Updates

UPDATES asks GitHub which panel firmware release is the newest and installs it. It opens from the UPDATES key on Setup. A reminder at start asks the same question once per start of the panel. 0.22 is the last release for the ESP32-S3 panel; the ESP32-P4 panel is offered every newer release, see The release line.

What the check needs

The card names the running version and the kept home network. The check and the download need:

• a home network kept on Wi-Fi. Without one the card says No home network saved. and CHECK FOR UPDATES is grey;
• the bench SAFE, the supply output off and no log run open. Otherwise the key is grey and the card says Wi-Fi requires SAFE, the supply output off,;
• no IOmcu update running and no panel install under way.

The download also needs no board drawing being fetched or kept.

The check

An odd minor number is a testing release, published on GitHub as a pre-release (0.21.x). An even minor number is a stable release (0.22.x).

The panel joins the home network, sends one HTTPS (HTTP over Transport Layer Security) request and reads the newest release's tag from the answer. Then the radio goes off. The join, the address and the request take 30s at most, together. The card shows the step and the seconds left.

On both settings a release is offered only when it is of the panel's release line and newer than the running build. The ESP32-P4 panel's line holds every release, see The release line.

The tag reads v and MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH, digits only, each number from 0 to 65535 in at most 5 digits and without a leading zero. A release is newer when its MAJOR is higher, or MAJOR is equal and MINOR is higher, or both are equal and PATCH is higher.

The release line

0.22 is the last release for the ESP32-S3 panel. Later releases are for the 7-inch ESP32-P4 display board from Waveshare.

The ESP32-P4 panel's line holds every release: a check offers any release newer than the running build, on both settings.

The ESP32-S3 panel's line, 0.22, offers 0.22.x only, and its card's foot says so in its first lines:

With TESTING, when the highest of the 10 newest releases is past the line, the highest release of the line among them is offered in its place once it is newer than the running build. With STABLE, when GitHub's latest release is past the line and newer than the running build, the panel sends the same request once more and offers the newest 0.22.x among those 10 when it is newer. When that request fails, the card reads as without it.

The download

The 2s hold is the one confirmation: no question follows. The panel joins the home network within 30s and fetches SHA256SUMS and rcbench-panel-p4-vX.Y.Z.bin of the release over HTTPS. It follows at most 3 redirects, only to github.com, release-assets.githubusercontent.com and objects.githubusercontent.com.

1. SHA256SUMS is 4096 bytes at most and holds exactly one line for the image.
2. The image announces its size first; an image without a size, of 0 bytes or over 8,126,464 bytes is refused. It is kept in PSRAM (pseudo-static random-access memory).
3. The image's SHA-256 (Secure Hash Algorithm, 256 bits) equals its line in SHA256SUMS.
4. Every check of an uploaded image runs, and the image names the release's version.

Only then the panel update writes it, as INSTALL does. Nothing touches the flash before.

CANCEL ends the download. STOP, ARMED, the supply output, a log run, a board drawing being fetched and 180s from the hold end it too. The running build stays; CLOSE goes back to UPDATES, or to the menu when the hold was the reminder's.

The IOmcu

Under the buttons, UPDATES names the version the IOmcu runs (Running: 0.21.2) and the version of the image this panel carries (Carried: 0.22.0). HOLD 2s TO UPDATE THE IOMCU starts the update the link-up's question starts, with the same progress screen. When the update ends, or the START was spent, the screen returns to UPDATES.

The hold takes what the question takes: an IOmcu that runs another build, the bench SAFE, the supply output off, the Wi-Fi radio wholly off and no panel install under way. Otherwise it is grey and the line above it says why, the first of these that holds:

With the hold live the line reads Outputs stay off. ARMED is blocked until the update ends., or The firmware on this panel is older. in the warning colour for an older image.

Current limitations

• How long the check and the download take on a real network is not measured.
• A first DNS (Domain Name System) server of the home network that does not answer delays each name lookup by about 7s after a join, out of the check's 30s: lwIP asks that server 4 times, up to 7s, before the next.
• TESTING: GitHub answers 60 API requests an hour for each public address without an account, shared by every device behind it. The panel sends no retry.
• TESTING reads the 10 newest releases by date. A release older by date than those is not seen, however high its version.
• The release list holds the 10 newest releases by date (per_page=10). A 0.22.x patch release with 10 or more releases published after it is not found, on either setting.
• No certificate's dates are checked: mbedTLS is built without its expiry check (CONFIG_MBEDTLS_HAVE_TIME_DATE off, ESP-IDF's default).
• A release whose assets are not named rcbench-panel-p4-vX.Y.Z.bin and SHA256SUMS cannot be downloaded.