mbed deploy does not respect .mbedignore

[bremoran]

I have a repo that contains several directories, including a PCB design. The PCB design contains files named <library name>.lib. I have added a .mbedignore file, which specifies all the non-code directories, but mbed deploy does not respect this, insisting on trying to parse my PCB library directories.

[teetak01]

Same here. I tried ignoring both the <library name>.lib and <library name> folder, but mbed deploy still very persistently likes to do useless deploys.

[bremoran]

@teetak01 Apparently, mbed deploy's lack of respect for .mbedignore is by design.

[teetak01]

@screamerbg @theotherjimmy any comments on this? I am just wondering what the benefit is for the user if .mbedignore is not supposed to affect mbed deploy. Or could this functionality be reconsidered?

At least on this repository (or https://docs.mbed.com/docs/mbed-os-handbook/en/5.1/dev_tools/cli/) I do not see really much documentation on how .mbedignoreis supposed to work, other than some reference that mbed update at least works with it.

[bridadan]

@teetak01 I might be able to supply some background as to why .mbedignore files aren't currently supported in this context.

The simple reason is that the logic that respects the .mbedignore files is located in mbed-os at the moment. It was originally only used during the compilation process. There other factors that are factored into the global "ignore logic" besides the .mbedignore files, so this is all consolidated within those tools.

[teetak01]

@bridadan thank you for your comments. Has there been any thought on refactoring the tools away from mbed-os? Keep the OS as its own entity and concentrate the tools either here or in third repository (if there is other dependencies). Currently there is maybe a bit too tight coupling between mbed-os and mbed-cli versions and these two cannot deviate too far before strange errors start to occur, possible because some of the tool changes are done on both sides. But yes, I can image this is not trivial in any case.

[bridadan]

@teetak01 There's definitely been talk about this. And I don't know the exact time frame on any of those changes (if they were to happen at all), specifically because they are non-trivial like you said. Right now the source code and tools are fairly tightly coupled. Though in the future, especially as development smooths out, I could see this happening when there is less feature development on the tools.

[bmcdonnell-ionx]

Apparently, mbed deploy's lack of respect for .mbedignore is by design.

Why should it be that way?

You wind up telling one build system (mbed build) to ignore the files, but all the others (via mbed export) not to. (Right?) If you make any customizations to your exported project files to ignore the same things there, those modifications will be overwritten next time you mbed export.

[theotherjimmy]

@bmcdonnell-ionx mbed export heeds .mbedignore files.

[bmcdonnell-ionx]

@theotherjimmy,

mbed export heeds .mbedignore files.

So this issue has been addressed, and should be closed?

[bridadan]

Well the issue is specifically that mbed deploy still deploys .lib files that are either ignored directly by .mbedignore files or they are contained within a directory that is ignore by .mbedignore files.

It sounds like we don't intend to change this, so I think it's still safe to close this as "won't fix" @theotherjimmy ?

[theotherjimmy]

The documentation needs to be updated to explain that it affects mbed export as well as mbed compile. At the moment, it references the non-existent mbed build command.

[bmcdonnell-ionx]

EDIT: BEGIN OFF-TOPIC CONVERSATION (for the next several comments)

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How can I ignore specific files in an mbed exported project? And why is mbed export overwriting .mbedignore?

I have a project that uses a library, where the library has a test.cpp file in its directory. I can't build the Mbed project with that file.

When I add libname/test.cpp to my .mbedignore file, .mbedignore gets overwritten by mbed export. But there is apparently some way to ignore things in exported projects, as e.g. half the folders under mbed-os/features/ and all but one TARGETs are excluded from my exported project build.

[theotherjimmy]

@bmcdonnell-ionx

And why is mbed export overwriting .mbedignore?

Certain exporters may write their own .mbedignore files.

How can I ignore specific files in an mbed exported project?

The .mbedignore files will work for both mbed compile and mbed export. I'm a little confused on what you mean do you mean .mbedignore then mbed export? or mbed export then (some IDE interaction) then .mbedignore? For either, you could just write in the .mbedignore file.

When I add libname/test.cpp to my .mbedignore file, .mbedignore gets overwritten by mbed export.

You could put the .mbedignore file into libname with the contents:

test.cpp

And that would do it.

[bmcdonnell-ionx]

Certain exporters may write their own .mbedignore files.

Bummer.

I could see them adding to it, but clobbering it seems like bad behavior, IMO.

I'm a little confused on what you mean do you mean .mbedignore then mbed export? or mbed export then (some IDE interaction) then .mbedignore? For either, you could just write in the .mbedignore file.

Step 1. I added libname/test.cpp to the .mbedignore file.
Step 2. mbed export -m LPC4088 -i mcuxpresso
Step 3. Inspect .mbedignore. It has been overwritten, and no longer contains libname/test.cpp.

You could put the .mbedignore file into libname

I don't want to pollute a library that knows nothing of Mbed.

[theotherjimmy]

@bmcdonnell-ionx This sounds like an issue with mcuxpresso. I think mcuxpresso may not support .mbedignore of single files. Let's discuss this on another issue in the mbed-os repo, I think we have ventured off topic of this issue.