New Member Guide

Table of contents

1. Background
2. Pre-Install Prep
   • Required Software
   • Python install
   • Github setup
3. Installing FPrime
4. Learning FPrime

Background Information

For software development we are using the FPrime framework (sometimes written as F') for C++ developed by JPL. In order to develop software you must first understand the basics of C++ as the more advaced concepts can be learened as you work through the tutorial. If you have completed CSCI1300(or equivalent) and CSCI2270(or activly taking 2270) than you will learn all the basics you need in class. If you have not completed 2270 this video is recommended for learning all of the basics.

A Linux operating system or image is required for self installation. Because many of our new members will be using windows, we are working on hosting a server which will run linux and solve all the issues that come with VMs and things. Updates to come.

If you want to install FPrime on your own computer, use the following instructions. This guide will use macOS as an example, but the commands in linux will be the same unless otherwise specified. Windows users should install WSL to follow these commands.

Pre-Install Setup

Software Requirements

1. Unix based OS (macOS or Linux)

   • Windows can use wsl with a debian based image, or a virtual machine
   • See Avionics lead or Software lead for a copy of the vm image

2. git

   • Here is a good tutorial for git

3. CMake 3.16 or higher

4. GCC or Clang

5. Python 3.7+ with pip

6. Vim

   • In depth knowledge is not really need, just understand how to edit a few lines and save
   • Here is a good vim tutorial

7. VSCode

   • While another editor could be used, most developers use VSCode and a list of recomended plugins will be provided

Software install

Needed software

Ensure all software listed above is installed with your package manager of choice. On macOS brew is recomended.

brew install CMake gcc git python@3.10 vim

Python venv

If using a debian based image it is possible not all needed python packages are installed, fix this by installing them with

sudo apt install git cmake default-jre python3 python3-pip python3-venv

We can now begin the virtual enviroment creation

A virtual enviroment (venv) allows for different packages to be installed at different versions within python and mitigate version conflict errors

Pick a location to install the virtual enviroment. For the purposes of this guide we will use the $HOME directory as our root. If you would rather use another location feel free.

python3 -m venv $HOME/fprime-venv
. $HOME/fprime-venv/bin/activate
pip install -U setuptools setuptools_scm wheel pip

The first command creates the venv, the second command activates the venv, and the third command installs some needed packages.

To exit the virtual enviroment simply enter deactivate while the venv is active.

Adding an alias to your shell profile can be useful to quickly activate the venv from any directory Using macOS and zsh as an example we can execute the following commands to add it as an alias

cd $HOME
vim .zshrc

linux users will need to modifly the file ~/.bashrc Add the following line at the end of the file and save

alias fpvenv=". $HOME/fprime-venv/bin/activate"

Ensure to update your terminal with . ~/.zshrc Now typing fpvenv will activate your virtual enviroment

Github Setup

We recomend linking your student email to Github for the student pro benefits Found Here.

If you already have a working git and github with 2FA setup skip to FPrime Install

Generating SSH keys

We first generate a ssh key with the line below

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "your_email@example.com"

When you're prompted to "Enter a file in which to save the key", you can press Enter to accept the default file location. When prompted for a passphrase you can press Enter to skip.

Ensure the ssh agent is running

eval "$(ssh-agent -s)"

For macOS verify the ~/.ssh/config file exists

open ~/.ssh/config

and add this information the the config file.

Host *.github.com
  AddKeysToAgent yes
  IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_ed25519
  IgnoreUnknown UseKeychain

If the file does not exist create it with and then add the information

touch ~/.ssh/config

For both macOS and Linux

ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

Adding the SSH key to Github

copy the ssh key public information to your clipboard

pbcopy < ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

In Github go to settings > Access> SSH and GPG Keys and select new SSH key. Give it a meaningful title, ensure it is an authentication key, and paste your clipboard into the key box. Then press the Add Key button.

To verify that it has worked run and type yes when prompted

ssh -T git@github.com

You should see

> Hi USERNAME! You've successfully authenticated, but GitHub does not
> provide shell access.

if this does not display check here

VSCode Setup

I recomend installing the following plugins to your VSCode, along with connecting your github to VSCode for sync between devices.

• C++ Tools
• Better C++ Syntax
• C++ extension pack
• C++ Themes
• CMake Tools
• Doxygen Documentation Generator
• FPPTools
• Path Intellisense

For using VSCode in conjunction with F', the recomended way is opening the srlFp directory in VSCode, and cd your shell into the srlFp/Ref directory.

FPrime Install

Note that all commands should be executed within the virtual enviroment created above

Clone the repo

In your prefered directory($HOME or Desktop is recomended) clone the srl FPrime repo

git clone git@github.com:CU-SRL/srlFp.git
cd srlFp
pip install -r requirements.txt

Verify install

On the tutorials branch verify that the Ref deployment builds

cd Ref
fprime-util generate
fprime-util build
fprime-gds -g html

use git checkout <branch> to switch branches

Learning FPrime

Before begining the tutorials checkout a branch for your work from tutorials. There is no need to push this branch, this will just be for your personal use.

git fetch -a
git switch tutorials
git checkout -b <BRANCH NAME HERE>

You are able to now start on the Getting Started Tutorial found here.

There are a few extra terms that are common that should be highlighted:

• Drv: short for driver, contains a variety of different drivers including uart, i2c, and spi drivers for linux
• Fw: short for framework, provides a large number of useful data types and routines
• Fpp: short for FPrimePrime, a modeling language to make F' development quicker and easier than before
• Svc: short for Service, provides useful runtime tools for fprime deployments
• Os: short for Operating System, provides the Operating System Abstraction Layer(OSAL) for fprime

For working on the Math Component Tutorial found Here I recomend focusing on following the steps given in in sections 1-4, then reading the goals in section 5 and attempting to implement them without copying from the tutorial until needed.