LITTLEFS

LittleFS_esp32

LittleFS library for arduino-esp32

• A LittleFS wrapper for Arduino ESP32 of ARMmbed LittleFS
• Based on ESP-IDF port of joltwallet/esp_littlefs , thank you Brian!
• As a reference, see LillteFS library for ESP8266 core
• PR at esp32 core development
• PR at esp-idf development
• The functionality is similar to SPIFFS

Installation

• Use Arduino Library Manager to check if its available there.
• Or download / use git to have latest repository of LITTLEFS added to Arduino IDE /libraries folder
  (File > Preferences > Sketchbook location).
• See #define CONFIG_LITTLEFS_FOR_IDF_3_2 in esp_littlefs.c.
  On IDF newer than 3.2, it can be commented to enable file timestamp feature.
  See LITTLEFS_time example. If it is uncommented, it builds with esp32 core based on any IDF 3.2 - 4.3
• The other #define CONFIG_LITTLEFS_xxxxx are set to optimal default values.
  Read here and here if you want to modify.

Usage

• Use LITTLEFS same way as SPIFFS

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

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

  • Note, this may not work if your sketch uses other libraries that use SPIFFS themselves.

Differences with SPIFFS

• LittleFS has folders, you need need to iterate files in folders. See To Do below.
• 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

• See LITTLEFS_PlatformIO example here
  ( based on notes below 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 ARMmbed LittleFS , ESP-IDF port of joltwallet/esp_littlefs , Espressif Arduino core for the ESP32, the ESP-IDF - SPIFFS Library
• Licensed under GPL v2 (text)

To Do

• Submit to be added to Arduino Library Manager
• Decide on more compatibility (or not) with SPIFFS' lack of folders, similar to esp8266' way:
  • recursive folders auto creation when a new file is created at non-existing path
  • recursive folders auto deletion on "last file" deletion (SPIFFS cannot have "folder w/o file")
  • review other differences: opendir(), rmdir(), unlink()
• Follow-up / eventually retire this library if LittleFS gets implemented through IDF / esp32 Arduino core.