In order to use ESP-IDF with the {IDF_TARGET_NAME}, you need to install some software packages based on your Operating System. This setup guide helps you on getting everything installed on Linux and macOS based systems.
- CMake version 3.16 or newer is required for use with ESP-IDF. Run "tools/idf_tools.py install cmake" to install a suitable version if your OS versions does not have one.
- If you do not see your Linux distribution in the above list then please check its documentation to find out which command to use for package installation.
- Otherwise, consult the CMake_ and Ninja_ home pages for macOS installation downloads.
- It is strongly recommended to also install ccache_ for faster builds. If you have HomeBrew_, this can be done via ``brew install ccache`` or ``sudo port install ccache`` on MacPorts_.
Based on macOS `Catalina 10.15 release notes`_, use of Python 2.7 is not recommended and Python 2.7 is not included by default in future versions of macOS. Check what Python you currently have::
If the output is like ``Python 2.7.17``, your default interpreter is Python 2.7. If so, also check if Python 3 is not already installed on your computer::
If the above command returns an error, it means Python 3 is not installed.
Below is an overview of the steps to install Python 3.
- Installing with HomeBrew_ can be done as follows::
brew install python3
- If you have MacPorts_, you can run::
sudo port install python38
.._get-started-get-esp-idf:
Step 2. Get ESP-IDF
===================
To build applications for the {IDF_TARGET_NAME}, you need the software libraries provided by Espressif in `ESP-IDF repository <https://github.com/espressif/esp-idf>`_.
To get ESP-IDF, navigate to your installation directory and clone the repository with ``git clone``, following instructions below specific to your operating system.
Aside from the ESP-IDF, you also need to install the tools used by ESP-IDF, such as the compiler, debugger, Python packages, etc, for projects supporting {IDF_TARGET_NAME}.
The above commands install tools for {IDF_TARGET_NAME} only. If you intend to develop projects for more chip targets then you should list all of them and run for example:
..code-block:: bash
cd ~/esp/esp-idf
./install.sh esp32,esp32s2
or with Fish shell
..code-block:: fish
cd ~/esp/esp-idf
./install.fish esp32,esp32s2
In order to install tools for all supported targets please run the following command:
You may run ``Install Certificates.command`` in the Python folder of your computer to install certificates. For details, see `Download Error While Installing ESP-IDF Tools <https://github.com/espressif/esp-idf/issues/4775>`_.
The tools installer downloads a number of files attached to GitHub Releases. If accessing GitHub is slow then it is possible to set an environment variable to prefer Espressif's download server for GitHub asset downloads.
The scripts introduced in this step install compilation tools required by ESP-IDF inside the user home directory: ``$HOME/.espressif`` on Linux. If you wish to install the tools into a different directory, **export the environment variable IDF_TOOLS_PATH before running the installation scripts**. Make sure that your user account has sufficient permissions to read and write this path.
Using ``IDF_TOOLS_PATH`` in variable assignment, e.g., ``IDF_TOOLS_PATH="$HOME/required_idf_tools_path" ./install.sh``, without prior exporting, will not work in most shells because the variable assignment will not affect the current execution environment, even if it's exported/changed in the sourced script.
The installed tools are not yet added to the PATH environment variable. To make the tools usable from the command line, some environment variables must be set. ESP-IDF provides another script which does that.
In the terminal where you are going to use ESP-IDF, run:
..code-block:: bash
. $HOME/esp/esp-idf/export.sh
or for fish (supported only since fish version 3.0.0):
..code-block:: bash
. $HOME/esp/esp-idf/export.fish
Note the space between the leading dot and the path!
If you plan to use esp-idf frequently, you can create an alias for executing ``export.sh``:
1. Copy and paste the following command to your shell's profile (``.profile``, ``.bashrc``, ``.zprofile``, etc.)
..code-block:: bash
alias get_idf='. $HOME/esp/esp-idf/export.sh'
2. Refresh the configuration by restarting the terminal session or by running ``source [path to profile]``, for example, ``source ~/.bashrc``.
Now you can run ``get_idf`` to set up or refresh the esp-idf environment in any terminal session.
Technically, you can add ``export.sh`` to your shell's profile directly; however, it is not recommended. Doing so activates IDF virtual environment in every terminal session (including those where IDF is not needed), defeating the purpose of the virtual environment and likely affecting other software.
It is recommended to update ESP-IDF from time to time, as newer versions fix bugs and/or provide new features. Please note that each ESP-IDF major and minor release version has an associated support period, and when one release branch is approaching end of life (EOL), all users are encouraged to upgrade their projects to more recent ESP-IDF releases, to find out more about support periods, see :doc:`ESP-IDF Versions <../versions>`.
The simplest way to do the update is to delete the existing ``esp-idf`` folder and clone it again, as if performing the initial installation described in :ref:`get-started-get-esp-idf`.
Another solution is to update only what has changed. :ref:`The update procedure depends on the version of ESP-IDF you are using <updating>`.
After updating ESP-IDF, execute the Install script again, in case the new ESP-IDF version requires different versions of tools. See instructions at :ref:`get-started-set-up-tools`.
Once the new tools are installed, update the environment using the Export script. See instructions at :ref:`get-started-set-up-env`.
