pyblhost

Developed by Kristian Sloth Lauszus, 2020-2025

The code is released under the GNU General Public License v3.0.

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This is a Python implementation of blhost used to communicate with the NXP MCUBOOT/KBOOT bootloader.

For now it only implements a subset of the blhost commands.

Currently serial and CAN-Bus interfaces are supported.

Installation

pip install pyblhost

Usage

Python

See the examples directory for Python examples.

CLI

A handy CLI tool is included.

I recommend using uvx to run the CLI tool:

uvx pyblhost --help

Or you can install it in your path:

uv tool install pyblhost
pyblhost --help

Usage

usage: pyblhost [-tx TX_ID] [-rx RX_ID] [-e EXTENDED_ID] [-i INTERFACE]
                [-l CHANNEL] [-p PORT] [-h] [--version] [-B BINARY]
                [-s START_ADDRESS] [-c BYTE_COUNT] [-t TIMEOUT]
                [-r CMD_REPEAT] [-b BAUDRATE] [--prop PROP] [--no-reset] [-v]
                [--assume-success]
                {can,serial} {upload,read,ping,reset,get_property}

positional arguments:
  {can,serial}          Communicate with the target via either CAN or serial
  {upload,read,ping,reset,get_property}
                        upload: write BINARY to START_ADDRESS. Before writing it will erase the memory from START_ADDRESS to START_ADDRESS + BYTE_COUNT
                        read: read memory from START_ADDRESS to START_ADDRESS + BYTE_COUNT. the read data will be stored in BINARY
                        ping: send a ping command to the target and check for a response
                        reset: send a reset command to the target and check for a response
                        get_property: get a property from the target

required CAN arguments:
  -tx TX_ID, --tx-id TX_ID
                        The TX ID to use for CAN
  -rx RX_ID, --rx-id RX_ID
                        The RX ID to use for CAN

optional CAN arguments:
  -e EXTENDED_ID, --extended-id EXTENDED_ID
                        CAN ID is an extended ID
  -i INTERFACE, --interface INTERFACE
                        The CAN-Bus interface to use (default "socketcan")
  -l CHANNEL, --channel CHANNEL
                        The CAN-Bus channel to use (default "can0")

required serial arguments:
  -p PORT, --port PORT  The port to use for serial

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            Show this help message and exit
  --version             Show program's version number and exit
  -B BINARY, --binary BINARY
                        The binary to upload or write memory into
  -s START_ADDRESS, --start-address START_ADDRESS
                        The address to upload the binary at or read memory from
  -c BYTE_COUNT, --byte-count BYTE_COUNT
                        The number of bytes to erase/read
  -t TIMEOUT, --timeout TIMEOUT
                        The time to wait in seconds for a response (default 1.0)
  -r CMD_REPEAT, --cmd-repeat CMD_REPEAT
                        The number of times to try to establish a connection (default 3)
  -b BAUDRATE, --baudrate BAUDRATE, --bitrate BAUDRATE
                        The baudrate/bitrate to use for serial/can (default 500000)
  --prop PROP, --property PROP
                        The property tag to get
  --no-reset            Do not reset the target after upload
  -v, --verbose         Increase output verbosity
  --assume-success      Assume success if uploading fails

Upload

uvx pyblhost can upload -tx 0x123 -rx 0x321 -B blink.bin -s 0x4C000 -c 0x34000

uvx pyblhost serial upload -p /dev/ttyUSB0 -b 500000 -B blink.bin -s 0x4C000 -c 0x34000

Read

uvx pyblhost can read -tx 0x123 -rx 0x321 -B memory.bin -s 0xC000 -c 0x34000

uvx pyblhost serial read -p /dev/ttyUSB0 -b 500000 -B memory.bin -s 0xC000 -c 0x34000

Ping

uvx pyblhost can ping -tx 0x123 -rx 0x321

uvx pyblhost serial ping -p /dev/ttyUSB0 -b 500000

Reset

uvx pyblhost can reset -tx 0x123 -rx 0x321

uvx pyblhost serial reset -p /dev/ttyUSB0 -b 500000