"Create empty project" does not provide CMSIS files

[mark03]

I just downloaded the prerelease (3.something) of the official VS Code extension and created a new project.  By and large, I like it.  It's especially nice that there is an "empty project" option for those that don't want to use HAL or LL functions.  But I was surprised that this does *not* provide the standard CMSIS header files (stm32l4xx.h and so on, for my project on a Nucleo L476).  In fact, searching my entire hard disk, the CMSIS headers were never installed with the extension.  Was there another software bundle I should have downloaded?  I don't see anything in the list.

Besides the basic headers, it would be great if there were also a check-box to say if you want to use the DSP library (or other CMSIS libraries), then automatically configure the cmake project accordingly.  But for sure the basic header files should be included.  I mean, I guess you can argue that "empty" means "empty" ;) but in that case, why provide the startup assembly code and linker script?

Mark

[Adam Hamilton]

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My bet is ST is shooting for a quite light solution for empty project, while if more is required STM32CUbeMX becomes your best friend.

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I think it is well understood that one can use CubeMX to generate a HAL based project.

The issue presented here is that the empty project is not including some key files, namely the device header files and the system_*.c file, which to me is a no-brainer. Those files will need to be copied to the project folder if you plan on doing anything useful. If the project generator can also pick these files, it is just one less manual task for the developer to do.

Kind regards

Adam Hamilton