Building and Installing grbl from source
Building grbl from source on Linux
There are three basic steps
- Install the necessary OS level packages
- Get the grbl source
- If necessary patch the grbl source, e.g. to work with LaserAxe controller
- Build grbl
It should go without saying you don't need to patch the grbl source if you're running a system which works with the default config.
I use Linux Mint, an Ubunt based distribution. Ubuntu is, in turn, based on Debian. The steps on a Red Hat based distro are the same but some of the details, such as the command to install system packages and the names of those packages are different.
The build example presented below was done on an ubuntu based virtual machine under vagrant.
Install the OS packages
You'll need the build tools, e.g. make, gcc, ld as well as the avr cross compier and libaries.
As root or with sudo: apt-get install build-essential gcc-avr avr-libc
vagrant@ubuntu-bionic$ sudo apt-get install build-essential gcc-avr avr-libc
Reading package lists...
Building dependency tree...
Reading state information...
The following additional packages will be installed:
binutils binutils-avr binutils-common binutils-x86-64-linux-gnu cpp cpp-7 dpkg-dev fakeroot g++ g++-7 gcc gcc-7 gcc-7-base gcc-8-base libalgorithm-diff-perl
...
Suggested packages:
binutils-doc cpp-doc gcc-7-locales debian-keyring g++-multilib g++-7-multilib gcc-7-doc libstdc++6-7-dbg gcc-multilib autoconf automake libtool flex bison
...
The following NEW packages will be installed:
avr-libc binutils binutils-avr binutils-common binutils-x86-64-linux-gnu build-essential cpp cpp-7 dpkg-dev fakeroot g++ g++-7 gcc gcc-7 gcc-7-base gcc-avr
...
The following packages will be upgraded:
gcc-8-base libgcc1 libstdc++6
3 upgraded, 43 newly installed, 0 to remove and 115 not upgraded.
Need to get 59.0 MB of archives.
After this operation, 288 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue? [Y/n]
Get:1 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates/main amd64 gcc-8-base amd64 8.3.0-6ubuntu1~18.04 [18.6 kB]
Get:2 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic-updates/main amd64 libstdc++6 amd64 8.3.0-6ubuntu1~18.04 [400 kB]
...
Get:46 http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu bionic/universe amd64 avr-libc all 1:2.0.0+Atmel3.6.0-1 [4872 kB]
Fetched 59.0 MB in 56s (1048 kB/s)
Extracting templates from packages:
Preparing to unpack .../libstdc++6_8.3.0-6ubuntu1~18.04_amd64.deb ...
Unpacking libstdc++6:amd64 (8.3.0-6ubuntu1~18.04) over (8.2.0-1ubuntu2~18.04) ...
Setting up libstdc++6:amd64 (8.3.0-6ubuntu1~18.04) ...
...
Setting up build-essential (12.4ubuntu1) ...
Processing triggers for libc-bin (2.27-3ubuntu1) ...
Clone grbl from the official repo
You can download via the web interface our use git to grab the source code from the grbl code repo
vagrant@ubuntu-bionic$ git clone https://github.com/gnea/grbl.git
Cloning into 'grbl'...
remote: Enumerating objects: 4569, done.
Receiving objects: 0% (1/4569)
...
Receiving objects: 100% (4569/4569), 2.17 MiB | 602.00 KiB/s, done.
Resolving deltas: 0% (0/3470)
...
Resolving deltas: 100% (3470/3470), done.
Change into the directory at the top of the code tree
Commands in following steps will be referenced from the top of the code tree.
vagrant@ubuntu-bionic$ cd grbl/
Replace the default config.h with the one modified for the LaserAxe
Per above, if you're running hardware that works with default build, you don't have to do this. For my hardware, I need to patch the default config to work with the LaserAxe board. Note, not all systems include curl in the default install. If you system doesn't have it, you can install it with apt-get install curl as root or using sudo. (Again, that's for debian based distros, Red Hat based distros use rpm)
vagrant@ubuntu-bionic$ mv grbl/config.h grbl/config.h.ORIG
vagrant@ubuntu-bionic$ curl -L https://gitlab.com/snippets/1836412/raw > grbl/config.h
% Total % Received % Xferd Average Speed Time Time Time Current
Dload Upload Total Spent Left Speed
100 52178 0 52178 0 0 16869 0 --:--:-- 0:00:03 --:--:-- 16869
Build the software
At this point, you should be able to simply build the firmware with the make command.
vagrant@ubuntu-bionic$ make
avr-gcc -Wall -Os -DF_CPU=16000000 -mmcu=atmega328p -I. -ffunction-sections -flto -MMD -MP -c grbl/main.c -o build/main.o
avr-gcc -Wall -Os -DF_CPU=16000000 -mmcu=atmega328p -I. -ffunction-sections -flto -MMD -MP -c grbl/motion_control.c -o build/motion_control.o
...
avr-gcc -Wall -Os -DF_CPU=16000000 -mmcu=atmega328p -I. -ffunction-sections -flto -o build/main.elf build/main.o build/motion_control.o build/gcode.o build/spindle_control.o build/coolant_control.o build/serial.o build/protocol.o build/stepper.o build/eeprom.o build/settings.o build/planner.o build/nuts_bolts.o build/limits.o build/jog.o build/print.o build/probe.o build/report.o build/system.o -lm -Wl,--gc-sections
rm -f grbl.hex
avr-objcopy -j .text -j .data -O ihex build/main.elf grbl.hex
avr-size --format=berkeley build/main.elf
text data bss dec hex filename
29654 0 1633 31287 7a37 build/main.elf
The build will generate both Intel hex and ELF formatted files
vagrant@ubuntu-bionic:~/grbl$ ls grbl.hex build/main.elf
build/main.elf grbl.hex
Installing the grbl firmware with avrdude
You can get avrdude from a variety of locations. As the arduino software uses it under the covers it may be simplest to just install the arduino IDE. This also means you should be able to use it on any platform which runs the arduino IDE.
Installing the arduino IDE under Linux
Once you've downladed the archive file, you can simply exapand it to a convenient location, e.g.
kryton:/home/ws/FirmwareDemo> xzcat arduino-1.8.9-linux64.tar.xz |tar -xv
arduino-1.8.9/
arduino-1.8.9/arduino-linux-setup.sh
arduino-1.8.9/lib/
arduino-1.8.9/lib/version.txt
...
arduino-1.8.9/tools/WiFi101/tool/firmwares/NINA/1.2.1/NINA_W102-Uno_WiFi_Rev2.bin
arduino-1.8.9/tools/howto.txt
Running avrdude
There are a plenty of docs and tuturials for avrdude available on the net. A rather good on is avaialable ladyada - avrdude totorial Basically, you run the command with a few parameters telling it how to use the I/O port connected to the device and the type and location of the file to upload. We'll start by setting some environment variables to save ourselves some typing later on.
making life easier by setting the path and config file
kryton:/home/ws/FirmwareDemo> export PATH=/home/ws/FirmwareDemo/arduino-1.8.9/hardware/tools/avr/bin:$PATH
kryton:/home/ws/FirmwareDemo> export AVRCONF=/home/ws/FirmwareDemo/arduino-1.8.9/hardware/tools/avr/etc/avrdude.conf
kryton:/home/ws/FirmwareDemo> which avrdude
/home/ws/FirmwareDemo/arduino-1.8.9/hardware/tools/avr/bin/avrdude
It doesn't mater which firmware file you use, Intel Hex or ELF. You just need to specify the filename and type. The following example shows both versions but you only have to use one. Also, note the paramaters on your system may be different, e.g. your com port may not be called '/dev/ttyUSB0'. Consult the docs or one of the tutorials for more info.
Uploading the ELF format file
kryton:/home/ws/FirmwareDemo> avrdude -C $AVRCONF -c arduino -p m328p -P /dev/ttyUSB0 -b 57600 -Uflash:w:./grbl/build/main.elf:e -v
avrdude: Version 6.3-20171130
Copyright (c) 2000-2005 Brian Dean, http://www.bdmicro.com/
Copyright (c) 2007-2014 Joerg Wunsch
System wide configuration file is "/home/ws/FirmwareDemo/arduino-1.8.9/hardware/tools/avr/etc/avrdude.conf"
User configuration file is "/home/ws/.avrduderc"
User configuration file does not exist or is not a regular file, skipping
Using Port : /dev/ttyUSB0
Using Programmer : arduino
Overriding Baud Rate : 57600
AVR Part : ATmega328P
Chip Erase delay : 9000 us
PAGEL : PD7
BS2 : PC2
RESET disposition : dedicated
RETRY pulse : SCK
serial program mode : yes
parallel program mode : yes
Timeout : 200
StabDelay : 100
CmdexeDelay : 25
SyncLoops : 32
ByteDelay : 0
PollIndex : 3
PollValue : 0x53
Memory Detail :
Block Poll Page Polled
Memory Type Mode Delay Size Indx Paged Size Size #Pages MinW MaxW ReadBack
----------- ---- ----- ----- ---- ------ ------ ---- ------ ----- ----- ---------
eeprom 65 20 4 0 no 1024 4 0 3600 3600 0xff 0xff
flash 65 6 128 0 yes 32768 128 256 4500 4500 0xff 0xff
lfuse 0 0 0 0 no 1 0 0 4500 4500 0x00 0x00
hfuse 0 0 0 0 no 1 0 0 4500 4500 0x00 0x00
efuse 0 0 0 0 no 1 0 0 4500 4500 0x00 0x00
lock 0 0 0 0 no 1 0 0 4500 4500 0x00 0x00
calibration 0 0 0 0 no 1 0 0 0 0 0x00 0x00
signature 0 0 0 0 no 3 0 0 0 0 0x00 0x00
Programmer Type : Arduino
Description : Arduino
Hardware Version: 2
Firmware Version: 1.16
Vtarget : 0.0 V
Varef : 0.0 V
Oscillator : Off
SCK period : 0.1 us
avrdude: AVR device initialized and ready to accept instructions
Reading | | 0% 0.00s
Reading | ################################################## | 100% 0.00s
avrdude: Device signature = 0x1e950f (probably m328p)
avrdude: safemode: lfuse reads as 0
avrdude: safemode: hfuse reads as 0
avrdude: safemode: efuse reads as 0
avrdude: NOTE: "flash" memory has been specified, an erase cycle will be performed
To disable this feature, specify the -D option.
avrdude: erasing chip
avrdude: reading input file "./grbl/build/main.elf"
avrdude: writing flash (29654 bytes):
Writing | | 0% 0.00s
Writing | # | 1% 0.11s
...
Writing | ################################################## | 99% 8.60s
Writing | ################################################## | 100% 8.67s
avrdude: 29654 bytes of flash written
avrdude: verifying flash memory against ./grbl/build/main.elf:
avrdude: load data flash data from input file ./grbl/build/main.elf:
avrdude: input file ./grbl/build/main.elf contains 29654 bytes
avrdude: reading on-chip flash data:
Reading | | 0% 0.00s
Reading | # | 1% 0.08s
Reading | # | 2% 0.14s
...
Reading | ################################################## | 99% 6.46s
Reading | ################################################## | 100% 6.51s
avrdude: verifying ...
avrdude: 29654 bytes of flash verified
avrdude: safemode: lfuse reads as 0
avrdude: safemode: hfuse reads as 0
avrdude: safemode: efuse reads as 0
avrdude: safemode: Fuses OK (E:00, H:00, L:00)
avrdude done. Thank you.
Uploading the Intel Hex format file
Same as above, but this time with the hex format file.
kryton:/home/ws/FirmwareDemo> avrdude -C $AVRCONF -c arduino -p m328p -P /dev/ttyUSB0 -b 57600 -Uflash:w:./grbl/grbl.hex:i -v
avrdude: Version 6.3-20171130
Copyright (c) 2000-2005 Brian Dean, http://www.bdmicro.com/
Copyright (c) 2007-2014 Joerg Wunsch
System wide configuration file is "/home/ws/FirmwareDemo/arduino-1.8.9/hardware/tools/avr/etc/avrdude.conf"
User configuration file is "/home/ws/.avrduderc"
User configuration file does not exist or is not a regular file, skipping
Using Port : /dev/ttyUSB0
Using Programmer : arduino
Overriding Baud Rate : 57600
AVR Part : ATmega328P
Chip Erase delay : 9000 us
PAGEL : PD7
BS2 : PC2
RESET disposition : dedicated
RETRY pulse : SCK
serial program mode : yes
parallel program mode : yes
Timeout : 200
StabDelay : 100
CmdexeDelay : 25
SyncLoops : 32
ByteDelay : 0
PollIndex : 3
PollValue : 0x53
Memory Detail :
Block Poll Page Polled
Memory Type Mode Delay Size Indx Paged Size Size #Pages MinW MaxW ReadBack
----------- ---- ----- ----- ---- ------ ------ ---- ------ ----- ----- ---------
eeprom 65 20 4 0 no 1024 4 0 3600 3600 0xff 0xff
flash 65 6 128 0 yes 32768 128 256 4500 4500 0xff 0xff
lfuse 0 0 0 0 no 1 0 0 4500 4500 0x00 0x00
hfuse 0 0 0 0 no 1 0 0 4500 4500 0x00 0x00
efuse 0 0 0 0 no 1 0 0 4500 4500 0x00 0x00
lock 0 0 0 0 no 1 0 0 4500 4500 0x00 0x00
calibration 0 0 0 0 no 1 0 0 0 0 0x00 0x00
signature 0 0 0 0 no 3 0 0 0 0 0x00 0x00
Programmer Type : Arduino
Description : Arduino
Hardware Version: 2
Firmware Version: 1.16
Vtarget : 0.0 V
Varef : 0.0 V
Oscillator : Off
SCK period : 0.1 us
avrdude: AVR device initialized and ready to accept instructions
Reading | | 0% 0.00s
Reading | ################################################## | 100% 0.00s
avrdude: Device signature = 0x1e950f (probably m328p)
avrdude: safemode: lfuse reads as 0
avrdude: safemode: hfuse reads as 0
avrdude: safemode: efuse reads as 0
avrdude: NOTE: "flash" memory has been specified, an erase cycle will be performed
To disable this feature, specify the -D option.
avrdude: erasing chip
avrdude: reading input file "./grbl/grbl.hex"
avrdude: writing flash (29654 bytes):
Writing | | 0% 0.00s
Writing | # | 1% 0.11s
Writing | # | 2% 0.19s
...
Writing | ################################################## | 99% 8.62s
Writing | ################################################## | 100% 8.69s
avrdude: 29654 bytes of flash written
avrdude: verifying flash memory against ./grbl/grbl.hex:
avrdude: load data flash data from input file ./grbl/grbl.hex:
avrdude: input file ./grbl/grbl.hex contains 29654 bytes
avrdude: reading on-chip flash data:
Reading | | 0% 0.00s
Reading | # | 1% 0.08s
...
Reading | ################################################## | 99% 6.48s
Reading | ################################################## | 100% 6.53s
avrdude: verifying ...
avrdude: 29654 bytes of flash verified
avrdude: safemode: lfuse reads as 0
avrdude: safemode: hfuse reads as 0
avrdude: safemode: efuse reads as 0
avrdude: safemode: Fuses OK (E:00, H:00, L:00)
avrdude done. Thank you.
kryton:/home/ws/FirmwareDemo>