Re: STM32 development on FreeBSD?

On Mon, Aug 17, 2026 at 11:20 AM A FreeBSD User <freebsd@walstatt-de.de> wrote:
>
> Am Tage des Herren Wed, 5 Aug 2026 14:53:44 +0200
> Tomek CEDRO <tomek@cedro.info> schrieb:
>
> > On Wed, Aug 5, 2026 at 10:15 AM A FreeBSD User <freebsd@walstatt-de.de> wrote:
> > >
> > > Hello,
> > >
> > > I was wondering if FreeBSD (I'm with 15-STABLE and CURRENT) could provide a suitable STM32
> > > development platform?
> > > I'am a novice in that matter! I have some minor (bad) experience with ESP-IDF/Espressif and
> > > xtensa-esp-elf/riscv32-esp-elf (extremely fragile) toolchain and since I'm not bound to the
> > > MCU, I think I should try STM32 (the aim is a small appliance targetting flight
> > > controllers, so STM32 might be the better choice).
> > >
> > > I found some remarks on the net, at least
> > >
> > > https://gist.github.com/jj1bdx/0eeb447882ccf695b7d9 (last active 4 years ago) favoring
> > > devel/gcc-arm-embedded (gcc14, but the port is broken on CURRENT),
> > >
> > > I tried avoiding older (i.e. pre 2020) hits on google search. I also found hints using
> > >
> > > devel/arm-eabi-gcc, devel/arm-eabi-newlib (would like to have picolibc instead, but no
> > > ports so far).
> > >
> > > Major question: is someone developing for STM32 MCUs on FreeRTOS or equivalent and willing
> > > toshare with a beginner some hints and tricks how to setup the environment? I'd prefere a
> > > simple Makefile driven environemnt, I made bad experiences as a starter with the Python
> > > hell and cmake/ninja in ESP-IDF from Espressif which is a moving target.
> > >
> > > On the other hand, since LLVM is the standard compiler in FreeBSD, I'm willing to focus on
> > > that compiler suite as well but didn't find any STM32 related hints in the ports tree.
> > >
> > > For some existing tiny projects of mine I'd like to use FreeRTOS, but for some flight
> > > controller experiments I'd like to compile betaflight or Ardupilot (on FreeBSD). This info
> > > just for the record.
> > >
> > > I'd like to stay with FreeBSD as a main development and workstation platform, so in the
> > > first approach I try to avoid any Linux.
> > >
> > > Thank you very much and thanks for the patience, even if it might hurt. And I see forward
> > > to read from you.
> > >
> > > Thanks in advance,
> > >
> > > oh
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > >
> > > A FreeBSD user
> >
> > I am using FreeBSD for Apache NuttX RTOS development, try this one
> > out, supports many different architectures, and is kind of Unix for
> > MCU :-)
> >
> > https://nuttx.apache.org/
> >
> > List of supported platforms and chips and their peripherals is here:
> >
> > https://nuttx.apache.org/docs/latest/platforms/index.html
> >
> > gcc-arm-embedded compiler is in the ports. If you want to use esp32*
> > chips you can use one from esp-idf I patched it so Linux binaries are
> > installed and works on FreeBSD, plus Espressif has dedicated team for
> > NuttX development (yes esp-idf is a moving target but taken care of by
> > their team here). You can even work with AVR :-)
> >
> > Have fun :-)
> > Tomek
> >
> > --
> > CeDeROM, SQ7MHZ, http://www.tomek.cedro.info
> >
>
>
> Hello Tomek,
>
> thank you for hinting me towards NuttX. I am not a prefessional developer, more a casual
> programmer, so working with large frameworks in a casual manner is a nightmare. NuttX seems to
> have a much more structured interior than the ESP-IDF and I was really positively surprised
> about the fact that "make" is supported (I have hard times with cmake and its concept).
>
> Is there an intriduction for NuttX beginners on FreeBSD in special or in common for the
> various architectures you know of and willing to share?
>
> I abandonded esp32 architecture for now since the port provided in the official FreeBSD tree
> is LX6/LX7 only (no RISCV32) and the port found on github (search for trmobik esp32) is
> fragile and broken on recent 15-STABLE and CURRENT (I use those for other reasons).
>
> Many thanks!
>
> oh
>
> --
>
> A FreeBSD user

Hey there OH, nice to hear you like it, NuttX is my safe harbor in
embedded just like FreeBSD is my safe harbor in the IT :-)

There is "Getting Started" and "Guides" section in our documentation:

https://nuttx.apache.org/docs/latest/quickstart/index.html

You may also want to take a look at NuttX YouTube channel

https://www.youtube.com/@nuttxchannel

If you need any hints take a look at Discord:

https://discord.gg/YaqhJjHF95

ESP32 is not the architecture, it's only a product line name, these
chips can use Xtensa CPU architecture (i.e. ESP32, ESP32-S3), or
RISC-V CPU architecture (i.e. ESP32-C3, ESP32-C6). Because of that I
patched ESP-IDF upstream so their compilers can run on FreeBSD over
Linuxlator I work that way you can try :-)

Have fun! :-)
Tomek

ps/2: NuttX was initially BSD licensed! In 2015 Samsung took the
sources and created Tizen. In 2019 NuttX went Apache :-)

--
CeDeROM, SQ7MHZ, http://www.tomek.cedro.info