+++
title = "Build, test and release"
description = "Docker is the only tool you need. How the firmware is built, how the host tests run, and what CI does on a pull request and on a tag."
weight = 1

[extra]
docs = true
source = "README.md"
tag = "Build"
+++
## Requirements

Only **Docker** is needed. PlatformIO and the ESP32 toolchain run inside a container, and are cached in the `roro9stack-pio` Docker volume. The first build downloads about 1 GB and takes a few minutes.

## Build and test (local CI)

```sh
scripts/ci.sh
```

This runs the host-side unit tests (`test/`, `native` environment), then builds the firmware. The output is `.pio/build/cardputer-adv/firmware.factory.bin`.

`scripts/coverage.sh` runs the same tests with coverage counters and writes a line-by-line report to `.pio/coverage/index.html`. The badge above is its figure for `main`: the share of the lines of `lib/` that the host tests run. `lib/` is the logic that compiles on a PC; `lib/SD` (the card's driver) and `src/` (the Apps, the Services, everything that needs the device) have no host tests and aren't in that figure.

The framework is rebuilt with the TLS settings in `platformio.ini` (`custom_sdkconfig`, ADR 0006), so the first build after a fresh checkout takes about 6 minutes; later builds take about 15 seconds when little has changed. The platform knows the framework is already rebuilt by `sdkconfig.defaults` in the project folder, which it writes and git ignores: delete it and the next build rebuilds the framework. CI keeps that file, a build cache and ccache in its volume (docs/milestones/R1.md).

## CI and releases

Gitea Actions (`.gitea/workflows/ci.yml`, docs/milestones/R1.md) runs the host tests on every push to `main`, and on a pull request also builds the firmware: changes reach `main` through pull requests. Pushing a tag `v*` runs all of it and publishes a release on Gitea with:

- `roro9stack-<version>.ota`, the signed Update File;
- `roro9stack-<version>-factory.bin`, the whole flash image for a first install over USB;
- `roro9stack-<version>.elf.gz`, to decode crash reports from that build;
- `SHA256SUMS`.

CI signs with the project's key, held as a repository secret (ADR 0008). There is one firmware: the Debug Console is in every build, switched off until its owner switches it on (ADR 0010).

`scripts/ota_verify.py <file.ota>` checks an Update File on a PC the way a device does. `scripts/release_build.sh` and `scripts/release_publish.py` are what the workflow runs; they work the same by hand.