A minor change to mbed_app.json results in full re-build

I am using mbed CLI offline compiler. When I make a small change to mbed_app.json (e.g. change wifi AP to connect to), I have to wait for a full re-build of the whole OS which really cuts into development time (extremely slow process on my side). Is there any way to prevent this for minor changes?

Yes, put the minor changes as #defines in your main.cpp and it will compile faster.

The mbed_app.json and mbed_lib.json are meant to store configuration defines for turning on / off core services, thus any change in them requires a full rebuild as they are used to enable thing like BLE, Wifi …etc.

Can you share an example of how to define SSID and password as a #define?

All of the example code puts configs into the JSON that could reasonably be changed on a regular basis with no impact on the compilation of the OS. Dynamic buffer allocations (HTTP buffers, thread stack), wifi SSID, baud rate, etc.

any change to the json file should result in a clean recompile.

Per the rules of the config file (https://os.mbed.com/docs/mbed-os/v5.11/reference/configuration.html) anythiing defined in the json file should effectively just be a macro thats prepended with MBED_CONF_APP, so if you define ssid in the .json file it would be the same as defining #define MBED_CONF_APP_SSID xxxx where ‘xxxx’ is the SSID of your network.

So if you’re having trouble with re-compiles, just move the value to your main (assuming its something like a sside, or a password). For things like turning libraries on or off or using core utilities a rebuild is just a fact of life, just as much as turning on debug symbols would trigger a rebuild.