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 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. :code: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 :code:board.py file or using the :code:echo command, e.g.

::

echo 'name="myboard"' > /pyboard/board.py

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