Idf_tools.py installation failed

PlatformIO IDE
1

I get this failure when I try to compile a program. It was compiling before but now I get this error. Any help would be greatly appreciated

Cannot compile project anymore (xtensa-esp32-elf-gcc not found)
Cannot compile project anymore (xtensa-esp32-elf-gcc not found)
2

Help the members of this forum to help you by providing more details:

  • Which system are you using?
  • What is the content of your platformio.ini file?
  • Which version of the platform is installed on your system?
  • Any other information that might be important…

Without this information, everyone can only guess.

So something must have changed. What has changed in the meantime?

3

Sorry for the lack of info. Just frustrated I guess.
I’m on MacOS 12.7. VSCode 1.103. PlatformIO core 6.1.18, home 3.4.4.
I wish I knew what I changed.
I deleted VSCode and did a reinstall.
I went to the Expressf ESP32 page and installed all the prerequisites ccache 4.11, ninja 1.13, cmake 4.1, Python 3.12.4
I still get idf_tools.py installation failed. If I try to make a new project, it fails and here is the error I get.
PIO Core Call Error: "The following files/directories have been created in /Users/macmini/Documents/PlatformIO/Projects/blink\ninclude - Put project header files here\nlib - Put project specific (private) libraries here\nsrc - Put project source files here\nplatformio.ini - Project Configuration File\nResolving esp32doit-devkit-v1 dependencies…\nAlready up-to-date.\nUpdating metadata for the vscode IDE…\n\n\nidf_tools.py installation failed\nidf_tools.py installation failed\nUserSideException: Processing esp32doit-devkit-v1 (platform: espressif32; board: esp32doit-devkit-v1; framework: arduino)\n--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\nidf_tools.py installation failed\nidf_tools.py installation failed\nVerbose mode can be enabled via -v, --verbose option\nidf_tools.py installation failed\nPYTHONEXE updated to penv environment: /Users/macmini/.platformio/penv/bin/python\nPermissionError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: ‘/Users/macmini/.platformio/penv/bin/uv’:\n File "/Users/macmini/.platformio/penv/lib/python3.12/site-packages/platformio/builder/main.py", line 173:\n env.SConscript("$BUILD_SCRIPT")\n File "/Users/macmini/.platformio/packages/tool-scons/scons-local-4.8.1/SCons/Script/SConscript.py", line 620:\n return _SConscript(self.fs, *files, **subst_kw)\n File "/Users/macmini/.platformio/packages/tool-scons/scons-local-4.8.1/SCons/Script/SConscript.py", line 280:\n exec(compile(scriptdata, scriptname, ‘exec’), call_stack[-1].globals)\n File "/Users/macmini/.platformio/platforms/espressif32@src-88f34194123b4b05ff6ef6b8e68c7f60/builder/main.py", line 434:\n install_python_deps()\n File "/Users/macmini/.platformio/platforms/espressif32@src-88f34194123b4b05ff6ef6b8e68c7f60/builder/main.py", line 267:\n result = subprocess.run(\n File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.12/lib/python3.12/subprocess.py", line 548:\n with Popen(*popenargs, **kwargs) as process:\n File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.12/lib/python3.12/subprocess.py", line 1026:\n self._execute_child(args, executable, preexec_fn, close_fds,\n File "/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/3.12/lib/python3.12/subprocess.py", line 1955:\n raise child_exception_type(errno_num, err_msg, err_filename)\n========================== [FAILED] Took 1.82 seconds

I seem to be in a hole and I just keep digging deeper. Very frustrating.

4
  1. Close VSCode
  2. Delete the entire /Users/macmini/.platformio/ folder (make backups of anything custom-modified in there if needed – if not, safe to nuke.)
  3. Restart VSCode and wait for reinit
5

Max
Thanks so much. That did it. Everything is working now.
Thanks again