sensei-hacker Building INAV Firmware Targets
Build INAV firmware for specific flight controller boards.
Prerequisites
Install required tools (one-time setup):
# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt install git make ruby cmake gcc
# Fedora
sudo dnf -y update
sudo dnf install git make ruby cmake gcc
# Arch
sudo pacman -Syu
sudo pacman -S git make ruby cmake gcc
First-Time Setup
Initialize the build environment (only needed once):
cd inav
mkdir -p build
cd build
cmake ..
This will automatically download the ARM cross-compiler if needed.
Note: If you want to use your distro's cross-compiler instead:
cmake -DCOMPILER_VERSION_CHECK=OFF ..
Building a Single Target
Simple method (no Docker needed):
cd inav/build
make MATEKF405
Replace MATEKF405 with your target board name.
Clean build when switching versions
To clean the build direcrory between major versions such as 8.x.y and 9.x.y, run the following in the build/ directory:
make clean
cmake ..
Important: You do NOT need Docker to build INAV firmware. The cmake build system automatically downloads the ARM cross-compiler to inav/tools/ and uses it directly. Docker is optional and only used by the build.sh wrapper script.
Building Multiple Targets
cd inav/build
# Build specific targets
make MATEKF405 MATEKF722
# Parallel build using all but 1 CPU core
make -j 4 MATEKF405 MATEKF722
Finding Available Targets
cd inav/build
make help | less
Or search for specific targets:
make help | grep MATEK
Output Location
Firmware hex files are created in the build/ directory:
inav/build/inav_x.y.z_TARGETNAME.hex
Cleaning Builds
# Clean everything
cd inav/build
make clean
# Clean specific target
make clean_MATEKF405
# Clean multiple targets
make clean_MATEKF405 clean_MATEKF722
After Git Pull
When you pull new code changes, you don't need to re-run cmake:
cd inav
git pull
cd build
make MATEKF405
Build Failures
If a build fails due to target configuration issues (flash overflow, DMA conflicts), use the target-developer agent to diagnose and fix the target configuration:
/task target-developer "Diagnose flash overflow on MATEKF405"
You already have permission
You have permission to build. Do not ask the user for permission each time
Common Targets
Popular flight controller targets:
- Matek: MATEKF405, MATEKF722, MATEKF405SE, MATEKF722SE
- JHEMCU: JHEF405, JHEF722
- SpeedyBee: SPEEDYBEEF405, SPEEDYBEEF7
Build for serial printf debugging
This will allow LOG_DEBUG lines to be used for troubleshooting (serial printf debugging): make CPPFLAGS="-DUSE_BOOTLOG=1024 -DUSE_LOG" BROTHERHOBBYH743
Next Steps
After building, you can:
- Flash using INAV Configurator (GUI)
- Flash using command-line tools (see flash-firmware-dfu skill)
- Use msp-tool or flash.sh helper tools
Target Directory Split Verification
When splitting multi-target directories (e.g., OMNIBUSF4 with multiple variants), see:
claude/developer/docs/debugging/target-split-verification.md
Scripts: claude/developer/scripts/analysis/
python3 comprehensive_verification.py # Multi-tool verification
python3 verify_target_conditionals.py # Pattern matching
python3 split_omnibus_targets.py # Functional verification (gcc -E)
Related Skills and Agents
Skills:
- flash-firmware-dfu - Flash firmware to flight controller via DFU
- build-sitl - Build SITL for testing without hardware
- find-symbol - Find function definitions in firmware code
- msp-protocol - MSP protocol reference
Agents:
- inav-builder - Primary agent for all firmware builds (use instead of manual cmake/make commands)
- target-developer - Use if build fails due to target configuration issues (flash overflow, DMA conflicts)
- fc-flasher - Use AFTER successful build to flash firmware with settings preservation
References
- Full documentation:
inav/docs/development/Building in Linux.md - Target split verification:
claude/developer/docs/debugging/target-split-verification.md - Performance debugging:
claude/developer/docs/debugging/performance-debugging.md