Arm Tools Environment Manager

The Arm® Tools Environment Manager extension downloads, installs, and manages software development tools using Microsoft vcpkg artifacts. Arm Tools Environment Manager uses the vcpkg-configuration.json manifest file included in your project to acquire and activate the tools needed to set up your development environment.

The Arm Tools Artifactory lists the tools (compiler, debugger, simulation models, and utilities) and the different versions available. Some tools require a user-based licensing (UBL) license that you must activate with the Arm License Management Utility available with Arm Tools Environment Manager.

The Arm Tools Environment Manager extension is free to use. You can use the extension independently, and it is also compatible with other extensions included in the Keil Studio Pack, or in the Arm Debugger extension pack.

The following features are available in the user interface:

• An Arm Tools and a license status bar items that show information about the tools installed for your project and your license and provide access to commands.

• Commands to manage the tools for the project and your license.

• A visual editor to select tools from the Arm Tools Artifactory. Alternatively, you can edit the vcpkg-configuration.json file manually.

This Readme provides additional details on:

• CI usage. Learn how to use the vcpkg manifest file in continuous integration and continuous delivery/deployment (CI/CD) systems to set up tools in a consistent way.

• vcpkg folder. The folder where the tools are downloaded locally.

• Environment variables. Environment variables are automatically set for the current context.

Arm Tools and license status bar items

The Arm Tools status bar item shows a loading icon during tool activation. The item turns red if there are errors. Move your mouse over the status bar item to see which tools the current environment added to the PATH environment variable. Click the Arm Tools status bar item to view commands that help you to manage the tools installed.

Next to Arm Tools, the activated tool license displays, for example Keil MDK Community. If you have not activated a license yet, No Arm License displays and the item is red. Click the license item in the status bar to open the Arm License Management Utility and manage your license.

Commands

You can access commands to manage the tools installed for the project when you take the following actions:

• When you click the Arm Tools status bar item.

• When you right-click the vcpkg-configuration.json file from the Explorer view.

Another command is available to manage your license when you click the license status bar item.

Manage the vcpkg-configuration.json file

The vcpkg-configuration.json file stores the tool setup of your project. The file must be located in the root directory of the folder. The Activate Environment command installs the tools that are listed in this file.

Notes:

• Run the Update Tool Registry command to get the catalog of latest available tools.

• After modifying the vcpkg-configuration.json file, re-open the Terminal window to update the PATH environment.

Example:

The following file activates CMSIS-Toolbox, Arm Compiler, Ninja, and CMake with the versions specified. For Arm Compiler, the ^6.21.0 indicates the minimum version, but with ^, the latest version is installed.

{
    "registries": [
        {
            "name": "arm",
            "kind": "artifact",
            "location": "https://artifacts.tools.arm.com/vcpkg-registry"
        }
    ],
    "requires": {
        "arm:tools/open-cmsis-pack/cmsis-toolbox": "2.6.1",
        "arm:compilers/arm/armclang": "^6.21.0",
        "arm:tools/ninja-build/ninja": "1.12.0",
        "arm:tools/kitware/cmake": "3.28.4"
    }
}

Click Open Preview to the Side to open the visual editor.

CI usage

With a vcpkg-configuration.json file, you can install tools from the Arm Tools Artifactory across different environments in a consistent way.

The following picture shows how tools are activated in Visual Studio Code for desktop development and in CI for test automation. In both development environments the same vcpkg-configuration.json configuration file ensures a consistent tool setup.

The following resources provide more information:

• AVH CI Template. A GitHub Action template for CI unit test automation that uses vcpkg.

• GitHub Action vcpkg. Tool activation with vcpkg for GitHub Action workflows.

• vcpkg tool installation. Manual tool installation using vcpkg from the command line.

vcpkg folder

The base ~/.vcpkg directory (%USERPROFILE%\.vcpkg on Windows) contains the following sub-folders:

• artifacts: Installation folders of the tools.

• downloads: Download images of the tools.

• registries: A catalog of the tools available. The Update Tool Registry command retrieves the latest catalog.

Environment variables

Environment variable settings are local to the Visual Studio Code instance and not persistent. Paths to activated tools are added at the beginning of a local PATH environment variable in Visual Studio Code. This local PATH also inherits settings from the host computer PATH. The Arm Tools Environment Manager overrules permanent tool installations on the host computer.

Usage on Arm64 (Windows and Linux)

The vcpkg version in this extension doesn't include some of the native binaries used to unpack artifacts on Arm64 machines (Windows or Linux). This also applies to usage in WSL environments. To workaround this issue, the user needs to install these binaries separately (e.g. apt install unzip). A new setting Vcpkg Use System Binaries has been exposed to control whether external binaries are used.

Submit feedback or report issues

To submit feedback or report issues on the Arm Tools Environment Manager extension, please use GitHub issues in the extension repository.