LibrariesinsideFreeRTOS plus FAT

Updated Apr 2025

FreeRTOS-Plus-FAT Configuration

The FreeRTOSFATConfig.h header file

Applications that use FreeRTOS-Plus-FAT must provide a FreeRTOSFATConfig.h header file - in which the parameters described on this page can be defined:

ffconfigBYTE_ORDER

Must be set to either pdFREERTOS_LITTLE_ENDIAN or pdFREERTOS_BIG_ENDIAN, depending on the endian of the architecture on which FreeRTOS is running.

ffconfigHAS_CWD

Set to 1 to maintain a current working directory (CWD) for each task that accesses the file system, allowing relative paths to be used.

Set to 0 not to use a CWD, in which case full paths must be used for each file access.

ffconfigCWD_THREAD_LOCAL_INDEX

Set to an index within FreeRTOS's thread local storage array that is free for use by FreeRTOS-Plus-FAT. FreeRTOS-Plus-FAT will use two consecutive indexes from this that set by ffconfigCWD_THREAD_LOCAL_INDEX. The number of thread local storage pointers provided by FreeRTOS is set by configNUM_THREAD_LOCAL_STORAGE_POINTERS in FreeRTOSConfig.h.

ffconfigLFN_SUPPORT

Set to 1 to include long file name support. Set to 0 to exclude long file name support.

If long file name support is excluded then only 8.3 file names can be used. Long file names will be recognised, but ignored.

Users should familiarise themselves with any patent issues that may potentially exist around the use of long file names in FAT file systems before enabling long file name support.

ffconfigINCLUDE_SHORT_NAME

Only used when ffconfigLFN_SUPPORT is set to 1.

Set to 1 to include a file's short name when listing a directory, i.e. when calling findfirst()/findnext(). The short name will be stored in the 'pcShortName' field of FF_DIRENT.

Set to 0 to only include a file's long name.

ffconfigSHORTNAME_CASE

Set to 1 to recognise and apply the case bits used by Windows XP+ when using short file names - storing file names such as "readme.TXT" or "SETUP.exe" in a short-name entry. This is the recommended setting for maximum compatibility.

Set to 0 to ignore the case bits.

ffconfigUNICODE_UTF16_SUPPORT

Only used when ffconfigLFN_SUPPORT is set to 1.

Set to 1 to use UTF-16 (wide-characters) for file and directory names.

Set to 0 to use either 8-bit ASCII or UTF-8 for file and directory names (see the ffconfigUNICODE_UTF8_SUPPORT).

ffconfigUNICODE_UTF8_SUPPORT

Only used when ffconfigLFN_SUPPORT is set to 1.

Set to 1 to use UTF-8 encoding for file and directory names.

Set to 0 to use either 8-bit ASCII or UTF-16 for file and directory names (see the ffconfig_UTF_16_SUPPORT setting).

ffconfigFAT12_SUPPORT

Set to 1 to include FAT12 support.

Set to 0 to exclude FAT12 support.

FAT16 and FAT32 are always enabled.

ffconfigOPTIMISE_UNALIGNED_ACCESS

When writing and reading data, i/o becomes less efficient if sizes other than 512 bytes are being used. When set to 1 each file handle will allocate a 512-byte character buffer to facilitate "unaligned access".

ffconfigCACHE_WRITE_THROUGH

Input and output to a disk uses buffers that are only flushed at the following times:

  • When a new buffer is needed and no other buffers are available.
  • When opening a buffer in READ mode for a sector that has just been changed.
  • After creating, removing or closing a file or a directory.

Normally this is quick enough and it is efficient. If ffconfigCACHE_WRITE_THROUGH is set to 1 then buffers will also be flushed each time a buffer is released - which is less efficient but more secure.

ffconfigWRITE_BOTH_FATS

In most cases, the FAT table has two identical copies on the disk, allowing the second copy to be used in the case of a read error. If

Set to 1 to use both FATs - this is less efficient but more secure.

Set to 0 to use only one FAT - the second FAT will never be written to.

ffconfigWRITE_FREE_COUNT

Set to 1 to have the number of free clusters and the first free cluster to be written to the FS info sector each time one of those values changes.

Set to 0 not to store these values in the FS info sector, making booting slower, but making changes faster.

ffconfigTIME_SUPPORT

Set to 1 to maintain file and directory time stamps for creation, modify and last access.

Set to 0 to exclude time stamps.

If time support is used, the following function must be supplied:

1time_t FreeRTOS_time( time_t *pxTime );
2

FreeRTOS_time has the same semantics as the standard time() function.

ffconfigREMOVABLE_MEDIA

Set to 1 if the media is removable (such as a memory card).

Set to 0 if the media is not removable.

When set to 1 all file handles will be "invalidated" if the media is extracted. If set to 0 then file handles will not be invalidated. In that case the user will have to confirm that the media is still present before every access.

ffconfigMOUNT_FIND_FREE

Set to 1 to determine the disk's free space and the disk's first free cluster when a disk is mounted.

Set to 0 to find these two values when they are first needed. Determining the values can take some time.

ffconfigFSINFO_TRUSTED

Set to 1 to 'trust' the contents of the 'ulLastFreeCluster' and ulFreeClusterCount fields.

Set to 0 not to 'trust' these fields.

ffconfigPATH_CACHE

Set to 1 to store recent paths in a cache, enabling much faster access when the path is deep within a directory structure at the expense of additional RAM usage.

Set to 0 to not use a path cache.

ffconfigPATH_CACHE_DEPTH

Only used if ffconfigPATH_CACHE is 1.

Sets the maximum number of paths that can exist in the patch cache at any one time.

ffconfigHASH_CACHE

Set to 1 to calculate a HASH value for each existing short file name. Use of HASH values can improve performance when working with large directories, or with files that have a similar name.

Set to 0 not to calculate a HASH value.

ffconfigHASH_FUNCTION

Only used if ffconfigHASH_CACHE is set to 1

Set to CRC8 or CRC16 to use 8-bit or 16-bit HASH values respectively.

ffconfigMKDIR_RECURSIVE

Set to 1 to add a parameter to ff_mkdir() that allows an entire directory tree to be created in one go, rather than having to create one directory in the tree at a time. For example mkdir( "/etc/settings/network", pdTRUE );.

Set to 0 to use the normal mkdir() semantics (without the additional parameter).

ffconfigBLKDEV_USES_SEM

Set to 1 for each call to fnReadBlocks and fnWriteBlocks to be performed with a semphore lock.

Set to 0 for each call to fnReadBlocks and fnWriteBlocks not to use an additional semaphore.

ffconfigMALLOC

Set to a function that will be used for all dynamic memory allocations. Setting to pvPortMalloc() will use the same memory allocator as FreeRTOS. For example:

1#define ffconfigMALLOC( size ) pvPortMalloc( size )

ffconfigFREE

Set to a function that matches the above allocator defined with ffconfigMALLOC. Setting to vPortFree() will use the same memory free function as FreeRTOS. For example:

1#define ffconfigFREE( ptr ) vPortFree( ptr )

ffconfig64_NUM_SUPPORT

Set to 1 to calculate the free size and volume size as a 64-bit number.

Set to 0 to calculate these values as a 32-bit number.

ffconfigMAX_PARTITIONS

Defines the maximum number of partitions (and also logical partitions) that can be recognised.

ffconfigMAX_FILE_SYS

Defines how many drives can be combined in total. Should be set to at least 2.

ffconfigDRIVER_BUSY_SLEEP_MS

In case the low-level driver returns an error 'FF_ERR_DRIVER_BUSY', the library will pause for a number of ms, defined in ffconfigDRIVER_BUSY_SLEEP_MS before re-trying.

ffconfigFPRINTF_SUPPORT

Set to 1 to include the ff_fprintf() function in the build.

Set to 0 to exclude the ff_fprintf() function from the build.

ff_fprintf() is quite a heavy function because it allocates RAM and brings in a lot of string and variable argument handling code. If ff_fprintf() is not being used then the code size can be reduced by setting ffconfigFPRINTF_SUPPORT to 0.

ffconfigFPRINTF_BUFFER_LENGTH

ff_fprintf() will allocate a buffer of this size in which it will create its formatted string. The buffer will be freed before the function exits.

ffconfigINLINE_MEMORY_ACCESS

Set to 1 to inline some internal memory access functions.

Set to 0 not to use inline memory access functions.

ffconfigFAT_CHECK

Officially the only criteria to determine the FAT type (12, 16, or 32 bits) is the total number of clusters:

  • if( ulNumberOfClusters < 4085 ) : Volume is FAT12

  • if( ulNumberOfClusters < 65525 ) : Volume is FAT16

  • if( ulNumberOfClusters >= 65525 ) : Volume is FAT32

Not every formatted device follows the above rule.

Set to 1 to perform additional checks over and above inspecting the number of clusters on a disk to determine the FAT type.

Set to 0 to only look at the number of clusters on a disk to determine the FAT type.

ffconfigMAX_FILENAME

Sets the maximum length for file names, including the path. Note that the value of this define is directly related to the maximum stack use of the +FAT library. In some API's, a character buffer of size 'ffconfigMAX_FILENAME' will be declared on stack.