west/README.rst

This is the Zephyr RTOS meta tool, ``west``.

For more information about west, see:

https://docs.zephyrproject.org/latest/west/index.html

Installation
------------

Install west's bootstrapper with pip::

  pip3 install west

Then install the rest of west and a Zephyr development environment in
a directory of your choosing::

  mkdir zephyrproject && cd zephyrproject
  west init
  west fetch

What just happened:

- ``west init`` runs the bootstrapper, which clones the west source
  repository and a *west manifest* repository. The manifest contains a
  YAML description of the Zephyr installation, including Git
  repositories and other metadata. The ``init`` command is the only
  one supported by the bootstrapper itself; all other commands are
  implemented in the west source repository it clones.

- ``west fetch`` clones the repositories in the manifest, creating
  working trees in the installation directory. In this case, the
  bootstrapper notices the command (``fetch``) is not ``init``, and
  delegates handling to the "main" west implementation in the source
  repository it cloned in the previous step.

(For those familiar with it, this is similar to how Android's Repo
tool works.)

Usage
-----

West has multiple sub-commands. After running ``west init``, you can
run them from anywhere under ``zephyrproject``.

For a list of available commands, run ``west -h``. Get help on a
command with ``west <command> -h``. For example::

  $ west -h
  usage: west [-h] [-z ZEPHYR_BASE] [-v]
              {build,flash,debug,debugserver,attach,list-projects,fetch,pull,rebase,branch,checkout,diff,status,forall}
              ...
  [snip]
  $ west flash -h
  usage: west flash [-h] [-H] [-d BUILD_DIR] ...
  [snip]

Test Suite
----------

To run the test suite, run this from the west repository::

  pip3 install -r tests_requirements.txt
  python3 setup.py test

Hacking on West
---------------

West is distributed as two Python packages:

1. A ``bootstrap`` package, which is distributed via PyPI. Running
   ``pip3 install west`` installs this **bootstrapper package only**.
2. The "main" ``west`` package, which is fetched by the bootstrapper
   when ``west init`` is run.

This somewhat unusual arrangement is because:

- One of west's jobs is to manage a Zephyr installation's Git
  repositories, including its own.
- It allows easy customization of the version of west that's shipped
  with non-upstream distributions of Zephyr.
- West is experimental and is not stable. Users need to stay in sync
  with upstream, and this allows west to automatically update itself.

To initialize west from a non-default location::

  west init -w https://example.com/your-west-repository.git

You can also add ``--west-rev some-branch`` to use ``some-branch``
instead of ``master``.

To use another manifest repository (optionally with ``--mr
some-manifest-branch``)::

  west init -u https://example.com/your-manifest-repository.git

After ``init`` time, you can hack on the west tree in ``zephyrproject``.

To install everything in development mode instead, clone the west
repository and run this from the top level directory::

  pip3 install -e .

(On Linux, make sure ``~/.local/bin`` is in your ``PATH`` if you go
this route.)

If you don't want to change your system outside of cloning this
repository (and installing dependencies), you can run the ``west``
package as a module. In a Bash shell::

  PYTHONPATH=/path/to/west/repository/src python3 -m west

In a Windows command shell::

  cmd /C "set PYTHONPATH=/path/to/west/repo && python3 -m west"