Add color to build output log (more readable errors and warnings) (IDFGH-1965)

[AloyseTech]

Environment

• Development Kit: ESP32-PICO-Kit
• Kit version v4
• Module or chip used: ESP32-PICO-D4
• IDF version v4.1-dev-256-g9f145ff16
• Build System: CMake
• Compiler version xtensa-esp32-elf-gcc (crosstool-NG esp32-2019r1) 8.2.0
• Operating System: Windows
• Power Supply: USB

Problem Description

The build process output a lot of text. It is sometimes difficult to spot errors and warnings.

Expected Behavior

It could be great if the output could be colorized (red for errors, orange/yellow for warning etc), to make the build log more readable.

[AloyseTech]

I've added add_compile_options (-fdiagnostics-color=always) to the main CMakeList.txt file of my project and set an environment variable GCC_COLORS="error=01;31:warning=01;33:note=01;36:caret=01;32:locus=01:quote=01" which give me some colored output. Is there any better way to do this?

[renzbagaporo]

There is no official support for this in the sense that you can't pass an argument to idf.py to enable this. You can, however, skip adding add_compile_options (-fdiagnostics-color=always) to every project you work with OR by adding the -fdiagnostics-color=always to the environment variable EXTRA_CFLAGS and EXTRA_CXXFLAGS to have it be "permanent".

You still need to set the GCC_COLORS however for the colors you want the output to be.

[esanai]

You can colorize the log with following code.

static const char *TAG = "TEST_TASK";
ESP_LOG_LEVEL(ESP_LOG_ERROR, TAG, "%d - Red log", 1);
ESP_LOG_LEVEL(ESP_LOG_WARN, TAG, "%d - Yello log", 2);
ESP_LOG_LEVEL(ESP_LOG_INFO, TAG, "%d - Green log", 3);

I found the way from the source code of esp_log.h

[renzbagaporo]

@esanai I think @AloyseTech was referring to colorizing the actual output build log, not the runtime logs.

[esanai]

@renzbagaporo You are right. I'm sorry for my misunderstanding.

[KaeLL]

There is no official support for this in the sense that you can't pass an argument to idf.py to enable this. You can, however, skip adding add_compile_options (-fdiagnostics-color=always) to every project you work with OR by adding the -fdiagnostics-color=always to the environment variable EXTRA_CFLAGS and EXTRA_CXXFLAGS to have it be "permanent".

You still need to set the GCC_COLORS however for the colors you want the output to be.

Or the devs could actually fix this? It works with Make, for heaven's sake.
This issue needs to be reopened.

[eflukx]

Add the parameters onto the environment, by executing:

export EXTRA_CFLAGS=-fdiagnostics-color=always
export GCC_COLORS="error=01;31:warning=01;35:note=01;36:range1=32:range2=34:locus=01:quote=01:path=01;36:fixit-insert=32:fixit-delete=31:diff-filename=01:diff-hunk=32:diff-delete=31:diff-insert=32:type-diff=01;32"

before my idf.py build command, but still only B&W output. Obviously doing something wrong.

Ps. Putting the some definitive handles here how to enable colour build-output would would surely help a lot of people, as this issue is where people land when searching for coloured build output.

[hermlon]

For me the approach above of setting EXTRA_CFLAGS to -fdiagnostics-color=always did show colored output in idf.py build after running idf.py fullclean once.

[Nodraak]

@renzbagaporo Please consider reopening this issue. I believe a colorized output should be the default in 2021.

[wenbozzz]

Hi all,
just want to leave a note here..
if you are using newer version of the esp-idf, such as v4.3, you can add this line to your project CMake file after the line project(<project name>)

idf_build_set_property(COMPILE_OPTIONS "-fdiagnostics-color=always" APPEND)

if you have other flag to set, you'll need to write them in separate line, e.g.

idf_build_set_property(COMPILE_OPTIONS "-Wno-error=class-memaccess" APPEND)
idf_build_set_property(COMPILE_OPTIONS "-fdiagnostics-color=always" APPEND)

since idf_build_set_property(COMPILE_OPTIONS "-Wno-error=class-memaccess -fdiagnostics-color=always" APPEND) didn't work for me.

[ruipcunha]

@wenbozzz
I'm using IDF v4.3 and it works perfectly! Thanks a lot!

[KaeLL]

if you are using newer version of the esp-idf, such as v4.3, you can add this line to your project CMake file after the line project(<project name>)

IDF can and should set this by default, as there's no downside and it's still a (unnecessary) downgrade from Make.
@projectgus thoughts?

[igrr]

@KaeLL Thanks for the ping. I think enabling -fdiagnostics-color=always in the project CMakeLists.txt has the side effect of adding the color escape sequences to build output for non-interactive builds. We plan to fix the underlying issues preventing the color output from being enabled by default in the console. The corresponding internal issue was already re-opened, but I forgot to re-open this one. It will be updated when someone starts working on this!

[igrr]

Just an update, we haven't forgotten about this issue. Support for color diagnostics has just been merged into CMake (https://gitlab.kitware.com/cmake/cmake/-/merge_requests/6990) and we plan to upgrade the bundled CMake version as soon as the new version is released.

[igrr]

Another update: CMake 3.24.0 is about to be released and we now have a work-in-progress IDF branch which uses the new CMAKE_COLOR_DIAGNOSTICS feature introduced by CMake. Some work still needs to be done, but I expect the feature to be ready in a week or two, provided no issues are discovered with the new CMake release version.

[igrr]

Color output from idf.py should now be available in the master branch, as long as CMake 3.24 or later is used. On Windows you can get it by running install.bat or install.ps1. On Linux or macOS it's possible to install it either system-wide, or for IDF only via tools/idf_tools.py install cmake.
Please give it a try, feedback is welcome!

[Alvin1Zhang]

Thanks for reporting, will close due to short of feedback, feel free to reopen with more updates. Thanks.