tools/mpremote: Fix auto-connection bug in macOS and add config option to filter ports eligible for auto-connection.

[mdaeron]

Signed-off-by: Mathieu Daëron [email protected]

[mdaeron]

This PR corrects a bug on macOS, where cu.Bluetooth-Incoming-Port is considered an eligible port for mpremote auto connect (#8485). The fix is perhaps brittle (check sys.platform), and could need to be extended to correct similar bugs on other operating systems.

It also introduces a new configuration option, autoconnect_regexp, which is a regular expression used to filter ports eligible for auto connection. This option will generally not be needed, but is useful when more granular control of which ports to use is called for, e.g. when debugging code in several boards communicating/working together

[bulletmark]

I don't think that PR is a good idea. Since the docs say "This command automatically detects and connects to the first available serial device" and Macs for some reason are not doing that then surely the solution is to fix that automatic connection logic rather than add an obscure "autoconnect_regexp" option which users are required to discover and configure?

[mdaeron]

I don't think that PR is a good idea. Since the docs say "This command automatically detects and connects to the first available serial device" and Macs for some reason are not doing that then surely the solution is to fix that automatic connection logic rather than add an obscure "autoconnect_regexp" option which users are required to discover and configure?

Fair point, thanks. I agree that solving the auto connect bug and adding an option to filter ports are two separate issues. I've edited the PR accordingly.

• mpremote connect auto now works out of the box on my Mac. Something similar might be needed for Windows.
• autoconnect_regexp remains as an (obscure, yet documented) option for those few who might need it. In my experience, it can save a lot of time and frustration when debugging two or more boards working/communicating together (in which case auto connect is great) without interference from other ports which might be used for other things.

[ide]

rshell has about 30 lines of heuristics for autoconnection that work pretty well and may be worth borrowing: https://github.com/dhylands/rshell/blob/b87878c01aa02d6cd871ff4666983dee5584af16/rshell/main.py#L227-L254

[dpgeorge]

Thanks for the contribution. The ideas in this PR are good, namely:

1. improve auto connection on mac
2. allow the user to have more control over auto connection

The solution to 1, restricting to /dev/cu.usb seems pretty good.

But I think for 2, since it's going to be a rarely used command and therefore advanced, how about making it fully general by allowing an arbitrary filter function to be provided by the user? Eg something like

             port_filter = lambda p: True # default filter
             ...
             for p in sorted(serial.tools.list_ports.comports()):
                 if not port_filter(p):
                     continue
                 ...

[Neradoc]

Note that a board with a WCH chip like the CH340/CH9102 (a common replacement for CP210x these days), using the official driver (which is required to work properly, at least for esptool for example) will have its name appear in the form of cu.wchusbserial*, not to mention that the other, default driver port will also still be there (cu.usbmodem*).

I would personally just exclude the default bluetooth ports if a more comprehensive filter/search is not in scope.

/dev/cu.BLTH
/dev/cu.Bluetooth-Incoming-Port

[mdaeron]

Note that a board with a WCH chip like the CH340/CH9102 (a common replacement for CP210x these days), using the official driver (which is required to work properly, at least for esptool for example) will have its name appear in the form of cu.wchusbserial*, not to mention that the other, default driver port will also still be there (cu.usbmodem*).

@Neradoc, ~~what does sys.platform return for your WCH chip~~? Sorry, don't know what I was thinking!

[mdaeron]

I've tried to look into this again:

• When installing mpremote from PyPI in a clean environment, I get version 0.4.0 and it treats /dev/cu.Bluetooth-Incoming-Port as a valid port.
• But when doing pip install -e . from tools/mpremote in a clean environment, I get version 0.3.0 but it (rightfully) ignores /dev/cu.Bluetooth-Incoming-Port.

I'm guessing the cu.Bluetooth* issue has now been fixed, perhaps inadvertently, but what's with the version decrease?

[Josverl]

@mdaeron , could it be that you have checked out the v1.19.1 tag , rather than the latest (master HEAD ) ?