Spaces in path causes esp32-s2 build to fail with error referencing bootloader.elf (IDFGH-3641)

[roblatour]

Environment

• Development Kit: ESP32-S2
• Kit version v1
• Module or chip used: ESP32-S2-Saola-1
• IDF version v4.2-dev-2243-gcf056a7d0
• Build System: idf.py
• Compiler version xtensa-esp32-elf-gcc (crosstool-NG esp-2020r2) 8.2.0
• Operating System: Windows 10
• (Windows only) environment type: ESP Command Prompt
• Using an IDE?: Yes - ESP-IDE
• Power Supply: USB

Problem Description

following the instruction here:
https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-idf/en/latest/esp32s2/get-started/index.html#get-started-get-prerequisites

Got to Step 8
ran the command
idf.py build

got the following error message:

[102/103] Linking C executable bootloader.elf
FAILED: bootloader.elf
cmd.exe /C "cd . && C:\esp\tools.espressif\tools\xtensa-esp32s2-elf\esp-2020r2-8.2.0\xtensa-esp32s2-elf\bin\xtensa-esp32s2-elf-gcc.exe -mlongcalls CMakeFiles/bootloader.elf.dir/project_elf_src.c.obj -o bootloader.elf esp-idf/soc/libsoc.a esp-idf/esp_rom/libesp_rom.a esp-idf/log/liblog.a esp-idf/micro-ecc/libmicro-ecc.a esp-idf/efuse/libefuse.a esp-idf/bootloader_support/libbootloader_support.a esp-idf/main/libmain.a -Wl,--cref -Wl,--Map=C:/Users/Rob Latour/Documents/esp/hello_world/build/bootloader/bootloader.map -fno-rtti -fno-lto esp-idf/efuse/libefuse.a esp-idf/bootloader_support/libbootloader_support.a esp-idf/efuse/libefuse.a esp-idf/bootloader_support/libbootloader_support.a esp-idf/micro-ecc/libmicro-ecc.a esp-idf/soc/libsoc.a esp-idf/esp_rom/libesp_rom.a esp-idf/log/liblog.a esp-idf/soc/soc/esp32s2/libsoc_esp32s2.a esp-idf/soc/libsoc.a esp-idf/esp_rom/libesp_rom.a esp-idf/log/liblog.a esp-idf/soc/soc/esp32s2/libsoc_esp32s2.a -L C:/esp/esp-idf/components/esp32s2/ld -T esp32s2.peripherals.ld -Wl,--gc-sections -L C:/esp/esp-idf/components/esp_rom/esp32s2/ld -T esp32s2.rom.api.ld -T esp32s2.rom.ld -T esp32s2.rom.newlib-funcs.ld -T esp32s2.rom.libgcc.ld -T esp32s2.rom.spiflash.ld -L C:/esp/esp-idf/components/bootloader/subproject/main/ld/esp32s2 -T bootloader.ld -T bootloader.rom.ld && cd ."
xtensa-esp32s2-elf-gcc.exe: error: Latour/Documents/esp/hello_world/build/bootloader/bootloader.map: No such file or directory
ninja: build stopped: subcommand failed.
[589/925] Linking CXX static library esp-idf\tcpip_adapter\libtcpip_adapter.a
ninja: build stopped: subcommand failed.
ninja failed with exit code 1

Expected Behavior

build should work

Actual Behavior

build fails

Steps to reproduce

follow instructions at
https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-idf/en/latest/esp32s2/get-started/index.html#get-started-get-prerequisites

Code to reproduce this issue

/* Hello World Example

This example code is in the Public Domain (or CC0 licensed, at your option.)

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, this
software is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR
CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
*/
#include <stdio.h>
#include "sdkconfig.h"
#include "freertos/FreeRTOS.h"
#include "freertos/task.h"
#include "esp_system.h"
#include "esp_spi_flash.h"

void app_main(void)
{
printf("Hello world!\n");

/* Print chip information */
esp_chip_info_t chip_info;
esp_chip_info(&chip_info);
printf("This is %s chip with %d CPU cores, WiFi%s%s, ",
        CONFIG_IDF_TARGET,
        chip_info.cores,
        (chip_info.features & CHIP_FEATURE_BT) ? "/BT" : "",
        (chip_info.features & CHIP_FEATURE_BLE) ? "/BLE" : "");

printf("silicon revision %d, ", chip_info.revision);

printf("%dMB %s flash\n", spi_flash_get_chip_size() / (1024 * 1024),
        (chip_info.features & CHIP_FEATURE_EMB_FLASH) ? "embedded" : "external");

printf("Free heap: %d\n", esp_get_free_heap_size());

for (int i = 10; i >= 0; i--) {
    printf("Restarting in %d seconds...\n", i);
    vTaskDelay(1000 / portTICK_PERIOD_MS);
}
printf("Restarting now.\n");
fflush(stdout);
esp_restart();

}

Debug Logs

Other items if possible

CMakeLists.txt

[renzbagaporo]

Hi, can you make sure that your copy of esp-idf is clean? You can use git to check if there are modifications.

[roblatour]

not sure how to do that - but I just installed it yesterday following these instructions
(https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-idf/en/latest/esp32s2/get-started/index.html#get-started-get-prerequisites
so I assume it is

[chegewara]

It is possible you did try to build with other esp-idf version on location. Try this:
idf.py fullclean or just delete build folder and try again.

[roblatour]

idf.py fullclean
idf.py fullclean build
or deleting the build directory and its contents and running
idf.py buld
all end up with the same problem as reported above.

However, I notice in the error message it says
Latour/Documents/esp/hello_world/build/bootloader/bootloader.map: No such file or directory

It should say, I would think
C:/Users/Rob Latour/Documents/esp/hello_world/build/bootloader/bootlader.map

and as such I'm wondering if the space in my account name, Rob Latour, is causing a problem.

Also, of note, there is no file called
C:/Users/Rob Latour/Documents/esp/hello_world/build/bootloader/bootlader.map

on my system the time of the error.

[projectgus]

Hi @roblatour,

and as such I'm wondering if the space in my account name, Rob Latour, is causing a problem.

You are correct. At the moment all paths used in the ESP-IDF build system (path containing ESP-IDF, path containing the project, path containing any other IDF components in the build) must not contain spaces. We're working on fixing this, or at minimum producing a clearer error to avoid the hard-to-debug errors which this currently produces.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Will keep this issue open until we have either fixed this or fixed the error which is produced.

[roblatour]

thank you

[GeorgeFlorian]

You are correct. At the moment all paths used in the ESP-IDF build system (path containing ESP-IDF, path containing the project, path containing any other IDF components in the build) must not contain spaces.

Is this mentioned somewhere ?
Because I just encountered this and I don't remember reading it in no tutorial.
Thank you.

[igrr]

It's mentioned in the getting started section, https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-idf/en/latest/esp32/get-started/index.html#step-1-install-prerequisites (regarding spaces in ESP-IDF path) and https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-idf/en/latest/esp32/get-started/index.html#step-5-start-a-project (regarding spaces in project path).

[zikalino]

This issue seems to be already resolved. I have verified that it's possible to build with spaces in a path.
Closing the issue - feel free to create new tickets for any specific corner cases if they occur.

[Gisbert12843]

This Bug has not been resolved as of: 5.1.2

Work around is deleting the .platformio folder in the user directory resetting it to C:/ location. (restart of VS required)

[cortices]

This issue still isn't resolved; it should not be closed. @zikalino what led you to believe it is resolved?
Today, four years later, I received from ESP-IDF

Error: Output directory contains spaces: `/home/xx/y/z/a b c/d/e/target/riscv32imc-esp-espidf/debug/build/esp-idf-sys-0583900747d45821/out`.

EDIT: This seems to in fact be caused by a feature in esp-idf-sys (https://github.com/esp-rs/esp-idf-sys/blob/8d0c991e0e3c9846c635956467e64fb35b7c7bdf/BUILD-OPTIONS.md?plain=1#L293) as referenced in esp-rs/esp-idf-sys#252 which is intended to detect and avoid this error by bailing before it happens, except that the error is partially or completely resolved in esp-idf now, so it errors erroneously 🤦

[igrr]

Currently we do have some test coverage for building with paths with spaces (in tools/test_build_system/test_spaces.py). The issue was closed because these tests got added and the issues found by these tests got resolved. There might still be issues we haven't found — we would appreciate issue reports! If anyone stumbles upon an issue with paths-with-spaces in ESP-IDF v5.2 or later, please do open a new issue, we will try to solve it.