RIOT-2019.04 - Release Notes

RIOT is a multi-threading operating system which enables soft real-time capabilities and comes with support for a range of devices that are typically found in the Internet of Things: 8-bit and 16-bit microcontrollers as well as light-weight 32-bit processors.

RIOT is based on the following design principles: energy-efficiency, soft real-time capabilities, small memory footprint, modularity, and uniform API access, independent of the underlying hardware (with partial POSIX compliance).

RIOT is developed by an international open-source community which is independent of specific vendors (e.g. similarly to the Linux community) and is licensed with a non-viral copyleft license (LGPLv2.1), which allows indirect business models around the free open-source software platform provided by RIOT.

About this release:

The 2019.04 release includes a number of new features including porting of riotboot to a number of new platforms, 802.15.4 support on the nRF52, and the ability for firmware to flash images into a separate boot slot. Support for several new boards and new sensors was added. Additionally, this release contains a number of bug fixes and test improvements.

About 320 pull requests with about 569 commits have been merged since the last release and about 40 issues have been solved. 44 people contributed with code in 88 days. Approximately 825 files have been touched with 32716 insertions and 5149 deletions.

Notations used below:

+ means new feature/item
* means modified feature/item
- means removed feature/item

New features and changes

System libraries

+ riotboot_flashwrite: added module to reliably write a firmware image to
  flash
+ crypto: added support for chacha20poly1305 AEAD symmetric key cypher
  algorithm
* threads: added usage of thread_state_t enum to define thread states,
  instead of an integer
* random: added usage of hwrng as seed if available
+ app_metadata: added module to print application metadata
+ unaligned.h: added functions to safely read values from potentially
  unaligned pointers
+ isrpipe: split isrpipe_read_timeout to isolate xtimer dependency

Networking

* gnrc_ipv6: adapted ping6 to original-ping-like implementation
* gnrc_ipv6: allowed sending empty IPv6 packets
+ gnrc_netif_ieee802154: optional support to drop duplicate broadcast
  packets
- gnrc_pktbuf: removed deprecated gnrc_pktbuf_get_iovec() function
+ l2util: initial import of a general IPv6 over X helper module
+ NimBLE: added Bluetooth device scanner
+ NimBLE: added helper functions for address printing
* NimBLE: updated package to the latest version

Packages

+ c25519: add support (embedded x25519 crypto library)

Boards

+ Arduino nano: added support
+ nrf52832-mdk: added support
+ PhyTec reel board: added support
+ MicroPython pyboard v1.1: added support
+ Hamilton: added support
+ saml10-xpro and saml11-xpro: added riotboot support
+ nrf52: added riotboot support
+ ESP32 and stm32: added command to allow runtime configuration of uart mode
+ ESP32 and ESP8266: add support for ESP-NOW network device driver
* ESP8266: freed up RAM by moving most .rodata sections from DRAM to IROM
+ Arduino: added test to verify pin mappings
+ b-l072z-lrwan1: enabled RTT feature
+ STM32l0: added support for dual bank flashing with OpenOCD
* Autonomo: changed flasher to BOSSA
* stm32: rework common clock configuration for stm32f4
* stm32f3discovery: Fix no external low speed crystal

CPU

+ stm32l0: added riotboot support
+ stm32f0: added support for periph_pm
+ stm32f3, f7, l1 and l4: added stop and standby low power modes. All
  STM32 families now provide periph_pm
+ samd21: enabled idle modes
+ sam0: added support for RWWEE on-chip memory
+ Kinetis: added support for EA series and S9KEAZ129 MCU
+ TI CC2650: added I2C periph implementation

Device Drivers

+ i2c: added slave scan shell command
+ USB: added device driver initialization function and API definition
+ USB: added peripheral driver for sam0_common
+ nrf5x temperature sensor: added driver
+ nrf52: added initial 802.15.4 support
+ add7746 capacitance sensor: added driver
+ ds323x extremely accurate RTC: added driver
+ ltc4150 coulomb counter: added driver
+ sht2x temperature and humidity sensor: added driver
+ sds011 dust sensor: added driver
+ added high level driver for H bridge ICs to drive DC motors
* lpsxxx pressure and temperature sensor: add support for lps22hb and
  lps25hb

Build System / Tooling

+ nrf52: added support for openocd
* improved avrdude integration
+ added support for socat as a RIOT terminal
+ added script for backporting PRs during release testing
* pyterm: specified use of python3 by default
* flasher: support for flashing images at offset addresses `pyocd`, `jlink`
* Texas Instruments UniFlash: put configuration in common
* makefiles: introduce FLASHFILE
  * Use FLASHFILE for `riotboot` and `mcuboot`
  * Update flashers `avrdude`, `edbg`, `jlink`, lpc2k_pgm`, `openocd`
* makefiles/docker.inc.mk: Use directories in RIOT when possible
* make: unexport `TERM*` variables
* msba2: compile 'lpc2k_pgm' when flashing

Testing

+ documentation: added initial guide to running tests
+ Makefile.include: add a 'test/available' target
* testrunner: Fix bug matching local echo
* tests/rng: replace printf_float with fmt/print_float
* tests/bloom_bytes: replace %f with fmt/print_float
* tests/posix_semaphore: sem_timedwait should not return before abstime

Known issues

Networking related issues

#11295: RFC 3306 Unicast-Prefix-based-IPv6 Multicast with BorderRouter #11212: POSIX TCP API: bad file descriptor #11091: gnrc_minimal on nRF52DK do not work anymore #11033: 6lo: RIOT does not receive packets from Linux when short_addr is set #10969: net: netdev_driver_t::send() doc unclear #10927: gnrc_tftp: Missing minimum length check #10878: nrfmin can get stuck and never reach RX (while TX works) #10861: cpu/esp8266: Tracking open problems of esp_wifi netdev driver #10809: openthread: does not build on current Arch #10410: Missing drop implementations in netdev_driver_t::recv #10389: gnrc_sock_udp: Possible Race condition on copy in application buffer #10380: netdev_ieee802154: Mismatch between radio ll address and in memory address #10370: gomach: Resetting netif with cli doesn't return #10338: xbee: setting PAN ID sometimes fails #9709: examples: failed assertion in dtls-echo example #9656: gnrc/netif: various problems after resetting interface a second time #8779: CC2538 RF overlapping PIN usage #8752: mrf24j40: does not link for examples/default #8631: at86rf2xx/kw2xrf: scalar NETOPT options checked as arrays #8271: app/netdev: application stops working after receiving frames with assertion or completely without error #8242: at86rf2xx: Dead lock when sending while receiving #8199: gcoap example request on tap I/F fails with NIB issue #8172: gnrc_netif, gnrc_uhcpc: Replacing prefix on border router results in no configured prefix #8130: gcoap: can't build with network stacks other than GNRC #8086: gnrc_rpl_p2p: port to nib and fix compile errors #7737: pkg: libcoap is partially broken and outdated #7474: 6lo gnrc fragmentation expects driver to block on TX #6018: nRF52 gnrc 6lowpan ble memory leak #5863: OSX + SAMR21-xpro: shell cannot handle command inputs larger than 64 chars #5748: gnrc: nodes crashing with too small packet buffer #5486: at86rf2xx: lost interrupts #5230: gnrc ipv6: multicast packets are not dispatched to the upper layers #5051: Forwarding a packet back to its link layer source should not be allowed #5016: gnrc_rpl: Rejoining RPL instance as root after reboot messes up routing #4527: gnrc_ipv6: Multicast is not forwarded if routing node listens to the address

Timer related issues

#10545: periph_timer: systematic proportional error in timer_set #10523: saml21 system time vs rtc #10351: samd21/periph/rtt: Interrupt flags are not correctly cleared #10073: xtimer_usleep wrong delay time #9187: sys/newlib: gettimeofday() returns time since boot, not current wall time #9052: misc issues with tests/trickle #9049: xtimer mis-scaling with long sleep times #8746: stm32_common/periph/rtc: current implementation broken/poor accuracy #8388: xtimer_periodic_wakeup is not interrupt safe #8251: telosb: xtimer config wrong when running on a tmote sky #7347: xtimer_usleep stuck for small values #7114: xtimer: add's items to the wrong list if the timer overflows between _xtimer_now() and irq_disable() #6442: cpu/native: timer interrupt issue #6052: tests: xtimer_drift gets stuck #5338: xtimer: xtimer_now() not ISR safe #5103: xtimer: weird behavior of tests/xtimer_drift, bug?

Drivers related issues

#11405: nrfmin: communication not possible after multicast ping with no interval #10559: I2C API write_regs does not fit implementation #9546: dht: driver for dht11 sensor sometimes stuck in dht_read() on Atmel SAMR21 #9419: cpu/msp430: GPIO driver doesn't work properly #8213: at86rf2xx: Basic mode and NETOPT_AUTOACK #8045: stm32/periph/uart: extra byte transmitted on first transmission #8028: diskio: failed assertion in send_cmd() on lpc2387 #4876: at86rf2xx: Simultaneous use of different transceiver types is not supported #3366: periph/i2c: handle NACK

Native related issues

#7206: native: race-condition in IPC #5796: native: tlsf: early malloc will lead to a crash #495: native not float safe

Other platform related issues

#11447: frdm-k64f: hwrng support broken, applications using RNG crash #11354: ESP32: write(STDIO_FILENO, ...) not working #11104: STM32: SPI clock not returning to idle state and generating additional clock cycles #11059: board/sltb001a: cannot flash with JLink when 'hello-world' is running and no error #11043: boards/z1: tests/rng resets board #10979: Missing SPI pre-scalars for STM32F7 #10842: Preemption of malloc on AVR #10258: Incorrect default $PORT building for esp32-wroom-32 on macOS #10122: Indeterministic hard fault in _mutex_lock(), with nRF52 SoftDevice #10076: cpu/cortexm_common: irq_enable returns the current state of interrupts (not previous) #8408: pkg/fatfs: linker error when build tests/pkg_fatfs_vfs for msb430 based boards #8052: mips: several issues #7753: pic32-wifire: race-condition when linking in concurrent build #7667: sam0 flashpage_write issue #7020: isr_rfcoreerrors while pinging between CC2538DKs #6567: periph/spi: Switching between CPOL=0,1 problems on Kinetis with software CS #5774: cpu: cortexm_common: context switching code breaks when compiling with LTO #4954: chronos: compiling with -O0 breaks #4612: pkg: TLSF does not build for 16 bit platforms #1891: newlib-nano: Printf formatting does not work properly for some numeric types

Build system related issues

#11343: RTT: make term without make debug #11344: RTT: make test not working #11179: stm32l4: can't flash bin files #10857: frdm-kw41z: error with SLOT_LEN handling and flasher not working #10850: Tracking: remove harmfull use of export in make and immediate evaluation #10459: make: make clean all does not make sense and should be removed #10047: Make warns to expect errors when disabling optional modules #9913: Dependencies processing order issues #9742: buildtest uses wrong build directory #9645: Different build behavior between murdock and riot/riotbuild:latest image #9589: application/Makefile: environment settings after inclusion of Makefile.include #8913: make: use of immediate value of variables before they have their final value #8122: doxygen: riot.css modified by 'make doc' #7918: Usage of GCC extension for binary constants #6120: Windows AVR Mega development makefile Error #5848: arduino: Race condition in sys/arduino/Makefile.include #5776: make: Predefining CFLAGS are parsed weirdly #4053: macros: RIOT_FILE_RELATIVE printing wrong file name for headers

Other issues

#11274: riotboot_flashwrite: Failure on the nrf52 #11243: sys/riotboot: documentation issues #10800: iotlab-m3: thread tests failing #10751: Possible memset optimized out in crypto code #10731: nanocoap: incomplete response to /.well-known/core request #10639: sys/stdio_uart: dropped data when received at once #10510: xtimer_set_msg: crash when using same message for 2 timers #10468: Tinycryt upstream rewrote history in master branch #10175: No error returned from aes_init when a key with a bad size is used #10121: RIOT cannot compile with the latest version of macOS (10.14) and Xcode 10 #9882: sys/tsrb is not thread safe on AVR #9518: periph/i2c: tracking bugs and untested acks #9371: assert: c99 static_assert macro doesn't function for multiple static_asserts in the same scope #8975: dist/tools/openocd: cannot debug some stlink based boards #8653: msba2: default example fails on assert #8589: Why using -F in avrdude? #8436: Kinetis PhyNode: failed to flash binary > 256K #8107: crypto/ccm: bugs in the implementation of CCM mode #7220: sys/fmt: Missing tests for fmt_float, fmt_lpad #6874: SAMD21: possible CMSIS bug ? #6533: tests/lwip target board for python test is hardcoded to native #5218: some use of asm keyword might be missing volatile #5009: RIOT is saw-toothing in energy consumption (even when idling) #4866: periph: GPIO drivers are not thread safe #4512: pkg: tests: RELIC unittests fail on iotlab-m3 #4488: Making the newlib thread-safe #3256: make: Setting constants on compile time doesn't really set them everywhere #2346: Tracker: Reduce scope on unintended COMMON variables #1263: sys: the TLSF implementation contains (a) read-before-write error(s)

Fixed Issues from the last release (2019.01)

#11163: netdev: iolist not checked for empty elements on send #11162: nrfmin is broken when DEVELHELP is activated #11151: drivers/l3g42000d: scale has wrong data type #11147: 6LoWPAN over BLE: Device not pingable #11113: RPL global DODAG repair #11101: nib route add for routing to Raspberry Pi gateway not working #11052: tests/bloom_bytes does not print float #11051: NimBLE port should be always building all NimBLE files #11029: Default example does not work on stm32f4discovery #11013: hts221: wrong bit for "one-shot enable" register #10956: tests/gnrc_tcp_*: #2 not working on 6Lo-based boards #10972: examples/nanocoap_server hangs after > 256 bytes packet #10463: stm32f4discovery isn't visible as ttyUSB after flashing with tests/leds #10427: doxygen: *_params.h files are excluded #10341: driver_my9221 prevents further flashing of nucleo-l073rz #10294: tests/leds doesn't work on Nucleo-F401RE #10206: Lua_basic example doesn't flash in b-l072z-lrwan1 #9387: shell ping6 doesn't display duplicate packages #8663: /sys/random/seed: why not use hwrng if available? #8523: tools: need backport script #6123: gnrc: crash with (excessive) traffic in native

You can get the complete detail in the git history and in the release milestone Release 2019.04.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all companies (vendors) that provided us with (their) hardware for porting and testing RIOT-OS. Further thanks go to companies and institutions that directly sponsored development time. And finally, big thanks to all of you contributing in so many different ways to make RIOT worthwhile!

More information

http://www.riot-os.org

Mailing lists

• RIOT OS kernel developers list devel@riot-os.org (http://lists.riot-os.org/mailman/listinfo/devel)
• RIOT OS users list users@riot-os.org (http://lists.riot-os.org/mailman/listinfo/users)
• RIOT commits commits@riot-os.org (http://lists.riot-os.org/mailman/listinfo/commits)
• Github notifications notifications@riot-os.org (http://lists.riot-os.org/mailman/listinfo/notifications)

IRC

• Join the RIOT IRC channel at: irc.freenode.net, #riot-os

License

• The code developed by the RIOT community is licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) version 2.1 as published by the Free Software Foundation.
• Some external sources and packages are published under a separate license.

All code files contain licensing information.