Debian Build Release Stage
Overview
This page describes how to build and install Debian distribution (Stretch) on Variscite boards with DART-6UL.
Please note that the build script is based on debootstrap. As described in the following instructions, it's kindly suggested to create the build folder on the main Ubuntu volume on your host PC rather than an external media.
Using an external media, although automatically mounted, will cause debootstrap to complain about access rights (even when running the script with sudo).
Create build environment
These instructions were tested on Ubuntu 16.04/18.04 x64 host PCs. When using other distributions, there may be issues.
To learn more, please see Variscite's Docker Build Environment guide.
Windows with WSL/WSL2 is not supported for developmentInstalling required packages
On Ubuntu building machine:
$ sudo apt-get install binfmt-support qemu qemu-user-static debootstrap kpartx \ lvm2 dosfstools gpart binutils bison git lib32ncurses5-dev libssl-dev python-m2crypto gawk wget \ git-core diffstat unzip texinfo gcc-multilib build-essential chrpath socat libsdl1.2-dev \ autoconf libtool libglib2.0-dev libarchive-dev python-git xterm sed cvs subversion \ kmod coreutils texi2html bc docbook-utils python-pysqlite2 help2man make gcc g++ \ desktop-file-utils libgl1-mesa-dev libglu1-mesa-dev mercurial automake groff curl \ lzop asciidoc u-boot-tools mtd-utils device-tree-compiler flex cmake
Deploy source
Download archive containing the build script and support files for building Debian Stretch for this board:
$ cd ~ $ git clone https://github.com/varigit/debian-var.git -b debian_stretch_mx6ul_var03 var_mx6ul_dart_debian
Create environment (Internet connection should be available):
$ cd ~/var_mx6ul_dart_debian $ ./make_var_mx6ul_dart_debian.sh -c deploy
This environment prepared to build.
Make Debian
Build all
Internet connection should be available
$ cd ~/var_mx6ul_dart_debian $ sudo ./make_var_mx6ul_dart_debian.sh -c all |& tee build.log
Build by parts
Build bootloader
$ cd ~/var_mx6ul_dart_debian $ sudo ./make_var_mx6ul_dart_debian.sh -c bootloader
Build kernel, dtb files and kernel modules
$ cd ~/var_mx6ul_dart_debian $ sudo ./make_var_mx6ul_dart_debian.sh -c kernel $ sudo ./make_var_mx6ul_dart_debian.sh -c modules
Build rootfs
Internet connection should be available
$ cd ~/var_mx6ul_dart_debian $ sudo ./make_var_mx6ul_dart_debian.sh -c rootfs
Pack rootfs
To create the root file system archive (rootfs.tar.gz) and UBI image (rootfs.ubi.img), run the following commands:
$ cd ~/var_mx6ul_dart_debian $ sudo ./make_var_mx6ul_dart_debian.sh -c rtar $ sudo ./make_var_mx6ul_dart_debian.sh -c rubi
Create boot SD card
- Follow the above steps for make rootfs, kernel, bootloader;
- Insert the SD card to card reader connected to a host system;
- Run the following commands (Caution! All data on the card will be destroyed):
$ cd ~/var_mx6ul_dart_debian $ sudo ./make_var_mx6ul_dart_debian.sh -c sdcard -d /dev/sdX
where '/dev/sdX' path to the block SD device in your system.
Create a boot SD card image using a loop device
It is also possible to use the "./make_var_mx6ul_dart_debian.sh" script to create a boot SD card image, while using a loop device instead of attaching a real SD card.
Create an empty file using the following command:
$ dd if=/dev/zero of=imx6ul-var-dart-debian-sd.img bs=1M count=3720
The above command creates a 3700MiB file representing the SD card.
Attach the first available loop device to this file:
$ sudo losetup -Pf imx6ul-var-dart-debian-sd.img
To find the actual loop device being used, run:
$ losetup -a | grep imx6ul-var-dart-debian-sd.img
Write the content to the loop device to generate the SD card image:
$ sudo ./make_var_mx6ul_dart_debian.sh -c sdcard -d /dev/loopX
(Replace /dev/loopX with your actual loop device, e.g. /dev/loop0)
Detach the loop device from the file:
$ sudo losetup -d /dev/loopX
To compress the SD card image file use the following command:
$ gzip -9 imx6ul-var-dart-debian-sd.img
To write the SD card image to a real SD card device use the following command:
$ zcat imx6ul-var-dart-debian-sd.img.gz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX bs=1M && sync
(Replace /dev/sdX with your actual SD device, e.g. /dev/sdb)
Boot the board with a bootable SD card
Note: The WiFi is not operational when booting from SD card, as the WiFi and SD card are using the same SDIO interface.
A typical use-case is to boot from an SD card, flash the eMMC/NAND flash, and re-boot from the eMMC/NAND flash to have the WiFi operational.
Setting the Boot Mode
Booting your system from an SD card requires switching the Boot DIP switches. See picture below.
On the VAR-6ULCustomBoard (with a DART-6UL):
- "00" The current position in the picture will set the system to boot from SD card
- "01" Moving the right switch will set the system to boot from eMMC
- "10" Moving the left switch will set the system to boot from NAND flash
- "11" is illegal.
On the Concerto-Board (with a VAR-SOM-6UL):
- ON-EXT: Boot from the external storage (SD card) - the current position in the picture
- OFF-INT: Boot from the SOM's internal storage (eMMC/NAND flash)
Automatic device tree selection in U-Boot
Enable/Disable Automatic Device Tree selection
To enable the automatic device tree selection in U-Boot (already enabled by default):
$ setenv fdt_file undefined $ saveenv
To disable the automatic device tree selection in U-Boot, set the device tree file manually:
$ setenv fdt_file YOUR_DTB_FILE $ saveenv
Make sure you don't set an inappropriate dtb file, like a dtb with nand on a SOM that has eMMC, or a dtb for mx6ull on a SOM with an mx6ul SOC.
Build Results
The resulted images are located in ~/var_mx6ul_dart_debian/output/.
| Image name |
How to use |
|---|---|
| rootfs.tar.gz | Root filesystem tarball used for installation on SD card and eMMC |
| rootfs.ubi.img | Use for flash to NAND |
| zImage | Linux kernel image |
| SPL.nand | SPL built for NAND. The SPL is pre-U-Boot SW component, required for DDR initialization |
| SPL.mmc | SPL built for SD card and eMMC boot. The SPL is pre-U-Boot SW component, required for DDR initialization |
| u-boot.img.nand | U-Boot built for NAND flash |
| u-boot.img.mmc | U-Boot built for SD card or eMMC |
| Device Tree name |
Details |
| imx6ull-var-dart-6ulcustomboard-emmc-sd-card.dtb | Device tree blob for DART-6UL with i.MX6ULL SOC, eMMC & SD card enabled. (NAND flash & WiFi disabled) |
| imx6ull-var-dart-6ulcustomboard-emmc-wifi.dtb | Device tree blob for DART-6UL with i.MX6ULL SOC, eMMC & WiFi enabled. (NAND flash & SD card disabled) |
| imx6ull-var-dart-6ulcustomboard-nand-sd-card.dtb | Device tree blob for DART-6UL with i.MX6ULL SOC, NAND flash & SD card enabled. (eMMC & WiFi disabled) |
| imx6ull-var-dart-6ulcustomboard-nand-wifi.dtb | Device tree blob for DART-6UL with i.MX6ULL SOC, NAND flash & WiFi enabled. (eMMC & SD card disabled) |
| imx6ul-var-dart-6ulcustomboard-emmc-sd-card.dtb | Device tree blob for DART-6UL with i.MX6UL SOC, eMMC & SD card enabled. (NAND flash & WiFi disabled) |
| imx6ul-var-dart-6ulcustomboard-emmc-wifi.dtb | Device tree blob for DART-6UL with i.MX6UL SOC, eMMC & WiFi enabled. (NAND flash & SD card disabled) |
| imx6ul-var-dart-6ulcustomboard-nand-sd-card.dtb | Device tree blob for DART-6UL with i.MX6UL SOC, NAND flash & SD card enabled. (eMMC & WiFi disabled) |
| imx6ul-var-dart-6ulcustomboard-nand-wifi.dtb | Device tree blob for DART-6UL with i.MX6UL SOC, NAND flash & WiFi enabled. (eMMC & SD card disabled) |
| imx6ulz-var-dart-6ulcustomboard-emmc-sd-card.dtb | Device tree blob for DART-6UL with i.MX6ULZ SOC, eMMC & SD card enabled. (NAND flash & WiFi disabled) |
| imx6ulz-var-dart-6ulcustomboard-emmc-wifi.dtb | Device tree blob for DART-6UL with i.MX6ULZ SOC, eMMC & WiFi enabled. (NAND flash & SD card disabled) |
| imx6ulz-var-dart-6ulcustomboard-nand-sd-card.dtb | Device tree blob for DART-6UL with i.MX6ULZ SOC, NAND flash & SD card enabled. (eMMC & WiFi disabled) |
| imx6ulz-var-dart-6ulcustomboard-nand-wifi.dtb | Device tree blob for DART-6UL with i.MX6ULZ SOC, NAND flash & WiFi enabled. (eMMC & SD card disabled) |
| imx6ull-var-som-concerto-board-emmc-sd-card.dtb | Device tree blob for VAR-SOM-6UL with i.MX6ULL SOC, eMMC & SD card enabled. (NAND flash & WiFi disabled) |
| imx6ull-var-som-concerto-board-emmc-wifi.dtb | Device tree blob for VAR-SOM-6UL with i.MX6ULL SOC, eMMC & WiFi enabled. (NAND flash & SD card disabled) |
| imx6ull-var-som-concerto-board-nand-sd-card.dtb | Device tree blob for VAR-SOM-6UL with i.MX6ULL SOC, NAND flash & SD card enabled. (eMMC & WiFi disabled) |
| imx6ull-var-som-concerto-board-nand-wifi.dtb | Device tree blob for VAR-SOM-6UL with i.MX6ULL SOC, NAND flash & WiFi enabled. (eMMC & SD card disabled) |
| imx6ul-var-som-concerto-board-emmc-sd-card.dtb | Device tree blob for VAR-SOM-6UL with i.MX6UL SOC, eMMC & SD card enabled. (NAND flash & WiFi disabled) |
| imx6ul-var-som-concerto-board-emmc-wifi.dtb | Device tree blob for VAR-SOM-6UL with i.MX6UL SOC, eMMC & WiFi enabled. (NAND flash & SD card disabled) |
| imx6ul-var-som-concerto-board-nand-sd-card.dtb | Device tree blob for VAR-SOM-6UL with i.MX6UL SOC, NAND flash & SD card enabled. (eMMC & WiFi disabled) |
| imx6ul-var-som-concerto-board-nand-wifi.dtb | Device tree blob for VAR-SOM-6UL with i.MX6UL SOC, NAND flash & WiFi enabled. (eMMC & SD card disabled) |
| imx6ulz-var-som-concerto-board-emmc-sd-card.dtb | Device tree blob for VAR-SOM-6UL with i.MX6ULZ SOC, eMMC & SD card enabled. (NAND flash & WiFi disabled) |
| imx6ulz-var-som-concerto-board-emmc-wifi.dtb | Device tree blob for VAR-SOM-6UL with i.MX6ULZ SOC, eMMC & WiFi enabled. (NAND flash & SD card disabled) |
| imx6ulz-var-som-concerto-board-nand-sd-card.dtb | Device tree blob for VAR-SOM-6UL with i.MX6ULZ SOC, NAND flash & SD card enabled. (eMMC & WiFi disabled) |
| imx6ulz-var-som-concerto-board-nand-wifi.dtb | Device tree blob for VAR-SOM-6UL with i.MX6ULZ SOC, NAND flash & WiFi enabled. (eMMC & SD card disabled) |
Linux console access
| User name | User password | User descriptor |
|---|---|---|
| root | root | system administrator |
| user | user | local user |
| x_user | used for X session access |
Flash images to NAND / eMMC
In case you are using a SOM with NAND flash, run the following command as root to install Debian on it:
# debian-nand.sh
In case you are using a SOM with eMMC, run the following command as root to install Debian on it:
# debian-emmc.sh
The above scripts are located in /usr/sbin in the rootfs of the SD card used to boot Debian.
How-to: Test and use an interface
Please see this section in the Yocto developer guide page. It is the same for Debian.
How-to: Modify the kernel configuration
To modify the kernel configuration (add/remove features and drivers) please follow the steps below:
1. $ cd ~/var_mx6ul_dart_debian/src/kernel 2. $ sudo make ARCH=arm mrproper 3. $ sudo make ARCH=arm imx_v7_var_defconfig 4. $ sudo make ARCH=arm menuconfig 5. Navigate the menu and select the desired kernel functionality 6. Exit the menu and answer "Yes" when asked "Do you wish to save your new configuration?" 7. $ sudo make ARCH=arm savedefconfig 8. $ sudo cp arch/arm/configs/imx_v7_var_defconfig arch/arm/configs/imx_v7_var_defconfig.orig 9. $ sudo cp defconfig arch/arm/configs/imx_v7_var_defconfig 10. Follow the instructions above to rebuild kernel and modules, repack rootfs images and recreate SD card
Build a sample C "Hello, world!" program
Create a file called myhello.c with the following content:
#include <stdio.h>
int main() {
printf("Hello, World!\n");
return 0;
}
Export the C (cross-)compiler path:
$ export CC=~/var_mx6ul_dart_debian/toolchain/gcc-linaro-6.3.1-2017.05-x86_64_arm-linux-gnueabihf/bin/arm-linux-gnueabihf-gcc
Compile:
$ $CC myhello.c -o myhello
Now you should have an app called myhello, that can be run on your target board.
You can add it to your rootfs image or copy it directly to the rootfs on the board (using scp, for example).