rshell
Remote MicroPython shell.
This is a simple shell which runs on the host and uses MicroPython's raw-REPL to send python snippets to the pyboard in order to get filesystem information, and to copy files to and from MicroPython's filesystem.
It also has the ability to invoke the regular REPL, so rshell can be used as a terminal emulator as well.
Note: With rshell you can disable USB Mass Storage and still copy files into and out of your pyboard.
When using the commands, the /flash directory, and the /sdcard directory (if an sdcard is inserted) are considered to be on the pyboard, and all other directories are considered to be on the host. For an ESP based board you can only reference its directory by using the board name e.g. /pyboard etc..
NOTE: rshell requires a fairly recent version of the MicroPython firmware, specifically one which contains the ubinascii.unhexlify command which was added May 19, 2015 (v1.4.3-28-ga3a14b9 or newer).
If your version of the firmware isn't new enough, then you'll see an error message something like this:
>./rshell.py rshell needs MicroPython firmware with ubinascii.unhexlify
Installation
You can install rshell using the command:
sudo pip3 install rshell
If you use a virtualenv, then you don't need the sudo. rshell needs Python3. All of my testing was done using version 3.4.0.
Debian/Ubuntu users can get pip3 using:
sudo apt-get install python3-pip
Serial Port Permissions (linux)
Under linux, the USB serial ports are owned by root and typically have a group of dialout (for ubuntu). Different unix distros may use a slightly different group name. In order for rshell (or any terminal emulator) to access the serial port, you'll need to ensure that your user account has sufficient priviledge. One way to do this is to ensure that your user is added to the dialout group, using a command like:
sudo usermod -a -G dialout $USER
Another way, is to use udev rules to modify the permissions on the serial port. There are some instructions on the [micropython wiki](https://github.com/micropython/micropython/wiki/Board-STM32F407-Discovery#programming-from-linux-via-dfu) that you can use to setup your udev rules (you don't need to install dfu-utils just to update the permissions).
Sample Session
This shows a pyboard in its default state, copying a hello.py and then entering the repl and importing it.
>rshell
Welcome to rshell. Use Control-D to exit.
/home/dhylands/Dropbox/micropython/rshell> ls -l /flash
529 May 21 17:34 README.txt
286 May 21 17:34 boot.py
34 May 21 17:34 main.py
2436 May 21 17:34 pybcdc.inf
/home/dhylands/Dropbox/micropython/rshell> cp hello.py /flash
/home/dhylands/Dropbox/micropython/rshell> ls -l /flash
529 May 21 17:34 README.txt
286 May 21 17:34 boot.py
21 May 21 17:35 hello.py
34 May 21 17:34 main.py
2436 May 21 17:34 pybcdc.inf
/home/dhylands/Dropbox/micropython/rshell> cat /flash/hello.py
print('Hello World')
/home/dhylands/Dropbox/micropython/rshell> repl
Entering REPL. Use Control-X to exit.
Micro Python v1.4.3-28-ga3a14b9 on 2015-05-21; PYBv1.0 with STM32F405RG
Type "help()" for more information.
>>>
>>> import hello
Hello World
>>>
/home/dhylands/Dropbox/micropython/rshell>
Command Line Options
-h, --help
Displays a list of the valid options. You should get something like the following displayed:
usage: rshell [options] [command]
Remote Shell for a MicroPython board.
positional arguments:
cmd Optional command to execute
optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-b BAUD, --baud BAUD Set the baudrate used (default = 115200)
--buffer-size BUFFER_SIZE
Set the buffer size used for transfers (default = 512)
-p PORT, --port PORT Set the serial port to use (default '/dev/ttyACM0')
--rts RTS Set the RTS state (default '')
--dtr DTR Set the DTR state (default '')
-u USER, --user USER Set username to use (default 'micro')
-w PASSWORD, --password PASSWORD
Set password to use (default 'python')
-e EDITOR, --editor EDITOR
Set the editor to use (default 'vi')
-f FILENAME, --file FILENAME
Specifies a file of commands to process.
-d, --debug Enable debug features
-n, --nocolor Turn off colorized output
--wait How long to wait for serial port
--binary Enable binary file transfer
--timing Print timing information about each command
--quiet Turns off some output (useful for testing)
You can specify the default serial port using the RSHELL_PORT environment
variable.
-b BAUD, --baud BAUD
Sets the baud rate to use when talking to the pyboard over a serial port. If no baud is specified, then the baudrate from the RSHELL_BAUD environment variable is used. If the RSHELL_BAUD environment variable is not defined then the default baudrate of 115200 is used.
--buffer-size
Sets the buffer size used when transferring files between the host and the pyboard. If no buffer size is specified, then the value from the RSHELL_BUFFER_SIZE environment variable is used. If the RSHELL_BUFFER_SIZE environment variable is not defined, then the default of 512 is used.
-d, --debug
Turns on debugging. This allows you to see the script which is sent over the raw REPL and the response received.
-e EDITOR, --editor
Specifies the editor to use with the edit command. If no editor is specified, then the following environment variables will be searched: RSHELL_EDITOR, VISUAL, and EDITOR. If none of those environment variables is set then vi will be used.
-f FILENAME, --file FILENAME
Specifies a file of rshell commands to process. This allows you to create a script which executes any valid rshell commands.
-n, --nocolor
By default, rshell uses ANSI color escape codes when displaying the prompt and ls output. This option allows colorized output to be disabled.
-a --ascii
On certain platforms the raw REPL mode is unreliable with particular sequences of binary characters. Specifying --ascii enables the transfer of binary files to such platforms. It does this by encoding the data as ASCII hex.
--wait
If a port is specified defines how long rshell will wait for the port to exist and for a connection to be established. The default is 0 seconds specifying an immediate return.
-p PORT, --port PORT
Specifies the serial port which should be used to talk to the MicroPython board. You can set the RSHELL_PORT environment variable to specify the default port to be used, if --port is not specified on the command line.
--dtr [0|1|True|False]
Sets the state of the DTR line when opening the serial port. This may also be defaulted from the RSHELL_DTR environment variable.
--rts [0|1|True|False]
Sets the state of the RTS line when opening the serial port. This may also be defaulted from the RSHELL_RTS environment variable.
--quiet
This option causes the Connecting messages printed when rshell starts to be suppressed. This is mostly useful for the test scripts.
--timing
If the timing option is specified then rshell will print the amount of time that each command takes to execute.
-u USER, --user USER
Specifies the username to use when logging into a WiPy over telnet. If no username is specified, then the username from the RSHELL_USER environment variable is used. If the RSHELL_USER environment variable doesn't exist then the default username 'micro' is used.
-w PASSWORD, --password PASSWORD
Specified the password to use when logging into a WiPy over telnet. If no password is specified, then the password from the RSHELL_PASSWORD environment variable is used. If the RSHELL_PASSWORD environment variable doesn't exist then the default password 'python' is used.
cmd
If a command is specified, then that command will be executed and rshell will exit. Examples:
rshell cp somefile.py /flash rshell repl ~ pyb.bootloader() ~
File System
rshell can be connected to multiple pyboards simultaneously. If the
board module exists on the pyboard (i.e. a file named board.py somewhere
in the module search path) and it contains an attribute called name
(e.g. name = "myboard") then the pyboard will use that name. If the board
module can't be imported then the board will be named, pyboard or wipy.
Names will have -1 (or some other number) to make the board name unique.
You can access the internal flash on the first board connected using /flash and the sd card on the first board connected can be accessed using /sd.
For all other connected pyboards, you can use /board-name/flash or /board-name/sd (you can see the board names using the boards command).
The boards command will show all of the connected pyboards, along with all of the directories which map onto that pyboard.
Commands
args
args [arguments...]
Debug function for verifying argument parsing. This function just prints out each argument that it receives.
boards
boards
Lists all of the boards that rshell is currently connected to, their names, and the connection.
You can give a custom name to a board with either copying over a board.py
file or using the echo command, e.g.
echo 'name="myboard"' > /pyboard/board.py
(Remember to exit rshell and re-enter to see the change).
cat
cat FILENAME...
Concatenates files and sends to stdout.
cd
cd DIRECTORY
Changes the current directory. ~ expansion is supported, and cd - goes to the previous directory.
connect
connect TYPE TYPE_PARAMS connect serial port [baud] connect telnet ip-address-or-name
Connects a pyboard to rshell. rshell can be connected to multiple pyboards simultaneously.
cp
usage: cp SOURCE DEST cp SOURCE... DIRECTORY cp [-r|--recursive] [SOURCE|SRC_DIR]... DIRECTORY cp [-r|--recursive] PATTERN DIRECTORY positional arguments: DEST A destination file SOURCE File to copy SRC_DIR Directory to copy PATTERN File or directory pattern match string e.g. foo/*.py optional arguments: -h, --help show this help message and exit -r, --recursive copy directories recursively
Copies the SOURCE file to DEST. DEST may be a filename or a directory name. If more than one source file is specified, then the destination should be a directory.
Directories will only be copied if -r is specified.
A single pattern may be specified, in which case the destination should be a directory. Pattern matching is performed according to a subset of the Unix rules (see below).
Recursive copying uses rsync (see below): where a file exists on source and destination, it will only be copied if the source is newer than the destination.
echo
echo TEXT...
Display a line of text.
edit
edit filename
If the file is on a pyboard, it copies the file to host, invokes an editor and if any changes were made to the file, it copies it back to the pyboard.
The editor which is used defaults to vi, but can be overridden using either the --editor command line option when rshell.py is invoked, or by using the RSHELL_EDITOR, VISUAL or EDITOR environment variables (they are tried in the order listed).
filesize
filesize FILE
Prints the size of the file, in bytes. This function is primarily testing.
filetype
filetype FILE
Prints the type of file (dir or file). This function is primarily for testing.
help
help [COMMAND]
List available commands with no arguments, or detailed help when a command is provided.
ls
usage: ls [-a] [-l] [FILE|DIRECTORY|PATTERN]... List directory contents. positional arguments: FILE File to list (show absolute path) DIRECTORY Directory (list contents) PATTERN File or directory pattern match string e.g. foo/*.py optional arguments: -h, --help show this help message and exit -a, --all do not ignore hidden files -l, --long use a long listing format
Pattern matching is performed according to a subset of the Unix rules (see below).
mkdir
mkdir DIRECTORY...
Creates one or more directories.
repl
repl [board-name] [~ line][ ~]
Enters into the regular REPL with the MicroPython board. Use Control-X to exit REPL mode and return the shell. It may take a second or two before the REPL exits.
If you provide a board-name then rshell will connect to that board, otherwise it will connect to the default board (first connected board).
If you provide a tilde followed by a space (~ ) then anything after the tilde will be entered as if you typed it on the command line.
If you want the repl to exit, end the line with the ~ character.
For example, you could use:
rshell.py repl ~ pyb.bootloader()~
and it will boot the pyboard into DFU.
If you want to execute multiple Python commands these should be separated by the ~ character (not the ; character):
rshell.py repl ~ import mymodule ~ mymodule.run()
rm
usage: rm [-f|--force] FILE... rm [-f|--force] PATTERN rm -r [-f|--force] PATTERN rm -r [-f|--force] [FILE|DIRECTORY]... Removes files or directories (including their contents). positional arguments: FILE File to remove DIRECTORY Directory to remove (-r required) PATTERN File matching pattern e.g. *.py optional arguments: -h, --help show this help message and exit -r, --recursive remove directories and their contents recursively -f, --force ignore nonexistent files and arguments
A single pattern may be specified. Pattern matching is performed according to a subset of the Unix rules (see below). Directories can only be removed if the recursive argument is provided.
Beware of rm -r * or worse.
rsync
usage: rsync [-m|--mirror] [-n|--dry-run] [-q|--quiet] SRC_DIR DEST_DIR
Recursively synchronises a source directory to a destination.
Directories must exist.
positional arguments:
SRC_DIR Directory containing source files.
DEST_DIR Directory for destination
optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-m, --mirror remove files or directories from destination if
absent from source.
-n, --dry-run make no changes but report what would be done. Implies -v
-q, --quiet don't report changes made.
Synchronisation is performed by comparing the date and time of source and destination files. Files are copied if the source is newer than the destination.
shell
The shell command can also be abbreviated using the exclamation point.
shell some-command !some-command
This will invoke a command, and return back to rshell. Example:
!make deploy
will flash the pyboard.
Pattern Matching
This is performed according to a subset of the Unix rules. The limitations are that wildcards are only allowed in the rightmost directory of a path and curly bracket {} syntax is unsupported:
*.py Match files in current directory with a .py extension
temp/x[0-9]a.* Match temp/x1a.bmp but not temp/x00a.bmp
t*/*.bmp Invalid: will produce an error message
{*.doc,*.pdf} Invalid: will produce an error message