rpi2040

Setting up Raspberry Pi Pico to Play Nice w/Clion

In this guide we go over getting an almost stepping debugger to work for Clion breaking free of the pico-examples and actually getting your own stand-alone project to work!

thinkmelt@protonmail.com

May 6, 2024 • 4 min read

Basically in a nutshell getting a stepping debugger to work for the raspberry pi / pico can be really challenging if you are not using Visual Studio.
If you do find something that works - document it!
This guide does not fully get a full stepping-debugger environment to work (it is close!), but it does show you how to get code suggestion for Clion.
However! In this other guide we do get full stepper-debugging to work - check it out!

Advantages - This is game changing! It lets you 'break-out' from the pico-sdk / pico-examples and make your own directory!

Note: CLion must open the file and generate it's own version of CMake setup before you can compile.

Preamble: If this guide is a little too complex I do suggest a primer guide that goes over the very basics as well:

Step 1: Install the pico-sdk and the supports:

sudo apt install cmake gcc-arm-none-eabi libnewlib-arm-none-eabi libstdc++-arm-none-eabi-newlib
git clone https://github.com/raspberrypi/pico-sdk.git
git clone https://github.com/raspberrypi/pico-examples.git
cd pico-sdk
git submodule init
git submodule update

If you do the following "cmake ." outside CLion it may break the project (why it just will..)
Let CLion initiate cmake itself.

Step 2: Make a fresh directory and inside it put CMakeLists.txt file as:

cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.13)

include(/home/c/coding/pico-sdk/pico_sdk_init.cmake)
project(test C CXX)
pico_sdk_init()
add_executable(hello_world hello_world.c)
target_link_libraries(hello_world pico_stdlib flash)
pico_add_extra_outputs(hello_world)
pico_enable_stdio_usb(hello_world 1)
pico_enable_stdio_uart(hello_world 0)

Key: Change the include line above to whereever your pico_sdk_init.cmake file resides (where did you install pico-sdk?)

Inside your hello_world.c put:

#include <stdio.h>
#include "pico/stdlib.h"
#include "hardware/gpio.h"

int main()
{
  const uint apin = 0;
  gpio_init(0);
  gpio_init(1);
  gpio_init(2);
  gpio_init(25);
  gpio_set_dir(0, GPIO_OUT);
  gpio_set_dir(1, GPIO_OUT);
  gpio_set_dir(2, GPIO_OUT);
  gpio_set_dir(25, GPIO_OUT);

  stdio_init_all();
  while (true)
  {
   gpio_put(0, 1);
   gpio_put(1, 1);
   gpio_put(2, 1);
   gpio_put(25, 1);
   printf("Hello, world!\n");
   sleep_ms(300);

   gpio_put(0, 0);
   gpio_put(1, 0);
   gpio_put(2, 0);
   gpio_put(25, 0);
   sleep_ms(300);
  }
  return 0;
}

Note it has some standard 'boiler-plate' code to drive some pins out.

Step 3: Now open the directory as a new project in Clion.

Inside 'project settings' / Build, Execution, Deployment we need to modify both main settings 'ToolChains' and 'Cmake'

Set 'ToolChains' as:

Note the C / C++ compiler (set both to)

/usr/bin/arm-none-eabi-gcc

Set your 'Cmake' as:

Note the Generator is 'Ninja' - you might need to install it. You get there by setting CMake options:

-G Ninja

Inside your CMakeLists.txt you will now have a 'play button' as:

And inside your hello_world.c program you will also have a 'play button' as:

Both work!

Results will be inside the generated cmake-build-debug directory.

Code completion will work as this is a game changer:

Over by the run button selecting it will offer a lot of options now:

Even though you cannot 'run' the hello_world from inside CLion - it enables it (which is just compile the .ef2/.uf2) files.

Summary - It's not quite a total complete stepping debugger but it is a BIG step in the right direction.

Gotchas: - IF you make the mistake of doing:

cmake . && make -j4

From the command line - it will make a fairly alternate setup that will basically break CLion's ability to work with it, loose code-completion etc. If that happens simply move the two primary files to a fresh directory and try again!