STM32CubeIDE

STM32CubeIDE is Eclipse-based, so the general shortcuts and known issues on the Tools page apply here too.

Build Analyzer

Window ▸ Show View ▸ Build Analyzer shows how the linked image occupies flash and RAM, broken down by memory region and by symbol.

• It does not refresh on its own. Rebuild or switch projects, then press the refresh button in the view's toolbar.

• An empty Memory Regions tab means no map file was produced. Check the linker settings under Project ▸ Properties ▸ C/C++ Build ▸ Settings ▸ MCU GCC Linker ▸ Miscellaneous, where the flag should read:

  -Wl,-Map=${ProjName}.map

  -Map is a linker option, so it has to be passed through GCC with -Wl, and no space. Writing -Map=... -Wl puts the arguments in the wrong order and GCC never forwards the option.

The Memory Details tab is the one worth reading when flash is tight: it sorts symbols by size and makes it obvious which buffer or lookup table is responsible.

CMake projects

Configure-time arguments go in Project ▸ Properties ▸ C/C++ Build ▸ CMake Settings ▸ Other options:

-DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE=cubeide-gcc.cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug -DMFLOAT_ABI_HARDWARE=hard

Build type

Either pass it on the command line:

-DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug
-DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release

or pin it in CMakeLists.txt:

set(CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE "Debug")
set(CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE "Release")

Do not do both — a set() without FORCE is overridden by the cached command-line value, so the file appears to be ignored. Prefer the command line and keep the build type out of CMakeLists.txt entirely.

Debug builds at -O0 -g3, which is what makes single-stepping match the source. Release at -Os or -O2 reorders and inlines heavily, so breakpoints land on unexpected lines and locals read as optimised out. That is the optimiser working correctly, not a broken debugger.

Toolchain file

-DCMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE has to be passed on the first configure. CMake caches it, and a later change is ignored until the build directory is deleted.

STM32CubeProgrammer

Flashing an ELF directly:

Erase flash memory ▸ Memory & File editing ▸ Load *.elf ▸ Download

• The warning File corrupted. Two or more segments defines the same memory zone can be ignored. It comes from overlapping load segments that the linker emits legitimately — typically initialised data present both in flash and at its RAM address.
• If the debugger will not attach afterwards, press the board's RESET button. The core is often left halted in a state the probe cannot resume from.
• Boards with external flash need the matching external loader selected first. See Development boards.

Naming

Abbreviation	Meaning
BSP	Board Support Package — drivers for on-board components
HAL	Hardware Abstraction Layer — the portable peripheral API
LL	Low Layer — thin register-level API, an alternative to HAL
MSP	MCU Specific Package — the board-dependent half of peripheral init
MX	CubeMX-generated code, as in MX_GPIO_Init
IOC	The CubeMX project file, *.ioc

MSP is the one that causes confusion: HAL_UART_MspInit is not part of the HAL proper. The HAL calls it, and you supply it, because clocks, pins and DMA channels depend on the board rather than the part. See UART and virtual COM port.