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Version: Torizon OS 6.x.y

Build Torizon OS from Source With Yocto Project/OpenEmbedded

Introduction

Torizon OS (formerly TorizonCore) is the base operating system in which Torizon is built. It is a minimal Yocto-based embedded Linux image and, even though customers may usually stick to application development on top of containers, sometimes they may need to customize the base image for their needs.

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If you just want to start using Torizon OS as-is with no customization in the original image, see the Quickstart Guide for information on how to install it on your Toradex Computer-on-Module.

Before trying to build Torizon OS using Yocto Project/Open Embedded, briefly read what TorizonCore Builder can do. It's a Toradex-provided tool that can help in customizing your Torizon OS image, without having to deal with Yocto.

The Toradex manifest repository contains a Repo manifest and setup scripts for the Torizon OS build system. If you want to modify, extend or port Torizon OS to a new hardware platform, this is the manifest repository to use.

The build system uses various components from the Yocto Project, most importantly the OpenEmbedded build system, the bitbake task executor and various application and BSP layers.

You have two options to build Torizon OS (and possibly any Yocto-based image):

  • Use a native Linux distribution like Ubuntu to build Torizon OS.
    • Pros: has the advantage that you can easily understand what is going on.
    • Cons: you may be stuck on a certain Distribution Version which is supported by the Yocto Release where Torizon OS is built on; you need to install all dependencies by yourself in every new development machine.
  • Use a Docker container and build everything inside that container.
    • Pros: it has the advantage that it will work independently of the version of the host distribution; it works under Windows; the commands used inside the container are the exact same as if you would build on the native distribution.
    • Cons: it may seem to be more complicated at the first look.

You can build Torizon OS natively under your favorite Linux flavor. However, not all distribution version/Yocto version combos are allowed. If your distribution is not supported you will get a warning when running your first bitbake command. In such cases, it may happen that your current distribution can't build Torizon OS. You may consider trying to use a Docker container then.

This article complies with the Typographic Conventions for Torizon Documentation.

Common Prerequisites

The following information is something that you should determine before proceeding with either build option.

Manifest Branch

The manifest branch refers to the git branch of the manifest repository that will be used for setup. The available branches related to Torizon OS images are:

Torizon OS versionBranch
6.x.y1kirkstone-6.x.y
5.x.y2dunfell-5.x.y
0.0.0master
  1. Versions 6.3.0 and earlier were released with the TorizonCore name.
  2. All Versions 5.x.y were released with the TorizonCore name.

These branches come from the official Toradex Manifest Repository.

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master is maintained to monitor changes in the external layers. Builds can be broken for a longer period of time. This branch is not recommended for productization.

Manifest File

The manifest file refers to the specific file in the manifest repository that will be used for setup. The available files related to Torizon images are:

  • torizoncore/default.xml
  • torizoncore/integration.xml
  • torizoncore/next.xml

It is recommended to use torizoncore/default.xml. The other two manifest files are used by Toradex to monitor future changes and may not be stable.

Torizon OS Distro

Within the greater Torizon Cloud (formerly Torizon Platform), Toradex provides different variations of Torizon OS. In the OpenEmbedded community these are known as "Distros". For Torizon OS, Toradex provides the following Distros:

DistroKernel BaseKernel Config
torizonDownstream kernel from SoC vendor (NXP) (default for iMX8* based modules)Default (without the PREEMPT_RT patch)
torizon-upstreamMainline kernel (default for iMX6/iMX7 based modules)Default (without the PREEMPT_RT patch)
torizon-rtDownstream kernel from SoC vendor (NXP)Fully preemptive (real-time Linux PREEMPT_RT patch)
torizon-upstream-rtMainline kernelFully preemptive (real-time Linux PREEMPT_RT patch)

Machine

Supported MACHINE targets (officially tested by Toradex):

Machine NameCorresponding Toradex Module
apalis-imx6Apalis iMX6
apalis-imx8Apalis iMX8
colibri-imx7-emmcColibri iMX7D 1GB (equipped with eMMC flash)
colibri-imx6Colibri iMX6
colibri-imx6ull-emmcColibri iMX6ULL 1GB (equipped with eMMC flash)
colibri-imx8xColibri iMX8X V1.0C or newer
verdin-imx8mmVerdin iMX8M Mini
verdin-imx8mpVerdin iMX8M Plus
verdin-am62Verdin AM62 (supported on 6.4.0 or newer Torizon OS releases)

Torizon OS Image

Supported image targets for bitbaking:

ImageDescription
torizon-minimalTorizon OS reference minimal image without a container engine
All other Torizon OS features are included, such as remote and offline OS updates, device monitoring, and more
Refer to Torizon OS Reference Minimal Image Technical Overview
torizon-core-dockerDefault image supported by Toradex
- Network Manager: NetworkManager
- Init system: systemd
- Container Engine: Docker
- OTA Framework: OSTree & Uptane
torizon-core-podmanExperimental image using Podman instead of Docker
Same Features as above except Container Engine is Podman

Build Process

Choose from the tabs below to either do a native or a containerized build:

Prerequisites

You must have a host PC configured with the following prerequisites:

Optionally, if you plan to build an image with Secure Boot, refer to the article Secure Boot on Torizon OS, where additional dependencies and build configuration are listed.

Download Metadata

To configure the scripts and download the build metadata, do:

$ mkdir ~/bin
$ PATH=~/bin:$PATH

$ curl http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/git-repo-downloads/repo > ~/bin/repo
$ chmod a+x ~/bin/repo

In addition, make sure you have Git user name and e-mail configured:

$ git config --global user.email "you@example.com"
$ git config --global user.name "Your Name"

Run repo init to bring down the latest stable version of Repo. You must specify a URL for the manifest, which specifies the various repositories that will be placed within your working directory. Furthermore, a branch must be specified. Available manifest branches are listed in the above table.

To check out the latest Torizon OS release, including monthly pre-releases:

$ repo init -u git://git.toradex.com/toradex-manifest.git -b kirkstone-6.x.y -m torizoncore/default.xml

Alternatively, if you want to work on a specific version, check out using tags. Find out available tags on the Git repository. See the example below for 6.0.0:

repo init -u git://git.toradex.com/toradex-manifest.git -b refs/tags/6.0.0 -m torizoncore/default.xml
tip

For reproducible builds, you should at least lock in on a specific version. If reproducible builds are critical for your use case, consider fetching all source code and storing it on a local machine after the setup.

A successful initialization will end with a message stating that Repo is initialized in your working directory. Your client directory should now contain a .repo directory where files such as the manifest will be kept.

To pull down the metadata sources to your working directory from the repositories as specified in the repo manifest, run:

$ repo sync --no-clone-bundle

When downloading from behind a proxy (which is common in some corporate environments), it might be necessary to explicitly specify the proxy that is then used by repo:

$ export HTTP_PROXY=http://<proxy_user_id>:<proxy_password>@<proxy_server>:<proxy_port>
$ export HTTPS_PROXY=http://<proxy_user_id>:<proxy_password>@<proxy_server>:<proxy_port>

More rarely, Linux clients experience connectivity issues, getting stuck in the middle of downloads (typically during "Receiving objects"). It has been reported that tweaking the settings of the TCP/IP stack and using non-parallel commands can improve the situation. You need root access to modify the TCP setting:

$ sudo sysctl -w net.ipv4.tcp_window_scaling=0
$ repo sync -j1

Setup Environment

The default distribution (DISTRO) variable is automatically set based on the chosen MACHINE (either torizon or torizon-upstream). To choose another DISTRO, specify so in the below command, similar to MACHINE. For more information on available DISTROs please see the previous section Torizon OS Distro.

Setup the work environment by using the setup-environment script:

$ [MACHINE=<MACHINE>] source setup-environment [BUILDDIR]

If MACHINE is not provided, the script will list all possible machines and force one to be selected. For more information on available machines please consult the Machine list.

Start Building

To build the Torizon OS image:

The above setup script should properly prepare the environment with correct defaults. Additionally you'll want to modify the conf/local.conf file by adding ACCEPT_FSL_EULA="1".

$ bitbake torizon-core-docker

Customization

The Yocto Project can be quite defying and hard to use. In the following documentation, we cover some basic functionality that is likely you will have to go through during your development:

It does not replace the official Yocto Project documentation, though. At the end of the article Build a Reference Image with Yocto Project, we provide links to it, and you will most likely need to study it to some degree.

Custom Layers

On Torizon OS all your custom layers must be version controlled by Git, due to how we include layer revision information with OSTree. More details are provided in the aforementioned article Hello World integration into OpenEmbedded.

Deploy to Torizon Cloud using Yocto

Prerequisites

You must have Java installed on your host PC:

$ sudo apt install openjdk-8-jre

Preparing Setup

Before building your custom Torizon OS image using Yocto, it is possible to set variables in order to automatically push the image to your Torizon Cloud account.

Adding the path to your credential.zip, which can be obtained following How to Get Torizon Cloud credential.zip, and specifying the hardware for the image build. This configuration will be added to conf/local.conf:

SOTA_PACKED_CREDENTIALS = "/path/to/credential.zip"
SOTA_HARDWARE_ID = "verdin-imx8mp"

After building the image with Yocto, your image will be automatically pushed to your Torizon Cloud account and can be checked on the Recent Packages tab.

Deploy to Torizon Cloud Using TorizonCore Builder

This is a feature available on prime-tiers of the Torizon Cloud. If you want to learn more about the Torizon Cloud pricing and plans, please contact us.

Request access to evaluate the Torizon Cloud premium features

To be able to deploy your custom image to Torizon Cloud, you need to meet the following criteria:

  • Maintain the OSTree and Aktualizr references unchanged at your Yocto Build setup. They are responsible for the system update and OTA process.

Then, all you need from Yocto is the resulting image in the Toradex Easy Installer format, which you will use with the TorizonCore Builder Tool to unpack the image and then push it to Torizon Cloud.

Read the article Signing and Pushing Torizon OS Images to Torizon Cloud for more details about this process.

Keep in mind, though, that once you build your own Torizon OS image you are fully responsible for regularly building and deploying updates as well.



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