Device and Tool Packs Used in MPLAB® X IDE Projects

Last modified by Microchip on 2024/06/24 06:33

What are Device Packs and Tool Packs?

MPLAB® X Integrated Development Environment (IDE) requires specific information about supported devices and tools in order to configure, build, program and/or debug your project. This information is contained in support files bundled and distributed in packs.

Device family packs (DFPs) contain information on each supported device (microcontroller/microprocessor) grouped by family. This information includes data on device power requirements, programming methods, architecture, etc.

Tool packs (TPs) contain information on hardware debug tool firmware for supported devices, as well as other hardware-related details needed by the IDE to work with the tool.

The packs are given version numbers to allow the user to track changes and verify they are using the desired revision. When you update a DFP, the related TP will also be updated so all your hardware tools will work with the new devices in the DFP.

DFP and TP flowchart

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