DTS overlay files must include full path name

[pfl]

CMake handles overlay files inconsistently. My sample directory contains an overlay file:
-rw-rw-r-- 1 pflykt pflykt 204 Nov 8 15:11 frdm_uart2_dts.overlay

But when I run cmake, cc1 does not find the DTS overlay file:

(samples_fona808)$ cmake -B build -GNinja -DBOARD=frdm_k64f -DDTC_OVERLAY_FILE=frdm_uart2_dts.overlay
Zephyr version: 2.0.99
-- Selected BOARD frdm_k64f
-- Found west: /home/pflykt/.local/bin/west (found suitable version "0.6.0", minimum required is "0.6.0")
-- Loading /home/pflykt/projects/zephyr/boards/arm/frdm_k64f/frdm_k64f.dts as base
-- Overlaying frdm_uart2_dts.overlay
cc1: fatal error: frdm_uart2_dts.overlay: No such file or directory
compilation terminated.
CMake Error at /home/pflykt/projects/zephyr/cmake/dts.cmake:128 (message):
  command failed with return code: 1
Call Stack (most recent call first):
  /home/pflykt/projects/zephyr/cmake/app/boilerplate.cmake:460 (include)
  CMakeLists.txt:7 (include)

Adding the full path to the command succeeds:

samples_fona808)$ cmake -B build -GNinja -DBOARD=frdm_k64f -DDTC_OVERLAY_FILE=$(pwd)/frdm_uart2_dts.overlay
Zephyr version: 2.0.99
-- Selected BOARD frdm_k64f
-- Found west: /home/pflykt/.local/bin/west (found suitable version "0.6.0", minimum required is "0.6.0")
-- Loading /home/pflykt/projects/zephyr/boards/arm/frdm_k64f/frdm_k64f.dts as base
-- Overlaying /home/pflykt/projects/zephyr/samples/fona808/frdm_uart2_dts.overlay
Devicetree configuration written to /home/pflykt/projects/zephyr/samples/fona808/build/zephyr/include/generated/generated_dts_board.conf
Parsing Kconfig tree in /home/pflykt/projects/zephyrproject/zephyr/Kconfig
Loaded configuration '/home/pflykt/projects/zephyr/boards/arm/frdm_k64f/frdm_k64f_defconfig'
...

The same thing happens when DTC_OVERLAY_FILE is defined in CMakeLists.txt.

Documentation in https://docs.zephyrproject.org/latest/application/index.html#devicetree-overlays is very quiet about including the full path name, and the above handling of DTS overlay files shows inconsistent behavior against project overlay files. All overlay files must be handled in a consistent manner, please fix.

[SebastianBoe]

CONF_FILE supports project-relative file paths so DTC_OVERLAY_FILE should too.

I see that Kconfig supports this by running kconfig with an appropriate working directory:

  WORKING_DIRECTORY ${APPLICATION_SOURCE_DIR}
  # The working directory is set to the app dir such that the user
  # can use relative paths in CONF_FILE, e.g. CONF_FILE=nrf5.conf

whereas DT uses the binary directory as the working directory.

WORKING_DIRECTORY ${PROJECT_BINARY_DIR}

if we could change the working directory for DT preprocessing without breaking backwards compatiblity or increasing the complexity significantly then we can be consistent with Kconfig and support this for DT as well.

[jefffhaynes]

This is still a problem

west build -b nrf52840dk_nrf52840 -p auto -- -DDTC_OVERLAY_FILE=./boards\nrf52840dk_nrf52840.overlay
-- west build: generating a build system
Including boilerplate (Zephyr base (cached)): C:/Users/Jeff/Source/Repos/firmware-nrf52840-5340/zephyr/cmake/app/boilerplate.cmake
-- Application: C:/Users/Jeff/Source/Repos/firmware-nrf52840-5340/zephyr/samples/sensor/fxos8700
-- Zephyr version: 2.5.99 (C:/Users/Jeff/Source/Repos/firmware-nrf52840-5340/zephyr)
-- Found west (found suitable version "0.10.1", minimum required is "0.7.1")
-- Board: nrf52840dk_nrf52840
-- Cache files will be written to: C:/Users/Jeff/Source/Repos/firmware-nrf52840-5340/zephyr/.cache
-- Found toolchain: gnuarmemb (C:/gnu_arm_embedded)
-- Found BOARD.dts: C:/Users/Jeff/Source/Repos/firmware-nrf52840-5340/zephyr/boards/arm/nrf52840dk_nrf52840/nrf52840dk_nrf52840.dts
-- Found devicetree overlay: ./boards/nrf52840dk_nrf52840.overlay
cc1.exe: fatal error: ./boards/nrf52840dk_nrf52840.overlay: No such file or directory
compilation terminated.
CMake Error at C:/Users/Jeff/Source/Repos/firmware-nrf52840-5340/zephyr/cmake/dts.cmake:157 (message):
  command failed with return code: 1
Call Stack (most recent call first):
  C:/Users/Jeff/Source/Repos/firmware-nrf52840-5340/zephyr/cmake/app/boilerplate.cmake:554 (include)
  C:/Users/Jeff/Source/Repos/firmware-nrf52840-5340/zephyr/share/zephyr-package/cmake/ZephyrConfig.cmake:24 (include)
  C:/Users/Jeff/Source/Repos/firmware-nrf52840-5340/zephyr/share/zephyr-package/cmake/ZephyrConfig.cmake:40 (include_boilerplate)
  CMakeLists.txt:4 (find_package)

[skandaprasad]

@jefffhaynes
Can you please let me know if you found a solution for your issue about not finding the overlay file even though it exists?

[Michal-Pogorzelec]

The issue still exists - anyone know how to solve it?