tools, and activates the Python virtual environment. As a result, the environment is ready to use the ESP-IDF build system.
The image can also be used as a base for custom images, if additional utilities are required.
Usage
Setting up Docker
Before using the espressif/idf
Docker image locally, make sure you have Docker installed. Follow the instructions at https://docs.docker.com/install/, if it is not installed yet.
If using the image in a CI environment, consult the documentation of your CI service on how to specify the image used for the build process.
Building a Project with CMake
In the project directory, run:
docker run --rm -v $PWD:/project -w /project -u $UID -e HOME=/tmp espressif/idf idf.py build
The above command explained:
docker run
: runs a Docker image. It is a shorter form of the commanddocker container run
.--rm
: removes the container when the build is finished.-v $PWD:/project
: mounts the current directory on the host ($PWD
) as/project
directory in the container.-w /project
: makes/project
the working directory for the command.-u $UID
: makes the command run with your user ID so that files are created as you (instead of root).-e HOME=/tmp
: gives the user a home directory for storing temporary files created byidf.py
in~/.cache
.espressif/idf
: uses Docker imageespressif/idf
with taglatest
. Thelatest
tag is implicitly added by Docker when no tag is specified.idf.py build
: runs this command inside the container.
Note
When the mounted directory, /project
, contains a git repository owned by a different user (UID
) than the one running the Docker container, git commands executed within /project
might fail, displaying an error message fatal: detected dubious ownership in repository at '/project'
. To resolve this issue, you can designate the /project
directory as safe by setting the IDF_GIT_SAFE_DIR environment variable during the Docker container startup. For instance, you can achieve this by including -e IDF_GIT_SAFE_DIR='/project'
as a parameter. Additionally, multiple directories can be specified by using a :
separator. To entirely disable this git security check, *
can be used.
To build with a specific Docker image tag, specify it as espressif/idf:TAG
, for example:
docker run --rm -v $PWD:/project -w /project -u $UID -e HOME=/tmp espressif/idf:release-v4.4 idf.py build
You can check the up-to-date list of available tags at https://hub.docker.com/r/espressif/idf/tags.
Using the Image Interactively
It is also possible to do builds interactively, to debug build issues or test the automated build scripts. Start the container with -i -t
flags:
docker run --rm -v $PWD:/project -w /project -u $UID -e HOME=/tmp -it espressif/idf
Then inside the container, use idf.py
as usual:
idf.py menuconfig
idf.py build
Note
Commands which communicate with the development board, such as idf.py flash
and idf.py monitor
does not work in the container, unless the serial port is passed through into the container. This can be done with Docker for Linux with the device option. However, currently, this is not possible with Docker for Windows (https://github.com/docker/for-win/issues/1018) and Docker for Mac (https://github.com/docker/for-mac/issues/900). This limitation may be overcome by using remote serial ports. An example of how to do this can be found in the following using remote serial port section.
Using Remote Serial Port
The RFC2217 (Telnet) protocol can be used to remotely connect to a serial port. For more information please see the remote serial ports documentation in the ESP tool project. This method can also be used to access the serial port inside a Docker container if it cannot be accessed directly. Following is an example of how to use the Flash command from within a Docker container.
On host install and start esp_rfc2217_server
:
On Windows, the package is available as a one-file bundled executable created by
pyinstaller
and it can be downloaded from the esptool releases page in a ZIP archive along with other ESP tool utilities:
esp_rfc2217_server -v -p 4000 COM3
On Linux or macOS, the package is available as part of
esptool
, which can be found in the ESP-IDF environment or by installing usingpip
:
pip install esptool
And then starting the server by executing
esp_rfc2217_server.py -v -p 4000 /dev/ttyUSB0
Now the device attached to the host can be flashed from inside a Docker container by using:
docker run --rm -v <host_path>:/<container_path> -w /<container_path> espressif/idf idf.py --port 'rfc2217://host.docker.internal:4000?ign_set_control' flash
Please make sure that <host_path>
is properly set to your project path on the host, and <container_path>
is set as a working directory inside the container with the -w
option. The host.docker.internal
is a special Docker DNS name to access the host. This can be replaced with a host IP if necessary.
Building Custom Images
The Docker file in ESP-IDF repository provides several build arguments which can be used to customize the Docker image:
IDF_CLONE_URL
: URL of the repository to clone ESP-IDF from. Can be set to a custom URL when working with a fork of ESP-IDF. The default ishttps://github.com/espressif/esp-idf.git
.IDF_CLONE_BRANCH_OR_TAG
: Name of a git branch or tag used when cloning ESP-IDF. This value is passed to thegit clone
command using the--branch
argument. The default ismaster
.IDF_CHECKOUT_REF
: If this argument is set to a non-empty value,git checkout $IDF_CHECKOUT_REF
command performs after cloning. This argument can be set to the SHA of the specific commit to check out, for example, if some specific commit on a release branch is desired.IDF_CLONE_SHALLOW
: If this argument is set to a non-empty value,--depth=1 --shallow-submodules
arguments are used when performinggit clone
. Depth can be customized usingIDF_CLONE_SHALLOW_DEPTH
. Doing a shallow clone significantly reduces the amount of data downloaded and the size of the resulting Docker image. However, if switching to a different branch in such a "shallow" repository is necessary, an additionalgit fetch origin <branch>
command must be executed first.IDF_CLONE_SHALLOW_DEPTH
: This argument specifies the depth value to use when doing a shallow clone. If not set,--depth=1
will be used. This argument has effect only ifIDF_CLONE_SHALLOW
is used. Use this argument if you are building a Docker image for a branch, and the image has to contain the latest tag on that branch. To determine the required depth, rungit describe
for the given branch and note the offset number. Increment it by 1, then use it as the value of this argument. The resulting image will contain the latest tag on the branch, and consequentlygit describe
command inside the Docker image will work as expected.IDF_INSTALL_TARGETS
: Comma-separated list of ESP-IDF targets to install toolchains for, orall
to install toolchains for all targets. Selecting specific targets reduces the amount of data downloaded and the size of the resulting Docker image. The default isall
.
To use these arguments, pass them via the --build-arg
command line option. For example, the following command builds a Docker image with a shallow clone of ESP-IDF v4.4.1 and tools for ESP32-C3 only:
docker build -t idf-custom:v4.4.1-esp32c3 \
--build-arg IDF_CLONE_BRANCH_OR_TAG=v4.4.1 \
--build-arg IDF_CLONE_SHALLOW=1 \
--build-arg IDF_INSTALL_TARGETS=esp32c3 \
tools/docker