CMake for ARM Microcontrollers

Most engineers have heard of CMake and many senior engineers know how to use it to ship real ARM firmware across different products without an IDE.

The pros do not copy projects for each board. They run one pipeline that builds the right artifact for each product/SKU, every time, with zero drama. That is the gap this course closes for you.

Why CMake matters in the real world

In professional teams CMake is not a cute build script. It is the control plane. It turns your firmware into a portable, repeatable, team-scale pipeline that can target multiple ARM microcontrollers and multiple products from one codebase.

Think about how product companies you know and respect operate. The Apples, Samsungs, Amazons, Teslas, and Googles of the world do not rebuild by hand for each product.

They rely on reproducible pipelines.

That mindset is what you are learning here, applied to bare-metal ARM.

CMake vs. Makefiles

CMake is a meta-build system: you describe targets, sources, toolchains, and options once, and CMake generates the native build files for each machine, Makefiles for the Make backend, build.ninja for Ninja, or project files for others.

Make is a build executor: it reads a hand-written Makefile and runs the commands exactly as scripted, meaning you maintain every flag, path, and dependency yourself. In professional workflows, CMake owns configuration, portability, and reproducibility (toolchain files, presets, per-product overlays) while the chosen backend (Make or Ninja) does the compiling. Practically: you won’t write Makefiles here , CMake generates them (or Ninja files) so you can focus on a single, portable pipeline that builds for different ARM microcontrollers and products.

What you will be able to do

• Take a clean C codebase and build it for different ARM microcontrollers and different products using CMake targets and overlays
• Integrate chip-manufacturere startup files and linker scripts correctly, with no HAL and no IDE used
• Validate memory layout and symbol placement using the linker map before anything ships
• Produce reproducible outputs on any teammate’s machine: ELF, HEX, BIN, MAP, DISASM, size reports
• Flash and verify in a single command from the terminal
• Turn on safe optimizations and LTO and prove the gains with size and disassembly

What this course is

A practical, production-grade path to shipping ARM firmware with CMake.

You will learn the exact patterns that let you support multiple ARM microcontrollers and multiple products from one codebase while staying CMSIS-only. Every module is tied to proof: a built artifact set you can inspect, and a device you can flash.

What this course is not

Not an IDE configuration class. No IDE used. You will work from a text editor and the command line.

Not a HAL course. We use CMSIS device headers with vendor startup and linker integration.

Not a theory dump. Every concept lands immediately in a lab and a real artifact you can ship.

How it works

• You start by implementing a clean, vendor-integrated CMake project that already knows how to build for different ARM microcontrollers.
• You learn targets, properties, presets, and overlays the way they are used in serious teams.
• You plug in vendor(chip-manufacterer) startup and linker scripts the right way, then confirm the call chain and memory layout using the map and disassembly.
• You add one-command flashing so your build and test loop is fast.
• You finish with a repeatable, professional structure that senior engineers expect.

What you will build and validate

• CMake projects that can target different ARM microcontrollers across different products without forking your application code
• Overlays that swap startup, linker, CPU and FPU flags, and include roots based on the selected product
• A release artifact set per build that is consistent and auditable
• A release artifact set per build that is consistent and auditable
• One-command flashing and verify from the terminal

Why senior engineers value this

Anyone can write a driver in an IDE.

Senior engineers deliver reproducibility, portability, and a pipeline others can trust.

That is what this course gives you. It is one of the core skills that separates juniors from seniors: the ability to create a build system that works the same way for every product and every teammate, every time.

Who this is for

• Firmware engineers who want to ship professional ARM firmware from a text editor and terminal
• Teams moving from vendor IDEs to a clean, repeatable pipeline
• Self-starters who want the exact patterns that top teams use to scale products across microcontrollers

This isn’tjust a theory course.

It’s the professional bootcamp for engineers who are done being “just firmware people.”

Enroll now

If you have heard about CMake and never used it to ship real ARM firmware, this is where you become competent.

Build reproducible outputs, integrate vendor startup and linker scripts correctly, validate with linker maps, and flash in one command. No IDE used.

Start today and build the way professional teams build.