LITTLEFS

LittleFS_esp32

LittleFS library for arduino-esp32

• A LittleFS wrapper for Arduino ESP32 of Mbed LittleFS
• Based on ESP-IDF port of joltwallet/esp_littlefs , thank you Brian!
• See also the LillteFS library for ESP8266 core
• Functionality is similar to SPIFFS
• PR at esp32 core development

• PR at esp-idf development

  ! Warning: This wrapper depends on ESP-IDF version the esp32 core is built on
  

• Tested with esp32 cores built on IDFv3.2, IDFv3.3 and IDFv4 - IDFv4.3

• See LITTLEFS_time example with file timestamps that works with esp32 core on IDF v3.3

Installation

• If it gets accepted for Arduino Library Manager, take it from there. The release 1.0 is compatible to core 1.0.4 and PlatformIO
• Use git or copy LITTLEFS to Arduino IDE /libraries folder (File > Preferences > Sketchbook location) and adjust //#define CONFIG_LITTLEFS_FOR_IDF_3_2 in esp_littlefs.c if needed. For all higher version, it should be commented.

Usage

• Use LITTLEFS same way as SPIFFS

• A quick startup based on your existing code you can re-define SPIFFS like this

  #define USE_LittleFS
  
  #include <FS.h>
  #ifdef USE_LittleFS
  #define SPIFFS LITTLEFS
  #include <LITTLEFS.h> 
  #else
  #include <SPIFFS.h>
  #endif 
  

Differences with SPIFFS

• LittleFS has folders, you need need to iterate files in folders
• At root a "/folder" = "folder"
• Requires a label for mount point, NULL will not work
• maxOpenFiles parameter is unused, kept for compatibility
• LITTLEFS.mkdir(path) and LITTLEFS.rmdir(path) work as expected for folders
• Speed comparison based on LittleFS_test.ino sketch (for a file 1048576 bytes):

Filesystem	Read time [ms]	Write time [ms]
FAT	276	14493
LITTLEFS	446*	16387
SPIFFS	767	65622

*The read speed improved by changing #define CONFIG_LITTLEFS_CACHE_SIZE from 128 to 512

Arduino ESP32 LittleFS filesystem upload tool

• Use (replace if exists) arduino-esp32fs-plugin with this variant, which supports SPIFFS, LittleFS and FatFS
• Requires mklittlefs executable which is available in releases section here or download the zipped binary here or from esp-quick-toolchain releases here
• Copy it to /tools folder of esp32 platform where espota and esptool (.py or.exe) tools are located
• Restart Arduino IDE.

PlatformIO

(notes from BlueAndi )

• Add to platformio.ini: extra_scripts = replace_fs.py

• Add _replacefs.py to project root directory (where platformio.ini is located):

  Import("env")
  print("Replace MKSPIFFSTOOL with mklittlefs.exe")
  env.Replace (MKSPIFFSTOOL = "mklittlefs.exe")
  

• Add mklittlefs.exe to project root directory as well.

Credits and license

• This work is based on Mbed LittleFS , ESP-IDF port of joltwallet/esp_littlefs , Espressif Arduino core for the ESP32, the ESP-IDF - SPIFFS Library
• Licensed under GPL v2 (text)