RIOT-2019.10 - 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 2019.10 release includes:

• initial support for SUIT firmware updates
• USB CDC-ACM serial communication
• complete rewrite of TI CC110x radio driver
• initial support for IPv6 fragmentation
• DTLS support in the sock networking stack
• complete blockwise messaging for gcoap and nanocoap
• as always, bug fixes and documentation updates

About 460 pull requests, composed of 950 commits, have been merged since the last release, and about 60 issues have been solved. 57 people contributed with code in 105 days. Approximately 2000 files have been touched with 129000 insertions and 25000 deletions.

Notations used below:

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

New features and changes

System libraries

+ sys/arduino: Added millis()
* sys/arduino: make ADC feature optional
+ sys/fmt: Added submodule fmt_table for printing tables
+ sys/log: add module for colorized logging
+ sys/riotboot: add initial image digest verification
* riotboot: define if building the bootloader
+ sys/shell: add heap command
+ sys/shell: cancel current line on CTRL-C.
* shell/sc_gnrc_ipv6_nib: list and edit authoritative border router (ABR) list
+ sys/suit: initial support for SUIT firmware updates
* sys: add schedstatistics module to remove dependency on xtimer
* can: use memarray for pkt and router allocation
+ sys: single interrupt handler thread for interrupts in modules with blocking
  functions (but likely to be removed -- see Deprecations section below)

Networking

+ sys: Add (CoAP) Link Format module
+ sys: add credman (D)TLS credential management module
+ sys: new sock submodule for DTLS
+ gnrc_ipv6_ext_frag: Initial import of IPv6 fragmentation and reassembly
+ gnrc_netif: allow for wait of minimum time between sends
* gnrc_netif: add netif setter (part of refactoring to a pointer-based
  approach)
* gnrc_sixlowpan_frag_vrb: add gnrc_sixlowpan_frag_vrb_from_route()
+ gnrc_sixlowpan_frag_rb: move reassembly buffer functions to their own module
+ gcoap: add Blockwise support
* nanocoap: complete Blockwise support
+ nanocoap: add coap_opt_get_next() to iterate over options
+ nanocoap: add coap_opt_get_opaque() to retrieve option bytes
* gnrc_tcp: several small improvements

Packages

* ccn-lite: version bump
* pkg/libcose: bump version and update crypto support
* nimble: adapt to nrf51 family
+ nimble: add IP-over-BLE support via netif/GNRC
* nimble: bump version to 1.2.0
* nimble/netif: set max conn explicitly
* semtech-loramac: add uplink_counter get/set functions
+ Cifra: add AES crypto library
* cayenne-lpp: bump version to 0.1.1
+ wolfSSL pkg addition with examples

Boards

+ board: add support for SAMR34-XPRO
+ boards/arduino-mkrwan1300: add initial support (without LoRa)
* boards: Split off 128KiB version of bl*pill
+ boards/doc: Add a guide to find physical board pins
+ boards: Initial support for board HiFive1B
- boards/mips-malta: remove board.
+ boards/nrf52: introduce shared dependencies in common/nrf52 and update
  boards
* boards/nrf52832-mdk: enable I2C and use default configuration
* board/nucleo-l031k6: Add i2c to periph_conf
* board/nucleo-l432kc: Implementing I2C for board
* boards: move CPU/CPU_MODEL definition to Makefile.features
+ boards/p-l496g-cell02: add support
- boards: Remove support for the Jiminy-Mega256RFR2
* boards/sam0: refactor ADC_0 into plain ADC
* boards/slwstk6000b-*: split one board for each module
* boards/slwstk6000b: move CPU definition to Makefile.features
+ boards/stm32f723e-disco: add initial support
* boards/stm32: introduce common timer configurations and use them where
  possible
+ boards/stm32l0538-disco: add initial support
* pic32-wifire: add support for flashing with pic32prog

CPU

+ cpu/esp32: lwIP netdev
* cpu/esp*: various improvements
* cpu/kinetis: enable HWRNG for k64f
- cpu/mips32r2_generic: remove cpu.
* cpu: Moved stdio_init() prior to periph_init() for ARM targets
* cpu/nrf5x: declare radio_nrfble feat for all nrfs
+ cpu/nrf5x: implement wdt peripheral driver
+ cpu/sam0_common: add hwrng driver
* cpu/sam0_common/gpio: don't hard-code number of ports
* cpu/sam0: update doc.txt with new MCU families
* cpu/saml21: Make Low-Power SRAM available to programs
+ cpu/stm32_common: add watchdog for stm32
* stm32-common/spi: allow custom pin modes on spi to minimize power
  consumption
* cpu/stm32f(2|4|7): add riotboot requirements
* cpu/stm32l1: optimize power consumption
* stm32l1/vendor: update vendor files to v2.3.0
* sam0: allow flashing with JLinkExe
+ sam0: Implement watchdog driver
* cpu/samr30: update vendor files using ASF 3.35.1
+ cpu/efm32: provide periph_uart_mode

Device Drivers

+ drivers: add mtd wrapper for periph_flashpage
+ drivers/cc110x: Complete rewrite from scratch, and detailed documentation
* drivers/include/periph/eeprom: Changed uint8_t* to void* in API
* drivers/periph/i2c: Updated i2c_release() to return void
+ drivers/ph_oem: support for Atlas Scientific pH OEM sensor
+ drivers: support for NXP PCA9685 I2C 16-channel, 12-bit PWM controller
+ usbus: Add CDC-ACM (Serial console) function
* periph/timer: Fix return codes of timer API
+ can: add ncv7356 SW transceiver driver
+ drivers/lis2dh12: add I2C mode
+ drivers/periph: add doc on power management aspects
* drivers/mrf24j40: add pseudomodules for MRF24J40MA/B/C/D/E

Build System / Tooling

* dist/tools/pyterm: drop loglevel from output
* make: docker: delegate bind mounts to the containers
* Makefile.base: implement relative path linking without 'realpath'
* Makefile.base: use thin static archives.
* Makefile.include: add flash-only as dependency of term
* Makefile.include: do not build HEXFILE by default anymore
* Makefile.include: require make version 4.
* makefiles: add support for sysfs gpio debug adapter
* Makefiles: add support to generate both `.hex` and `.bin` file and add
  FLASHFILE variable
* makefiles/docker.inc.mk: various improvements
* makefiles/murdock.inc.mk: change policy to run tests by default
* make: introduce $(CLEAN)
+ murdock: introduce 'TEST_ON_CI_BLACKLIST'
* toolchain/cflags: enable dwarf compression (save 50% HDD)
* edbg: verify before flash
+ ci: add codespell check script for tracking typos
+ Makefile.include: add cleanterm target and use it for tests
* arduino/sketches: build sketches as a module
+ github: use stale-bot to mark and close PRs without activity

Testing

+ tests: add distinct test app for nrfmin driver
+ tests: add Nordic SoftDevice test app
* tests/gnrc_ndp: enhance coverage
* tests/lua_loader: run the test in CI
* tests/mcuboot: handle building in docker
* tests/pkg_u8g2: run the test in CI
* tests: provide test case for malformed IEEE 802.15.4 packets
* tests/pthread_rwlock: run the test in CI
* tests: re-enable utf-8 tests on native
+ tests/riotboot: add automatic test
+ tests/sys_crypto: add RFC3610 and NIST SP 800-38C tests
* tests/test_tools: add a test for the testing tools environment
* tools/compile_and_test_for_board: allow setting the flash targets
* tests/gnrc_tcp: provide regression tests for fixed issues

API Changes

/* no error handling possible, so no need to return a value */
- int i2c_release(i2c_t dev)
+ void i2c_release(i2c_t dev)

/* return 0 on success, rather than 1; so like timer_init() */
int timer_set(tim_t dev, int channel, unsigned int timeout)
int timer_set_absolute(tim_t dev, int channel, unsigned int value)
int timer_clear(tim_t dev, int channel)

/* implementations already cast the argument to uint8_t* internally, so not
   a significant semantic change */
- size_t eeprom_read(uint32_t pos, uint8_t *data, size_t len)
+ size_t eeprom_read(uint32_t pos, void *data, size_t len)

- size_t eeprom_write(uint32_t pos, const uint8_t *data, size_t len)
+ size_t eeprom_write(uint32_t pos, const void *data, size_t len)

/* now returns CIPHER_ERR_INVALID_KEY_SIZE on invalid keySize */
int aes_init(cipher_context_t *context, const uint8_t *key, uint8_t keySize)

/* add setter for netif of interface header */
+ void gnrc_netif_hdr_set_netif(gnrc_netif_hdr_t *hdr, const gnrc_netif_t *netif)

Deprecations

Warnings

net/emb6 net/nhdp pkg/oonf_api

As the release was finalized, rough consensus was reached on a system event thread handler (#12474) that likely will remove the interrupt handler thread (#10555) just introduced with this release.

Removals

net/coap: remove deprecated COAP_CT_... defines

Known issues

Networking related issues

#12565: gnrc_icmpv6_echo: flood-pinging another node leads to leaks in own packet buffer #12264: ethos: Unable to handle fragmented IPv6 packets from Linux kernel #12210: stale border router does not get replaced #11988: ethos: fails to respond to first message. #11860: send data with UDP at 10HZ, the program die #11859: examples: dtls-echo fails silently when DTLS_ECC flag enabled #11852: scan-build errors found during 2019.07 testing #11405: nrfmin: communication not possible after multicast ping with no interval #11212: POSIX sockets + lwIP: bad file descriptor #11033: 6lo: RIOT does not receive packets from Linux when short_addr is set #10969: net: netdev_driver_t::send() doc unclear #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 #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 #7304: General 802.15.4/CC2538 RF driver dislikes fast ACKs #6018: nRF52: gnrc_6lowpan_ble: memory leak with nordic_softdevice_ble #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 #4527: gnrc_ipv6: Multicast is not forwarded if routing node listens to the address

Timer related issues

#11523: xtimer_periodic_wakeup crashing at high frequencies on frdm-kw41z #10545: periph_timer: systematic proportional error in timer_set #10523: saml21 system time vs rtc #10510: xtimer_set_msg: crash when using same message for 2 timers #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

#12445: driver/hts221: Temperature and Humidity readings incorrect #12371: fail to send data to can bus #12370: Undocumented uint8_t assumptions in nrf52840 peripherals #12045: floats and doubles being used all over the place. #12037: cpu/sam0_common: i2c baudrate calculation fails if CLOCK_CORECLOCK > 51 MHz #11388: SD card initialization: timeouts effectively blocking #11104: STM32: SPI clock not returning to idle state and generating additional clock cycles #11026: Recent changes effectively killed modular board designs #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 #4876: at86rf2xx: Simultaneous use of different transceiver types is not supported #3366: periph/i2c: handle NACK

Native related issues

#11472: Warnings from objcopy and size (binutils 2.32) #5796: native: tlsf: early malloc will lead to a crash #495: native not float safe

Other platforms related issues

#12286: Some tests are failing on STM32F7 #12243: ESP32 programming using BUILD_IN_DOCKER still expects esp-idf toolchain on host #12168: pkg/libb2: blake2s doesn't work on AVR #12057: ESP32 + DHT + SAUL reading two endpoints causes freeze. #11941: cpu/esp32: instabilities in multiheap memory management #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 #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

Build system related issues

#12003: bootloaders|tests/riotboot: broken with BUILD_IN_DOCKER and wrong flashfile #10850: Tracking: remove harmful use of export in make and immediate evaluation #9913: Build dependencies - processing order issues #9742: buildtest uses wrong build directory #9645: Different build behavior between murdock and riot/riotbuild:latest image #8913: make: use of immediate value of variables before they have their final value #8122: doxygen: riot.css modified by 'make doc' #6120: Windows AVR Mega development makefile Error #4053: macros: RIOT_FILE_RELATIVE printing wrong file name for headers

Other issues

-none- tests/pkg_fatfs: vol_idx print overflow on large negative value #12384: CDC-ACM (serial console) loses characters #12205: core: atomic: Unable to compile starting with gcc 9.1.0 #12108: make term output is inconsistent between boards, ethos and native #12105: [TRACKING] sys/shell refactoring. #11908: cpu/lpc2387: periph_rtc completely broken #11885: arm7: printf() with float/double not working #11423: cpu/kinetis: features provided not properly defined according to series #11243: sys/riotboot: documentation issues #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 #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 #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 #6533: tests/lwip target board for python test is hardcoded to native #5769: Possible problem in scheduler #5009: RIOT is saw-toothing in energy consumption (even when idling) #4866: periph: GPIO drivers are not thread safe #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

Fixed Issues from the last release (2019.07)

#12373: Leds not working on some stm32 based boards #12311: riotboot: irq not enabled after jumping to slot #12258: Rebootloop when using esp_now on the ESP32 #12247: esp8266: make flash fails #12244: Flashing on OSX uses /bin/sh instead of bash, resulting in problems with echo -n #12219: genconfigheader doesn't like defines with spaces #12213: sys/base64: cannot handle zero length buffers #12138: boards/common/nucleo32/include/arduino_pinmap.h not correct/complete #12125: i2c_scan not working on ESP32 #12115: nrfmin: driver not included in buildtest (anymore) #12110: fe310: handle_trap only handles interrupts #12090: boards/lobaro-lorabox: blindly sets TERMFLAGS #12089: boards/msba2: blindly sets TERMFLAGS #12086: gnrc_tcp: option parsing doesn't terminate on all inputs, potential DOS #12081: gnrc_tcp leaks memory when gnrc_netapi_send fails #12058: travis: flake8 not running #12002: usb: fails to respond ro ping when used with 802.15.4 #11980: Sending a packet to the Multicast Address with multiple interfaces causes Segmentation fault #11978: Loramac Example Kernel Panic #11948: examples: ccn-lite-relay example broken #11913: drivers/sx127x: Enforces reset pin to be defined #11910: TCP lwIP Error Connecting Sock Problem on ESP32 #11842: buildtest with BUILD_IN_DOCKER hides host toolchain errors #11820: stm32l152re: hard-fault unless power-cycled after flash, or depending on optimization #11763: spi_transfer_reg behavior doesn't follow doc #11691: murdock and tests using utf-8 characters #11631: examples / tests: return value of gnrc_netif_hdr_build() not checked in udp.c #11603: NATIVEINCLUDES Does not include USEMODULE_INCLUDES from log_printfnoformat #11519: shell/ping6: Incorrect handling of unexpected pongs #11499: rn2xx3_cmd_append - Not terminating strings #11447: frdm-k64f: hwrng support broken, applications using RNG crash #11390: gnrc networking crashes on nRF51dk #10878: nrfmin can get stuck and never reach RX (while TX works) #10842: Preemption of malloc on AVR #10459: make: make clean all does not make sense and should be removed #10351: sam0_common/periph/rtt: Interrupt flags are not correctly cleared #10345: frdm-k22f cannot flash after certain firmware flashed #10175: No error returned from aes_init when a key with a bad size is used #10047: Make warns to expect errors when disabling optional modules #9589: application/Makefile: environment settings after inclusion of Makefile.include #9546: dht: driver for dht11 sensor sometimes stuck in dht_read() on Atmel SAM R21 #8975: dist/tools/openocd: cannot debug some stlink based boards #8664: pkg: doxygen documentation is not fully processed #8631: at86rf2xx/kw2xrf: scalar NETOPT options checked as arrays #8028: diskio: failed assertion in send_cmd() on lpc2387 #7918: Usage of GCC extension for binary constants #7875: "Minor" compiling issues found by clang #7206: native: race-condition in IPC #7020: isr_rfcoreerrors while pinging between CC2538DKs #5848: arduino: Race condition in sys/arduino/Makefile.include #5776: make: Predefining CFLAGS are parsed weirdly #5218: some use of asm keyword might be missing volatile #5016: gnrc_rpl: Rejoining RPL instance as root after reboot messes up routing #4512: pkg: tests: RELIC unittests fail on iotlab-m3 #4490: pkg: tlsf: initialize memory pool early #4470: Hard fault triggered depending on power supply? #2175: ubjson: valgrind registers "Invalid write of size 4" in unittests #1891: newlib-nano: Printf formatting does not work properly for some numeric types #1263: sys: the TLSF implementation contains (a) read-before-write error(s)

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all companies that provided us with 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.