The OTA update mechanism allows a device to update itself based on data received while the normal firmware is running (for example, over Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.)
OTA requires configuring the :doc:`Partition Table <../../api-guides/partition-tables>` of the device with at least two "OTA app slot" partitions (i.e. `ota_0` and `ota_1`) and an "OTA Data Partition".
The OTA operation functions write a new app firmware image to whichever OTA app slot that is currently not selected for booting. Once the image is verified, the OTA Data partition is updated to specify that this image should be used for the next boot.
An OTA data partition (type ``data``, subtype ``ota``) must be included in the :doc:`Partition Table <../../api-guides/partition-tables>` of any project which uses the OTA functions.
For factory boot settings, the OTA data partition should contain no data (all bytes erased to 0xFF). In this case the esp-idf software bootloader will boot the factory app if it is present in the partition table. If no factory app is included in the partition table, the first available OTA slot (usually ``ota_0``) is booted.
The OTA data partition is two flash sectors (0x2000 bytes) in size, to prevent problems if there is a power failure while it is being written. Sectors are independently erased and written with matching data, and if they disagree a counter field is used to determine which sector was written more recently.
The main purpose of the application rollback is to keep the device working after the update. This feature allows you to roll back to the previous working application in case a new application has critical errors. When the rollback process is enabled and an OTA update provides a new version of the app, one of three things can happen:
* The application works fine, :cpp:func:`esp_ota_mark_app_valid_cancel_rollback` marks the running application with the state ``ESP_OTA_IMG_VALID``. There are no restrictions on booting this application.
* The application has critical errors and further work is not possible, a rollback to the previous application is required, :cpp:func:`esp_ota_mark_app_invalid_rollback_and_reboot` marks the running application with the state ``ESP_OTA_IMG_INVALID`` and reset. This application will not be selected by the bootloader for boot and will boot the previously working application.
* If the :ref:`CONFIG_BOOTLOADER_APP_ROLLBACK_ENABLE` option is set, and a reset occurs without calling either function then the application is rolled back.
..note:: The state is not written to the binary image of the application but rather to the ``otadata`` partition. The partition contains a ``ota_seq`` counter which is a pointer to the slot (ota_0, ota_1, ...) from which the application will be selected for boot.
If :ref:`CONFIG_BOOTLOADER_APP_ROLLBACK_ENABLE` option is not enabled (by default), then the use of the following functions :cpp:func:`esp_ota_mark_app_valid_cancel_rollback` and :cpp:func:`esp_ota_mark_app_invalid_rollback_and_reboot` are optional, and ``ESP_OTA_IMG_NEW`` and ``ESP_OTA_IMG_PENDING_VERIFY`` states are not used.
An option in Kconfig :ref:`CONFIG_BOOTLOADER_APP_ROLLBACK_ENABLE` allows you to track the first boot of a new application. In this case, the application must confirm its operability by calling :cpp:func:`esp_ota_mark_app_valid_cancel_rollback` function, otherwise the application will be rolled back upon reboot. It allows you to control the operability of the application during the boot phase. Thus, a new application has only one attempt to boot successfully.
* The new application is successfully downloaded and :cpp:func:`esp_ota_set_boot_partition` function makes this partition bootable and sets the state ``ESP_OTA_IMG_NEW``. This state means that the application is new and should be monitored for its first boot.
* The bootloader checks the selected application for ``ESP_OTA_IMG_NEW`` state if it is set, then it will be written to ``ESP_OTA_IMG_PENDING_VERIFY``. This state means that the application requires confirmation of its operability, if this does not happen and a reboot occurs, this state will be overwritten to ``ESP_OTA_IMG_ABORTED`` (see above) and this application will no longer be able to start, i.e. there will be a rollback to the previous working application.
* A new application has started and should make a self-test.
* If the self-test has completed successfully, then you must call the function :cpp:func:`esp_ota_mark_app_valid_cancel_rollback` because the application is awaiting confirmation of operability (``ESP_OTA_IMG_PENDING_VERIFY`` state).
* If the self-test fails then call :cpp:func:`esp_ota_mark_app_invalid_rollback_and_reboot` function to roll back to the previous working application, while the invalid application is set ``ESP_OTA_IMG_INVALID`` state.
* If the application has not been confirmed, the state remains ``ESP_OTA_IMG_PENDING_VERIFY``, and the next boot it will be changed to ``ESP_OTA_IMG_ABORTED``. That will prevent re-boot of this application. There will be a rollback to the previous working application.
Unexpected Reset
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
If a power loss or an unexpected crash occurs at the time of the first boot of a new application, it will roll back the application.
Recommendation: Perform the self-test procedure as quickly as possible, to prevent rollback due to power loss.
Only ``OTA`` partitions can be rolled back. Factory partition is not rolled back.
Booting invalid/aborted apps
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Booting an application which was previously set to ``ESP_OTA_IMG_INVALID`` or ``ESP_OTA_IMG_ABORTED`` is possible:
* Get the last invalid application partition :cpp:func:`esp_ota_get_last_invalid_partition`.
* Pass the received partition to :cpp:func:`esp_ota_set_boot_partition`, this will update the ``otadata``.
* Restart :cpp:func:`esp_restart`. The bootloader will boot the specified application.
To determine if self-tests should be run during startup of an application, call the :cpp:func:`esp_ota_get_state_partition` function. If result is ``ESP_OTA_IMG_PENDING_VERIFY`` then self-testing and subsequent confirmation of operability is required.
Where the states are set
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
A brief description of where the states are set:
*``ESP_OTA_IMG_VALID`` state is set by :cpp:func:`esp_ota_mark_app_valid_cancel_rollback` function.
*``ESP_OTA_IMG_UNDEFINED`` state is set by :cpp:func:`esp_ota_set_boot_partition` function if :ref:`CONFIG_BOOTLOADER_APP_ROLLBACK_ENABLE` option is not enabled.
*``ESP_OTA_IMG_NEW`` state is set by :cpp:func:`esp_ota_set_boot_partition` function if :ref:`CONFIG_BOOTLOADER_APP_ROLLBACK_ENABLE` option is enabled.
*``ESP_OTA_IMG_ABORTED`` state is set if there was no confirmation of the application operability and occurs reboots (if :ref:`CONFIG_BOOTLOADER_APP_ROLLBACK_ENABLE` option is enabled).
*``ESP_OTA_IMG_PENDING_VERIFY`` state is set in a bootloader if :ref:`CONFIG_BOOTLOADER_APP_ROLLBACK_ENABLE` option is enabled and selected app has ``ESP_OTA_IMG_NEW`` state.
This function works if set :ref:`CONFIG_BOOTLOADER_APP_ANTI_ROLLBACK` option. In the bootloader, when selecting a bootable application, an additional security version check is added which is on the chip and in the application image. The version in the bootable firmware must be greater than or equal to the version in the chip.
:ref:`CONFIG_BOOTLOADER_APP_ANTI_ROLLBACK` and :ref:`CONFIG_BOOTLOADER_APP_ROLLBACK_ENABLE` options are used together. In this case, rollback is possible only on the security version which is equal or higher than the version in the chip.
- After the developer makes sure that this firmware is working. He can increase the security version and release a new firmware.
- Download new application.
- To make it bootable, run the function :cpp:func:`esp_ota_set_boot_partition`. If the security version of the new application is smaller than the version in the chip, the new application will be erased. Update to new firmware is not possible.
- Reboot.
- In the bootloader, an application with a security version greater than or equal to the version in the chip will be selected. If otadata is in the initial state, and one firmware was loaded via a serial channel, whose secure version is higher than the chip, then the secure version of efuse will be immediately updated in the bootloader.
- New application booted. Then the application should perform diagnostics of the operation and if it is completed successfully, you should call :cpp:func:`esp_ota_mark_app_valid_cancel_rollback` function to mark the running application with the ``ESP_OTA_IMG_VALID`` state and update the secure version on chip. Note that if was called :cpp:func:`esp_ota_mark_app_invalid_rollback_and_reboot` function a rollback may not happen as the device may not have any bootable apps. It will then return ``ESP_ERR_OTA_ROLLBACK_FAILED`` error and stay in the ``ESP_OTA_IMG_PENDING_VERIFY`` state.
If you want to avoid the download/erase overhead in case of the app from the server has security version lower than the running app, you have to get ``new_app_info.secure_version`` from the first package of an image and compare it with the secure version of efuse. Use ``esp_efuse_check_secure_version(new_app_info.secure_version)`` function if it is true then continue downloading otherwise abort.
:esp32:- The number of bits in the ``secure_version`` field is limited to 32 bits. This means that only 32 times you can do an anti-rollback. You can reduce the length of this efuse field using :ref:`CONFIG_BOOTLOADER_APP_SEC_VER_SIZE_EFUSE_FIELD` option.
:not esp32:- The number of bits in the ``secure_version`` field is limited to 16 bits. This means that only 16 times you can do an anti-rollback. You can reduce the length of this efuse field using :ref:`CONFIG_BOOTLOADER_APP_SEC_VER_SIZE_EFUSE_FIELD` option.
:esp32:- Anti-rollback works only if the encoding scheme for efuse is set to ``NONE``.
- Factory and Test partitions are not supported in anti rollback scheme and hence partition table should not have partition with SubType set to ``factory`` or ``test``.
- In ESP32 it is stored in efuse ``EFUSE_BLK3_RDATA4_REG``. (when a eFuse bit is programmed to 1, it can never be reverted to 0). The number of bits set in this register is the ``security_version`` from app.
The verification of signed OTA updates can be performed even without enabling hardware secure boot. This can be achieved by setting :ref:`CONFIG_SECURE_SIGNED_APPS_NO_SECURE_BOOT` and :ref:`CONFIG_SECURE_SIGNED_ON_UPDATE_NO_SECURE_BOOT`
The component `app_update` provides a tool :component_file:`otatool.py<app_update/otatool.py>` for performing OTA partition-related operations on a target device. The following operations can be performed using the tool:
- read contents of otadata partition (read_otadata)
The tool can either be imported and used from another Python script or invoked from shell script for users wanting to perform operation programmatically. This is facilitated by the tool's Python API and command-line interface, respectively.
