pydevicetree

0.0.13 verified Fri May 01 auth: no python

A Python library for parsing and manipulating Devicetree Source v1 (DTS) files. Current version 0.0.13, released on 2026-01-12. Maintained primarily by SiFive; releases are infrequent with minor fixes and improvements.

pip install pydevicetree

Common errors

error pydevicetree.exceptions.ParseException: Expected <class 'pydevicetree.parser.Parser'> ↓

cause Invalid DTS syntax or missing /dts-v1/; header.

fix

Check your DTS input for syntax errors and ensure it starts with '/dts-v1/;'.

error AttributeError: 'str' object has no attribute 'value' ↓

cause Trying to access .value on a property that is not a PropertyValue object (e.g., string property).

fix

Use node.properties['propname'].value for PropertyValue; for plain strings, use node.properties['propname'] directly (it is already a string).

error KeyError: 'compatible' ↓

cause Accessing a property that does not exist on the node.

fix

Check if the property exists: if 'compatible' in node.properties: ...

error ImportError: cannot import name 'Devicetree' from 'pydevicetree' ↓

cause Installed an older version (<0.0.3) where Devicetree was not exposed at top level.

fix

Upgrade to latest: pip install --upgrade pydevicetree

Warnings

gotcha Property names in DTS are case-sensitive. Ensure exact case when accessing via node.properties dict. ↓

fix Use the exact name as in the DTS source, e.g., node.properties['compatible'] not 'Compatible'.

gotcha The 'reg' property is returned as a RegArray object, not a raw list. Convert using .as_size_address_pairs() or .get_reg_tuple(). ↓

fix Use reg_array.as_size_address_pairs() to get list of (address, size) tuples.

breaking In v0.0.12, merging nodes now reparents children. If you manually assign child nodes to multiple parents, they may be moved unexpectedly. ↓

fix Ensure each child node has only one parent, or use deep copies before merging.

gotcha The library only supports DTS v1. Using /dts-v1/; header is required; older styles are not parsed. ↓

fix Ensure DTS input starts with '/dts-v1/;'.

Imports

Devicetree
```
from pydevicetree import Devicetree
```
Main class for representing an entire devicetree.
Node
```
from pydevicetree import Node
```
Represents a single node in the tree.
PropertyValue
```
from pydevicetree import PropertyValue
```
Base class for property values.
RegArray
```
from pydevicetree import RegArray
```
Represents the 'reg' property array.
RangeArray
```
from pydevicetree import RangeArray
```
Represents the 'ranges' property array.

Quickstart

Parse a DTS string, access properties, and manipulate nodes.

from pydevicetree import Devicetree, Node

# Parse a DTS file from string
dts_text = """/dts-v1/;
/ {
    compatible = "example,board";
    memory@80000000 {
        device_type = "memory";
        reg = <0x0 0x80000000 0x0 0x40000000>;
    };
};
"""
tree = Devicetree.from_dts(dts_text)
print(tree.root.compatible)        # 'example,board'
mem_node = tree.root.children['memory@80000000']
print(mem_node.reg)                # RegArray(...)

# Create and add a new node
new_node = Node('serial@10000000', parent=tree.root)
new_node.add_property('compatible', 'ns16550')
tree.root.add_child(new_node)
print(tree.to_dts())