Is there a bug in STM32 CubeIDE when including archive files? (.a file extension)

[Florian Moser]

Hi!

MCU: STM32F429ZI

Board: STM32F429 DISC1

STM32 CubeIDE Version 1.4.0

I'm currently trying to include an external library to my project. The library is part of this extension: https://www.st.com/en/embedded-software/x-cube-audio.html

I just want to use the MP3 Decoder from Spirit.

I created a folder inside my project root directory like this:

The original folder looks the same, I just changed the name.

I successfully added the inc folder to my Includes:

Project -> Properties -> C/C++ General -> Paths and Symbols -> Includes: /stm32_spirit2/Spirit/inc

Now I am trying to add the .a file to the Libraries tab (Project -> Properties -> C/C++ General -> Paths and Symbols -> Libraries). I can find the file in the CubeIDE explorer:

It's now displayed as "${workspace_loc:/stm32_spirit2/Spirit/lib/lib_mp3decoder_cortex_m4_v2.2.0.a}" in this tab.

When I'm building the project I get the following error:

d:\programme\stm32cubeide_1.4.0\stm32cubeide\plugins\com.st.stm32cube.ide.mcu.externaltools.gnu-tools-for-stm32.7-2018-q2-update.win32_1.4.0.202007081208\tools\arm-none-eabi\bin\ld.exe: cannot find -lD:/Projekte/Tinnitus/pre/stm32_spirit2/Spirit/lib/lib_mp3decoder_cortex_m4_v2.2.0.a

Why can't the ld.exe find this file now? The CubeIDE explorer did find it...

Setting the uppercase D to lowercase didn't help.

The following command is outputed to the linker:

arm-none-eabi-gcc -o "stm32_spirit2.elf" @"objects.list" -l"D:/Projekte/Tinnitus/pre/stm32_spirit2/Spirit/lib/lib_mp3decoder_cortex_m4_v2.2.0.a" -mcpu=cortex-m4 -T"D:\Projekte\Tinnitus\pre\stm32_spirit2\STM32F429ZITX_FLASH.ld" --specs=nosys.specs -Wl,-Map="stm32_spirit2.map" -Wl,--gc-sections -static --specs=nano.specs -mfpu=fpv4-sp-d16 -mfloat-abi=hard -mthumb -Wl,--start-group -lc -lm -Wl,--end-group

I'm not sure if this is correct. 

I modified it a little bit, but it's still not working:

arm-none-eabi-gcc -o "stm32_spirit2.elf" @"objects.list" -llib_mp3decoder_cortex_m4_v2.2.0 -mcpu=cortex-m4 -T"D:\Projekte\Tinnitus\pre\stm32_spirit2\STM32F429ZITX_FLASH.ld" --specs=nosys.specs -Wl,-Map="stm32_spirit2.map" -Wl,--gc-sections -static -LD:\Projekte\Tinnitus\pre\stm32_spirit2\Spirit\lib --specs=nano.specs -mfpu=fpv4-sp-d16 -mfloat-abi=hard -mthumb -Wl,--start-group -lc -lm -Wl,--end-group

Thank you!

[Florian Moser · Accepted solution]

I finally figured out what to do....

This took me 2 days over all...

In Project -> Properties -> C/C++ General -> Paths and Symbols -> Library Paths you have to set the path of the .a file. (Add -> Workspace -> Search for the folder an select "Is a workspace path").

Then the trick comes: In Project -> Properties -> C/C++ General -> Paths and Symbols -> Libraries you have to add the library without prefix and suffix. Prefix is "lib" and suffix is ".a". So for my library (lib_mp3decoder_cortex_m4_v2.2.0.a) it is _mp3decoder_cortex_m4_v2.2.0 that's a rule of the gcc linker. I think this is very unintuitive and you have to invest a lot of time to get that information.

[CARHERO]

Thank you for your effort to find out to fix it.

I also had same problem and corrected now by your guiding.

[ECarl.1]

My first thought when read your comment was: "there is no way this would work!". But, as counter intuitive as it souds, in fact, this works!!

Thank you so much for sharing!