[avrdude-dev] Unable to program atmega324p with avrdude 5.4 and AVRISP using default configuration file

[Mark Moss]

I'm not sure if this is a bug, feature, or strange luck on my end:

If I try to perform any operation on an atmega324p using the default
configuration file that comes with avrdude 5.4, I get the following error:

address@hidden:~$ avrdude /dev/ttyS0 -p m324p -c avrisp -U hfuse:r:test.txt:h
>
> avrdude: stk500_program_enable(): no device
> avrdude: initialization failed, rc=-1
>          Double check connections and try again, or use -F to override
>          this check.
>
>
> avrdude done.  Thank you
>

If I uncomment the stk500_devcode line in the m324p part section of
avrdude.conf, everything works as expected.

address@hidden:~$ avrdude /dev/ttyS0 -p m324p -c avrisp -U hfuse:r:test.txt:h
>
> avrdude: AVR device initialized and ready to accept instructions
>
> Reading | ################################################## | 100% 0.02s
>
> avrdude: Device signature = 0x1e9508
> avrdude: reading hfuse memory:
>
> Reading | ################################################## | 100% 0.01s
>
> avrdude: writing output file "test.txt"
>
> avrdude: safemode: Fuses OK
>
> avrdude done.  Thank you.
>

So far, I haven't noticed any problems.  Firmware downloaded to the part
verifies and executes (AFAIK, I haven't done any exhaustive testing) fine.
So my question is: Why is the stk500_devcode in the configuration file
commented out and what problems might pop up now that I've uncommented the
line?

Thanks,

Mark Moss