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The CMSIS-Pack format is used to deliver a Software Pack and is aimed to be scalable for future requirements. It provides a management process and supports a tool independent distribution for:

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Device Support for tool chains and software applications to target a specific device:
- Information about the processor and it's features.
- C and assembly files for the device startup and access to the memory mapped peripheral registers.
- Parameters, technical information, and data sheets about the device family and the specific devices.
- Device description and available peripherals.
- Memory layout of internal and external RAM and ROM address ranges.
- Flash algorithms for programming the device.
- Debug and trace configurations as well as System View Description files for device specific display of the memory mapped peripheral registers.
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Board Support for rapid development in the prototyping stage:
- Information about the development board and it's features.
- Parameters, technical information, and data sheets about the board, the mounted microcontroller and peripheral devices.
- Drivers for on-board peripheral devices
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Software Components simplify the re-use of software and the management of 3rd party software. They contain:
- A collection of source modules, header and configuration files as well as libraries.
- Documentation of the software, including features and APIs.
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Application Programming Interfaces specify one or more APIs for software components that are part of another Software Pack.
Example Projects can be used as a reference and starting point for similar applications. They contain:
- Fully defined application projects that work out of the box in the specified build and debug environments.
- Documentation about the purpose of the example, how to build, configure and execute the application.
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User Code Templates help to understand the basic concepts of a software component better and to give the user a good starting point for implementing his application.

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+Pack Conventions

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A Software Pack is a collection of files located in directories that are archived in a file with the extension *.pack using the standard ZIP file format. The Pack Description file (PDSC) with the file extension *.pdsc contains the meta information, describing the content of a pack based on XML. The PDSC file must be:

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included in the Software Pack
located in the base folder of the archive
compliant with the Software Pack file naming convention

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Note

The base folder is defined to be the root folder './' of a zip archive and it is imperative that the whole Software Pack only contains a single PDSC file.
Future tools shall support this case: if the PDSC file is located in an immediate subdirectory, then the subdirectory becomes the base folder. The Software Pack is installed as if the subdirectory does not exist. All files and directories located in the root folder are ignored and do not get installed.

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+Pack File Name

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A Software Pack must have a unique filename. Therefore it is constructed from vendor, packname and version and the file extension *.pack.

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<vendor>.<name>.<version>.pack.

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Where:

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<vendor> is the name of the supplier or vendor of the Software Pack.
<name> is the name of the Software Pack. All packs that are published by a vendor must have a unique packname.
<release version="X.Y.Z">specifies the version number of the release for the Software Pack.
.pack is the file extension identifying a Software Pack.

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Note

The XML elements <vendor>, <name>, and the version attribute of the <release> are specified in the PDSC file. PDSC, Pack filenames are case sensitive and need to match exactly.
<vendor> and <name> must not contain spaces.
The PDSC file needs to reside in the base folder of the Pack. All file references are relative to the location of the PDSC file.

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+Software Component Cclasses

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If you add a software component in the PDSC file, you have to specify a component class (CClass), component group (Cgroup), and the component's version number (Cversion). For more information refer to Software Components.

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If applicable, try to map the Cclass of your software component to one of the following predefined or already well established classes:

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Board Support: Generic interfaces for evaluation and development boards
CMSIS: Cortex Microcontroller Software Interface Standard components
CMSIS Driver: Unified device drivers compliant to the CMSIS-Driver specification
Compiler: Arm Compiler software extensions
Data Exchange: Software components for data exchange
Device: Startup and system setup components
File System*: File drive support and file system
Graphics*: Graphical libraries for user interfaces
Network*: Network stack using Internet protocols
RTOS*: Real-time operating systems
Safety: Components for testing application software against safety standards
Security*: Encryption for secure communication or storage
USB*: Universal Serial Bus stack
Wireless*: Communication stacks such as Bluetooth, WiFi, and ZigBee

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Classes with a * should always be used together with a bundle to avoid conflicts with other software components.

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If you wish to standardize a new Cclass, please send an inquiry to cmsis.nosp@m.@arm.nosp@m..com or raise an issue on the public CMSIS GitHub development repository.

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+Steps to Create a Pack

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The following image shows the basic steps that are required to create a Software Pack:

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Produce input: Create the files that will be delivered with the Pack.
Organize files: Use directories to separate the content of the Pack.
Create PDSC file: The XML based PDSC file can be created using any text editor. Editors that can validate XML code against a schema file help to find bugs early in the Pack development stage.
Generate Pack: Any compression tool supporting the ZIP format can be used to create a Pack file. packChk.exe is helpful for the validation of the contents of a Pack.

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The following pages will show how to create a Software Pack from scratch. The page Pack with Software Components will start with a simple Pack containing only the PDSC file and a single software component and will then explain further elements of a Pack in more detail. The page Pack with Device Support adds information on the additional requirements that a DFP has, while Pack with Board Support will elaborate on the content specific to a BSP.

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+Pack Tutorial

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The ARM::CMSIS Pack contains tutorials that are explained on the following pages. In the \CMSIS\Pack\Tutorials directory the following three ZIP files are available:

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ZIP File	Documentation
Pack_with_Software_Components.zip	Pack with Software Components
Pack_with_Device_Support.zip	Pack with Device Support
Pack_with_Board_Support.zip	Pack with Board Support

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