1. Software requirements

A quick reference table is included in the Tool & Dependency overview section of this document.

1.1. Supported build environments

TF-M officially supports a limited set of build environments and setups. In this context, official support means that the environments listed below are actively used by team members and active developers hence users should be able to recreate the same configurations by following the instructions described below. In case of problems, the TF-M team provides support only for these environments, but building in other environments can still be possible.

The following environments are supported:

  • Ubuntu 18.04 x64

  • Windows 10 x64

1.2. C compilers

To compile TF-M code, at least one of the supported compiler toolchains have to be available in the build environment. The currently supported compiler versions are:

  • Arm Compiler v6.10.1+

  • GNU Arm compiler v7.3.1+

  • IAR Arm compiler v8.42.x, v8.50.x

Note

  • The Arm compilers above are provided via Keil uVision v5.25.2 or greater and Arm Development Studio 2019.1 or greater, or they can be downloaded as standalone packages from here.

  • The GNU Arm compiler can be downloaded from here. On the page select GNU Arm Embedded Toolchain: 7-2018-q2-update or an above version.

  • GNU Arm compiler version 10-2020-q4-major has an issue in CMSE support. The bug is reported in here. Select other GNU Arm compiler versions instead.

  • The IAR Arm compilers above are provided via IAR Embedded Workbench (Windows) or IAR build tools for linux. For information, see here or here.

1.3. CMake

The build-system is CMake based and supports the version 3.15 or higher.

CMake handles all external dependencies, but if you wish to alter this behaviour, see Manual dependency management

1.4. GNU make

TF-M project builds using the “Unix Makefiles” generator of CMake and thus GNU make is needed for the build.

  • On Linux please use the version available in your distribution.

  • On Windows, GNU make v3.81 or higher shall work fine.

CMake generators other than “Unix Makefiles” may work too, but are not officially supported. You may have a good luck with Ninja.

1.5. Tools for configuring and programming boards

Please follow a board secific documentation for building and programming tools.

1.6. Typical setups

This section lists steps to set-up TF-M build environment under Linux and Windows. Please also check the Exceptions and special cases chapter for any special requirements depending on the tools you are using.

The build system can generate two documents: The Reference Manual and the User Guide. Both documents can be generated in HTML and PDF format.

Note

Support for document generation in the build environment is not mandatory. Missing document generation tools will not block building the TF-M firmware.

1.6.1. Ubuntu

1.6.1.1. Setup needed tools for Ubuntu

Tools required to build sources:

  • Arm DS 2019.1 (Arm DS Ultimate Edition) or GNU Arm compiler v7.3.1+

  • Git tools v2.10.0

  • CMake (see the CMake chapter)

  • GNU Make (see the GNU make chapter)

  • SRecord v1.58 (for Musca test chip boards)

  • Python3 and the pip package manager (from Python 3.4 it’s included)

  • Python3 packages as listed in tools/requirements.txt file

Tools required to generate documentation:

  • Doxygen v1.8.0 or later - for reference manual

  • Graphviz dot v2.38.0 or later

  • PlantUML v1.2018.11 or later

  • Java runtime environment 1.8 or later (for running PlantUML)

  • LaTeX - for PDF generation only

  • PdfLaTeX - for PDF generation only

  • Python3 packages as listed in tools/requirements.txt - for user manual

Download and install the required tools:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y git curl wget build-essential libssl-dev python3 \
python3-pip doxygen graphviz default-jre doxygen-latex
mkdir ~/plantuml
curl -L http://sourceforge.net/projects/plantuml/files/plantuml.jar/download --output ~/plantuml/plantuml.jar

Clone the TF-M Sources (see docs/getting_started/tfm_build_instruction:Getting the source-code), then

pip3 install --upgrade pip
cd trusted-firmware-m
pip3 install -r tools/requirements.txt

Finally, install C compiler (see C compilers), CMake (see CMake) and SRecord as required.

1.6.1.2. Setup environment variables for Ubuntu

To import CMake in your bash shell console:

export PATH=<CMake path>/bin:$PATH

To import Arm Compiler v6.13 in your bash shell console:

export PATH=<ARM_DS_PATH>/sw/ARMCompiler6.13/bin:$PATH
export ARM_TOOL_VARIANT=ult
export ARM_PRODUCT_PATH=<ARM_DS_PATH>/sw/mappings
export ARMLMD_LICENSE_FILE=<LICENSE_FILE_PATH>

To import GNU Arm in your bash shell console:

export PATH=<bash path>/bin:$PATH

To import IAR Arm compiler in your bash shell console:

export PATH=<IAR compiler path>/bin:$PATH

To import PLATUML:

export PLANTUML_JAR_PATH=~/plantuml/plantuml.jar

1.6.2. Windows

1.6.2.1. Setup needed tools for Windows

Tools required to build sources:

Tools required to generate documentation:

  • Doxygen v1.8.0 or later - for reference manual

  • Graphviz dot v2.38.0 or later

  • PlantUML v1.2018.11 or later

  • The Java runtime 1.8 or later (for running PlantUML) is part of the Arm DS installation or can be downloaded from here

  • LaTeX - for PDF generation only

  • PdfLaTeX - for PDF generation only

  • MikTeX - for PDF generation only

  • Python3 packages as listed in tools/requirements.txt - for user manual

Download and install the required tools from above.

Clone the TF-M Sources (see docs/getting_started/tfm_build_instruction:Getting the source-code), then

cd trusted-firmware-m
pip install -r tools\requirements.txt

Finally, install C compiler (see C compilers), CMake (see CMake) and SRecord as required.

1.6.2.2. Setup environment variables for Windows

Set the environment variables, assuming that:

  • CMake, doxygen, dot, and MikTeX binaries are available on the PATH.

  • Java JVM is used from Arm DS installation.

  • plantuml.jar is available at c:\plantuml\plantuml.jar

To import CMake to your PATH variable:

set PATH=<CMake_Path>\bin;$PATH

To import PLATUML:

set PLANTUML_JAR_PATH=<plantuml_Path>\plantuml.jar

To set PATH for ARMDS:

set PATH=$PATH;<ARM_DS_PATH>\sw\java\bin

There are several configurations depending on a toolset you are using. The typical cases are listed below.

Armclang + Arm DS

set PATH=<ARM_DS_PATH>\sw\ARMCompiler6.13\bin;$PATH
set ARM_PRODUCT_PATH=<ARM_DS_PATH>\sw\mappings
set ARM_TOOL_VARIANT=ult
set ARMLMD_LICENSE_FILE=<LICENSE_FILE_PATH>

Armclang + Keil MDK Arm

set PATH=<uVision path>\ARM\ARMCLANG\bin;$PATH

GNU Arm

set PATH=<GNU Arm path>\bin;$PATH

1.7. Exceptions and special cases

1.7.1. ArmClang

1.7.2. MikTeX

  • When building the documentation the first time, MikTeX might prompt for installing missing LaTeX components. Please allow the MikTeX package manager to set-up these.

1.8. Tool & Dependency overview

To build the TF-M firmware the following tools are needed:

Tool dependencies

Name

Version

Component

C compiler

See C compilers

Firmware

CMake

See CMake

GNU Make

See GNU make

tf-m-tests

CMake handles it

mbed-crypto

CMake handles it

MCUboot

CMake handles it

Python

3.x

Firmware, User Guide

yaml

Firmware

pyasn1

Firmware

jinja2

Firmware

cryptography

Firmware

cbor

Firmware

click

Firmware

imgtool

Firmware

Doxygen

>1.8

Reference manual

Sphinx

=1.7.9

User Guide

sphinxcontrib-plantuml

User Guide

sphinxcontrib-svg2pdfconverter

User Guide

sphinx-trd-theme

User Guide

Git

PlantUML

>v1.2018.11

Reference Manual, User Guide

Graphviz dot

>v2.38.0

Reference manual

Java runtime environment (JRE)

>1.8

Reference Manual, User Guide

LaTex

pdf version of Reference Manual and User Guide

PdfLaTex

pdf version of Reference Manual and User Guide

Dependency chain:

@startuml
 skinparam state {
   BackgroundColor #92AEE0
   FontColor black
   FontSize 16
   AttributeFontColor black
   AttributeFontSize 16
   BackgroundColor<<pdf>> #A293E2
   BackgroundColor<<doc>> #90DED6
 }
 state fw as "Firmware" : TF-M binary
 state c_comp as "C Compiler" : C99
 state gmake as "GNU make"
 state u_guide as "User Guide" <<doc>>
 state refman as "Reference Manual" <<doc>>
 state rtd_theme as "sphinx-rtd-theme" <<doc>>
 state sphnix_puml as "sphinxcontrib-plantuml" <<doc>>
 state sphnix_svg as "sphinxcontrib-svg2pdfconverter" <<doc>>
 state JRE as "JRE" <<doc>> : Java Runtime Environment
 state gwiz as "Graphwiz dot" <<doc>>
 state Sphinx as "Sphinx" <<doc>>
 state m2r as "m2r" <<doc>>
 state PlantUML as "PlantUML" <<doc>>
 state LaTex as "LaTex" <<pdf>>
 state PdfLaTex as "PdfLaTex" <<<<pdf>>>>
 state Doxygen as "Doxygen" <<doc>>

 [*] --> fw
 fw --> c_comp
 fw --> CMake
 CMake --> gmake
 fw --> cryptography
 fw --> pyasn1
 fw --> yaml
 fw --> jinja2
 fw --> cbor
 fw --> click
 fw --> imgtool
 cryptography --> Python3
 pyasn1 --> Python3
 yaml --> Python3
 jinja2 --> Python3
 cbor --> Python3
 click --> Python3
 imgtool --> Python3

 [*] --> u_guide
 u_guide --> Sphinx
 Sphinx --> m2r
 Sphinx --> rtd_theme
 Sphinx --> sphnix_puml
 Sphinx --> sphnix_svg
 m2r --> Python3
 rtd_theme --> Python3
 sphnix_puml --> Python3
 sphnix_svg --> Python3
 Sphinx --> PlantUML
 PlantUML --> JRE
 PlantUML --> gwiz
 Sphinx --> LaTex
 LaTex --> PdfLaTex

 [*] --> refman
 refman --> Doxygen
 Doxygen --> PlantUML
 Doxygen --> LaTex
 state Legend {
   state x as "For PDF generation only" <<pdf>>
   state y as "For document generation only" <<doc>>
   state z as "Mandatory"
 }

@enduml


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