Ubuntu Manpage: avrdude — driver program for ``simple'' Atmel AVR MCU programmer

NAME

     avrdude — driver program for ``simple'' Atmel AVR MCU programmer

SYNOPSIS

     avrdude -p partno [-b baudrate] [-B bitclock] [-c programmer-id] [-C config-file] [-A] [-D]
             [-e] [-E exitspec[,exitspec]] [-F] [-i delay] [-l logfile] [-n] [-O] [-P port] [-q]
             [-t] [-U memtype:op:filename:filefmt] [-v] [-x extended_param] [-V]

DESCRIPTION

Avrdude is a program for downloading code and data to Atmel AVR microcontrollers. Avrdude
supports Atmel's STK500 programmer, Atmel's AVRISP and AVRISP mkII devices, Atmel's STK600,
Atmel's JTAG ICE (mkI, mkII and 3, the latter two also in ISP mode), programmers complying
to AppNote AVR910 and AVR109 (including the Butterfly), as well as a simple hard-wired
programmer connected directly to a ppi(4) or parport(4) parallel port, or to a standard
serial port. In the simplest case, the hardware consists just of a cable connecting the
respective AVR signal lines to the parallel port.

The MCU is programmed in serial programming mode, so, for the ppi(4) based programmer, the
MCU signals ‘/RESET’, ‘SCK’, ‘SDI’ and ‘SDO’ of the AVR's SPI interface need to be connected
to the parallel port; older boards might use the labels MOSI for SDO or MISO for SDI.
Optionally, some otherwise unused output pins of the parallel port can be used to supply
power for the MCU part, so it is also possible to construct a passive stand-alone
programming device. Some status LEDs indicating the current operating state of the
programmer can be connected, and a signal is available to control a buffer/driver IC 74LS367
(or 74HCT367). The latter can be useful to decouple the parallel port from the MCU when in-
system programming is used.

A number of equally simple bit-bang programming adapters that connect to a serial port are
supported as well, among them the popular Ponyprog serial adapter, and the DASA and DASA3
adapters that used to be supported by uisp(1). Note that these adapters are meant to be
attached to a physical serial port. Connecting to a serial port emulated on top of USB is
likely to not work at all, or to work abysmally slow.

If you happen to have a Linux system with at least 4 hardware GPIOs available (like almost
all embedded Linux boards) you can do without any additional hardware - just connect them to
the SDO, SDI, RESET and SCK pins on the AVR and use the linuxgpio programmer type. It
bitbangs the lines using the Linux sysfs GPIO interface. Of course, care should be taken
about voltage level compatibility. Also, although not strictly required, it is strongly
advisable to protect the GPIO pins from overcurrent situations in some way. The simplest
would be to just put some resistors in series or better yet use a 3-state buffer driver like
the 74HC244. Have a look at http://kolev.info/blog/2013/01/06/avrdude-linuxgpio/ for a more
detailed tutorial about using this programmer type.

Under a Linux installation with direct access to the SPI bus and GPIO pins, such as would be
found on a Raspberry Pi, the ``linuxspi'' programmer type can be used to directly connect to
and program a chip using the built in interfaces on the computer. The requirements to use
this type are that an SPI interface is exposed along with one GPIO pin. The GPIO serves as
the reset output since the Linux SPI drivers do not hold chip select down when a transfer is
not occurring and thus it cannot be used as the reset pin. A readily available level
translator should be used between the SPI bus/reset GPIO and the chip to avoid potentially
damaging the computer's SPI controller in the event that the chip is running at 5V and the
SPI runs at 3.3V. The GPIO chosen for reset can be configured in the avrdude configuration
file using the reset entry under the linuxspi programmer, or directly in the port
specification. An external pull-up resistor should be connected between the AVR's reset pin
and Vcc. If Vcc is not the same as the SPI voltage, this should be done on the AVR side of
the level translator to protect the hardware from damage.

The -P portname option for this programmer defaults to /dev/spidev0.0:/dev/gpiochip0.

Atmel's STK500 programmer is also supported and connects to a serial port. Both, firmware
versions 1.x and 2.x can be handled, but require a different programmer type specification
(by now). Using firmware version 2, high-voltage programming is also supported, both
parallel and serial (programmer types stk500pp and stk500hvsp).

Wiring boards (e.g. Arduino Mega 2560 Rev3) are supported, utilizing STK500 V2.x protocol,
but a simple DTR/RTS toggle is used to set the boards into programming mode. The programmer
type is ``wiring''. Note that the -D option will likely be required in this case, because
the bootloader will rewrite the program memory, but no true chip erase can be performed.

Serial bootloaders that run a skeleton of the STK500 1.x protocol are supported via their
own programmer type ``arduino''. This programmer works for the Arduino Uno Rev3 or any AVR
that runs the Optiboot bootloader.

Urprotocol is a leaner version of the STK500 1.x protocol that is designed to be backwards
compatible with STK500 v1.x, and allows bootloaders to be much smaller, e.g., as implemented
in the urboot project https://github.com/stefanrueger/urboot. The programmer type
``urclock'' caters for these urboot programmers. Owing to its backward compatibility,
bootloaders that can be served by the arduino programmer can normally also be served by the
urclock programmer. This may require specifying the size of (to avrdude) unknown bootloaders
in bytes using the -x bootsize=<n> option, which is necessary for the urclock programmer to
enable it to protect the bootloader from being overwritten. If an unknown bootloader has
EEPROM read/write capability then the option -x eepromrw informs avrdude -c urclock of that
capability.

The BusPirate is a versatile tool that can also be used as an AVR programmer. A single
BusPirate can be connected to up to 3 independent AVRs. See the section on extended
parameters below for details.

Atmel's STK600 programmer is supported in ISP and high-voltage programming modes, and
connects through the USB. For ATxmega devices, the STK600 is supported in PDI mode. For
ATtiny4/5/9/10 devices, the STK600 and AVRISP mkII are supported in TPI mode.

The simple serial programmer described in Atmel's application note AVR910, and the
bootloader described in Atmel's application note AVR109 (which is also used by the AVR
Butterfly evaluation board), are supported on a serial port.

Atmel's JTAG ICE (mkI, mkII, and 3) is supported as well to up- or download memory areas
from/to an AVR target (no support for on-chip debugging). For the JTAG ICE mkII, JTAG,
debugWire and ISP mode are supported, provided it has a firmware revision of at least 4.14
(decimal). JTAGICE3 also supports all of JTAG, debugWIRE, and ISP mode. See below for the
limitations of debugWire. For ATxmega devices, the JTAG ICE mkII is supported in PDI mode,
provided it has a revision 1 hardware and firmware version of at least 5.37 (decimal). For
ATxmega devices, the JTAGICE3 is supported in PDI mode.

Atmel-ICE (ARM/AVR) is supported in all modes (JTAG, PDI for Xmega, debugWIRE, ISP, UPDI).

Atmel's XplainedPro boards, using the EDBG protocol (CMSIS-DAP compatible), are supported
using the "jtag3" programmer type.

Atmel's XplainedMini boards, using the mEDBG protocol, are also supported using the "jtag3"
programmer type.

The AVR Dragon is supported in all modes (ISP, JTAG, HVSP, PP, debugWire). When used in
JTAG and debugWire mode, the AVR Dragon behaves similar to a JTAG ICE mkII, so all device-
specific comments for that device will apply as well. When used in ISP mode, the AVR Dragon
behaves similar to an AVRISP mkII (or JTAG ICE mkII in ISP mode), so all device-specific
comments will apply there. In particular, the Dragon starts out with a rather fast ISP
clock frequency, so the -B bitclock option might be required to achieve a stable ISP
communication. For ATxmega devices, the AVR Dragon is supported in PDI mode, provided it
has a firmware version of at least 6.11 (decimal).

The avrftdi, USBasp ISP and USBtinyISP adapters are also supported, provided avrdude has
been compiled with libusb support. USBasp ISP and USBtinyISP both feature simple firmware-
only USB implementations, running on an ATmega8 (or ATmega88), or ATtiny2313, respectively.
If libftdi has has been compiled in avrdude, the avrftdi device adds support for many
programmers using FTDI's 2232C/D/H and 4232H parts running in MPSSE mode, which hard-codes
(in the chip) SCK to bit 1, SDO to bit 2, and SDI to bit 3. Reset is usually bit 4.

The Atmel DFU bootloader is supported in both, FLIP protocol version 1 (AT90USB* and
ATmega*U* devices), as well as version 2 (Xmega devices). See below for some hints about
FLIP version 1 protocol behaviour.

The MPLAB(R) PICkit 4 and MPLAB(R) SNAP, are supported in JTAG, TPI, ISP, PDI and UPDI mode.
The Curiosity Nano board is supported in UPDI mode. It is dubbed “PICkit on Board”, thus the
name pkobn_updi.

SerialUPDI programmer implementation is based on Microchip's pymcuprog
https://github.com/microchip-pic-avr-tools/pymcuprog utility, but it also contains some
performance improvements included in Spence Konde's DxCore Arduino core
https://github.com/SpenceKonde/DxCore. In a nutshell, this programmer consists of simple
USB->UART adapter, diode and couple of resistors. It uses serial connection to provide UPDI
interface. See the texinfo documentation for more details and known issues.

The jtag2updi programmer is supported, and can program AVRs with a UPDI interface.
Jtag2updi is just a firmware that can be uploaded to an AVR, which enables it to interface
with avrdude using the jtagice mkii protocol via a serial link.
https://github.com/ElTangas/jtag2updi

The Micronucleus bootloader is supported for both protocol version V1 and V2. As the
bootloader does not support reading from flash memory, use the -V option to prevent AVRDUDE
from verifying the flash memory. See the section on extended parameters for Micronucleus
specific options.

The Teensy bootloader is supported for all AVR boards. As the bootloader does not support
reading from flash memory, use the -V option to prevent AVRDUDE from verifying the flash
memory. See the section on extended parameters for Teensy specific options.

Input files can be provided, and output files can be written in different file formats, such
as raw binary files containing the data to download to the chip, Intel hex format, or
Motorola S-record format. There are a number of tools available to produce those files,
like asl(1) as a standalone assembler, or avr-objcopy(1) for the final stage of the GNU
toolchain for the AVR microcontroller.

Provided libelf(3) was present when compiling avrdude, the input file can also be the final
ELF file as produced by the linker. The appropriate ELF section(s) will be examined,
according to the memory area to write to.

Avrdude can program the EEPROM and flash ROM memory cells of supported AVR parts. Where
supported by the serial instruction set, fuse bits and lock bits can be programmed as well.
These are implemented within avrdude as separate memory types and can be programmed using
data from a file (see the -U option) or from terminal mode (see the dump and write
commands). It is also possible to read the chip (provided it has not been code-protected
previously, of course) and store the data in a file. Finally, a ``terminal'' mode is
available that allows one to interactively communicate with the MCU, and to display or
program individual memory cells. On the STK500 and STK600 programmer, several operational
parameters (target supply voltage, target Aref voltage, programming clock) can be examined
and changed from within terminal mode as well.

Options
In order to control all the different operation modi, a number of options need to be
specified to avrdude.

-p partno
This option specifies the MCU connected to the programmer. The MCU
descriptions are read from the config file. For currently supported MCUs use ?
as partno, which will print a list of partno ids and official part names.
Both can be used with the -p option. If -p ? is specified with a specific
programmer, see -c below, then only those parts are output that the programmer
expects to be able to handle, together with the programming interface(s) that
can be used in that combination. In reality there can be deviations from this
list, particularly if programming is directly via a bootloader.

Following parts need special attention:

AT90S1200 The ISP programming protocol of the AT90S1200 differs in subtle
ways from that of other AVRs. Thus, not all programmers support
this device. Known to work are all direct bitbang programmers,
and all programmers talking the STK500v2 protocol.

AT90S2343 The AT90S2323 and ATtiny22 use the same algorithm.

ATmega2560, ATmega2561
Flash addressing above 128 KB is not supported by all programming
hardware. Known to work are jtag2, stk500v2, and bit-bang
programmers.

ATtiny11 The ATtiny11 can only be programmed in high-voltage serial mode.

-p wildcard/flags
Run developer options for MCUs that are matched by wildcard. Whilst their main
use is for developers some flags can be of utility for users, e.g., avrdude -p
m328p/S outputs AVRDUDE's understanding of ATmega328P MCU properties; for more
information run avrdude -p x/h.

-b baudrate
Override the RS-232 connection baud rate specified in the respective
programmer's entry of the configuration file.

-B bitclock
Specify the bit clock period for the JTAG, PDI, TPI, UPDI, or ISP interface.
The value is a floating-point number in microseconds. Alternatively, the
value might be suffixed with "Hz", "kHz" or "MHz" in order to specify the bit
clock frequency rather than a period. Some programmers default their bit clock
value to a 1 microsecond bit clock period, suitable for target MCUs running at
4 MHz clock and above. Slower MCUs need a correspondingly higher bit clock
period. Some programmers reset their bit clock value to the default value when
the programming software signs off, whilst others store the last used bit
clock value. It is recommended to always specify the bit clock if read/write
speed is important. You can use the 'default_bitclock' keyword in your
${HOME}/.config/avrdude/avrdude.rc or ${HOME}/.avrduderc file to assign a
default value to keep from having to specify this option on every invocation.

-c programmer-id
Use the programmer specified by the argument. Programmers and their pin
configurations are read from the config file (see the -C option). New pin
configurations can be easily added or modified through the use of a config
file to make avrdude work with different programmers as long as the programmer
supports the Atmel AVR serial program method. You can use the
'default_programmer' keyword in your ${HOME}/.config/avrdude/avrdude.rc or
${HOME}/.avrduderc file to assign a default programmer to keep from having to
specify this option on every invocation. A full list of all supported
programmers is output to the terminal by using ? as programmer-id. If -c ? is
specified with a specific part, see -p above, then only those programmers are
output that expect to be able to handle this part, together with the
programming interface(s) that can be used in that combination. In reality
there can be deviations from this list, particularly if programming is
directly via a bootloader.

-c wildcard/flags
Run developer options for programmers that are matched by wildcard. Whilst
their main use is for developers some flags can be of utility for users, e.g.,
avrdude -c usbtiny/S shows AVRDUDE's understanding of usbtiny's properties;
for more information run avrdude -c x/h.

-C config-file
Use the specified config file to load configuration data. This file contains
all programmer and part definitions that avrdude knows about. See the config
file, located at /etc/avrdude.conf, which contains a description of the
format.

If config-file is written as +filename then this file is read after the system
wide and user configuration files. This can be used to add entries to the
configuration without patching your system wide configuration file. It can be
used several times, the files are read in same order as given on the command
line.

-A Disable the automatic removal of trailing-0xFF sequences in file input that is
to be programmed to flash and in AVR reads from flash memory. Normally,
trailing 0xFFs can be discarded, as flash programming requires the memory be
erased to 0xFF beforehand. -A should be used when the programmer hardware, or
bootloader software for that matter, does not carry out chip erase and instead
handles the memory erase on a page level. Popular Arduino bootloaders exhibit
this behaviour; for this reason -A is engaged by default when specifying -c
arduino.

-D Disable auto erase for flash. When the -U option with flash memory is
specified, avrdude will perform a chip erase before starting any of the
programming operations, since it generally is a mistake to program the flash
without performing an erase first. This option disables that. Auto erase is
not used for ATxmega devices as these devices can use page erase before
writing each page so no explicit chip erase is required. Note however that
any page not affected by the current operation will retain its previous
contents. Setting -D implies -A.

-e Causes a chip erase to be executed. This will reset the contents of the flash
ROM and EEPROM to the value ‘0xff’, and clear all lock bits. Except for
ATxmega devices which can use page erase, it is basically a prerequisite
command before the flash ROM can be reprogrammed again. The only exception
would be if the new contents would exclusively cause bits to be programmed
from the value ‘1’ to ‘0’. Note that in order to reprogram EEPROM cells, no
explicit prior chip erase is required since the MCU provides an auto-erase
cycle in that case before programming the cell.

-E exitspec[,exitspec]
By default, avrdude leaves the parallel port in the same state at exit as it
has been found at startup. This option modifies the state of the ‘/RESET’ and
‘Vcc’ lines the parallel port is left at, according to the exitspec arguments
provided, as follows:

reset The ‘/RESET’ signal will be left activated at program exit, that is
it will be held low, in order to keep the MCU in reset state
afterwards. Note in particular that the programming algorithm for
the AT90S1200 device mandates that the ‘/RESET’ signal is active
before powering up the MCU, so in case an external power supply is
used for this MCU type, a previous invocation of avrdude with this
option specified is one of the possible ways to guarantee this
condition. reset is supported by the linuxspi and flip2 programmer
options, as well as all parallel port based programmers.

noreset The ‘/RESET’ line will be deactivated at program exit, thus allowing
the MCU target program to run while the programming hardware remains
connected. noreset is supported by the linuxspi and flip2 programmer
options, as well as all parallel port based programmers.

vcc This option will leave those parallel port pins active (i. e. high)
that can be used to supply ‘Vcc’ power to the MCU.

novcc This option will pull the ‘Vcc’ pins of the parallel port down at
program exit.

d_high This option will leave the 8 data pins on the parallel port active.
(i. e. high)

d_low This option will leave the 8 data pins on the parallel port inactive.
(i. e. low)

Multiple exitspec arguments can be separated with commas.

-F Normally, avrdude tries to verify that the device signature read from the part
is reasonable before continuing. Since it can happen from time to time that a
device has a broken (erased or overwritten) device signature but is otherwise
operating normally, this options is provided to override the check. Also, for
programmers like the Atmel STK500 and STK600 which can adjust parameters local
to the programming tool (independent of an actual connection to a target
controller), this option can be used together with -t to continue in terminal
mode. Moreover, the option allows to continue despite failed initialization
of connection between a programmer and a target.

-i delay
For bitbang-type programmers, delay for approximately delay microseconds
between each bit state change. If the host system is very fast, or the target
runs off a slow clock (like a 32 kHz crystal, or the 128 kHz internal RC
oscillator), this can become necessary to satisfy the requirement that the ISP
clock frequency must not be higher than 1/4 of the CPU clock frequency. This
is implemented as a spin-loop delay to allow even for very short delays. On
Unix-style operating systems, the spin loop is initially calibrated against a
system timer, so the number of microseconds might be rather realistic,
assuming a constant system load while avrdude is running. On Win32 operating
systems, a preconfigured number of cycles per microsecond is assumed that
might be off a bit for very fast or very slow machines.

-l logfile
Use logfile rather than stderr for diagnostics output. Note that initial
diagnostic messages (during option parsing) are still written to stderr
anyway.

-n No-write - disables actually writing data to the MCU (useful for debugging
avrdude ).

-O Perform a RC oscillator run-time calibration according to Atmel application
note AVR053. This is only supported on the STK500v2, AVRISP mkII, and JTAG
ICE mkII hardware. Note that the result will be stored in the EEPROM cell at
address 0.

-P port
Use port to identify the device to which the programmer is attached. By
default the /dev/ppi0 port is used, but if the programmer type normally
connects to the serial port, the /dev/cuaa0 port is the default. If you need
to use a different parallel or serial port, use this option to specify the
alternate port name.

On Win32 operating systems, the parallel ports are referred to as lpt1 through
lpt3, referring to the addresses 0x378, 0x278, and 0x3BC, respectively. If
the parallel port can be accessed through a different address, this address
can be specified directly, using the common C language notation (i. e.,
hexadecimal values are prefixed by ‘0x’ ).

For the JTAG ICE mkII and JTAGICE3, if avrdude has been configured with libusb
support, port can alternatively be specified as usb[:serialno]. This will
cause avrdude to search the programmer on USB. If serialno is also specified,
it will be matched against the serial number read from any JTAG ICE mkII found
on USB. The match is done after stripping any existing colons from the given
serial number, and right-to-left, so only the least significant bytes from the
serial number need to be given.

As the AVRISP mkII device can only be talked to over USB, the very same method
of specifying the port is required there.

For the USB programmer "AVR-Doper" running in HID mode, the port must be
specified as avrdoper. Libhidapi support is required on Unix and Mac OS but
not on Windows. For more information about AVR-Doper see
http://www.obdev.at/avrusb/avrdoper.html.

For the USBtinyISP, which is a simplistic device not implementing serial
numbers, multiple devices can be distinguished by their location in the USB
hierarchy. See the respective Troubleshooting entry in the detailed
documentation for examples.

For the XBee programmer the target MCU is to be programmed wirelessly over a
ZigBee mesh using the XBeeBoot bootloader. The ZigBee 64-bit address for the
target MCU's own XBee device must be supplied as a 16-character hexadecimal
value as a port prefix, followed by the ‘@’ character, and the serial device
to connect to a second directly contactable XBee device associated with the
same mesh (with a default baud rate of 9600). This may look similar to:
0013a20000000001@/dev/tty.serial.

For diagnostic purposes, if the target MCU with an XBeeBoot bootloader is
connected directly to the serial port, the 64-bit address field can be
omitted. In this mode the default baud rate will be 19200.

For programmers that attach to a serial port using some kind of higher level
protocol (as opposed to bit-bang style programmers), port can be specified as
net:host:port. In this case, instead of trying to open a local device, a TCP
network connection to (TCP) port on host is established. Square brackets may
be placed around host to improve readability, for numeric IPv6 addresses (e.g.
net:[2001:db8::42]:1337). The remote endpoint is assumed to be a terminal or
console server that connects the network stream to a local serial port where
the actual programmer has been attached to. The port is assumed to be
properly configured, for example using a transparent 8-bit data connection
without parity at 115200 Baud for a STK500.

Note: The ability to handle IPv6 hostnames and addresses is limited to Posix
systems (by now).

-q Disable (or quell) output of the progress bar while reading or writing to the
device. Specify it more often for even quieter operations.

-s, -u These options used to control the obsolete "safemode" feature which is no
longer present. They are silently ignored for backwards compatibility.

-t Tells avrdude to enter the interactive ``terminal'' mode instead of up- or
downloading files. See below for a detailed description of the terminal mode.

-U memtype:op:filename[:format]
Perform a memory operation as indicated. The memtype field specifies the
memory type to operate on. The available memory types are device-dependent,
the actual configuration can be viewed with the part command in terminal mode.
Typically, a device's memory configuration at least contains the memory types
flash and eeprom. All memory types currently known are:
calibration One or more bytes of RC oscillator calibration data.
eeprom The EEPROM of the device.
efuse The extended fuse byte.
flash The flash ROM of the device.
fuse The fuse byte in devices that have only a single fuse byte.
hfuse The high fuse byte.
lfuse The low fuse byte.
lock The lock byte.
signature The three device signature bytes (device ID).
fuseN The fuse bytes of ATxmega devices, N is an integer number for
each fuse supported by the device.
application The application flash area of ATxmega devices.
apptable The application table flash area of ATxmega devices.
boot The boot flash area of ATxmega devices.
prodsig The production signature (calibration) area of ATxmega devices.
usersig The user signature area of ATxmega devices.

The op field specifies what operation to perform:

r read device memory and write to the specified file

w read data from the specified file and write to the device memory

v read data from both the device and the specified file and perform a
verify

The filename field indicates the name of the file to read or write. The
format field is optional and contains the format of the file to read or write.
Format can be one of:

i Intel Hex

I Intel Hex with comments on download and tolerance of checksum errors on
upload

s Motorola S-record

r raw binary; little-endian byte order, in the case of the flash ROM data

e ELF (Executable and Linkable Format)

m immediate; actual byte values specified on the command line, separated by
commas or spaces. This is good for programming fuse bytes without having
to create a single-byte file or enter terminal mode.

a auto detect; valid for input only, and only if the input is not provided
at stdin.

d decimal; this and the following formats are only valid on output. They
generate one line of output for the respective memory section, forming a
comma-separated list of the values. This can be particularly useful for
subsequent processing, like for fuse bit settings.

h hexadecimal; each value will get the string 0x prepended. Only valid on
output.

o octal; each value will get a 0 prepended unless it is less than 8 in
which case it gets no prefix. Only valid on output.

b binary; each value will get the string 0b prepended. Only valid on
output.

The default is to use auto detection for input files, and raw binary format
for output files. Note that if filename contains a colon, the format field is
no longer optional since the filename part following the colon would otherwise
be misinterpreted as format.

When reading any kind of flash memory area (including the various sub-areas in
Xmega devices), the resulting output file will be truncated to not contain
trailing 0xFF bytes which indicate unprogrammed (erased) memory. Thus, if the
entire memory is unprogrammed, this will result in an output file that has no
contents at all.

As an abbreviation, the form -U filename is equivalent to specifying -U
flash:w:filename:a. This will only work if filename does not have a colon in
it.

-v Enable verbose output. More -v options increase verbosity level.

-V Disable automatic verify check when uploading data.

-x extended_param
Pass extended_param to the chosen programmer implementation as an extended
parameter. The interpretation of the extended parameter depends on the
programmer itself. See below for a list of programmers accepting extended
parameters.

Terminal mode
In this mode, avrdude only initializes communication with the MCU, and then awaits user
commands on standard input. Commands and parameters may be abbreviated to the shortest
unambiguous form. Terminal mode provides a command history using readline(3), so previously
entered command lines can be recalled and edited. The following commands are currently
implemented for all programmers:

dump memory addr len
Read len bytes from the specified memory area, and display them in the usual
hexadecimal and ASCII form.

dump memory addr ...
Read all bytes from the specified memory starting at address addr, and display
them.

dump memory addr
Read 256 bytes from the specified memory area, and display them.

dump memory ...
Read all bytes from the specified memory, and display them.

dump memory
Continue dumping the memory contents for another 256 bytes where the previous
dump command left off.

read can be used as an alias for dump

write memory addr data[,] {data[,]}
Manually program the respective memory cells, starting at address addr, using
the data items provided. The terminal implements reading from and writing to
flash and EEPROM type memories normally through a cache and paged access
functions. All other memories are directly written to without use of a cache.
Some older parts without paged access will also have flash and EEPROM directly
accessed without cache.

data can be hexadecimal, octal or decimal integers, floating point numbers or
C-style strings and characters. For integers, an optional case-insensitive
suffix specifies the data size: HH 8 bit, H/S 16 bit, L 32 bit, LL 64 bit.
Suffix D indicates a 64-bit double, F a 32-bit float, whilst a floating point
number without suffix defaults to 32-bit float. Hexadecimal floating point
notation is supported. An ambiguous trailing suffix, e.g., 0x1.8D, is read as
no-suffix float where D is part of the mantissa; use a zero exponent 0x1.8p0D
to clarify.

An optional U suffix makes integers unsigned. Ordinary 0x hex integers are
always treated as unsigned. +0x or -0x hex numbers are treated as signed
unless they have a U suffix. Unsigned integers cannot be larger than 2^64-1.
If n is an unsigned integer then -n is also a valid unsigned integer as in C.
Signed integers must fall into the [-2^63, 2^63-1] range or a correspondingly
smaller range when a suffix specifies a smaller type.

Ordinary 0x hex integers with n hex digits (counting leading zeros) use the
smallest size of one, two, four and eight bytes that can accommodate any n-
digit hex integer. If an integer suffix specifies a size explicitly the
corresponding number of least significant bytes are written, and a warning
shown if the number does not fit into the desired representation. Otherwise,
unsigned integers occupy the smallest of one, two, four or eight bytes needed.
Signed numbers are allowed to fit into the smallest signed or smallest
unsigned representation: For example, 255 is stored as one byte as 255U would
fit in one byte, though as a signed number it would not fit into a one-byte
interval [-128, 127]. The number -1 is stored in one byte whilst -1U needs
eight bytes as it is the same as 0xFFFFffffFFFFffffU.

One trailing comma at the end of data items is ignored to facilitate copy &
paste of lists.

write memory addr len data[,] {data[,]} ...
The ellipsis ... form writes <len> bytes padded by repeating the last data
item.

flush Synchronise with the device all pending cached writes to EEPROM or flash.
With some programmer and part combinations, flash (and sometimes EEPROM, too)
looks like a NOR memory, ie, one can only write 0 bits, not 1 bits. When this
is detected, either page erase is deployed (e.g., with parts that have
PDI/UPDI interfaces), or if that is not available, both EEPROM and flash
caches are fully read in, a chip erase command is issued and both EEPROM and
flash are written back to the device. Hence, it can take minutes to ensure
that a single previously cleared bit is set and, therefore, this command
should be used sparingly.

abort Normally, caches are only ever actually written to the device when using the
flush command, at the end of the terminal session after typing quit, or after
EOF on input is encountered. The abort command resets the cache discarding all
previous writes to the flash and EEPROM cache.

erase Perform a chip erase and discard all pending writes to EEPROM and flash.

sig Display the device signature bytes.

part Display the current part settings and parameters. Includes chip specific
information including all memory types supported by the device, read/write
timing, etc.

verbose [level]
Change (when level is provided), or display the verbosity level. The initial
verbosity level is controlled by the number of -v options given on the
commandline.

quell [level]
Change (when level is provided), or display the quell level. 1 is used to
suppress progress reports. 2 or higher yields in progressively quieter
operations. The initial quell level is controlled by the number of -q options
given on the commandline.

help Give a short on-line summary of the available commands.

quit Leave terminal mode and thus avrdude.

The terminal commands below may only be implemented on some specific programmers, and may
therefore not be available in the help menu.

pgerase memory addr
Erase one page of the memory specified.

send b1 b2 b3 b4
Send raw instruction codes to the AVR device. If you need access to a feature
of an AVR part that is not directly supported by avrdude, this command allows
you to use it, even though avrdude does not implement the command. When using
direct SPI mode, up to 3 bytes can be omitted.

spi Enter direct SPI mode. The pgmled pin acts as chip select. Supported on
parallel bitbang programmers, and partially by USBtiny.

pgm Return to programming mode (from direct SPI mode).

vtarg voltage
Set the target's supply voltage to voltage Volts. Supported on the STK500 and
STK600 programmer.

varef [channel] voltage
Set the adjustable voltage source to voltage Volts. This voltage is normally
used to drive the target's Aref input on the STK500. On the Atmel STK600, two
reference voltages are available, which can be selected by the optional
channel argument (either 0 or 1). Supported on the STK500 and STK600
programmer.

fosc freq[M|k]
Set the programming oscillator to freq Hz. An optional trailing letter M
multiplies by 1E6, a trailing letter k by 1E3. Supported on the STK500 and
STK600 programmer.

fosc off
Turn the programming oscillator off. Supported on the STK500 and STK600
programmer.

sck period
STK500 and STK600 programmer: Set the SCK clock period to period microseconds.
JTAG ICE: Set the JTAG ICE bit clock period to period microseconds. Note that
unlike STK500 settings, this setting will be reverted to its default value
(approximately 1 microsecond) when the programming software signs off from the
JTAG ICE. This parameter can also be used on the JTAG ICE mkII, JTAGICE3, and
Atmel-ICE to specify the ISP clock period when operating the ICE in ISP mode.

parms STK500 and STK600 programmer: Display the current voltage and programming
oscillator parameters. JTAG ICE: Display the current target supply voltage
and JTAG bit clock rate/period. Other programmers: Display the programmer
specific parameters.

Default Parallel port pin connections
(these can be changed, see the -c option)
Pin number Function
2-5 Vcc (optional power supply to MCU)
7 /RESET (to MCU)
8 SCK (to MCU)
9 SDO (to MCU)
10 SDI (from MCU)
18-25 GND

debugWire limitations
The debugWire protocol is Atmel's proprietary one-wire (plus ground) protocol to allow an
in-circuit emulation of the smaller AVR devices, using the ‘/RESET’ line. DebugWire mode is
initiated by activating the ‘DWEN’ fuse, and then power-cycling the target. While this mode
is mainly intended for debugging/emulation, it also offers limited programming capabilities.
Effectively, the only memory areas that can be read or programmed in this mode are flash ROM
and EEPROM. It is also possible to read out the signature. All other memory areas cannot
be accessed. There is no chip erase functionality in debugWire mode; instead, while
reprogramming the flash ROM, each flash ROM page is erased right before updating it. This
is done transparently by the JTAG ICE mkII (or AVR Dragon). The only way back from
debugWire mode is to initiate a special sequence of commands to the JTAG ICE mkII (or AVR
Dragon), so the debugWire mode will be temporarily disabled, and the target can be accessed
using normal ISP programming. This sequence is automatically initiated by using the JTAG
ICE mkII or AVR Dragon in ISP mode, when they detect that ISP mode cannot be entered.

FLIP version 1 idiosyncrasies
Bootloaders using the FLIP protocol version 1 experience some very specific behaviour.

These bootloaders have no option to access memory areas other than Flash and EEPROM.

When the bootloader is started, it enters a security mode where the only acceptable access
is to query the device configuration parameters (which are used for the signature on AVR
devices). The only way to leave this mode is a chip erase. As a chip erase is normally
implied by the -U option when reprogramming the flash, this peculiarity might not be very
obvious immediately.

Sometimes, a bootloader with security mode already disabled seems to no longer respond with
sensible configuration data, but only 0xFF for all queries. As these queries are used to
obtain the equivalent of a signature, avrdude can only continue in that situation by forcing
the signature check to be overridden with the -F option.

A chip erase might leave the EEPROM unerased, at least on some versions of the bootloader.

Programmers accepting extended parameters
JTAG ICE mkII

JTAGICE3

Atmel-ICE

Power Debugger

PICkit 4

MPLAB SNAP

AVR Dragon
When using the JTAG ICE mkII, JTAGICE3, Atmel-ICE, PICkit 4, MPLAB SNAP, Power
Debugger or AVR Dragon in JTAG mode, the following extended parameter is
accepted:

jtagchain=UB,UA,BB,BA
Setup the JTAG scan chain for UB units before, UA units after,
BB bits before, and BA bits after the target AVR, respectively.
Each AVR unit within the chain shifts by 4 bits. Other JTAG
units might require a different bit shift count.

The PICkit 4 and the Power Debugger also supports high-voltage UPDI
programming. This is used to enable a UPDI pin that has previously been set
to RESET or GPIO mode. High-voltage UPDI can be utilized by using an extended
parameter:

hvupdi Enable high-voltage UPDI initialization for targets that
supports this.

AVR910

devcode=VALUE
Override the device code selection by using VALUE as the device
code. The programmer is not queried for the list of supported
device codes, and the specified VALUE is not verified but used
directly within the ‘T’ command sent to the programmer. VALUE
can be specified using the conventional number notation of the C
programming language.

no_blockmode
Disables the default checking for block transfer capability.
Use no_blockmode only if your AVR910 programmer creates errors
during initial sequence.

Arduino

attemps[=<1..99>]
Specify how many connection retry attemps to perform before
exiting. Defaults to 10 if not specified.

Urclock

showall
Show all info for the connected part, then exit. The -xshow...
options below can be used to assemble a bespoke response
consisting of a subset (or only one item) of all available
relevant information about the connected part and bootloader.

showid Show a unique Urclock ID stored in either flash or EEPROM of the
MCU, then exit.

id=<E|F>.<addr>.<len>
Historically, the Urclock ID was a six-byte unique little-endian
number stored in Urclock boards at EEPROM address 257. The
location of this number can be set by the
-xid=<E|F>.<addr>.<len> extended parameter. E stands for EEPROM
and F stands for flash. A negative address addr counts from the
end of EEPROM and flash, respectively. The length len of the
Urclock ID can be between 1 and 8 bytes.

showdate
Show the last-modified date of the input file for the flash
application, then exit. If the input file was stdin, the date
will be that of the programming. Date and filename are part of
the metadata that the urclock programmer stores by default in
high flash just under the bootloader; see also -xnometadata.

showfilename
Show the input filename (or title) of the last flash writing
session, then exit.

title=<string>
When set, <string> will be used in lieu of the input filename.
The maximum string length for the title/filename field is 254
bytes including terminating nul.

showapp
Show the size of the programmed application, then exit.

showstore
Show the size of the unused flash between the application and
metadata, then exit.

showmeta
Show the size of the metadata just below the bootloader, then
exit.

showboot
Show the size of the bootloader, then exit.

showversion
Show bootloader version and capabilities, then exit.

showvector
Show the vector number and name of the interrupt table vector
used by the bootloader for starting the application, then exit.
For hardware-supported bootloaders this will be vector 0
(Reset), and for vector bootloaders this will be any other
vector number of the interrupt vector table or the slot just
behind the vector table with the name VBL_ADDITIONAL_VECTOR.

showpart
Show the part for which the bootloader was compiled, then exit.

bootsize=<size>
Manual override for bootloader size. Urboot bootloaders put the
number of used bootloader pages into a table at the top of the
bootloader section, ie, typically top of flash, so the urclock
programmer can look up the bootloader size itself. In backward-
compatibility mode, when programming via other bootloaders, this
option can be used to tell the programmer the size, and
therefore the location, of the bootloader.

vectornum=<arg>
Manual override for vector number. Urboot bootloaders put the
vector number used by a vector bootloader into a table at the
top of flash, so this option is normally not needed for urboot
bootloaders. However, it is useful in backward-compatibility
mode (or when the urboot bootloader does not offer flash read).
Specifying a vector number in these circumstances implies a
vector bootloader whilst the default assumption would be a
hardware-supported bootloader.

eepromrw
Manual override for asserting EEPROM read/write capability. Not
normally needed for urboot bootloaders, but useful for in
backward-compatibility mode if the bootloader offers EEPROM
read/write.

emulate_ce
If an urboot bootloader does not offer a chip erase command it
will tell the urclock programmer so during handshake. In this
case the urclock programmer emulates a chip erase, if warranted
by user command line options, by filling the remainder of unused
flash below the bootloader with 0xff. If this option is
specified, the urclock programmer will assume that the
bootloader cannot erase the chip itself. The option is useful
for backwards-compatible bootloaders that do not implement chip
erase.

restore
Upload unchanged flash input files and trim below the bootloader
if needed. This is most useful when one has a backup of the full
flash and wants to play that back onto the device. No metadata
are written in this case and no vector patching happens either
if it is a vector bootloader. However, for vector bootloaders,
even under the option -xrestore an input file will not be
uploaded for which the reset vector does not point to the vector
bootloader. This is to avoid writing an input file to the device
that would render the vector bootloader not functional as it
would not be reached after reset.

initstore
On writing to flash fill the store space between the flash
application and the metadata section with 0xff.

nofilename
On writing to flash do not store the application input filename
(nor a title).

nodate On writing to flash do not store the application input filename
(nor a title) and no date either.

nometadata
On writing to flash do not store any metadata. The full flash
below the bootloader is available for the application. In
particular, no data store frame is programmed.

delay=<n>
Add a <n> ms delay after reset. This can be useful if a board
takes a particularly long time to exit from external reset. <n>
can be negative, in which case the default 120 ms delay after
issuing reset will be shortened accordingly.

strict Urclock has a faster, but slightly different strategy than -c
arduino to synchronise with the bootloader; some stk500v1
bootloaders cannot cope with this, and they need the -xstrict
option.

help Show this help menu and exit

buspirate

reset={cs,aux,aux2}
The default setup assumes the BusPirate's CS output pin
connected to the RESET pin on AVR side. It is however possible
to have multiple AVRs connected to the same BP with SDI, SDO and
SCK lines common for all of them. In such a case one AVR should
have its RESET connected to BusPirate's CS pin, second AVR's
RESET connected to BusPirate's AUX pin and if your BusPirate has
an AUX2 pin (only available on BusPirate version v1a with
firmware 3.0 or newer) use that to activate RESET on the third
AVR.

It may be a good idea to decouple the BusPirate and the AVR's
SPI buses from each other using a 3-state bus buffer. For
example 74HC125 or 74HC244 are some good candidates with the
latches driven by the appropriate reset pin (cs, aux or aux2).
Otherwise the SPI traffic in one active circuit may interfere
with programming the AVR in the other design.

spifreq=<0..7>
The SPI speed for the Bus Pirate's binary SPI mode:

0 .. 30 kHz (default)
1 .. 125 kHz
2 .. 250 kHz
3 .. 1 MHz
4 .. 2 MHz
5 .. 2.6 MHz
6 .. 4 MHz
7 .. 8 MHz

rawfreq=<0..3>
Sets the SPI speed and uses the Bus Pirate's binary "raw-wire"
mode:

0 .. 5 kHz
1 .. 50 kHz
2 .. 100 kHz (Firmware v4.2+ only)
3 .. 400 kHz (v4.2+)

The only advantage of the "raw-wire" mode is the different SPI
frequencies available. Paged writing is not implemented in this
mode.

ascii Attempt to use ASCII mode even when the firmware supports
BinMode (binary mode). BinMode is supported in firmware 2.7 and
newer, older FW's either don't have BinMode or their BinMode is
buggy. ASCII mode is slower and makes the above reset=, spifreq=
and rawfreq= parameters unavailable. Be aware that ASCII mode is
not guaranteed to work with newer firmware versions, and is
retained only to maintain compatibility with older firmware
versions.

nopagedwrite
Firmware versions 5.10 and newer support a binary mode SPI
command that enables whole pages to be written to AVR flash
memory at once, resulting in a significant write speed increase.
If use of this mode is not desirable for some reason, this
option disables it.

nopagedread
Newer firmware versions support in binary mode SPI command some
AVR Extended Commands. Using the "Bulk Memory Read from Flash"
results in a significant read speed increase. If use of this
mode is not desirable for some reason, this option disables it.

cpufreq=<125..4000>
This sets the AUX pin to output a frequency of n kHz. Connecting
the AUX pin to the XTAL1 pin of your MCU, you can provide it a
clock, for example when it needs an external clock because of
wrong fuses settings. Make sure the CPU frequency is at least
four times the SPI frequency.

serial_recv_timeout=<1...>
This sets the serial receive timeout to the given value. The
timeout happens every time avrdude waits for the BusPirate
prompt. Especially in ascii mode this happens very often, so
setting a smaller value can speed up programming a lot. The
default value is 100ms. Using 10ms might work in most cases.

Micronucleus bootloader

wait[=<timeout>]
If the device is not connected, wait for the device to be
plugged in. The optional timeout specifies the connection time-
out in seconds. If no time-out is specified, AVRDUDE will wait
indefinitely until the device is plugged in.

Teensy bootloader

Wiring When using the Wiring programmer type, the following optional extended
parameter is accepted:

snooze=<0..32767>
After performing the port open phase, AVRDUDE will wait/snooze
for snooze milliseconds before continuing to the protocol sync
phase. No toggling of DTR/RTS is performed if snooze is greater
than 0.

PICkit2
Connection to the PICkit2 programmer:

(AVR) (PICkit2)
RST - VPP/MCLR (1)
VDD - VDD Target (2) -- possibly optional if AVR self powered
GND - GND (3)
SDI - PGD (4)
SCLK - PDC (5)
SDO - AUX (6)

Extended commandline parameters:

clockrate=<rate>
Sets the SPI clocking rate in Hz (default is 100kHz).
Alternately the -B or -i options can be used to set the period.

timeout=<usb-transaction-timeout>
Sets the timeout for USB reads and writes in milliseconds
(default is 1500 ms).

USBasp Extended parameters:

section_config
Programmer will erase configuration section with option -e (chip
erase), rather than entire chip. Only applicable to TPI devices
(ATtiny 4/5/9/10/20/40).

xbee Extended parameters:

xbeeresetpin=<1..7>
Select the XBee pin DIO<1..7> that is connected to the MCU's
‘/RESET’ line. The programmer needs to know which DIO pin to
use to reset into the bootloader. The default (3) is the DIO3
pin (XBee pin 17), but some commercial products use a different
XBee pin.

The remaining two necessary XBee-to-MCU connections are not
selectable - the XBee DOUT pin (pin 2) must be connected to the
MCU's ‘RXD’ line, and the XBee DIN pin (pin 3) must be connected
to the MCU's ‘TXD’ line.

STK500

attemps[=<1..99>]
Specify how many connection retry attemps to perform before
exiting. Defaults to 10 if not specified.

serialupdi
Extended parameters:

rtsdtr=low|high
Forces RTS/DTR lines to assume low or high state during the
whole programming session. Some programmers might use this
signal to indicate UPDI programming state, but this is strictly
hardware specific.

When not provided, driver/OS default value will be used.

linuxspi
Extended parameter:

disable_no_cs
Ensures the programmer does not use the SPI_NO_CS bit for the
SPI driver. This parameter is useful for kernels that do not
support the CS line being managed outside the application.

FILES

           /dev/ppi0     Default device to be used for communication with the programming
                         hardware

           avrdude.conf  Programmer and parts configuration file

                         On Windows systems, this file is looked up in the same directory as the
                         executable file.  On all other systems, the file is first looked up in
                         ../etc/, relative to the path of the executable, then in the same
                         directory as the executable itself, and finally in the system default
                         location /etc/avrdude.conf.

           ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}/avrdude/avrdude.rc
                         Local programmer and parts configuration file (per-user overrides); it
                         follows the same syntax as avrdude.conf; if the ${XDG_CONFIG_HOME}
                         environment variable is not set or empty, the directory ${HOME}/.config/
                         is used instead.

           ${HOME}/.avrduderc
                         Alternative location of the per-user configuration file if above file
                         does not exist

           ~/.inputrc    Initialization file for the readline(3) library

           /usr/share/doc/avrdude/avrdude.pdf.gz
                         User manual

DIAGNOSTICS

     avrdude: jtagmkII_setparm(): bad response to set parameter command: RSP_FAILED
     avrdude: jtagmkII_getsync(): ISP activation failed, trying debugWire
     avrdude: Target prepared for ISP, signed off.
     avrdude: Please restart avrdude without power-cycling the target.

     If the target AVR has been set up for debugWire mode (i. e. the DWEN fuse is programmed),
     normal ISP connection attempts will fail as the /RESET pin is not available.  When using the
     JTAG ICE mkII in ISP mode, the message shown indicates that avrdude has guessed this
     condition, and tried to initiate a debugWire reset to the target.  When successful, this
     will leave the target AVR in a state where it can respond to normal ISP communication again
     (until the next power cycle).  Typically, the same command is going to be retried again
     immediately afterwards, and will then succeed connecting to the target using normal ISP
     communication.

AUTHORS

     Avrdude was written by Brian S. Dean <bsd@bsdhome.com>.

     This man page by Joerg Wunsch.

BUGS

     Please report bugs via
           https://github.com/avrdudes/avrdude/issues

     The JTAG ICE programmers currently cannot write to the flash ROM one byte at a time.  For
     that reason, updating the flash ROM from terminal mode does not work.

     Page-mode programming the EEPROM through JTAG (i.e. through an -U option) requires a prior
     chip erase.  This is an inherent feature of the way JTAG EEPROM programming works.  This
     also applies to the STK500 and STK600 in parallel programming mode.

     The USBasp and USBtinyISP drivers do not offer any option to distinguish multiple devices
     connected simultaneously, so effectively only a single device is supported.

     Chip Select must be externally held low for direct SPI when using USBtinyISP, and send must
     be a multiple of four bytes.

     The avrftdi driver allows one to select specific devices using any combination of vid,pid
     serial number (usbsn) vendor description (usbvendoror part description (usbproduct) as seen
     with lsusb or whatever tool used to view USB device information. Multiple devices can be on
     the bus at the same time. For the H parts, which have multiple MPSSE interfaces, the
     interface can also be selected.  It defaults to interface 'A'.