flutter_ymodem_lib

A pure Dart implementation of the YModem file transfer protocol for Flutter, ported from the well-known Android library YModemlib_Android (com.bw.yml.YModem) and designed for BLE OTA firmware upgrades.

Because the whole engine is written in Dart, it works identically on Android, iOS, Windows, macOS and Linux (and even on embedded/desktop Dart) with zero native code and no extra dependencies.

中文文档请见 readme_cn.md。

Platform	Support
Android	✅ (Dart-only plugin, no native code)
iOS	✅
Windows	✅
macOS	✅
Linux	✅

The plugin itself requires Flutter >= 3.0 / Dart >= 2.17 — it also works with old Flutter versions.

Features

• Sender side of the YModem protocol (the OTA host role):
  • optional custom hello / handshake data (start('Customized Data')),
  • package 0 with file name, size and optional MD5,
  • data packages with 128 (SOH) or 1024 (STX) byte blocks,
  • EOT / final empty package handshake,
  • MD5_OK / MD5_ERR final response support.
• CRC-16/XMODEM (CCITT, poly 0x1021, big-endian in the frame).
• Automatic retransmission on NAK / timeout (up to 6 times by default, configurable), CAN cancellation handling, stop() support.
• Handles responses split over several BLE notifications (ACK + C arriving separately, split MD5_OK text).
• Transport-agnostic: BLE, classic Bluetooth, serial, TCP... anything.
• Streaming file source — no need to load the whole firmware into memory.
• Fully unit tested (CRC vectors, package layout, end-to-end transfers against a fake receiver, retries, cancellation).

Getting started

Add to your pubspec.yaml:

dependencies:
  flutter_ymodem_lib: ^0.0.1

Minimal usage

import 'package:flutter_ymodem_lib/flutter_ymodem_lib.dart';

final ymodem = YModem(
  fileName: 'firmware.bin',
  source: YModemFileSource('/path/to/firmware.bin'),
  onDataReady: (package) => sendOverYourTransport(package),
  onProgress: (sent, total) => print('$sent / $total bytes'),
  onSuccess: () => print('OTA done ✔'),
  onFailed: (reason) => print('OTA failed: $reason'),
);

// Start directly with package 0:
ymodem.start();
// ...or send custom hello data first and wait for "C":
// ymodem.start('Customized Data');

// Feed every response from the receiver back to the engine:
ymodem.onReceiveData(receivedBytes);

// Abort at any time:
await ymodem.stop();

BLE integration (flutter_blue_plus)

The engine never touches the transport — you connect it yourself. The example/ app shows a complete implementation with flutter_blue_plus (whose Windows backend is the flutter_blue_plus_winrt package):

// 1. Pick the write + notify characteristics of your OTA service
//    (e.g. service FFE0, characteristic FFE1).
// 2. Request a larger MTU: the bigger, the faster.
final mtu = await device.requestMtu(247);

// 3. Split every package into (MTU - 3) byte chunks.
Future<void> writeChunked(List<int> data) async {
  final chunkSize = mtu - 3;
  for (var i = 0; i < data.length; i += chunkSize) {
    final end = (i + chunkSize < data.length) ? i + chunkSize : data.length;
    await characteristic.write(data.sublist(i, end), withoutResponse: true);
    await Future.delayed(const Duration(milliseconds: 8));
  }
}

// 4. Wire everything together.
final ymodem = YModem(
  fileName: basename(filePath),
  source: YModemFileSource(filePath),
  onDataReady: (package) => writeChunked(package),
  onProgress: (sent, total) => updateProgressUi(sent, total),
  onSuccess: () => showDone(),
  onFailed: (reason) => showError(reason),
);
ymodem.start('Customized Data'); // or ymodem.start()

notifyCharacteristic.lastValueStream.listen((data) {
  ymodem.onReceiveData(data);
});

Note: flutter_blue_plus >= 2.3 requires a License parameter on device.connect(). Use License.nonprofit for personal/educational use and License.commercial for commercial products (see the flutter_blue_plus LICENSE).

Protocol flow

(optional) hello data              >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
                                     <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< C
SOH 00 FF "name" "size" "md5" ... CRC CRC >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
                                     <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< ACK C
STX 01 FE data[1024] CRC CRC        >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
                                     <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< ACK
... one package per ACK ...
EOT                                 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
                                     <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< NAK
EOT                                 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
                                     <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< ACK
SOH 00 FF NUL[128] CRC CRC          >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
                                     <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< ACK (or MD5_OK)

API overview

YModem (the engine)

Parameter	Default	Description
fileName	required	File name sent in package 0
source	required	A YModemSource (see below)
onDataReady	required	Called with every package ready to send
fileMd5	''	Optional MD5, appended to package 0
sendSize	1024	Data block size: 128 (SOH) or 1024 (STX)
maxRetryTimes	6	Max resends of one package before aborting
packageTimeout	6 s	Time to wait for the receiver's response
responseSettleDelay	200 ms	Extra wait for split responses (ACK+C, MD5_OK)
onProgress	null	(sent, total) acknowledged file bytes
onSuccess / onFailed	null	Transfer result callbacks
onLog	null	Protocol state machine logs

YModemSource

abstract class YModemSource {
  int get length;
  Future<void> open();
  Future<int> read(Uint8List buffer, int start, int count);
  Future<void> close();
}

Ready-made implementations: YModemFileSource(path) (streams from disk) and YModemBytesSource(bytes) (in-memory).

YModemPacket / Crc16

Low-level building blocks if you want to extend the engine (e.g. a receiver): createFileNamePackage, createDataPackage, createEndPackage, eotPackage and the table-driven Crc16.calc.

Example app

cd example
flutter run

The example (Android / iOS / Windows / macOS / Linux) demonstrates the full OTA workflow:

1. scan for BLE devices (flutter_blue_plus + the flutter_blue_plus_winrt Windows backend),
2. connect, negotiate the MTU and pick the write / notify characteristics (defaults: service FFE0, characteristic FFE1 — adjust the constants in lib/device_page.dart for your hardware),
3. pick a firmware file,
4. optionally send hello data, set the block size and an MD5,
5. watch the progress, the status and a live hex log of the protocol.

Platform notes

• Android: Bluetooth permissions (incl. BLUETOOTH_SCAN / BLUETOOTH_CONNECT for Android 12+) are pre-configured in the manifest; runtime permissions are requested on first scan.
• iOS: NSBluetoothAlwaysUsageDescription is pre-configured in Info.plist.
• macOS: the Bluetooth entitlement (com.apple.security.personal-information.bluetooth) is pre-configured in both entitlement files.
• Linux: needs BlueZ (sudo apt install bluez) at runtime.
• Windows: works out of the box (WinRT backend).

Compatibility

• flutter_ymodem_lib itself: Flutter >= 3.0 / Dart >= 2.17.
• The example app: Dart >= 3.0 / Flutter >= 3.7, because that is what flutter_blue_plus 2.3.12 requires.

Troubleshooting

• Receiver answers nothing / timeouts: check that the notifications are enabled on the RX characteristic (setNotifyValue(true)) and that every received notification is fed into ymodem.onReceiveData().
• CRC errors on the receiver: lower the throughput — increase chunkDelay (e.g. 15–20 ms) or use sendSize: 128.
• ACK + C arrive as two notifications: handled by the engine via responseSettleDelay.
• Progress stays at 0 %: the receiver never ACKs the data packages — usually a mismatch of the write characteristic or the MTU chunking.

License

MIT — see LICENSE. The protocol logic is a Dart port of YModemlib_Android by ArdWang.