CCS/UNIFLASH: Why doesn't the debug unlock option appear in Uniflash 6 for macOS?

Andy Peters

Part Number: UNIFLASH

Tool/software: Code Composer Studio

Title says it all.

Uniflash 6 (from April 2020) is supposed to have a debugger unlock feature for TM4C129x boards and parts, but it does not exist. It's supposed to be in the Settings and Utilities tab. See screenshots.

over 5 years ago

0 JohnS over 5 years ago

TI__Guru**** 162255 points

Andy,

The unlock feature is not available on Linux or macOS. It was actually showing up but not doing anything for a while. I was able to find a bug that tracks removing these items on Linux and macOS for TM4C.

https://sir.ext.ti.com/jira/browse/EXT_EP-9552

TM4C Debug port Unlock and Firmware Update operations are currently showing up in the Uniflash GUI on OSX and Linux operating systems. These functions are not supported on these OSes.

Regards,

John

0 Andy Peters over 5 years ago in reply to JohnS

Genius 3945 points

JohnS said:
The unlock feature is not available on Linux or macOS. It was actually showing up but not doing anything for a while. I was able to find a bug that tracks removing these items on Linux and macOS for TM4C.

uhhhhh .... could that feature be added? Suggesting that the customer use a Windows machine for this feature is a problem. Yes, I could boot into a virtual machine. But why?

0 JohnS over 5 years ago in reply to Andy Peters

TI__Guru**** 162255 points

Andy I will check into it but I am not hopeful. If it was simple the fix for the other issue would have been to enable that instead of removing the button.

I suspect that the unlock is enabled by a library that was never ported to Linux or mac.

Regards,

John

0 JohnS over 5 years ago in reply to JohnS

TI__Guru**** 162255 points

Andy,

Yes it is as I feared. That function is in a library that was never ported to Linux or mac. It is old and is not something that will be ported in the future.

Regards,

John

0 Andy Peters over 5 years ago in reply to JohnS

Genius 3945 points

JohnS said:

Andy,

Yes it is as I feared. That function is in a library that was never ported to Linux or mac. It is old and is not something that will be ported in the future.

Is there a chance that the details of this unlock procedure can be made public so someone else could implement it?

0 JohnS over 5 years ago in reply to Andy Peters

TI__Guru**** 162255 points

Andy,

I will ask but I would be concerned that it may be a security hole to provide that code.

Regards,

John

0 Chester Gillon over 5 years ago in reply to Andy Peters

Guru 92251 points

Andy Peters said:
Is there a chance that the details of this unlock procedure can be made public so someone else could implement it?

The unlock procedure for a TM4C129 device is described in the Recovering a "Locked" Microcontroller section of the datasheet, in terms of the sequence required at the device pins.

Poking around the OpenOCD code http://openocd.org/doc/doxygen/html/stellaris_8c_source.html shows the recover command, implemented in the stellaris_handle_recover_command function which implements the unlock sequence.

Since I think OpenOCD is scriptable, I think that would allow you to implement a device unlock.

I don't use OpenOCD but it appears supported for mac.

0 JohnS over 5 years ago in reply to Chester Gillon

TI__Guru**** 162255 points

Thanks Chester. I just got the same info from the device team on the unlock sequence. https://www.ti.com/lit/ds/symlink/tm4c1294ncpdt.pdf?ts=1595252578274

Regards,

John

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CCS/UNIFLASH: Why doesn't the debug unlock option appear in Uniflash 6 for macOS?