Building Images

Setup Build Directory

We provide a script, karo-setup-release.sh, that simplifies the setup for our machines. To use the script, the name of the specific machine to be built for needs to be specified as well as the desired distro. The script sets up a directory and the configuration files for the specified machine and distro. It also adds our layers to the bblayers.conf file.

There are different configurations you can choose from.

  • DISTRO configurations:

DISTRO=

Description

karo-minimal

Ka-Ro Linux Distro with minimal read-only rootfs

karo-wayland

Ka-Ro Linux Distro with wayland backend

karo-xwayland

Ka-Ro Linux Distro with xwayland backend

karo-x11

Ka-Ro Linux Distro with X11 support

  • Possible MACHINE configurations:

Renesas

RZ/G2L Processors

MACHINE=

qsrz-g2l0

txrz-g2l0

qsrz-g2l1

txrz-g2l1

txrz-g2l2

STM

STM32MP1 Processors

MACHINE=

qsmp-1351

qsmp-1570

qsmp-1530

qsmp-1510

txmp-1570

txmp-1571

NXP

Note

i.MX6 machines are no longer supported in mickledore release.

i.MX6UL(L)

single core

Cortex A7

i.MX6S

single core

Cortex A9

i.MX6DL

dual core

Cortex A9

i.MX6Q(P)

quad core

Cortex A9

TXUL

TX6S

TX6U

TX6Q

MACHINE=

MACHINE=

MACHINE=

MACHINE=

txul-5010

tx6s-8034

tx6u-8030

tx6q-1030

txul-5011

tx6s-8035

tx6u-8033

tx6q-1036

txul-8013

tx6s-8134

tx6u-8130

tx6q-1130

tx6s-8135

tx6u-8133

tx6q-8037

tx6q-8137

Use this command to setup your build directory (specify the distro, machine, and the build directory):

  • General Example:

DISTRO=<distro> MACHINE=<machine> source karo-setup-release.sh -b <build-dir>

When the script has run, your current directory changes to the <build-dir> you chose before.

  • Specific Example (e.g. QSMP-1570):

DISTRO=karo-minimal MACHINE=qsmp-1570 source karo-setup-release.sh -b build-qsmp-1570-karo-minimal

  • Returning to existing build:

You can return to an already setup build directory by running:

source setup-environment <build-dir>

local.conf

To enable different features for your build you can modify the conf/local.conf file inside your build-directory.

Baseboard (optional)

The baseboard variable only affects the bootloader (U-Boot) and it’s environment. Normally there’s no need to set it.

Linux related baseboard configurations are done with Devicetree Overlays.

Machine

Supported Baseboards

General

QS solder-in

  • qsbase1

  • qsbase2

  • qsbase4 (default for QSRZ-)

TX plug-in

  • mb7

Additional

TXRZ-G2L2

  • lvds-mb

QSMP-1570 QSRZ-G2L0

  • qsqlyn1

To set the KARO_BASEBOARD variable, modify your conf/local.conf:

KARO_BASEBOARD = "baseboard"

Machine Features

Machine Feature

Description

Default?

extmod

Disables CONFIG_TRIM_UNUSED_KSYMS, neccessary for building external kernel modules

No

lcd

LCD support

Automatically selected via $MACHINE if supported

lvds

LVDS display support

Automatically selected via $MACHINE if supported

nand

NAND storage support

Automatically selected via $MACHINE if supported

sata

SATA interface support

Automatically selected via $MACHINE if supported

dsi83

SN65DSI83 mipi-lvds bridge support

Automatically selected via $MACHINE if supported

To expand the MACHINE_FEATURES variable to your needs, modify your conf/local.conf:

MACHINE_FEATURES:append = " item1 item2 ..."

Distro Features

Machine Feature

Description

Default?

bluetooth

Bluetooth support

No

ipv6

IPV6 support

No

systemd

Changes init-system to systemd, e.g. neccessary when using Debian

No

wifi

WiFi support

No

To expand the DISTRO_FEATURES variable to your needs, modify your conf/local.conf:

DISTRO_FEATURES:append = " item1 item2 ..."

Build the Image

Note

The setup-environment provided by the BSP already sets up a SSTATE CACHE to speedup the build process.
For more about sstate caches see Enable sstate cache.

Here are (some of) the different images (and packages) that can be build:

Image

Description

DISTRO= (required)

Provided by layer

Official Ka-Ro BSP images

karo-image-minimal

Image with minimal read-only rootfs

karo-minimal

meta-karo-distro

karo-image-weston

Image with basic weston desktop, graphics accelerated

karo-wayland

meta-karo-distro

karo-image-qt6

Image with basic weston desktop and QT5. To use it wit QT-Creator see QT Guide

karo-wayland

meta-karo-distro

karo-image-x11

Image with X11 support

karo-x11

meta-karo-distro

Ka-Ro packages images

u-boot-karo

U-Boot flashable binary

N/A (any)

meta-karo

linux-karo

Linux Kernel and specified .dtb files only

N/A (any)

meta-karo

General Yocto / OE images

core-image-minimal

See here @ OpenEmbedded Layer Index

N/A (any)

Poky

OpenEmbedded Layer Index

OpenEmbedded Layer Index for Recipes

Examples

Build the kernel image with the following command inside your <build-dir>.

bitbake linux-karo

Build the karo-image-minimal with the following command inside your <build-dir>.

bitbake karo-image-minimal

Getting the SDK

To build the SDK of a certain image run inside your <build-dir>:

bitbake <image> -c populate_sdk

Tip

The SDK can e.g. be used for VS Code Cross-Compilation.

Image Deployment

After a build is complete, the created image resides in the tmp/deploy/images/<machine> sub-directory. An image is, for the most part, specific to the machine set in the environment setup. Each image build creates different files.

The following files are created for Ka-Ro QSMP/TXMP modules when running karo-image-minimal:

Filename

Content

Module Type

flashlayout_*.tsv

FlashLayout File for STM32CubeProgrammer

any

uImage-<version>-<machine>

Kernel uImage

any

modules-<machine>.tgz

Kernel modules

any

<image>-<machine>.tar.{bz2|gz}

RFS (bzip2/gzip) tar

any

<image>-<machine>.ext4

RFS ext4 filesystem image

eMMC

<image>-<machine>.ubi

RFS UBI (Unsorted Block Images)

NAND

<image>-<machine>.ubifs

RFS UBIFS (UBI File-System)

NAND

*.dtb

Device Tree Blob

any

*.dtbo

Device Tree Overlay Blob

any

<image>/

FlashImage standalone folder

any

<image>/uuu.auto

UUU FlashImage script

any

QSRZ/TXRZ

Tip

To continue with these images use Flashing RZ/G2L Boards or TFTP boot.

QSMP/TXMP

Tip

To continue with these images use STM32CubeProgrammer or TFTP boot.

Tip

See what you can do with Yocto built images at Mainline BSP. If you compiled karo-image-qt6 check out QT Guide.

TX6/TXUL

Tip

To continue with these images use Mfgtool or TFTP boot.
UUU is currently not supported for TX6/TXUL!

Tip

See what you can do with Yocto built Images at Mainline BSP. If you compiled karo-image-qt5 check out QT Guide.