pw_watch

pw_watch is similar to file system watchers found in the web development space. These watchers trigger a web server reload on source change, increasing iteration. In the embedded space, file system watchers are less prevalent but no less useful! The Pigweed watcher module makes it easy to instantly compile, flash, and run tests upon save.

Note

pw_watch currently only works with Pigweed’s GN and CMake builds.

Module Usage

The simplest way to get started with pw_watch is to launch it from a shell using the Pigweed environment as pw watch. By default, pw_watch watches for repository changes and triggers the default Ninja build target for an automatically located build directory (typically $PW_ROOT/out). To override this behavior, provide the -C argument to pw watch.

# Find a build directory and build the default target
pw watch

# Find a build directory and build the stm32f429i target
pw watch python.lint stm32f429i

# Build pw_run_tests.modules in the out/cmake directory
pw watch -C out/cmake pw_run_tests.modules

# Build the default target in out/ and pw_apps in out/cmake
pw watch -C out -C out/cmake pw_apps

# Find a directory and build python.tests, and build pw_apps in out/cmake
pw watch python.tests -C out/cmake pw_apps

The --patterns and --ignore_patterns arguments can be used to include and exclude certain file patterns that will trigger rebuilds.

The --exclude_list argument can be used to exclude directories from being watched by your system. This can decrease the inotify number in Linux system.

Unit Test Integration

Thanks to GN’s understanding of the full dependency tree, only the tests affected by a file change are run when pw_watch triggers a build. By default, host builds using pw_watch will run unit tests. To run unit tests on a device as part of pw_watch, refer to your device’s target documentation.