Prerequisites

Install the tools and dependencies required to build VESC firmware.

Before you can build VESC firmware, you need a few system tools and the ARM cross-compiler toolchain.

System dependencies

Ubuntu / Linux

Install the required packages with apt:

sudo apt install git build-essential libgl-dev libxcb-xinerama0 wget git-gui

The packages provide:

• git — version control
• build-essential — make and core build tools
• libgl-dev — OpenGL development headers (required for Qt tools)
• libxcb-xinerama0 — X11 multi-monitor support (required for Qt tools)
• wget — used by the SDK installer

To use the STLink v2 programmer without root privileges, add the udev rules:

wget vedder.se/Temp/49-stlinkv2.rules
sudo mv 49-stlinkv2.rules /etc/udev/rules.d/
sudo udevadm trigger

macOS

Install Git and make via Xcode command-line tools if not already present:

xcode-select --install

Optionally install flashing tools via Homebrew:

brew install stlink
brew install openocd

Windows

1. Install Chocolatey

   Follow the instructions at https://chocolatey.org/install to install the Chocolatey package manager.

2. Install Make

   Open a Windows PowerShell terminal (do not run as administrator — this will break things):

   choco install make
   
3. Install Git

   Download Git from https://git-scm.com/download/win. During installation, select the option to add Git to your PATH (Environment Variables).

Clone the repository

git clone http://github.com/vedderb/bldc.git
cd bldc
git checkout origin/master

Install the ARM toolchain

The firmware requires the GNU ARM GCC cross-compiler. The Makefile includes an installer target that downloads and sets up the toolchain automatically:

make arm_sdk_install

This installs the toolchain into the tools/ directory inside the repository. All build output is placed in the build/ directory.

You do not need to install arm-none-eabi-gcc globally. The make arm_sdk_install target manages a local copy so the build is self-contained.

Python 3 and pip (IDE only)

If you plan to use the Qt Creator IDE integration, you also need Python 3 and pip. These are used by the make qt_install target.

Ubuntu / macOS

Python 3 and pip are typically available or installable through your system package manager:

# Ubuntu
sudo apt install python3 python3-pip

# macOS (via Homebrew)
brew install python

Windows

Download Python 3 from https://www.python.org/downloads/. During installation, check the box to Add Python to your PATH.

See IDE setup for the full Qt Creator installation steps.