BUILD SYSTEM
Compile, Customize, and Secure. A comprehensive guide to the Waf build system, GDB debugging, and signing firmware for secure bootloaders.
Build System
The Waf Build System
ArduPilot uses **Waf**, a Python-based build automation tool, to manage the compilation of its massive codebase. Unlike Make or CMake, Waf scripts ...
Customizing Features
ArduPilot is designed to be modified. There are two primary ways to inject custom logic: **User Hooks** (for simple logic) and **Build Configuratio...
GDB Debugging Setup
Debugging embedded firmware with `printf` is painful. **GDB (GNU Debugger)** allows you to freeze the processor, inspect memory, walk through code ...
SITL Architecture
Software In The Loop (SITL) allows ArduPilot to run on a standard PC (Linux/Windows/macOS) as if it were running on a flight controller.
Signing & Secure Boot
Secure Boot ensures that only authorized firmware can run on the flight controller. This is critical for preventing tampering, cloning, or maliciou...