Skip to content
BranchesTags

Repository files navigation

STM32 Memory Loaders

Overview

This repository contains STM32 memory loader source code for both external and internal memories used on STM32 hardware boards. The master branch provides the memory loader projects and source files integrated with STM32CubeProgrammer.

stm32-memory-loaders/
├── external_memory_loaders/   # Memory loaders for external Flash/SRAM chips
│   ├── STM32F4x_boards/
│   ├── STM32F7x_boards/
│   ├── STM32G4x_boards/
│   ├── STM32H5x_boards/
│   ├── STM32H7x_boards/
│   ├── STM32L4x_boards/
│   ├── STM32L5x_boards/
│   └── STM32U5x_boards/
└── internal_memory_loaders/   # Memory loaders for on-chip Flash memories
    ├── stm32_mem_loader/      # Unified loader infrastructure (CMSIS Pack)
    └── stm32_device_loaders/  # Device-specific loader implementations
        └── stm32c5xx/

Get software

Important

The external_memory_loaders/ directory uses submodules. Please follow the instructions below to clone and get updates.

  • To clone the repository (including external loader submodules), run:
git clone --recursive https://github.com/STMicroelectronics/stm32-memory-loaders.git
  • To pull the latest updates, run the commands below from the root of the repository:
git pull
git submodule update --init --recursive

Note

  • The --recursive flag applies to the external memory loaders only. Internal memory loaders are self-contained and do not require submodule initialization.
  • If the GitHub Download ZIP option is used instead of git clone, the submodules must be collected and added manually.

External memories

External memories are available on many STM32 hardware boards such as evaluation and discovery kits. They can be Flash or SRAM and provide higher storage capabilities. STM32 boards support many types of external memories from vendors such as Micron and Winbond, connected through interfaces like FMC, QSPI, and SPI.

Internal memories

Internal memories are embedded directly inside STM32 MCUs (on-chip Flash). The loaders in this repository target the internal Flash controller of each supported STM32 series and expose a standard API consumed by STM32CubeProgrammer.

External memory loaders

External memory loaders are located in external_memory_loaders/ and are organized by STM32 series and board.

Each external memory loader project is built with EWARM or MDK-ARM IDE and comes with the corresponding source, header, and linker files:

  • Library – source/header files providing the drivers needed to initialize the memory and perform read, write, and erase operations.
  • Loader – source/header files containing specific information related to the supported memory (name, size, and related functions).
  • Project – a pre-configured IDE project with the associated linker file.

Supported boards

STM32 Series Board Memory
STM32F4x STM32F469I-DK IS42S32400F, MT25QL128A
STM32F4x STM32469I-EVAL MT25QL512A
STM32F4x STM32412G-DISCO N25Q128A
STM32F4x STM32F413H-DISCO N25Q128A
STM32F7x STM32F723E-DISCO MX25L512G
STM32F7x STM32F7508-DISCO N25Q128A
STM32F7x STM32F769I-EVAL PC28F128M29
STM32G4x STM32G474E-EVAL MT25QL512ABB
STM32H5x STM32H573I-DK MX25LM51245G
STM32H7x STM32H743I-EVAL M29W128GL, MT25TL01G
STM32H7x STM32H747I-DISCO MT25TL01G
STM32H7x STM32H747I-EVAL MT25TL01G
STM32H7x STM32H735G-DK MX25LM51245G
STM32H7x STM32H7B3I-DISCO MX25LM51245G
STM32H7x STM32H7B3I-EVAL MX25LM51245G
STM32L4x STM32L476G-EVAL M29W128GL
STM32L4x STM32L4P5G-DK MX25LM51245G
STM32L4x STM32L4R9I-DISCO MX25LM51245G
STM32L4x STM32L4R9I-EVAL MX25LM51245G
STM32L4x STM32L496G-DISCO MX25R6435F
STM32L4x STM32L476G-DISCO N25Q128A
STM32L5x STM32L562E-DK MX25LM51245G
STM32U5x STM32U575I-EVAL MX25LM51245G
STM32U5x STM32U585I-IOT02A MX25LM51245G

How to adapt an external memory loader project for a customized board

The required steps to build a customized external loader for STM32CubeProgrammer are available at this link (Section 3.9).

Internal memory loaders

Internal memory loaders are located in internal_memory_loaders/ and are split into two parts: a shared infrastructure (stm32_mem_loader) and device-specific loader implementations (stm32_device_loaders).

Architecture

internal_memory_loaders/
├── stm32_mem_loader/          # CMSIS Pack – toolchain-agnostic loader infrastructure
│   ├── common/                # Shared API and linker resources
│   │   ├── device_loader.h    # Common mem_loader_* API declarations
│   │   ├── mem_loader_common.c
│   │   └── linker/
│   │       └── iar/
│   │           └── mem_loader.icf
│   ├── iar/                   # IAR EWARM glue layer
│   │   ├── ewarm_mem_loader.c
│   │   ├── ewarm_mem_loader.h
│   │   ├── mem_loader_entry.c
│   │   ├── mem_loader_glue.c
│   │   ├── mem_loader_config.h
│   │   └── mem_loader_extra.h
│   ├── keil/                  # Keil MDK glue layer
│   │   ├── keil_mem_loader.c
│   │   ├── keil_mem_loader.h
│   │   └── keil_mem_loader_desc.c
│   ├── st/                    # ST toolchain glue layer
│   │   ├── stm32_mem_loader.c
│   │   ├── stm32_mem_loader_desc.c
│   │   └── stm32_mem_loader_desc.h
│   ├── LICENSE.md             # Pack-local license file referenced by the PDSC
│   └── STMicroelectronics.stm32_mem_loader.pdsc  # CMSIS Pack descriptor
└── stm32_device_loaders/
    └── stm32c5xx/             # STM32C5xx on-chip memory loader
        ├── memory_controller/  # Low-level memory controller driver
        │   ├── stm32c5_memory_controller.c
        │   ├── stm32c5_memory_controller.h
        │   └── stm32c5_hw.h
        ├── stm32c5_device_desc.h      # Per-variant memory geometry
        ├── stm32c5_device_loader.c    # mem_loader_* implementation
        ├── stm32c5_mem_loader.csolution.yml
        └── stm32c5_mem_loader.cproject.yml

Common loader API

All internal loaders implement the following interface declared in common/device_loader.h:

Function Description
mem_loader_init() Initialize the Flash controller
mem_loader_deinit() De-initialize the Flash controller
mem_loader_sector_erase(start, end) Erase sectors in the given address range
mem_loader_program(addr, size, buf) Program a buffer into Flash
mem_loader_mass_erase() Erase the entire Flash

Return values use mem_loader_status: MEM_LOADER_STATUS_SUCCESS (0) or MEM_LOADER_STATUS_FAIL (1).

Supported toolchains

The stm32_mem_loader CMSIS Pack provides ready-to-use glue layers for three toolchains:

Toolchain Component Linker resource
IAR EWARM STMicroelectronics::Utility:Loader:IAR common/linker/iar/mem_loader.icf
Keil MDK (ARMCC) STMicroelectronics::Utility:Loader:Keil Not provided in the current pack layout
GCC (ST toolchain) STMicroelectronics::Utility:Loader:ST Not provided in the current pack layout

Supported devices

Series Target define Flash size Start address
STM32C5xx STM32C5_0x44E_0x08000000_512K 512 KB 0x08000000
STM32C5xx STM32C5_0x44F_0x08000000_256K 256 KB 0x08000000

Building an internal loader (STM32C5xx example)

The internal loaders use the Open-CMSIS-Toolbox cbuild command.

  1. Install Open-CMSIS-Toolbox and make sure cbuild is available from your terminal PATH.

  2. Install the required CMSIS Pack:

    cpackget add ARM::CMSIS@5.9.0

    The STMicroelectronics::stm32_mem_loader pack is referenced locally by the solution file: internal_memory_loaders/stm32_mem_loader.

  3. Navigate to the loader directory and run cbuild:

    cd internal_memory_loaders/stm32_device_loaders/stm32c5xx
cbuild stm32c5_mem_loader.csolution.yml --context stm32c5_mem_loader.IAR+STM32C5_0x44E_0x08000000_512K

  4. The built .elf / .out files are placed under build/<BuildType>+<TargetType>/.

Known build warning

The build tool may report the following warning :

Warning: Cannot detect the section type of 'FlashDevice'

This warning is expected for the current loader integration. The FlashDevice symbol is required by the loader interface used by STM32CubeProgrammer and must remain available for CubeProgrammer loader compatibility. The warning does not indicate a failed build when the build summary reports success and the .elf / .out output is generated.

Validated tool versions

The STM32C5xx IAR build has been validated with the following tool versions:

Tool Version
IAR ANSI C/C++ Compiler for Arm V9.60.3.422/W64
Open-CMSIS-Toolbox cmsis-project 2.11.0
Open-CMSIS-Toolbox cmsis-build 2.11.0
Open-CMSIS-Toolbox cmsis-cbuild2cmake 0.9.8
CMake 4.0.1
Ninja 1.12.1
CMSIS Pack ARM::CMSIS 5.9.0

Feedback and contributions

Please refer to the CONTRIBUTING.md guide.

About

Provides drivers, examples, loader files and testing routines for external loaders for STM32 series of microcontrollers.

Topics

external-loaderospiqspistm32

Resources

Readme
License

Code of conduct

Code of conduct

Contributing

Contributing

Security policy

Security policy
Activity
Custom properties

Stars

181 stars

Watchers

23 watching

Forks

91 forks
Report repository

Releases

Packages

Contributors

Languages