Yocto Guide

Development Environment Setup

Host Setup

Yocto can be built on supported Linux distributions. To keep the host operating system independent of these requirements, a virtualized environment such as a virtual machine or container (e.g., Docker) can be used to provide a compatible build environment.

Linux distribution

If you aim to build Yocto natively under your host, then restrictions apply on which Linux distributions you can use by the supported distributions from Yocto.

Under Windows use one of the following to be able to work in a Linux environment:

• Linux Virtual Machine
• Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL)

With that you should be able to set up a working Linux environment. If so, you can continue with setting up your Yocto build environment.

Build Environment Setup

Ways to develop with Yocto:

• VS Code + DevContainer

Ka-Ro BSP

We provide and maintain two Projects which provide the software for our modules:

• NXP Yocto BSP Guide
• Mainline Yocto BSP Guide

The table below will help you to decide which guide to use, depending on the module you want to use. In this guides, the right BSP is written down, so you don’t have to worry about it.

Note

If you’re new to Yocto we recommend reading the respective section below before you continue choosing a guide.

Module	Kernel Version	Latest Release	Usage Guide	Supported Build Hosts
QS93 Series TX93 Series QS91 Series TX91 Series TX8M Series TX8P Series QS8M Series QSXM Series QSXP Series	linux-imx_6.6.52_2.2.2 NXP Kernel[6]	scarthgap KARO-2026-09-17 NXP BSP on GitHub	NXP Yocto BSP Guide	Scarthgap Reference Manual
QSMP Series TXMP Series	Linux 6.6.116 Mainline[3] + STM patches[4]	scarthgap KARO-2026-09-17 QSMP/TXMP BSP on GitHub	Mainline Yocto BSP Guide	Scarthgap Reference Manual
QSRZ Series TXRZ Series	Linux 6.1.141-cip43 Renesas Kernel[7] + Ka-Ro patches	scarthgap KARO-2026-09-17 QSRZ/TXRZ BSP on GitHub	Mainline Yocto BSP Guide	Scarthgap Reference Manual
TX6 Series TXUL Series	Linux 5.10.61 Mainline[3]	hardknott KARO-2022-07-14 TX6 BSP on GitHub	Mainline Yocto BSP Guide	Hardknott Reference Manual

To customize or extend our BSP for your custom baseboard or additional functionalities, start by following our guide:

• Customizing Guide

Legacy Yocto

• Yocto Thud Guide
• Yocto Sumo Guide (NXP)
• Yocto Rocko Guide

These Yocto releases are still available but they are deprecated, please use the above given new ones.

Module	Kernel Version	Yocto Release	Usage Guide	Supported Build Hosts
QS93 Series TX93 Series TX8M Series TX8P Series QS8M Series QSXM Series QSXP Series	linux-imx_6.1.36_2.1.0 NXP Kernel[6]	Mickledore	NXP Yocto BSP Guide	Mickledore Reference Manual
QS93 Series (i.MX 93 A0) TX93 Series (i.MX 93 A0)	linux-imx_6.1.1_1.0.0 NXP Kernel[6]	Langdale	NXP Yocto BSP Guide	Langdale Reference Manual
QSMP Series TXMP Series	Linux 6.1.28 Mainline[3] + STM patches[4]	Mickledore	Mainline Yocto BSP Guide	Mickledore Reference Manual
QSRZ Series TXRZ Series	Linux 5.10.184-cip36 Renesas Kernel[8] + Ka-Ro patches	Mickledore	Mainline Yocto BSP Guide	Mickledore Reference Manual
TX6 Series TXUL Series TX8M Series QS8M Series	linux-karo_4.14.98 NXP Kernel[5]	Sumo	Yocto Sumo Guide (NXP)	Sumo Reference Manual
TX6 Series TXUL Series	linux-karo_4.14.24 Mainline LTS[3]	Rocko	Yocto Rocko Guide	Rocko Reference Manual

If you’re new to Yocto

This is our Yocto Guide. First, lets explain some terms:

• BSP - Board Support Package:

  A Board Support Package (BSP) is a collection of information that defines how to support a particular hardware device, set of devices, or hardware platform. The BSP includes information about the hardware features present on the device and kernel configuration information along with any additional hardware drivers required. The BSP also lists any additional software components required in addition to a generic Linux software stack for both essential and optional platform features.[1]

• BSP-Layer:

  See section 1.1 in the official Yocto documentation of the Hardknott Release for the Mainline base BSP and Kirkstone Release for the NXP based BSP.

• Recipe:

  Recipes (.bb files) are fundamental components in the Yocto Project environment. Each software component built by the OpenEmbedded build system requires a recipe to define the component.[2]

On GitHub we are providing different BSP’s and layers. The following table should give you an overview.

Repository	Type	Description
karo-bsp	BSP	Ka-Ro’s Mainline Yocto BSP for boards.
meta-karo	Layer	Ka-Ro’s Mainline Yocto layer for our CoMs.
meta-karo-distro	Layer	Ka-Ro’s Mainline Yocto Distro layer.
karo-nxp-bsp	BSP	Ka-Ro flavoured NXP i.MX Yocto BSP.
meta-karo-nxp	Layer	Ka-Ro’s Yocto layer for NXP i.MX Processors based boards.
meta-karo-nxp-distro	Layer	Ka-Ro’s NXP Yocto Distro layer deprecated (prior to mickledore release)

Glossary

[1]

Further information: https://www.yoctoproject.org/docs/3.0.2/bsp-guide/bsp-guide.html

[2]

From: https://www.yoctoproject.org/docs/3.0.2/dev-manual/dev-manual.html#new-recipe-writing-a-new-recipe

[3] (1,2,3,4)

From Kernel.org / git

[4] (1,2)

As given by STM’s Yocto - STM kernel recipe

[5]

As given by NXP’s 4.14 Yocto - NXP kernel recipe

[6] (1,2,3)

Forked from NXP’s linux-imx Kernel - https://github.com/nxp-imx/linux-imx/tree/lf-6.6.y

[7]

Renesas Kernel 6.1 CIP43 - https://github.com/renesas-rz/rz_linux-cip/tree/rz-6.1-cip43

[8]

Renesas Kernel 5.10 CIP36 - https://github.com/renesas-rz/rz_linux-cip/tree/rz-5.10-cip36