Rock pi 4 with linux build system

vasudhevan · October 11, 2019, 11:12am

Rock pi 4 if possible to use yacto or buildroot build system.
We want to generate minimal file system.
How to achieve this on rock pi 4.

Regards
Vasu

igorp · October 11, 2019, 11:32am

Quickest way without investing weeks/months and worry about support and updates:

Default minimal image is around 500Mb, 1/3 is kernel. You can strip more, but in that case you will need to invest own time.

jack · October 12, 2019, 2:30am

ROCK Pi 4 buildroot is supported upstream if i remember correctly.

https://patchwork.ozlabs.org/patch/1109712/

Kopono · October 12, 2019, 8:59pm

I spent a whole day testing different images… I’d recommend the Armbian Stretch Minimum, works like a charm. I’m hoping it doesn’t randomly crash like the official radxa ubuntu & debian images… so far so good tho (only up 1 day so far).

vasudhevan · October 14, 2019, 5:12pm

Hi igorp,
Thank you for your response,
We are newbie to armbian build tools.
If we go for default distro (ubuntu,debian,armbian) how we achieve production means after sd card flashed some person manually needs to install our application and dependency.
If we use build system (yacto (or) buildroot) production is easier.
Do you have any suggestion for production using distro (ubuntu,debian,armbian) ?

Regards
Vasu

vasudhevan · October 14, 2019, 5:18pm

Hi Jack,
Thank you for your reply.
What buildroot version i need to use ?
This patch file mentioned uboot is pointing some repository not a radxa (https://github.com/radxa/u-boot) ?
Kernel repository also not mentioned ?

Regards
Vasu

vasudhevan · October 14, 2019, 5:21pm

Hi Kopono,
Thank you for your reply,
How to achieve production can i possible to add our application and dependency before flashing to the sd card ?

Kopono · October 14, 2019, 5:34pm

This is the image that I used, it works really well. Solid 2 days uptime, no issues.

https://dl.armbian.com/rockpi-4b/Debian_stretch_default.7z

There’s also a pre-installed desktop version here: https://dl.armbian.com/rockpi-4b/Debian_stretch_default_desktop.7z

I do not recommend the latest buster images, they’re not as well developed as their stretch builds yet.

vasudhevan · October 14, 2019, 5:56pm

Hi Kopono,
Thank you for your reply,

I wiil try your suggestion after that i give you feedback.
Armbian supports docker ?

Regards
Vasu

igorp · October 14, 2019, 5:58pm

I use Yocto daily for some other stuff. It is not easy even you don’t change anything. But if you do then it starts to break apart. Certainly it will not be easier than this:
https://docs.armbian.com/Developer-Guide_User-Configurations/#user-provided-image-customization-script

You only install your application and you don’t need to to deal with the rest.

Yes, of course. You will not find more polished OS.

vasudhevan · October 14, 2019, 6:30pm

Hi igorp,
Thank you for your reply,

We already having experience with yacto and buildroot some other processors.
I will check your suggestion later i give you feedback.

Regards
Vasu

igorp · October 15, 2019, 5:54am

Armbian is fully featured build system. Main difference between Yocto/Buildroot principle is that with Armbian you don’t build everything from sources but rely on Debian packages. You only recompile from sources kernel and few other critical packages, use it as is or add your own application to it.

Everything - from setting environment - is done with one single command.

Armbian can be just easier. You install your application with a script, linked in my previous post, and your image is more or less done.

That might depends on your application but if not, than just go for Debian Stretch minimal as suggested, but others should work as well. Main difference between them are package versions. Some are more recent, others more mature … some applications works only on some. Like OMV

If they manage to use Armbian as a base for this super complex deployment … this is example of the script which runs (automatically if chosen) at the end of build process

github.com

armbian/build/blob/master/config/templates/customize-image.sh.template#L41-L218


InstallOpenMediaVault() {
	# use this routine to create a Debian based fully functional OpenMediaVault
	# image (OMV 3 on Jessie, OMV 4 with Stretch). Use of mainline kernel highly
	# recommended!
	#
	# Please note that this variant changes Armbian default security 
	# policies since you end up with root password 'openmediavault' which
	# you have to change yourself later. SSH login as root has to be enabled
	# through OMV web UI first
	#
	# This routine is based on idea/code courtesy Benny Stark. For fixes,
	# discussion and feature requests please refer to
	# https://forum.armbian.com/index.php?/topic/2644-openmediavault-3x-customize-imagesh/


	echo root:openmediavault | chpasswd
	rm /root/.not_logged_in_yet
	. /etc/default/cpufrequtils
	export LANG=C LC_ALL="en_US.UTF-8"
	export DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive
	export APT_LISTCHANGES_FRONTEND=none

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vasudhevan · October 15, 2019, 8:35am

Hi Jack,
What buildroot version i need to use ?
This patch file mentioned uboot is pointing some repository not a radxa (https://github.com/radxa/u-boot) ?
Kernel repository also not mentioned ?

Regards
Vasu

vasudhevan · October 15, 2019, 8:44am

Hi igorp,
Thank you for brief explanation.
We are checking all possible distro and linux build systems.
As per you suggestion we trying with armbian os later i give you feedback.

Regards,
Vasu

igorp · October 15, 2019, 10:49am

This buildroot recipe is used for developing modern u-boot and kernel … where stability and features are not there yet. It points toward:

development version of mainline u-boot
generic Linux kernel version 5.1.y

If you want to use your application you don’t want to mess with this. You will need to create your own recipe and solve all the problems on your own.

nish · October 15, 2019, 12:01pm

Hi @vasudhevan If you are interested in building with Yocto you can use this layer: https://github.com/nishantpoorswani/meta-radxa for the Rockpi-4.