Building a single binary .bin to flash to a device

Toit

#Building a single binary .bin to flash to a device

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addshore 12/10/2025 04:36 PM

In order to get a single binary easily for flashing on a device, we have flashed it to a device and read it back.
Something like...
- jag toit tool firmware --envelope=.\ble.envelope flash -pCOM70
- esptool.exe -p COM70 -b 460800 read_flash 0 ALL ble_adv_500.bin
Is there an easy way to get and or reconstruct such as binary using the toit firmware commands that I am missing?

addshore 12/10/2025 04:37 PM

TLDR this is basically for trying to make using https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-test-tools/en/latest/esp32/production_stage/tools/flash_download_tool.html as simple as possible, and being able to provide a single binary file for position 0

bitphlipphar 12/10/2025 05:50 PM

jag toit tool firmware extract --help

bitphlipphar 12/10/2025 05:51 PM

So something like jag toit tool firmware --envelope=ble.envelope extract --format=binary -o ble_adv_500.bin?

addshore 12/10/2025 06:24 PM

Perhaps looks at his notes from a few weeks back

addshore 12/10/2025 06:25 PM

Yes, I think thats basically what I want, and I must have also found it, I'm now wondering why I might have decided that didnt work?
It was potentially something like the bin didnt work / didnt appear to have everything in it, but let me retry shortly and see(edited)

addshore 12/10/2025 09:23 PM

So I tried flashing this binary (from the extract command)
and post flash I just get something like this

> jag monitor
Starting serial monitor of port 'COM14' ...
ESP-ROM:esp32c6-20220919
Build:Sep 19 2022
rst:0x15 (USB_UART_HPSYS),boot:0x6f (SPI_FAST_FLASH_BOOT)
Saved PC:0x4080082e
SPIWP:0xee
mode:DIO, clock div:2
load:0x42130020,len:0x489c4
load:0x40800000,len:0x762c
load:0x42000020,len:0x12a814
Invalid image block, can't boot.
ets_main.c 331

addshore 12/10/2025 09:24 PM

vs if I flash the envelope to the device, and read the flash back into a bin file, then use that with the esp flashing tool, it works

bitphlipphar 12/11/2025 06:18 AM

Interesting.

addshore 12/11/2025 10:37 AM

I wonder what the different between the 2 bin files looks like, lemme have a look

bitphlipphar 12/11/2025 10:42 AM

I wonder if we can repro this on an ordinary esp32.

addshore 12/11/2025 10:43 AM

So the one downloaded from the device is 4096KB (whole flash size), vs 1644KB for the extract one.
and it looks like there is a bucnh of stuff at the start missing?

addshore 12/11/2025 10:44 AM

left is the esp dump, right is from the extract tool(edited)

bitphlipphar 12/11/2025 10:44 AM

Bootloader?

addshore 12/11/2025 10:44 AM

Right, so the bin from the extract I can't just put in position 0? (I thought it might also include bootloader), but the bootloader is only added as part of jag flash ?

addshore 12/11/2025 10:45 AM

What would be neat is basically some ourput or dump from the flash command, so i could add -o full.bin or such, that gives me a full binary of everything that would be flashed in the correct locations

addshore 12/11/2025 10:46 AM

And yes it looks like bootloader, and liekly the partition table too

addshore 12/11/2025 10:46 AM

bitphlipphar 12/11/2025 10:49 AM

I would think we add the bootloader also when extracting.

bitphlipphar 12/11/2025 10:50 AM

Hmm.

bitphlipphar 12/11/2025 10:51 AM

Maybe I'm confusing myself but can you try with --format=image?

addshore 12/11/2025 10:52 AM

oooh, thats bigger

addshore 12/11/2025 10:52 AM

at a guess thats correct, will try flashing shortly

bitphlipphar 12/11/2025 10:54 AM

The naming is quite confusing here.

- binary: the binary app partition. This format can be used with
          the 'esptool' tool.
        - elf: the ELF file of the executable. This is typically used
          for debugging.
        - ubjson: a UBJSON encoding of the sections of the image.
        - image: a binary image suitable for running on QEMU,
          Wokwi, or for flashing a device. See below.

bitphlipphar 12/11/2025 10:54 AM

This is the help for the --format option.

bitphlipphar 12/11/2025 10:54 AM

We often put images in .bin files, which adds to the confusion.

bitphlipphar 12/11/2025 10:54 AM

We also use the term image for programs (sometimes).

bitphlipphar 12/11/2025 10:55 AM

The "This format can be used with the 'esptool' tool." comment associated with --format=binary seems unhelpful.