ESP32 Docker build fails for my custom board with 1.25.0

[mohnazemi]

Hi guys,
I have a Dockerfile to set up an environment, which I use to build the firmware for my ESP32 board. This has always worked as expected however I just tried to updated the Micropython Version from 1.24.1 to 1.25.0 in my script and now this build does not work at all. It seems that it cannot find the idf.py to build Micropython. It seems ./esp-idf/export.sh does not do anything. I only changed one single line in that Dockerfile and that is to clone the latest Micropython releases but the ESP-IDF framework version remains the same as before. I am not sure why this script fails to build. Has something changed in the way that 1.25 is built ?? The instructions under ports/esp32 suggest no changes. Any ideas ?

FROM ubuntu:22.04
ARG DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive

ENV BOARD="CUSTOM"
ENV MAKEOPTS="-j4"

ARG uPyREPOSITORY="https://github.com/micropython/micropython.git"
ARG IDFREPOSITORY="https://github.com/espressif/esp-idf.git"

ARG uPyVERSION="v1.25.0"
ARG IDFVERSION="v5.2.2"

RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y \
 git \
 wget \
 cmake \
 flex \
 bison \
 gperf \
 python3 \
 python3-pip \
 python3-setuptools \
 python3-venv \
 ninja-build \
 ccache \
 libffi-dev \
 libssl-dev \
 dfu-util \
 libusb-1.0-0


RUN apt-get clean \
 && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*

RUN git config --global http.postBuffer 524288000

# Clone MicroPython source repo
RUN git clone --branch ${uPyVERSION} --recursive ${uPyREPOSITORY} /micropython

WORKDIR /micropython

# Clone esp-idf source repo
RUN  git clone --branch ${IDFVERSION} --recursive ${IDFREPOSITORY} esp-idf

# Install ESP32 build toolchain
ENV IDF_PATH="/micropython/esp-idf"
ENV IDF_GITHUB_ASSETS="dl.espressif.com/github_assets"
RUN esp-idf/install.sh esp32

# Build the MicroPython cross-compiler
RUN make ${MAKEOPTS} -C mpy-cross

# Copy our custom board configuration
COPY ./boards/${BOARD} ports/esp32/boards/${BOARD}

# Build all the ESP32 modules from the MicroPython source
RUN make ${MAKEOPTS} BOARD=${BOARD} -C ports/esp32 submodules

Here is the output from the build:

[+] Building 9.7s (16/19)                                                                                                                                                                         docker:desktop-linux
 => [internal] load build definition from Dockerfile                                                                                                                                                              0.0s
 => => transferring dockerfile: 1.93kB                                                                                                                                                                            0.0s
 => [internal] load metadata for docker.io/library/ubuntu:22.04                                                                                                                                                   1.1s
 => [internal] load .dockerignore                                                                                                                                                                                 0.0s
 => => transferring context: 2B                                                                                                                                                                                   0.0s
 => [ 1/15] FROM docker.io/library/ubuntu:22.04@sha256:3c61d3759c2639d4b836d32a2d3c83fa0214e36f195a3421018dbaaf79cbe37f                                                                                           0.0s
 => [internal] load build context                                                                                                                                                                                 0.0s
 => => transferring context: 356B                                                                                                                                                                                 0.0s
 => CACHED [ 2/15] RUN apt-get update && apt-get install -y   git   wget   cmake   flex   bison   gperf   python3   python3-pip   python3-setuptools   python3-venv   ninja-build   ccache   libffi-dev   libssl  0.0s
 => CACHED [ 3/15] RUN apt-get clean   && rm -rf /var/lib/apt/lists/*                                                                                                                                             0.0s
 => CACHED [ 4/15] RUN git config --global http.postBuffer 524288000                                                                                                                                              0.0s
 => CACHED [ 5/15] RUN git clone --branch v1.25.0 --recursive https://github.com/micropython/micropython.git /micropython                                                                                         0.0s
 => CACHED [ 6/15] WORKDIR /micropython                                                                                                                                                                           0.0s
 => CACHED [ 7/15] RUN  git clone --branch v5.2.2 --recursive https://github.com/espressif/esp-idf.git esp-idf                                                                                                    0.0s
 => CACHED [ 8/15] RUN esp-idf/install.sh esp32                                                                                                                                                                   0.0s
 => [ 9/15] RUN . ./esp-idf/export.sh                                                                                                                                                                             0.6s
 => [10/15] RUN make -j4 -C mpy-cross                                                                                                                                                                             7.9s
 => [11/15] COPY ./boards/CUSTOM ports/esp32/boards/CUSTOM                                                                                                                                              0.0s 
 => ERROR [12/15] RUN make -j4 BOARD=CUSTOM -C ports/esp32 submodules                                                                                                                                        0.1s 
------                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
 > [12/15] RUN make -j4 BOARD=CUSTOM -C ports/esp32 submodules:                                                                                                                                                   
0.076 make: Entering directory '/micropython/ports/esp32'                                                                                                                                                              
0.076 Use make V=1 or set BUILD_VERBOSE in your environment to increase build verbosity.                                                                                                                               
0.077 /bin/sh: 1: idf.py: not found
0.077 make: *** [Makefile:115: submodules] Error 127
0.077 make: Leaving directory '/micropython/ports/esp32'
------
Dockerfile:62
--------------------
  60 |     
  61 |     # Build all the ESP32 modules from the MicroPython source
  62 | >>> RUN make ${MAKEOPTS} BOARD=${BOARD} -C ports/esp32 submodules
  63 |     
  64 |     # Prepare the build.sh script
--------------------

[andrewleech]

I'm not sure why your docker image isn't working anymore, but an alternative might be the official docker images released by espressif.
https://hub.docker.com/r/espressif/idf

They're used in mpbuild to compile esp32 port. https://github.com/mattytrentini/mpbuild

[mohnazemi]

Many thanks for your response. I found out that the last line actually should not run while building the image and instead should be executed when running the container when the environment is properly set up. It was quite a silly mistake