stm32-hal

STM32 with HAL

STM32 is the dominant microcontroller family in commercial embedded. This skill covers HAL-based development — the recommended starting point for most projects — with notes on where LL (Low-Layer) drivers are preferable for performance.

When to Use

• Writing firmware for any STM32 microcontroller (F0/F1/F4/F7/H7/G4/L4/WB)
• Reviewing STM32 HAL driver usage for correctness
• Adding peripherals to a CubeMX-generated project
• Debugging HAL timeout, DMA transfer, or interrupt issues

When NOT to Use

• ESP32 — use esp32-idf
• RP2040 — different SDK (Pico SDK), different patterns
• AVR — different toolchain, avr-libc

Project Setup

CubeMX Workflow

CubeMX generates the peripheral initialization code. Your application code goes in the USER CODE BEGIN/END sections — this survives code re-generation.

project/
├── Core/
│   ├── Inc/
│   │   ├── main.h           # CubeMX generated
│   │   └── stm32f4xx_hal_conf.h
│   └── Src/
│       ├── main.c           # Add app code in USER CODE sections
│       ├── stm32f4xx_it.c   # ISR handlers — add your code here
│       └── stm32f4xx_hal_msp.c
├── Drivers/
│   ├── STM32F4xx_HAL_Driver/
│   └── CMSIS/
├── Middlewares/
│   └── Third_Party/FreeRTOS/  # if RTOS enabled in CubeMX
├── CMakeLists.txt              # or .ioc + CubeIDE project
└── STM32F407VGTx_FLASH.ld     # linker script (CubeMX generated)

CMake with arm-none-eabi

# CMakeLists.txt for STM32F4 project
cmake_minimum_required(VERSION 3.22)
project(my_firmware C CXX ASM)

set(CMAKE_C_STANDARD 11)
set(CMAKE_CXX_STANDARD 17)

# MCU-specific flags — adjust for your part
set(CPU_FLAGS
    -mcpu=cortex-m4
    -mthumb
    -mfpu=fpv4-sp-d16
    -mfloat-abi=hard
)

add_compile_options(
    ${CPU_FLAGS}
    -ffunction-sections
    -fdata-sections
    -fno-exceptions      # C++ only
    -fno-rtti            # C++ only
    -Wall
    -Wextra
    -Os
)

add_link_options(
    ${CPU_FLAGS}
    -T${CMAKE_SOURCE_DIR}/STM32F407VGTx_FLASH.ld
    -Wl,--gc-sections
    -Wl,--print-memory-usage
    -specs=nano.specs    # newlib-nano: reduced printf/malloc
    -specs=nosys.specs   # no system calls (bare metal)
)

# Collect sources
file(GLOB_RECURSE SOURCES
    Core/Src/*.c
    Drivers/STM32F4xx_HAL_Driver/Src/*.c
)
# Exclude template files
list(FILTER SOURCES EXCLUDE REGEX ".*_template\\.c")

add_executable(${PROJECT_NAME}.elf ${SOURCES} startup_stm32f407vgtx.s)

target_include_directories(${PROJECT_NAME} PRIVATE
    Core/Inc
    Drivers/STM32F4xx_HAL_Driver/Inc
    Drivers/CMSIS/Device/ST/STM32F4xx/Include
    Drivers/CMSIS/Include
)

target_compile_definitions(${PROJECT_NAME} PRIVATE
    USE_HAL_DRIVER
    STM32F407xx
)

# Generate .bin and .hex
add_custom_command(TARGET ${PROJECT_NAME}.elf POST_BUILD
    COMMAND ${CMAKE_OBJCOPY} -O ihex   $<TARGET_FILE:${PROJECT_NAME}.elf> ${PROJECT_NAME}.hex
    COMMAND ${CMAKE_OBJCOPY} -O binary $<TARGET_FILE:${PROJECT_NAME}.elf> ${PROJECT_NAME}.bin
    COMMAND ${CMAKE_SIZE} $<TARGET_FILE:${PROJECT_NAME}.elf>
)