Cannot load devices with CHNO > ECM_NUMAXES

[AndreFavotto]

For ESTIA MCS1 we currently have 8 axes and 12 temperature sensors.
So we naturally have epicsEnvSet("ECM_NUMAXES", "8") because the temperature sensors are not moving axes.

However, in the logs I see complaints for any temperature sensor with CHNO above 8:

2026/02/11 15:43:28.451 asynPortDriver:getAddress: MCU1 invalid address=9, must be in range 0 to 8
ESTIA-SG1Tp:MC-Temp-09:Temp devAsynFloat64::initCommon drvUserCreate
2026/02/11 15:43:28.451 asynPortDriver:getAddress: MCU1 invalid address=10, must be in range 0 to 8
ESTIA-SG1Tp:MC-Temp-10:Temp devAsynFloat64::initCommon drvUserCreate
2026/02/11 15:43:28.451 asynPortDriver:getAddress: MCU1 invalid address=11, must be in range 0 to 8
ESTIA-SG1Tp:MC-Temp-11:Temp devAsynFloat64::initCommon drvUserCreate
2026/02/11 15:43:28.451 asynPortDriver:getAddress: MCU1 invalid address=12, must be in range 0 to 8
ESTIA-SG1Tp:MC-Temp-12:Temp devAsynFloat64::initCommon drvUserCreate
2026/02/11 15:43:28.456 asynPortDriver:getAddress: MCU1 invalid address=9, must be in range 0 to 8
ESTIA-SG1Tp:MC-Temp-09:Temp-DESC-RB_ devAsynOctet::initDrvUser drvUserCreate failed
2026/02/11 15:43:28.456 asynPortDriver:getAddress: MCU1 invalid address=10, must be in range 0 to 8
ESTIA-SG1Tp:MC-Temp-10:Temp-DESC-RB_ devAsynOctet::initDrvUser drvUserCreate failed
2026/02/11 15:43:28.456 asynPortDriver:getAddress: MCU1 invalid address=11, must be in range 0 to 8
ESTIA-SG1Tp:MC-Temp-11:Temp-DESC-RB_ devAsynOctet::initDrvUser drvUserCreate failed
2026/02/11 15:43:28.456 asynPortDriver:getAddress: MCU1 invalid address=12, must be in range 0 to 8
ESTIA-SG1Tp:MC-Temp-12:Temp-DESC-RB_ devAsynOctet::initDrvUser drvUserCreate failed

The problem goes away if I set epicsEnvSet("ECM_NUMAXES", "12") - but I do not think this makes sense.
Attached are the full logs with the respective startup script used:
estia-mcs1-logs-11-02-26.txt

The corresponding PILS configuration file can be found here.

[AndreFavotto]

If I understand correctly, ECM_NUMAXES is passed to

m-epics-ethercatmc/iocsh/ethercatmcController.iocsh

Line 4 in 9fea30d

epicsEnvSet("NUMAXES", "$(ECM_NUMAXES=8)")

Which ultimately ends up in:

m-epics-ethercatmc/ethercatmcApp/src/ethercatmcController.cpp

Lines 541 to 550 in 9fea30d

	extern "C" int ethercatmcCreateController(const char *portName,
	const char *MotorPortName,
	int numAxes, int movingPollPeriod,
	int idlePollPeriod,
	const char *optionStr) {
	new ethercatmcController(portName, MotorPortName, 1 + numAxes,
	movingPollPeriod / 1000., idlePollPeriod / 1000.,
	optionStr);
	return (asynSuccess);
	}

And eventually becomes asynPortDriver maxAddr.

In the end, ECM_NUMAXES is not the number of axes, but the maximum number of asyn addresses.

I suggest we rename ECM_NUMAXES to ECM_MAX_DEVICES to avoid confusion.

To make it backwards compatible a possible fix is to set macro-inside-macro:

epicsEnvSet("NUMAXES", "$(ECM_MAX_DEVICES=$(ECM_NUMAXES=8))")