Is there interest in mpremote format / erase commands ?

[Josverl]

I'm almost done adding format and erase commands and options to mpflash,
When I realized that these might make good additions to mpremote as well.

• format - dismounts and re-formats the filesystem then restarts
• erase - uses ioctl to erase all flash blocks used by the filesystem

format should work on just about any MicroPython devices I think on {"rp2", "esp32", "esp8266", "samd", "stm32", "nrf", "mimxrt"}
erase will only work on device that expose a block device and have the ioctl to erase

[DavesCodeMusings]

I think there would be a fine line between choosing mpremote format and say, esptool write_flash to just wipe the whole thing and start over. Given that, I'd say format and erase commands might be useful for me at times, but just reflashing firmware isn't that much more pain.

[Josverl]

think there would be a fine line between choosing mpremote format and say, esptool write_flash to just wipe the whole thing and start over

Unless:

• it is any other port than ESPxx
• you do want to retain ROMFS

The erase is actually more similar to write_flash , stm32 bulk erase and rp2 universal nuke in that it actually erases the flash sectors.

Alsi re-flashing the firmware is designed to retain the filesystem, but sometimes that is not what I need.

Format seems to be the most usefull, and by far the quickest.
I'll see if I can add reformatting to different Vfses.

[mattytrentini]

Yes, I'm interested in such features. Although not needed frequently, those commands would be handy to have.