New problem with SPIFlash after updating RP2040 RFM Board to v4.4.2

[smartvoxuk]

I'm using Arduino IDE v2.3.4 and an Adafruit Feather RP2040 RFM board.
This morning, the IDE picked up and installed the latest board update, v4.4.2, from this earlephilhower repository for Arduino-Pico. My sketch failed to compile after this update, but had been okay the previous day. I am fairly sure the only thing that has changed is the Arduino Core which updated from v4.4.1 to v4.4.2 (it also updated a library for Dallas Temperature sensor, but I don't see how that could be relevant).

The error I now get when compiling is related to the Adafruit SPIFlash library and I appreciate the problem may be associated with code in that library - except that the SPIFlash library hasn't been updated for months. To make sure the fault is not in my sketch, I tried compiling one or two of the examples that are included with the Adafruit SPIFlash library (version 5.0.1) and they also no longer compile and they give the same error message.

In the Arduino IDE Tools menu, the following are set:
Board: "Adafruit Feather RP2040 RFM"
Boot stage 2: "W25Q080 QSPI/2"
Flash size: "8MB (Sketch: 7MB, FS: 1MB)"

The error when compiling the example sketch "flash_info.ino" from Adafruits SPIFlash library is as follows:

In file included from C:\Users\jquic\AppData\Local\Temp.arduinoIDE-unsaved2025022-19832-89p4pp.ujmik\flash_info\flash_info.ino:7:
c:\Users\jquic\Documents\Arduino\libraries\Adafruit_SPIFlash\src/Adafruit_SPIFlash.h:37:2: error: #error USE_BLOCK_DEVICE_INTERFACE must be defined to 1 in SdFatConfig.h. Make sure you use the Adafruit Fork at 'https://github.com/adafruit/SdFat'
37 | #error USE_BLOCK_DEVICE_INTERFACE must be defined to 1 in SdFatConfig.h. Make sure you use the Adafruit Fork at 'https://github.com/adafruit/SdFat'
| ^~~~~
c:\Users\jquic\Documents\Arduino\libraries\Adafruit_SPIFlash\src/Adafruit_SPIFlash.h:54:2: error: #error FAT12_SUPPORT must be set to 1 in SdFat SdFatConfig.h. Make sure you use the Adafruit Fork at 'https://github.com/adafruit/SdFat'
54 | #error FAT12_SUPPORT must be set to 1 in SdFat SdFatConfig.h. Make sure you use the Adafruit Fork at 'https://github.com/adafruit/SdFat'
| ^~~~~
exit status 1

Compilation error: exit status 1

By the way, I do have the Adafruit fork of SdFat installed. Could it be something like I need to re-install it after the board core package update? Any help or suggestions for debugging this problem would be much appreciated.

[earlephilhower]

4.4.2 moved to the just released upstream SdFat 2.3.0, and removed the ported ESP8266SdFat. It was just too painful trying to keep the upstream changes merged when so much changed between SdFat releases in single commits. Your app is not probably grabbing the official SdFat 2.3.0 rev from the core and not the older Adafruit fork.

You could try adding those defines to your platform.local.txt file:

compiler.cpp.extra_flags=-DFAT12_SUPPORT=1 -DUSE_BLOCK_DEVICE_INTERFACE=1

[smartvoxuk]

Hi Earle,
Thanks for the speedy response. I tried your suggestion and it has made a difference, but now there is a different error. I am fairly sure it is the same error as I got when I tried to revert back to v4.4.1 earlier today. Here is the error:

Fatal Python error: initfsencoding: unable to load the file system codec
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'encodings'

Current thread 0x00004f34 (most recent call first):
Multiple libraries were found for "SdFat.h"
Used: C:\Users\jquic\AppData\Local\Arduino15\packages\rp2040\hardware\rp2040\4.4.2\libraries\SdFat
Not used: C:\Users\jquic\Documents\Arduino\libraries\SdFat_-_Adafruit_Fork
exit status 0xc0000409

Compilation error: exit status 0xc0000409

[earlephilhower]

That's a Windows Arduino uninstall/reinstall issue. It's not properly (re)installed the toolset. Uninstall the core from the IDE, exit the app, log out/in (not always necessary but ensures any stray processes are killed), and reinstall the core.

[smartvoxuk]

Earle,
Your support is 1st class - I really appreciate it. Your instructions for re-installing the core did the trick and fixed the Python related error.
I now can get the examples for SPIFlash to compile. Also my own sketch will compile. However, there is a different problem which I suspect is a result of switching from the old Adafruit fork to the new SdFat 2.3.0. It can no longer mount the file system. I probably need to take this up with Adafruit.

[lyusupov]

@smartvoxuk
Adafruit fork of SdFat can co-exist with genuine Greiman's one

If two libraires of the same project are located in the search path:

• Arduino IDE 1.x gives a priority to the one that is located in <$HOME>/Arduino/libraries
• Arduino CLI gives a priority to the one that is located in the Arduino Core folder. One can use --libraries=<path>option to increase priority of a specific library

[smartvoxuk]

Thanks for the suggestion lyusupov. If I understand what's happening, I don't think the problem is simply how to make the two libraries coexist. Instead, I believe that v4.4.2 of the RP2040 core now needs to work with SdFat 2.3.0 while Adafruit's SPIFlash library will only work with the Adafruit fork of some older version of SdFat. To be honest, I don't think my skills and knowledge at this level are adequate to figure it out and I really needed to find a way to re-instate my sketch and move forward with my project. So I have taken the cowards way out and downgraded to RP2040 v4.4.1. I'll try to prod Adafruit for a proper long-term fix - I'm sure they will want their SPIFlash library to work with the latest RP2040 core from Earle.

Another option for me would be if I can find (or someone can suggest) an alternative library for writing and reading small files to the QSPI flash chip on the Feather RP2040 RFM that is fully compatible with SdFat 2.3.0.

[lyusupov]

@smartvoxuk
FYI, SoftRF project uses Adafruit SPIFlash and Adafruit SdFat libraries as well:

The project build sequence has been recently upgraded to use Core 4.4.2

The build gives positive result as indicated by every recent GitHub Actions status update:

[smartvoxuk]

@lyusupov
Hi Linar,
Like I said, I'm a little out of my depth with this stuff. Could you please explain the difference between IDE and CLI - which one compiles my sketch? Also, I am very uncertain how I modify --libraries= option to make it find the Adafruit fork for SdFat in preference to the version located in Appdata.....\packages.....\hardware\rp2040... path when I am compiling my sketch? Is this another entry in platform.local.txt?

If I am alone in seeing this problem with SPIFlash and arduino-pico v4.4.2, then what might be behind that? Is it the way I installed the library for SdFat - Adafruit fork? It appears in my Arduino IDE library manager (and there is no other SdFat library installed.