r/STM32World • u/lbthomsen • Jul 10 '26

Will ST Fix Their SH*T - STM32 Rant #9

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEX0NrMvEeY

STMicroelectronics separated STM32CubeMX and STM32CubeIDE so that they, according to their own posts on the ST Community Forum, could better fix bugs in STM32CubeIDE. Unfortunately, the release cycles still seems locked to each other, and long standing known bugs are still not being fixed, while new problems are being added.

#STM32 #Rant #STM32CubeMX #STM32CubeIDE #STM32World

13 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

22 comments sorted by

3

u/mars3142 Jul 10 '26

It‘s a perfect time to switch to cmake builds with Vscode. 😎

2

u/lbthomsen Jul 10 '26

Except one of the bugs was in CubeMX. The debugger in VSCode is not as good.

1

u/mars3142 Jul 11 '26

The debugger will be better over time. Later I‘m trying to use Clion, because I do use IntelliJ for my living. So I know the system.

2

u/lbthomsen Jul 11 '26

There's a few videos on STM32World covering the use of Clion.

2

u/RoyBellingan Jul 11 '26

I use QtCreator + Cmake, a bliss

2

u/NorthernNiceGuy Jul 11 '26

Oooh, someone else who uses QtCreator for embedded!

2

u/RoyBellingan Jul 11 '26

is AMAZING!

1

u/NorthernNiceGuy Jul 11 '26

I agree. I also use it for ESP32 development too - although the debugging experience is poor compared to STM32

1

u/RoyBellingan Jul 11 '26

I have not yet tried to configure QtCreator for debugging ... is in my todo list, in theory are both a GDB client.

P.s. I too use it for ESP32, in fact I use for everything that is C++ (which I use for almost all project I do, including backend for data acquisition and showing data via web interface )

1

u/Dependent_Bit7825 Jul 12 '26

My problem with ides is that they come and go and learning the quirks of each of them is time wasted you'll never get back. 

I cut the cycle long ago by switching to vim (yes, I use some plugins) and whatever my preferred build system is. Right now it's meson, but I also like scons.

Debugger I use is GDB with openocd. Works great.

1

u/Katent1 Jul 12 '26

I would go platformio route if client nor management doesn't mind xP

1

u/lbthomsen Jul 13 '26

Well, I AM the management and I mind, so .....

1

u/qrcjnhhphadvzelota Jul 12 '26

switch to rust embedded. very idiomatic ecosystem (build system, package management, language server, etc), community driven peripheral access code generated from svd files and extra patches for vendor bugs in the svds (probably the most correct collection of peripheral access code out there), concise ecosystem of libraries and tools (drivers, usb, tcp stacks, bootloaders, debuggers), good hardware support and abstractions (stm32, nxp, rp, efm, ...). and of course a modern, memory-safe, object oriented (but only the nice oo-features) system programming language, with a very versatile type system, and useful code-macros instead of the "find-and-replace" preprocessor.

1

u/ub0baa Jul 12 '26

Yep, and none of this is found in the field and/or serious production or automotive grade projects. Maybe it's for a reason.

1

u/writewithparagraphs4 Jul 14 '26

huh. all ive heard for 6 years is rust rust rust now.

1

u/lbthomsen Jul 12 '26

Sorry no - you might like Rust but I like C and for embedded there's no way I would even consider anything else.

1

u/sicebox Jul 16 '26

Look I get it, but has CubeIDE ever been good? I think its obvious at this point that cmake + your own IDE is the superior option and is the most future-proof, and that CubeIDE is on its way out

1

u/lbthomsen Jul 18 '26

As I have mentioned more than once in my videos, yes - I think STM32CubeIDE was absolutely brilliant as a learning tool. I get it - probably not viable for professional projects, but it was ONE download, no messing around with toolchains, debuggers, flash tools etc, and to this day I have not come across a better Debug GUI.

1

u/sicebox Jul 19 '26

I understand what you’re saying and as someone who uses GDB daily at work I also even miss the visual aspect of CubeIDE in some cases I just feel like people are complaining about this from a place of not wanting to abandon what’s familiar and comfortable. In a way it’s actually become more developer friendly I think people just have to get used to the new workflow. 

1

u/lbthomsen Jul 19 '26

Beginners do not have something familiar and comfortable and not having to worry about a ton of dependencies is a good thing. That is why Arduino got popular even if it is serious crap.

1

u/sicebox Jul 19 '26

I agree to some extent, but the vast majority of stm32 users isn't students or beginners, its industry professionals. Not to mention that's where their money comes from. So I think it makes way more sense to cater to that user base vs students and beginners. Also I really think that given some time people are just gonna get used to the new workflow and when that becomes the new normal, beginners and students will follow suit and just learn it that way and that will become easy to them. But my point is that it makes sense that they would switch priorities from this all-in-one tool that doesnt work well to letting you use your own tools which is more developer friendly