Thanks!

Question for someone: not sure whether to put this in (e.g.) apps/system/settings (which is where i2ctool, nxplayer etc live, for example) or add a new folder apps/utils/settings. What might be "best"?

On 30/10/2023 10:49, Fotis Panagiotopoulos wrote:
I just pushed the latest changes.

Functionality is identical.

Only minor improvements and bug fixes are included in the latest commit.

On Mon, Oct 30, 2023 at 12:06 PM Fotis Panagiotopoulos <f.j.pa...@gmail.com>
wrote:

Hello Tim!

Thank you for your interest in this.

(I am replying in the list for the moment, in case anyone else is
interested...)

As far as I know, no effort has been taken on this.
I will be glad to help you porting the settings storage to NuttX.

The published repo is not maintained, so I will update it later today with
all the latest
changes/fixes in this specific app you are interested in.

---

License-wise, this is 100% original work by me, so I guess there is
nothing to concert us.

It can be committed directly to the apps repo under Apache license.

---

Regarding the parsers.

Currently it supports two parsers ("storages" as they are refered in
code): binary and text.

The binary storage, directly dumps the RAM contents in a file.
This is speed-efficient, but may waste a bit of space, and it is not very
portable.

For example, a save made in a little-endian machine may not work in a
big-endian one.
Similarly, the read and write implementations need to have the exact same
cofniguration (e.g. key size).

I typically use this to store settings directly in the MCU's Flash memory.
So, none of the above limitations matter.


The text storage solves all of the above and makes the data
human-readable, in expense of some
more CPU time.

I typically use the text storage in an SD card file.


More specifically, I usually use **both** storages at the same time.
The text one is human-readable and easy to update (e.g. get the SD on your
computer, and change anything you want),
while the binary one is there for speed and reliability (SD card
failed/removed, the app can still access the settings).

The settings library can reliably syncrhonize multiple storages together,
and make them act as one.

---

My intention was to also add XML and JSON (and I have provided two parser
implementations), but I never found the time.
I guess adding YAML will be fairly trivial.

I am willing to help add any new parsers that may be needed.

---

So, shall we create an issue in apps repo, to cooperate development?

On Mon, Oct 30, 2023 at 10:10 AM alin.jerpe...@sony.com <
alin.jerpe...@sony.com> wrote:

Hi Tim,

I am sorry but it slipped by agenda.
Thanks for looking at this topic. Please take your time and submit when
you are ready.

Best regards
Alin


From: Tim Hardisty <timhardist...@gmail.com>
Sent: den 28 oktober 2023 12:10
To: dev@nuttx.apache.org
Subject: Re: Code donation

Hi, Did anyone else make any progress with porting your settings code to
NuttX Apps? It's taken a while but I am at long last looking to add a
settings function to my new app and this still looks like it'll fit the
bill nicely. If not, I will
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Hi,



Did anyone else make any progress with porting your settings code to

NuttX Apps? It's taken a while but I am at long last looking to add a

settings function to my new app and this still looks like it'll fit the

bill nicely.



If not, I will set it up as an app, make sure it works, and submit it

for review hopefully in the next few weeks. I won't add YAML as yet,

just binary - my current think is to use a YAML parser between the user

and this function rather than storing YAML directly, but not 100%

decided yet.



On 05/12/2022 11:22, Fotis Panagiotopoulos wrote:

Hello!
Thank you for your interest in this!
As requested, I created a temporal repository and uploaded all the code
there.
https://github.com/fjpanag/code_for_nuttx<
https://github.com/fjpanag/code_for_nuttx>

I have added a NOTICE file in each subdir, with some basic information.
Please contact me before starting any work, to provide you with help and
coordinate the effort.
Better yet, you may open a Github issue for the piece of software that
you

would like to help porting.
Alan,
I would love to cooperate with you in this effort.
Pick your target!
Alin,
I would really like to see my MQTT broker become part of NuttX.
Alternatively, you can have a look at the XML or JSON parsers, which
are of

general usefulness,
and the porting effort would be very very minimal.
Tim,
Thank you for your interest in the settings storage.
It is a very useful and versatile piece of software. In fact, I have
used

it in all my projects over the last 5-6 years.
I also thought about YAML before, but never got to actually implementing
this.
I suggest you first add a YAML parser to NuttX (maybe similarly to JSON
and

XML, if they get accepted),
and then use it in the settings storage. It would be best not to couple
these two softwares so someone
may use one without the other. But, nevertheless, it is your call...
If you provide me with a YAML parser, I believe that I can develop for
you

a new settings storage that uses this parser.
Fotis
On Mon, Dec 5, 2022 at 12:12 AM Tim Hardisty<t...@jti.uk.com
.invalid<mailto:t...@jti.uk.com.invalid>>

wrote:
I have interest in your settings storage, with the probability of
adding

yaml output since I was going to do something similar for my current
project (once I get over the pain of getting NuttX fixed for the arch
I'm

using).
As have been suggested, maybe push it to github and I/we can clone
what's

of interest, see if it makes sense, then get it working right for NuttX
and
do a PR...in the fullness of time (i.e. I'm a slow worker!)
On 04/12/2022, 16:55, "Fotis Panagiotopoulos"<f.j.pa...@gmail.com
<mailto:f.j.pa...@gmail.com>>

wrote:
      Hello everyone!
      Christmas arrived a bit earlier for NuttX as I would like to
donate

some of
      my personal code to the community!
      A bit of context.
      Over the years that I am working on embedded systems, I have
developed

lots
      of software that I use in my projects.
      Some of it is quite general-purpose, or useful for other
applications,

and
      I have found my self reusing it
      quite often. In fact, there are some things that I use in
practically

all
      firmwares that I have developed over
      the last years.
      I always wanted to open-source this software so other people can
benefit
      from it.
      But I never managed to do so. Open-sourcing needs some effort, the
software
      needs maintenance, documentation
      and support, and most importantly in most cases a "porting layer"
needs to
      be developed.
      Last but not least, every project needs a bit of "marketing" and
      "advertising" so others can learn about
      your work and use it.
      For the last couple of years I have been using NuttX a lot, and I
have

      ported most of the aforementioned software
      to NuttX. I believe that NuttX and its community are perfect for
me to

      publish my code, instead of creating
      a ton of small repos, of questionable usefulness and increasing my
workload
      considerably.
      It is very important that I can get immediate feedback from the
community,
      learn what people are actually
      interested in (instead of investing on software that no one
needs),

and
      provide actual and *working*
      samples of the code (as NuttX already supports a ton of different
boards
      and arches).
      Using POSIX as the porting layer is also awesome.
      That being said, my free time is still exceptionally limited and I
cannot
      do this myself.
      I still need the help of the community, and most importantly I
need to

see
      interest in a piece of
      software before putting any work on it.
      So, what I offer:
      * I offer various codes, fully featured, production ready and
tested.

      * All code will be offered for free (of course) and under Apache
licensing.
      * I will provide support to those working on these codes, to my
best

      ability.
      * I will contribute to testing everything integrated to NuttX, as
hardware
      availability allows me.
      * I will do some licensing check, to ensure code is 100% original
and

mine,
      or state the licenses of the projects I borrowed code from.
      What I ask for:
      I need people that are interested in each of these codes to
integrate

them
      into NuttX apps.
      You just have to pick what it is interesting to you, contact me to
provide
      you with the code,
      and integrate it to NuttX. You will need to:
      * Add the code into the NuttX apps repo, and ensure Kconfig and
the

build
      system use the code properly (should be trivial).
      * Adapt the file format and the coding style to the NuttX one
(this

may
      need some work, but it can also be automated).
      * Provide an example app, something that someone can run to use or
demo the
      new code.
      * Test and verify the example app on actual hardware (I may be
able to

      cross-check it on my hardware too).
      The code that I offer (for the moment):
      *** Lua v5.2.4 ***
      I know that there is already a Lua app for NuttX.
      But for anyone using it, it may be beneficial to use my work.
      First and foremost, I have ported the eLua LTR patch to Lua 5.2.
This

patch
      dramatically reduces the memory usage of Lua.
      In fact, I found out that it is crucial to have this patch
enabled for

any
      actual real-life usage of Lua on any "normal" MCU.
      I have created a Kconfig for all Lua configurations, so it can
integrate
      with NuttX better.
      I have also made some other minor changes to the code that might
be

      interesting for you.
      For example there is a simplistic sandboxing option.
      *** MQTT Broker ***
      Yes, a full-blown, spec-compliant MQTT Broker!
      To my knowledge there is no other open-source and portable MQTT
broker

for
      embedded systems.
      It follows the MQTT v3.1.1 specification as closely as possible. I
think
      there is only one violation, needed due to its embedded nature,
      but in all practical cases you may consider it fully compliant.
      It has been tested with dozens of devices, and it performs
greatly.

      There are a couple of things that may need to be improved, but are
trivial,
      and will not affect the normal use of the software.
      I know that such a broker may not be your best option for a
proper and

      large installation of IoT devices, but it is exceptionally useful
      for at least the following cases:
      * You have only a few devices, isolated (no internet), that you
need

to
      connect, and you want to avoid the cost (and maintenance) of a
proper

      broker (e.g. Raspberry Pi).
      * You need to directly communicate with a device that only
supports

MQTT.
      Instead of going through an external server, you run the server
locally,
      and communicate with the device directly.
      *** MQTT Client ***
      A production-tested, robust and quite flexible MQTT client.
      I know that there are plenty of such clients available out there,
but

here
      is another one.
      Back in the day I tried to use the Eclipse Paho library. I found
it to

be a
      horrible piece of software. Crashes, buffer overflows, spec
violations,
      missing functionality and more.
      I don't know whether it has improved now, but back then I
rolled-out

my own
      implementation. There were not many other alternatives available,
and

Paho
      did not worth contributing to it.
      It needed so much work, that starting from scratch was much
easier.

      Then, when I started using NuttX, I saw support for MQTT-C. Well,
I

tried
      it and I wasn't greatly satisfied (I don't remember the reasons).
      So I decided to keep using my own (and well tested)
implementation.

      So NuttX, instead of relying on an external project, now can have
its

own
      client.
      *** Settings Storage ***
      This is probably my favorite.
      A key-value pairs storage for non-volatile settings or
configurations.

      Very needed when you need to adjust the system's operation in
run-time,
      download parameters etc.
      It acts in two layers: the settings API and the actual storages
used.

      The settings can store or retrieve key-value pairs.
      Type casts are supported and are performed automatically. For
example

you
      can store the string "true" and then read it as the int 1 etc.
      There is support for caching writes (minimizing overhead and
reducing

wear
      on the actual storage medium).
      There are signal notifications when a setting value is changed.
      The bottom layer, the storages, is responsible for actually
reading

and
      writing the settings map to the physical mediums.
      Every storage can also format the data according to its type.
      For the moment there are only ASCII and binary storages, but it
would

be
      very easy to expand this to JSON, XML, YAML and more.
      There is support for multiple storages used simultaneously, and
      synchronization between them (for example I usually use both the
MCU's

      Flash and the SD card).
      *** FTP Client ***
      This is a client that I had developed before I learned about
NuttX.

      I also tried NuttX FTPc, but I experienced may failures that I
never

got
      the time to troubleshoot. I just went back to the tried solution.
      One thing that I didn't really like in NuttX ftpc, it was that it
is

very
      taciturn. When something went wrong, you couldn't understand what
the

issue
      is.
      The error information of this library is a bit better.
      If an alternative ftpc implementation is of interest to anyone,
the

code is
      available.
      *** JSON Parser ***
      This is a very minimal parse-only JSON implementation.
      The motivation behind developing this was memory consumption.
      This parser can open an arbitrarily large JSON file (even MBs),
using

only
      a few bytes of RAM!
      (If I recall correctly only 20 bytes!)
      Although there are other options there for you, if you need the
smallest
      possible memory footprint, this is your parser.
      *** XML Parser ***
      Exactly as above with JSON.
      A minimal parser, that can open any file using just a few bytes of
RAM.
      If you need something simple or you have memory constraints, use
this.

      *** XTEA ***
      Simple XTEA encryption and decryption.
      Very useful when you need a quite fast way to encrypt (or obscure)
some
      data.
      (Need to check licensing!)
      *** Sun Calculations ***
      A small library that can do astronomical calculations for the sun.
      That is sunrise time, sunset, day duration and more.
      *** Geolocation ***
      I used the ipgeolocation.io API and NuttX wget to get geolocation
      information about the device.
      Nothing special, but it may serve as a working example, or even
inspiration
      for others...
      If everyone is interested in any of the above please contact me.
      *PLEASE be responsible, and respectful.* (I am sure you will! :D )
      If you request for a piece of software* you will have to help to
get

this
      into NuttX, and not only use it for your own personal gain*.

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