[esp32-s3] 2 frozen machine modules

[fdufnews]

In esp32/ESP32_GENERIC_S3 Firmware (Support for Octal-SPIRAM)
Starting from V1.26.0 the machine module is duplicated and this make MicroPython crash. The more recent firmwares have the same flaw.
V1.25.0 has not the duplicate module and works fine.

>>> ESP-ROM:esp32s3-20210327
Build:Mar 27 2021
rst:0x1 (POWERON),boot:0x8 (SPI_FAST_FLASH_BOOT)
SPIWP:0xee
mode:DIO, clock div:1
load:0x3fce2820,len:0xe74
load:0x403c8700,len:0x4
load:0x403c8704,len:0xc20
load:0x403cb700,len:0x2f8c
entry 0x403c88ac
MicroPython v1.26.0 on 2025-08-09; Generic ESP32S3 module with Octal-SPIRAM with ESP32S3
Type "help()" for more information.
>>> help("modules")
__main__          btree             io                ssl
_asyncio          builtins          json              struct
_boot             cmath             machine           sys
_espnow           collections       machine           time
_onewire          cryptolib         math              tls
_thread           deflate           micropython       uasyncio
_webrepl          dht               mip/__init__      uctypes
aioespnow         ds18x20           neopixel          umqtt/robust
apa106            errno             network           umqtt/simple
array             esp               ntptime           upysh
asyncio/__init__  esp32             onewire           urequests
asyncio/core      espnow            os                vfs
asyncio/event     flashbdev         platform          webrepl
asyncio/funcs     framebuf          random            webrepl_setup
asyncio/lock      gc                re                websocket
asyncio/stream    hashlib           requests/__init__
binascii          heapq             select
bluetooth         inisetup          socket
Plus any modules on the filesystem
>>> import machine
>>> help(machine)
object <module 'machine' from 'machine.py'> is of type module
  const -- <function>
  Counter -- <class 'Counter'>
  __name__ -- machine
  __file__ -- machine.py
  __getattr__ -- <function __getattr__ at 0x3c1832a0>
  
A fatal error occurred. The crash dump printed below may be used to help
determine what caused it. If you are not already running the most recent
version of MicroPython, consider upgrading. New versions often fix bugs.

To learn more about how to debug and/or report this crash visit the wiki
page at: https://github.com/micropython/micropython/wiki/ESP32-debugging

MPY version : v1.26.0 on 2025-08-09
IDF version : v5.4.2
Machine     : Generic ESP32S3 module with Octal-SPIRAM with ESP32S3

Guru Meditation Error: Core  1 panic'ed (LoadProhibited). Exception was unhandled.

Core  1 register dump:
PC      : 0x42029c13  PS      : 0x00060c30  A0      : 0x82029c5b  A1      : 0x3fcbc670  
A2      : 0x3c16da30  A3      : 0x00000004  A4      : 0x00000000  A5      : 0x0000ff00  
A6      : 0x00ff0000  A7      : 0xff000000  A8      : 0x00000000  A9      : 0x3fcbc640  
A10     : 0x00000000  A11     : 0x00000000  A12     : 0x42066f74  A13     : 0x3fcbc660  
A14     : 0x00000002  A15     : 0x00000310  SAR     : 0x00000010  EXCCAUSE: 0x0000001c  
EXCVADDR: 0x00000004  LBEG    : 0x40056f08  LEND    : 0x40056f12  LCOUNT  : 0x00000000  


Backtrace: 0x42029c10:0x3fcbc670 0x42029c58:0x3fcbc690 0x42069607:0x3fcbc6b0 0x4202c967:0x3fcbc6e0 0x42034291:0x3fcbc710 0x40379e31:0x3fcbc730 0x4202c8ff:0x3fcbc7d0 0x42034291:0x3fcbc830 0x420342a6:0x3fcbc850 0x42044b9a:0x3fcbc870 0x42044cdc:0x3fcbc900 0x4202420e:0x3fcbc950




ELF file SHA256: 33ce41e10

Rebooting...

[shariltumin]

For the ESP32 port, the purpose of the modules/machine.py file is to include the Counter and Encoder from esp32.PCNT and make these functions more accessible.

The help("modules") command returns two machines because 1) the C module extmod/modmachine.c and 2), the frozen Python module ports/esp32/modules/machine.py.

The machine.py overwrite modmachine.c so import machine execute machine.py which will then include Counter and Encoder functions together with the functions defined in the modmachine.c into the machine namespace.

This could be the cause of the problem when you run help(machine). There may be a subtle bug in the py/builtinhelp.c program. I build my own firmware and never include the help function, so I cannot say for sure.

What happens when you do this in the REPL:

import machine
dir(machine)

will this cause a crash?

[fdufnews]

What happens when you do this in the REPL:

import machine
dir(machine)

Here is what I get

>>> import machine
>>> dir(machine)
['__class__', '__getattr__', '__name__', 'const', 'ADC', 'ADCBlock', 'DEEPSLEEP', 'DEEPSLEEP_RESET', 'EXT0_WAKE', 'EXT1_WAKE', 
'HARD_RESET', 'I2C', 'I2CTarget', 'I2S', 'PIN_WAKE', 'PWM', 'PWRON_RESET', 'Pin', 'RTC', 'SDCard', 'SLEEP', 'SOFT_RESET', 'SPI', 'Signal', 
'SoftI2C', 'SoftSPI', 'TIMER_WAKE', 'TOUCHPAD_WAKE', 'Timer', 'TouchPad', 'UART', 'ULP_WAKE', 'USBDevice', 'WDT', 'WDT_RESET', 
'__dict__', '__file__', '_machine', 'bitstream', 'bootloader', 'deepsleep', 'dht_readinto', 'disable_irq', 'enable_irq', 'freq', 'idle', 'lightsleep', 
'mem16', 'mem32', 'mem8', 'reset', 'reset_cause', 'sleep', 'soft_reset', 'time_pulse_us', 'unique_id', 'wake_reason', 'Counter', 'Encoder']
>>> 

[shariltumin]

So for now, don't use help(machine)

[fdufnews]

OK, thank you

[shariltumin]

If you want something similar to the help(module) then try this:

# usage:
# import machine
# hjelp(machine)

def hjelp(md):
    for k, v in md.__dict__.items():
        print(k, v)

[fdufnews]

Ok, thanks for the suggestion.