Yocto Slides

Yocto Project and OpenEmbedded Training
Yocto Project and OpenEmbedded

Training
© Copyright 2004-2021, Bootlin.

Creative Commons BY-SA 3.0 license.
Latest update: May 8, 2021.
Document updates and sources:

https://bootlin.com/doc/training/yocto
Corrections, suggestions, contributions and translations are welcome! embedded Linux and kernel engineering
Send them to feedback@bootlin.com
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Hyperlinks in the document
There are many hyperlinks in the document

▶ Regular hyperlinks:
https://kernel.org/
▶ Kernel documentation links:
dev-tools/kasan
▶ Links to kernel source files and directories:
drivers/input/
include/linux/fb.h
▶ Links to the declarations, definitions and instances of kernel symbols (functions,
types, data, structures):
platform_get_irq()
GFP_KERNEL
struct file_operations
Company at a glance
▶ Engineering company created in 2004,

named ”Free Electrons” until Feb. 2018.
▶ Locations: Orange, Toulouse, Lyon (France)
▶ Serving customers all around the world
▶ Head count: 12 - Only Free Software enthusiasts!
▶ Focus: Embedded Linux, Linux kernel, build systems and low
level Free and Open Source Software for embedded and
real-time systems.
▶ Feb. 2021: Bootlin is the 20th all-time Linux kernel contributor
▶ Activities: development, training, consulting, technical support.
▶ Added value: get the best of the user and development
community and the resources it offers.
Top Linux contributors since git (2005)
Bootlin on-line resources
▶ All our training materials and technical

presentations:
https://bootlin.com/docs/
▶ Technical blog:
https://bootlin.com/
▶ Quick news (Mastodon):
https://fosstodon.org/@bootlin
▶ Quick news (Twitter):
https://twitter.com/bootlincom
▶ Quick news (LinkedIn): Mastodon is a free and decentralized
https: social network created in the best
//www.linkedin.com/company/bootlin interests of its users.
▶ Elixir - browse Linux kernel sources on-line: Image credits: Jin Nguyen - https://frama.link/bQwcWHTP
https://elixir.bootlin.com
Generic course information
Generic course
information

embedded Linux and kernel engineering
Corrections, suggestions, contributions and translations are welcome!
Two supported hardware platforms
Two variants for this course, each using a different hardware platform.
Beaglebone Black STM32MP157A-DK1 Discovery

https://bootlin.com/doc/training/yocto/ https://bootlin.com/doc/training/yocto-stm32/
Shopping list: BeagleBone Black Wireless variant
▶ Beaglebone Black or Beaglebone Black Wireless, USB-A to

micro B power cable included
https://www.mouser.fr/ProductDetail/BeagleBoard-by-GHI/BBBWL-SC-
562?qs=k%2Fsw%252B3Yi%2FUbELBjXQpiBUQ%3D%3D
▶ USB Serial Cable - 3.3 V - female ends (for serial console)

https://www.olimex.com/Products/Components/Cables/USB-Serial-Cable/USB-SERIAL-F/
▶ Nintendo Nunchuk with UEXT connector

https://www.olimex.com/Products/Modules/Sensors/MOD-WII/MOD-Wii-UEXT-NUNCHUCK/
▶ Breadboard jumper wires - Male ends (to connect to

Nunchuk) https://www.olimex.com/Products/Breadboarding/JUMPER-WIRES/JW-110x10/
▶ Micro SD card with 8 GB capacity
Shopping list: STM32MP1 Discovery Kit variant
▶ STMicroelectronics STM32MP157A-DK1 Discovery kit

https://www.mouser.fr/ProductDetail/STMicroelectronics/STM32MP157A-
DK1?qs=9r4v7xj2LnkgRwGGD4%252BIjQ%3D%3D
▶ USB-C cable for the power supply

▶ USB-A to micro B cable for the serial console
▶ Nintendo Nunchuk with UEXT connector
https://www.olimex.com/Products/Modules/Sensors/MOD-WII/MOD-Wii-UEXT-NUNCHUCK/
▶ Breadboard jumper wires - Male ends

https://www.olimex.com/Products/Breadboarding/JUMPER-WIRES/JW-110x10/
▶ Micro SD card with 8 GB capacity
Supported hardware
BeagleBone Black or BeagleBone Black Wireless, from BeagleBoard.org
▶ Texas Instruments AM335x (ARM Cortex-A8 CPU)

▶ SoC with 3D acceleration, additional processors (PRUs) and lots of
peripherals.
▶ 512 MB of RAM
▶ 4 GB of on-board eMMC storage
▶ USB host and USB device, microSD, micro HDMI
▶ WiFi and Bluetooth (wireless version), otherwise Ethernet
▶ 2 x 46 pins headers, with access to many expansion buses (I2C, SPI, UART
and more)
▶ A huge number of expansion boards, called capes. See
https://elinux.org/Beagleboard:BeagleBone_Capes.
Supported hardware
STMicroelectronics STM32MP157A-DK1 Discovery board

▶ STM32MP157A (Dual Cortex-A7 + Cortex-M4) CPU
from STMicroelectronics
▶ 512 MB DDR3L RAM
▶ Gigabit Ethernet port
▶ 4 USB 2.0 host ports
▶ 1 USB-C OTG port
▶ 1 Micro SD slot
▶ On-board ST-LINK/V2-1 debugger
▶ Misc: buttons, LEDs, Audio codec
▶ Currently sold at 65 EUR + VAT at Mouser
Board and CPU documentation, design files, software:

https://www.st.com/en/evaluation-tools/stm32mp157a-dk1.html
Course outline - Day 1
First dive into the Yocto Project. Introduction to recipes.

▶ Overview of an embedded Linux system architecture.
▶ Organization of the Yocto Project source tree.
▶ Building an image.
▶ Adding packages to the generated image.
▶ Recipes syntax. Writing a recipe.
Labs: first Yocto Project build, advanced Yocto configuration, add a custom
application.
Recipes and layers details: write, use, customize. Machine configuration.

▶ Advanced recipes concepts.
▶ Extending existing recipes.
▶ The Yocto Project layers. Adding a new layer.
▶ Writing your own machine configuration.
Labs: create a Yocto layer, create a custom machine configuration.
Images and packagegroups details, advanced concepts, SDK and runtime package
management.
▶ Adding a custom image.
▶ Further recipes concepts.
▶ Rootfs generation.
▶ Using the Yocto Project SDK.
▶ Runtime package management.
Labs: create a custom image, develop your application in the Poky SDK.
Participate!
During the lectures...

▶ Don’t hesitate to ask questions. Other people in the audience may have similar
questions too.
▶ This helps the trainer to detect any explanation that wasn’t clear or detailed
enough.
▶ Don’t hesitate to share your experience, for example to compare Linux with other
operating systems used in your company.
▶ Your point of view is most valuable, because it can be similar to your colleagues’
and different from the trainer’s.
▶ Your participation can make our session more interactive and make the topics
easier to learn.
Practical lab guidelines
During practical labs...

▶ We cannot support more than 8 workstations at once (each with its board and
equipment). Having more would make the whole class progress slower,
compromising the coverage of the whole training agenda (exception for public
sessions: up to 10 people).
▶ So, if you are more than 8 participants, please form up to 8 working groups.
▶ Open the electronic copy of your lecture materials, and use it throughout the
practical labs to find the slides you need again.
▶ Don’t hesitate to copy and paste commands from the PDF slides and labs.
Advise: write down your commands!
During practical labs, write down all your commands in a text file.
▶ You can save a lot of time re-using commands Lab commands
in later labs. Cross-compiling kernel:

export ARCH=arm
▶ This helps to replay your work if you make export CROSS_COMPILE=arm-linux-
make sama5_defconﬁg
significant mistakes.
Booting kernel through tftp:
▶ You build a reference to remember commands setenv bootargs console=ttyS0 root=/dev/nfs
setenv bootcmd tftp 0x21000000 zImage; tftp
in the long run. 0x22000000 dtb; bootz 0x21000000 - 0x2200...
▶ That’s particular useful to keep kernel Making ubifs images:

mkfs.ubifs -d rootfs -o root.ubifs -e 124KiB
command line settings that you used earlier. -m 2048 -c 1024
▶ Also useful to get help from the instructor, Encountered issues:

Restart NFS server after editing /etc/exports!
showing the commands that you run.
gedit ~/lab-history.txt
Cooperate!
As in the Free Software and Open Source community, cooperation during practical labs
is valuable in this training session:
▶ If you complete your labs before other people, don’t hesitate to help other people
and investigate the issues they face. The faster we progress as a group, the more
time we have to explore extra topics.
▶ Explain what you understood to other participants when needed. It also helps to
consolidate your knowledge.
▶ Don’t hesitate to report potential bugs to your instructor.
▶ Don’t hesitate to look for solutions on the Internet as well.
Command memento sheet
▶ This memento sheet gives command examples

for the most typical needs (looking for files,
extracting a tar archive...)
▶ It saves us 1 day of UNIX / Linux command
line training.
▶ Our best tip: in the command line shell, always
hit the Tab key to complete command names
and file paths. This avoids 95% of typing
mistakes.
▶ Get an electronic copy on
https://bootlin.com/doc/legacy/command-
line/command_memento.pdf
vi basic commands
▶ The vi editor is very useful to make quick

changes to files in an embedded target.
▶ Though not very user friendly at first, vi is
very powerful and its main 15 commands are
easy to learn and are sufficient for 99% of
everyone’s needs!
▶ Get an electronic copy on
https://bootlin.com/doc/legacy/command-
line/vi_memento.pdf
▶ You can also take the quick tutorial by running
vimtutor. This is a worthy investment!
Practical lab - Training Setup
Prepare your lab environment

▶ Download and extract the lab archive
Introduction to Embedded Linux
Introduction to
Embedded Linux

Simplified Linux system architecture
Overall Linux boot sequence
Embedded Linux work
▶ BSP work: porting the bootloader and Linux kernel, developing Linux device
drivers.
▶ system integration work: assembling all the user space components needed for
the system, configure them, develop the upgrade and recovery mechanisms, etc.
▶ application development: write the company-specific applications and libraries.
Complexity of user space integration
ALL
toolchain busybox libgtk3 xapp_xkbcomp rootfs-tar
toolchain-buildroot host-libgtk3 atk pango xserver_xorg-server host-fakeroot host-makedevs
xlib_libXrandr harfbuzz xlib_libXcursor xlib_libXdamage xlib_libXi xlib_libXinerama xproto_xcmiscproto xlib_libXres xlib_libXxf86vm xproto_xf86dgaproto mcookie xdata_xbitmaps xproto_bigreqsproto xproto_compositeproto xproto_glproto xkeyboard-config xproto_videoproto xlib_libxkbfile
xproto_randrproto cairo xproto_damageproto xlib_libXfixes xlib_libXft xproto_xineramaproto xproto_resourceproto xproto_xf86vidmodeproto host-xapp_xkbcomp xfont_font-cursor-misc xfont_font-misc-misc xfont_font-alias
xlib_libXrender xproto_fixesproto gdk-pixbuf fontconfig xlib_libXext host-xlib_libxkbfile host-xapp_mkfontdir host-xapp_bdftopcf host-xfont_font-util xfont_font-util
host-gcc-final libsha1 libglib2 xproto_renderproto pixman xlib_libX11 xlib_libXfont host-xlib_libX11 host-xlib_libXfont
glibc host-gdk-pixbuf xproto_xf86bigfontproto xproto_xextproto xproto_inputproto xproto_kbproto freetype libxcb xlib_xtrans host-libxcb xfont_encodings xproto_fontsproto host-xproto_xf86bigfontproto host-xproto_inputproto host-xproto_kbproto host-xproto_xextproto host-xlib_xtrans host-xfont_encodings host-xproto_fontsproto
linux-headers host-gcc-initial host-gawk host-libglib2 libpng libpthread-stubs xcb-proto host-xcb-proto host-intltool xlib_libfontenc xlib_libXdmcp xlib_libXau host-libxslt host-libpthread-stubs host-xapp_mkfontscale xproto_presentproto
host-binutils libffi host-libffi host-gettext host-libpng zlib host-python host-libxml-parser-perl xproto_xproto xutil_util-macros host-libxml2 host-freetype host-xlib_libfontenc host-xlib_libXau host-xlib_libXdmcp
host-mpc host-automake host-zlib host-expat host-xproto_xproto host-xutil_util-macros expat
host-mpfr host-autoconf host-pkgconf
host-gmp host-libtool
host-m4
System integration: several possibilities
Pros Cons
Building everything manually Full flexibility Dependency hell
Learning experience Need to understand a lot of details
Version compatibility
Lack of reproducibility
Binary distribution Easy to create and extend Hard to customize
Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, etc. Hard to optimize (boot time, size)
Hard to rebuild the full system from source
Large system
Uses native compilation (slow)
No well-defined mechanism to generate an
image
Lots of mandatory dependencies
Not available for all architectures
Build systems Nearly full flexibility Not as easy as a binary distribution
Buildroot, Yocto, PTXdist, etc. Built from source: customization and op- Build time
timization are easy
Fully reproducible
Uses cross-compilation
Have embedded specific packages not nec-
essarily in desktop distros
Make more features optional
Embedded Linux build system: principle
▶ Building from source → lot of flexibility

▶ Cross-compilation → leveraging fast build machines
▶ Recipes for building components → easy
Embedded Linux build system: tools
▶ A wide range of solutions: Yocto/OpenEmbedded, PTXdist, Buildroot,

OpenWRT, and more.
▶ Today, two solutions are emerging as the most popular ones
▶ Yocto/OpenEmbedded
Builds a complete Linux distribution with binary packages. Powerful, but somewhat
complex, and quite steep learning curve.
▶ Buildroot
Builds a root filesystem image, no binary packages. Much simpler to use, understand
and modify.
Yocto Project and Poky reference system overview
Yocto Project and Poky

reference system
overview

The Yocto Project overview
About
▶ The Yocto Project is a set of templates, tools and methods that allow to build
custom embedded Linux-based systems.
▶ It is an open source project initiated by the Linux Foundation in 2010 and is still
managed by one of its fellows: Richard Purdie.
The Yocto Project lexicon
▶ The core components of the Yocto Project are:

▶ BitBake, the build engine. It is a task scheduler, like make. It interprets
configuration files and recipes (also called metadata) to perform a set of tasks, to
download, configure and build specified applications and filesystem images.
▶ OpenEmbedded-Core, a set of base layers. It is a set of recipes, layers and classes
which are shared between all OpenEmbedded based systems.
▶ Poky, the reference system. It is a collection of projects and tools, used to bootstrap
a new distribution based on the Yocto Project.
▶ Organization of OpenEmbedded-Core:
▶ Recipes describe how to fetch, configure, compile and package applications and
images. They have a specific syntax.
▶ Layers are sets of recipes, matching a common purpose. For Texas Instruments
board support, the meta-ti layer is used.
▶ Multiple layers are used within a same distribution, depending on the requirements.
▶ It supports the ARM, MIPS (32 and 64 bits), PowerPC, RISC-V and x86 (32 and 64
bits) architectures.
▶ It supports QEMU emulated machines for these architectures.
▶ The Yocto Project is not used as a finite set of layers and tools.
▶ Instead, it provides a common base of tools and layers on top of which custom
and specific layers are added, depending on your target.
▶ The main required element is Poky, the reference system which includes
OpenEmbedded-Core. Other available tools are optional, but may be useful in
some cases.
Example of a Yocto Project based BSP
▶ To build images for a BeagleBone Black, we need:

▶ The Poky reference system, containing all common recipes and tools.
▶ The meta-ti layer, a set of Texas Instruments specific recipes.
▶ All modifications are made in the meta-ti layer. Editing Poky is a no-go!
▶ We will set up this environment in the lab.
The Poky reference system overview
Download the Poky reference system
▶ All official projects part of the Yocto Project are available at

https://git.yoctoproject.org/cgit/
▶ To download the Poky reference system:
git clone -b dunfell git://git.yoctoproject.org/poky.git
Poky
Poky source tree 1/2
bitbake/ Holds all scripts used by the BitBake command. Usually matches the
stable release of the BitBake project.
documentation/ All documentation sources for the Yocto Project documentation. Can
be used to generate nice PDFs.
meta/ Contains the OpenEmbedded-Core metadata.
meta-skeleton/ Contains template recipes for BSP and kernel development.
Poky source tree 2/2
meta-poky/ Holds the configuration for the Poky reference distribution.

meta-yocto-bsp/ Configuration for the Yocto Project reference hardware board
support package.
LICENSE The license under which Poky is distributed (a mix of GPLv2 and MIT).
oe-init-build-env Script to set up the OpenEmbedded build environment. It will create
the build directory. It takes an optional parameter which is the build
directory name. By default, this is build. This script has to be sourced
because it changes environment variables.
scripts Contains scripts used to set up the environment, development tools,
and tools to flash the generated images on the target.
Documentation
▶ Documentation for the current sources, compiled as a ”mega manual”, is available

at: https://docs.yoctoproject.org/singleindex.html
▶ Variables in particular are described in the variable glossary:
https://docs.yoctoproject.org/genindex.html
Using Yocto Project - basics
Using Yocto Project -

basics

Environment setup
Environment setup
▶ All Poky files are left unchanged when building a custom image.
▶ Specific configuration files and build repositories are stored in a separate build
directory.
▶ A script, oe-init-build-env, is provided to set up the build directory and the
environment variables (needed to be able to use the bitbake command for
example).
oe-init-build-env
▶ Modifies the environment: has to be sourced!

▶ Adds environment variables, used by the build engine.
▶ Allows you to use commands provided in Poky.
▶ source ./oe-init-build-env [builddir]
▶ Sets up a basic build directory, named builddir if it is not found. If not provided,
the default name is build.
Common targets
▶ Common targets are listed when sourcing the script:

core-image-minimal A small image to boot a device and have access to core
command line commands and services.
core-image-sato Image with Sato support. Sato is a GNOME mobile-based user
interface.
meta-toolchain Generates the cross-toolchain in an installable format.
meta-ide-support Generates the cross-toolchain and additional tools (gdb, qemu,
...) for IDE integration.
Exported environment variables
BUILDDIR Absolute path of the build directory.

PATH Contains the directories where executable programs are located.
Absolute paths to scripts/ and bitbake/bin/ are prepended.
Available commands
bitbake The main build engine command. Used to perform tasks on available
recipes (download, configure, compile…).
bitbake-* Various specific commands related to the BitBake build engine.
The build/ directory 1/2
conf/ Configuration files. Image specific and layer configuration.

downloads/ Downloaded upstream tarballs of the recipes used in the builds.
sstate-cache/ Shared state cache. Used by all builds.
tmp/ Holds all the build system outputs.
The build/ directory 2/2
tmp/buildstats/ Build statistics for all packages built (CPU usage, elapsed time, host,
timestamps…).
tmp/deploy/ Final output of the build.
tmp/deploy/images/ Contains the complete images built by the OpenEmbedded build
system. These images are used to flash the target.
tmp/work/ Set of specific work directories, split by architecture. They are used to
unpack, configure and build the packages. Contains the patched sources,
generated objects and logs.
tmp/sysroots/ Shared libraries and headers used to compile applications for the target
but also for the host.
Configuring the build system
The build/conf/ directory
▶ The conf/ directory in the build one holds build specific configuration.
bblayers.conf Explicitly list the available layers.
local.conf Set up the configuration variables relative to the current user for the
build. Configuration variables can be overridden there.
Configuring the build
▶ The conf/local.conf configuration file holds local user configuration variables:

BB_NUMBER_THREADS How many tasks BitBake should perform in parallel.
Defaults to the number of CPUs on the system.
PARALLEL_MAKE How many processes should be used when compiling.
Defaults to the number of CPUs on the system.
MACHINE The machine the target is built for, e.g. beaglebone.
Building an image
Compilation
▶ The compilation is handled by the BitBake build engine.

▶ Usage: bitbake [options] [recipename/target ...]
▶ To build a target: bitbake [target]
▶ Building a minimal image: bitbake core-image-minimal
▶ This will run a full build for the selected target.
Practical lab - First Yocto build
▶ Download the sources

▶ Set up the environment
▶ Configure the build
▶ Build an image
Using Yocto Project - advanced usage
Using Yocto Project -

advanced usage

Advanced build usage and configuration
▶ Select package variants.

▶ Manually add packages to the generated image.
▶ Run specific tasks with BitBake.
A little reminder
▶ Recipes describe how to fetch, configure, compile and install applications.

▶ These tasks can be run independently (if their dependencies are met).
▶ All available packages in Poky are not selected by default in the images.
▶ Some packages may provide the same functionality, e.g. OpenSSH and Dropbear.
Advanced configuration
Overview
▶ The OpenEmbedded build system uses configuration variables to hold information.

▶ Configuration settings are in upper-case by convention, e.g. CONF_VERSION
▶ To make configuration easier, it is possible to prepend, append or define these
variables in a conditional way.
▶ All variables can be overridden or modified in $BUILDDIR/conf/local.conf
Methods and conditions 1/4
▶ Append the keyword _append to a configuration variable to add values after the
ones previously defined (without space).
▶ IMAGE_INSTALL_append = " dropbear" adds dropbear to the packages installed
on the image.
▶ Append the keyword _prepend to add values before the ones previously defined
(without space).
▶ FILESEXTRAPATHS_prepend := "${THISDIR}/${PN}:" adds the folder to the set of
paths where files are located (in a recipe).
▶ Append the keyword _remove to a configuration variable to remove all

occurrences of a value within a configuration variable.
▶ IMAGE_INSTALL_remove = "i2c-tools"
▶ Append the machine name to only define a configuration variable for a given
machine. It tries to match with values from MACHINEOVERRIDES which include
MACHINE and SOC_FAMILY.
▶ KERNEL_DEVICETREE_beaglebone = "am335x-bone.dtb" tells to use the kernel
device tree am335x-bone.dtb only when the machine is beaglebone.
▶ The previous methods can be combined.

▶ If we define:
▶ IMAGE_INSTALL = "busybox mtd-utils"
▶ IMAGE_INSTALL_append = " dropbear"
▶ IMAGE_INSTALL_append_beaglebone = " i2c-tools"
▶ The resulting configuration variable will be:
▶ IMAGE_INSTALL = "busybox mtd-utils dropbear i2c-tools" if the machine
being built is beaglebone.
▶ IMAGE_INSTALL = "busybox mtd-utils dropbear" otherwise.
▶ The most specific variable takes precedence.

▶ Example:
IMAGE_INSTALL_beaglebone = "busybox mtd-utils i2c-tools"
IMAGE_INSTALL = "busybox mtd-utils"
▶ If the machine is beaglebone:
▶ IMAGE_INSTALL = "busybox mtd-utils i2c-tools"
▶ Otherwise:
▶ IMAGE_INSTALL = "busybox mtd-utils"
Operators 1/2
▶ Various operators can be used to assign values to configuration variables:

= expand the value when using the variable
:= immediately expand the value
+= append (with space)
=+ prepend (with space)
.= append (without space)
=. prepend (without space)
?= assign if no other value was previously assigned
??= same as previous, with a lower precedence
Operators 2/2
▶ Avoid using +=, =+, .= and =. in $BUILDDIR/conf/local.conf due to ordering

issues.
▶ If += is parsed before ?=, the latter will be discarded.
▶ Using _append unconditionally appends the value.
Packages variants
Introduction to package variants
▶ Some packages have the same purpose, and only one can be used at a time.
▶ The build system uses virtual packages to reflect this. A virtual package
describes functionalities and several packages may provide it.
▶ Only one of the packages that provide the functionality will be compiled and
integrated into the resulting image.
Variant examples
▶ The virtual packages are often in the form virtual/<name>

▶ Example of available virtual packages with some of their variants:
▶ virtual/bootloader: u-boot, u-boot-ti-staging…
▶ virtual/kernel: linux-yocto, linux-yocto-tiny, linux-yocto-rt, linux-ti-staging…
▶ virtual/libc: glibc, musl, newlib
▶ virtual/xserver: xserver-xorg
Package selection
▶ Variants are selected thanks to the PREFERRED_PROVIDER configuration variable.

▶ The package names have to suffix this variable.
▶ Examples:
▶ PREFERRED_PROVIDER_virtual/kernel ?= "linux-ti-staging"
▶ PREFERRED_PROVIDER_virtual/libgl = "mesa"
Version selection
▶ By default, Bitbake will try to build the provider with the highest version number,
unless the recipe defines DEFAULT_PREFERENCE = "-1"
▶ When multiple package versions are available, it is also possible to explicitly pick a
given version with PREFERRED_VERSION.
▶ The package names have to suffix this variable.
▶ % can be used as a wildcard.
▶ Example:
▶ PREFERRED_VERSION_linux-yocto = "3.10\%"
▶ PREFERRED_VERSION_python = "2.7.3"
Packages
Selection
▶ The set of packages installed into the image is defined by the target you choose
(e.g. core-image-minimal).
▶ It is possible to have a custom set by defining our own target, and we will see this
later.
▶ When developing or debugging, adding packages can be useful, without modifying
the recipes.
▶ Packages are controlled by the IMAGE_INSTALL configuration variable.
Exclusion
▶ The list of packages to install is also filtered using the PACKAGE_EXCLUDE variable.
▶ If you choose to not install a package using this variable and some other package
is dependent on it (i.e. listed in a recipe’s RDEPENDS variable), the
OpenEmbedded build system generates a fatal installation error.
▶ This only works with RPM and IPK packages.
The power of BitBake
Common BitBake options
▶ BitBake can be used to run a full build for a given target with bitbake [target].
▶ But it can be more precise, with optional options:
-c <task> execute the given task
-s list all locally available packages and their versions
-f force the given task to be run by removing its stamp file
world keyword for all recipes
-b <recipe> execute tasks from the given recipe (without resolving
dependencies).
BitBake examples
▶ bitbake -c listtasks virtual/kernel

▶ Gives a list of the available tasks for the recipe providing the package
virtual/kernel. Tasks are prefixed with do_.
▶ bitbake -c menuconfig virtual/kernel
▶ Execute the task menuconfig on the recipe providing the virtual/kernel package.
▶ bitbake -f dropbear
▶ Force the dropbear recipe to run all tasks.
▶ bitbake world --runall=fetch
▶ Download all recipe sources and their dependencies.
▶ For a full description: bitbake --help
shared state cache
▶ BitBake stores the output of each task in a directory, the shared state cache. Its
location is controlled by the SSTATE_DIR variable.
▶ This cache is use to speed up compilation.
▶ Over time, as you compile more recipes, it can grow quite big. It is possible to
clean old data with:
$ ./scripts/sstate-cache-management.sh --remove-duplicated -d \
--cache-dir=<SSTATE_DIR>
Practical lab - Advanced Yocto configuration
▶ Modify the build configuration

▶ Customize the package selection
▶ Experiment with BitBake
▶ Mount the root file system over NFS
Writing recipes - basics

Recipes: overview
Recipes
Basics
▶ Recipes describe how to handle a given application.

▶ A recipe is a set of instructions to describe how to retrieve, patch, compile, install
and generate binary packages for a given application.
▶ It also defines what build or runtime dependencies are required.
▶ The recipes are parsed by the BitBake build engine.
▶ The format of a recipe file name is <application-name>_<version>.bb
Content of a recipe
▶ A recipe contains configuration variables: name, license, dependencies, path to

retrieve the source code…
▶ It also contains functions that can be run (fetch, configure, compile…) which are
called tasks.
▶ Tasks provide a set of actions to perform.
▶ Remember the bitbake -c <task> <target> command?
Common variables
▶ To make it easier to write a recipe, some variables are automatically available:

PN package name, as specified in the recipe file name
BPN PN with prefixes and suffixes removed such as nativesdk-, or
-native
PV package version, as specified in the recipe file name
PR package revision, defaults to r0
BP defined as ${BPN}-${PV}
▶ The recipe name and version usually match the upstream ones.
▶ When using the recipe bash_4.2.bb:
▶ ${PN} = "bash"
▶ ${PV} = "4.2"
Organization of a recipe
▶ Many applications have more than one recipe, to support different versions. In
that case the common metadata is included in each version specific recipe and is
in a .inc file:
▶ <application>.inc: version agnostic metadata.
▶ <application>_<version>.bb: require <application>.inc and version specific
metadata.
▶ We can divide a recipe into three main parts:
▶ The header: what/who
▶ The sources: where
▶ The tasks: how
The header
▶ Configuration variables to describe the application:

DESCRIPTION describes what the software is about
HOMEPAGE URL to the project’s homepage
PRIORITY defaults to optional
SECTION package category (e.g. console/utils)
LICENSE the application’s license
The source locations: overview
▶ We need to retrieve both the raw sources from an official location and the
resources needed to configure, patch or install the application.
▶ SRC_URI defines where and how to retrieve the needed elements. It is a set of URI
schemes pointing to the resource locations (local or remote).
▶ URI scheme syntax: scheme://url;param1;param2
▶ scheme can describe a local file using file:// or remote locations with https://,
git://, svn://, hg://, ftp://…
▶ By default, sources are fetched in $BUILDDIR/downloads. Change it with the
DL_DIR variable in conf/local.conf
The source locations: remote files 1/2
▶ The git scheme:

▶ git://<url>;protocol=<protocol>;branch=<branch>
▶ When using git, it is necessary to also define SRCREV. If SRCREV is a hash or a tag
not present in master, the branch parameter is mandatory. When the tag is not in
any branch, it is possible to use nobranch=1
▶ The http, https and ftp schemes:
▶ https://example.com/application-1.0.tar.bz2
▶ A few variables are available to help pointing to remote locations:
${SOURCEFORGE_MIRROR}, ${GNU_MIRROR}, ${KERNELORG_MIRROR}…
▶ Example: ${SOURCEFORGE_MIRROR}/<project-name>/${PN}-${PV}.tar.gz
▶ See meta/conf/bitbake.conf
The source locations: remote files 2/2
▶ An md5 or an sha256 sum must be provided when the protocol used to retrieve the
file(s) does not guarantee their integrity. This is the case for https, http or ftp.
SRC_URI[md5sum] = "97b2c3fb082241ab5c56ab728522622b"
SRC_URI[sha256sum] = "..."
▶ It’s possible to use checksums for more than one file, using the name parameter:
SRC_URI = "http://example.com/src.tar.bz2;name=tarball \
http://example.com/fixes.patch;name=patch"
SRC_URI[tarball.md5sum] = "97b2c3fb082241ab5c56..."
SRC_URI[patch.md5sum] = "b184acf9eb39df794ffd..."
The source locations: local files
▶ All local files found in SRC_URI are copied into the recipe’s working directory, in
$BUILDDIR/tmp/work/.
▶ The searched paths are defined in the FILESPATH variable.
FILESPATH = "${@base_set_filespath(["${FILE_DIRNAME}/${BP}",
"${FILE_DIRNAME}/${BPN}","${FILE_DIRNAME}/files"], d)}
FILESOVERRIDES = "${TRANSLATED_TARGET_ARCH}:
${MACHINEOVERRIDES}:${DISTROOVERRIDES}"
▶ The base_set_filespath(path) function uses its path parameter,

FILESEXTRAPATHS and FILESOVERRIDES to fill the FILESPATH variable.
▶ Custom paths and files can be added using FILESEXTRAPATHS and
FILESOVERRIDES.
▶ Prepend the paths, as the order matters.
The source locations: tarballs
▶ When extracting a tarball, BitBake expects to find the extracted files in a

directory named <application>-<version>. This is controlled by the S variable.
If the directory has another name, you must explicitly define S.
▶ If the scheme is git, S must be set to ${WORKDIR}/git
The source locations: license files
▶ License files must have their own checksum.

▶ LIC_FILES_CHKSUM defines the URI pointing to the license file in the source code
as well as its checksum.
LIC_FILES_CHKSUM = "file://gpl.txt;md5=393a5ca..."
LIC_FILES_CHKSUM = \
"file://main.c;beginline=3;endline=21;md5=58e..."
"file://${COMMON_LICENSE_DIR}/MIT;md5=083..."
▶ This allows to track any license update: if the license changes, the build will
trigger a failure as the checksum won’t be valid anymore.
Dependencies 1/2
▶ A recipe can have dependencies during the build or at runtime. To reflect these
requirements in the recipe, two variables are used:
DEPENDS List of the recipe build-time dependencies.
RDEPENDS List of the package runtime dependencies. Must be package specific
(e.g. with _${PN}).
▶ DEPENDS = "recipe-b": the local do_configure task depends on the
do_populate_sysroot task of recipe-b.
▶ RDEPENDS_${PN} = "recipe-b": the local do_build task depends on the
do_package_write_<archive-format> task of recipe b.
Dependencies 2/2
▶ Sometimes a recipe have dependencies on specific versions of another recipe.

▶ BitBake allows to reflect this by using:
▶ DEPENDS = "recipe-b (>= 1.2)"
▶ RDEPENDS_${PN} = "recipe-b (>= 1.2)"
▶ The following operators are supported: =, >, <, >= and <=.
▶ A graphical tool can be used to explore dependencies or reverse dependencies:
▶ bitbake -g -u taskexp core-image-minimal
Tasks
Default tasks already exists, they are defined in classes:

▶ do_fetch
▶ do_unpack
▶ do_patch
▶ do_configure
▶ do_compile
▶ do_install
▶ do_package
▶ do_rootfs
You can get a list of existing tasks for a recipe with:
bitbake <recipe> -c listtasks
Writing tasks 1/2
▶ Functions use the sh shell syntax, with available OpenEmbedded variables and
internal functions available.
D The destination directory (root directory of where the files are
installed, before creating the image).
WORKDIR the recipe’s working directory
▶ Syntax of a task:
do_task() {
action0
action1
...
}
Writing tasks 2/2
▶ Example:
do_compile() {
oe_runmake
}
do_install() {
install -d ${D}${bindir}
install -m 0755 hello ${D}${bindir}
}
Modifying existing tasks
Tasks can be extended with _prepend or _append
do_install_append() {
install -d ${D}${sysconfdir}
install -m 0644 hello.conf ${D}${sysconfdir}
}
Adding new tasks
Tasks can be added with addtask

do_mkimage () {
uboot-mkimage ...
}
addtask do_mkimage after do_compile before do_install
Applying patches
Patches use cases
Patches can be applied to resolve build-system problematics:

▶ To support old versions of a software: bug and security fixes.
▶ To fix cross-compilation issues.
▶ In certain simple cases the -e option of make can be used.
▶ The -e option gives variables taken from the environment precedence over variables
from Makefiles.
▶ Helps when an upstream Makefile uses hardcoded CC and/or CFLAGS.
▶ To apply patches before they get their way into the upstream version.
The source locations: patches
▶ Files ending in .patch, .diff or having the apply=yes parameter will be applied
after the sources are retrieved and extracted, during the do_patch task.
SRC_URI += "file://joystick-support.patch \
file://smp-fixes.diff \
"
▶ Patches are applied in the order they are listed in SRC_URI.

▶ It is possible to select which tool will be used to apply the patches listed in
SRC_URI variable with PATCHTOOL.
▶ By default, PATCHTOOL = 'quilt' in Poky.
▶ Possible values: git, patch and quilt.
Resolving conflicts
▶ The PATCHRESOLVE variable defines how to handle conflicts when applying patches.
▶ It has two valid values:
▶ noop: the build fails if a patch cannot be successfully applied.
▶ user: a shell is launched to resolve manually the conflicts.
▶ By default, PATCHRESOLVE = "noop" in meta-poky.
Example of a recipe
Hello world recipe
DESCRIPTION = "Hello world program"

HOMEPAGE = "http://example.net/hello/"
PRIORITY = "optional" do_compile() {
SECTION = "examples" oe_runmake
LICENSE = "GPLv2" }
do_install() {
SRC_URI = "git://git.example.com/hello;protocol=https" install -d ${D}${bindir}
SRCREV = "2d47b4eb66e705458a17622c2e09367300a7b118" install -m 0755 hello ${D}${bindir}
S = "${WORKDIR}/git" }
"file://hello.c;beginline=3;endline=21;md5=58e..."
Example of a recipe with a version agnostic part
tar.inc
SUMMARY = "GNU file archiving program"

HOMEPAGE = "https://www.gnu.org/software/tar/"
SECTION = "base"
SRC_URI = "${GNU_MIRROR}/tar/tar-${PV}.tar.bz2"
do_configure() { ... }
do_compile() { ... }
do_install() { ... }
tar_1.17.bb
require tar.inc
LICENSE = "GPLv2"
"file://COPYING;md5=59530bdf33659b29e73d4adb9f9f6552"
SRC_URI += "file://avoid_heap_overflow.patch"
SRC_URI[md5sum] = "c6c4f1c075dbf0f75c29737faa58f290"
tar_1.26.bb
require tar.inc
LICENSE = "GPLv3"
"file://COPYING;md5=d32239bcb673463ab874e80d47fae504"
SRC_URI[md5sum] = "2cee42a2ff4f1cd4f9298eeeb2264519"
Practical lab - Add a custom application
▶ Write a recipe for a custom application

▶ Integrate it in the image
Writing recipes - advanced
Writing recipes -
advanced

Extending a recipe
Introduction to recipe extensions
▶ It is a good practice not to modify recipes available in Poky.

▶ But it is sometimes useful to modify an existing recipe, to apply a custom patch
for example.
▶ The BitBake build engine allows to modify a recipe by extending it.
▶ Multiple extensions can be applied to a recipe.
Introduction to recipe extensions
▶ Metadata can be changed, added or appended.

▶ Tasks can be added or appended.
▶ Operators are used extensively, to add, append, prepend or assign values.
Extend a recipe
Extend a recipe
▶ The recipe extensions end in .bbappend

▶ Append files must have the same root name as the recipe they extend.
▶ example_0.1.bbappend applies to example_0.1.bb
▶ Append files are version specific. If the recipe is updated to a newer version, the
append files must also be updated.
▶ If adding new files, the path to their directory must be prepended to the
FILESEXTRAPATHS variable.
▶ Files are looked up in paths referenced in FILESEXTRAPATHS, from left to right.
▶ Prepending a path makes sure it has priority over the recipe’s one. This allows to
override recipes’ files.
Append file example
Hello world append file
FILESEXTRAPATHS_prepend := "${THISDIR}/files:"
SRC_URI += "file://custom-modification-0.patch \
file://custom-modification-1.patch \
"
Advanced recipe configuration
Advanced configuration
▶ In the real word, more complex configurations are often needed because recipes
may:
▶ Provide virtual packages
▶ Inherit generic functions from classes
Providing virtual packages
▶ BitBake allows to use virtual names instead of the actual package name. We saw
a use case with package variants.
▶ The virtual name is specified through the PROVIDES variable.
▶ Several recipes can provide the same virtual name. Only one will be built and
installed into the generated image.
▶ PROVIDES = "virtual/kernel"
Classes
Introduction to classes
▶ Classes provide an abstraction to common code, which can be re-used in multiple

recipes.
▶ Common tasks do not have to be re-developed!
▶ Any metadata and task which can be put in a recipe can be used in a class.
▶ Classes extension is .bbclass
▶ Classes are located in the classes folder of a layer.
▶ Recipes can use this common code by inheriting a class:
▶ inherit <class>
Common classes
▶ Common classes can be found in meta/classes/

▶ base.bbclass
▶ kernel.bbclass
▶ autotools.bbclass
▶ autotools-brokensep.bbclass
▶ cmake.bbclass
▶ native.bbclass
▶ systemd.bbclass
▶ update-rc.d.bbclass
▶ useradd.bbclass
▶ …
The base class
▶ Every recipe inherits the base class automatically.

▶ Contains a set of basic common tasks to fetch, unpack or compile applications.
▶ Inherits other common classes, providing:
▶ Mirrors definitions: DEBIAN_MIRROR, GNU_MIRROR, KERNELORG_MIRROR…
▶ The ability to filter patches by SRC_URI
▶ Some tasks: clean, listtasks or fetch.
▶ Defines oe_runmake, using EXTRA_OEMAKE to use custom arguments.
The kernel class
▶ Used to build Linux kernels.

▶ Defines tasks to configure, compile and install a kernel and its modules.
▶ The kernel is divided into several packages: kernel, kernel-base, kernel-dev,
kernel-modules…
▶ Automatically provides the virtual package virtual/kernel.
▶ Configuration variables are available:
▶ KERNEL_IMAGETYPE, defaults to zImage
▶ KERNEL_EXTRA_ARGS
▶ INITRAMFS_IMAGE
The autotools class
▶ Defines tasks and metadata to handle applications using the autotools build
system (autoconf, automake and libtool):
▶ do_configure: generates the configure script using autoreconf and loads it with
standard arguments or cross-compilation.
▶ do_compile: runs make
▶ do_install: runs make install
▶ Extra configuration parameters can be passed with EXTRA_OECONF.
▶ Compilation flags can be added thanks to the EXTRA_OEMAKE variable.
Example: use the autotools class
DESCRIPTION = "Print a friendly, customizable greeting"

HOMEPAGE = "https://www.gnu.org/software/hello/"
PRIORITY = "optional"
SECTION = "examples"
LICENSE = "GPLv3"
SRC_URI = "${GNU_MIRROR}/hello/hello-${PV}.tar.gz"
SRC_URI[md5sum] = "67607d2616a0faaf5bc94c59dca7c3cb"
SRC_URI[sha256sum] = "ecbb7a2214196c57ff9340aa71458e1559abd38f6d8d169666846935df191ea7"
LIC_FILES_CHKSUM = "file://COPYING;md5=d32239bcb673463ab874e80d47fae504"
inherit autotools
The useradd class
▶ This class helps to add users to the resulting image.

▶ Adding custom users is required by many services to avoid running them as root.
▶ USERADD_PACKAGES must be defined when the useradd class is inherited. Defines
the list of packages which needs the user.
▶ Users and groups will be created before the packages using it perform their
do_install.
▶ At least one of the two following variables must be set:
▶ USERADD_PARAM: parameters to pass to useradd.
▶ GROUPADD_PARAM: parameters to pass to groupadd.
Example: use the useradd class
DESCRIPTION = "useradd class usage example"

PRIORITY = "optional"
SECTION = "examples"
LICENSE = "MIT"
SRC_URI = "file://file0"
LIC_FILES_CHKSUM = "file://${COREBASE}/meta/files/common-licenses/MIT;md5=0835ade698e0bc..."
inherit useradd
USERADD_PACKAGES = "${PN}"
USERADD_PARAM = "-u 1000 -d /home/user0 -s /bin/bash user0"
do_install() {
install -m 644 file0 ${D}/home/user0/
chown user0:user0 ${D}/home/user0/file0
}
Binary packages
Specifics for binary packages
▶ It is possible to install binaries into the generated root filesystem.

▶ Set the LICENSE to CLOSED.
▶ Use the do_install task to copy the binaries into the root file system.
BitBake file inclusions
Locate files in the build system
▶ Metadata can be shared using included files.

▶ BitBake uses the BBPATH to find the files to be included. It also looks into the
current directory.
▶ Three keywords can be used to include files from recipes, classes or other
configuration files:
▶ inherit
▶ include
▶ require
The inherit keyword
▶ inherit can be used in recipes or classes, to inherit the functionalities of a class.

▶ To inherit the functionalities of the kernel class, use: inherit kernel
▶ inherit looks for files ending in .bbclass, in classes directories found in
BBPATH.
▶ It is possible to include a class conditionally using a variable: inherit ${FOO}
The include and require keywords
▶ include and require can be used in all files, to insert the content of another file
at that location.
▶ If the path specified on the include (or require) path is relative, BitBake will
insert the first file found in BBPATH.
▶ include does not produce an error when a file cannot be found, whereas require
raises a parsing error.
▶ To include a local file: include ninvaders.inc
▶ To include a file from another location (which could be in another layer):
include path/to/file.inc
Debugging recipes
Debugging recipes
▶ For each task, logs are available in the temp directory in the work folder of a
recipe. This includes both the actual tasks code that ran and the output of the
task.
▶ bitbake can dump the whole environment, including the variable values and how
they were set:
$ bitbake -e ninvaders
# $DEPENDS [4 operations]
# set /yocto-labs/poky/meta/conf/bitbake.conf:268
# ""
# set /yocto-labs/poky/meta/conf/documentation.conf:130
# [doc] "Lists a recipe's build-time dependencies (i.e. other recipe files)."
# _prepend /yocto-training/yocto-labs/poky/meta/classes/base.bbclass:74
# "${BASEDEPENDS} "
# set /yocto-labs/meta-bootlinlabs/recipes-games/ninvaders/ninvaders.inc:11
# "ncurses"
# pre-expansion value:
# "${BASEDEPENDS} ncurses"
DEPENDS="virtual/arm-poky-linux-gnueabi-gcc virtual/arm-poky-linux-gnueabi-compilerlibs virtual/libc ncurse
Debugging recipes
▶ A development shell, exporting the full environment can be used to debug build
failures:
$ bitbake -c devshell <recipe>
▶ To understand what a change in a recipe implies, you can activate build history in
local.conf:
INHERIT += "buildhistory"
BUILDHISTORY_COMMIT = "1"
Then use the buildhistory-diff tool to examine differences between two builds.
▶ ./scripts/buildhistory-diff
Network usage
Source fetching
▶ BitBake will look for files to retrieve at the following locations, in order:
1. DL_DIR (the local download directory).
2. The PREMIRRORS locations.
3. The upstream source, as defined in SRC_URI.
4. The MIRRORS locations.
▶ If all the mirrors fail, the build will fail.
Mirror configuration in Poky
PREMIRRORS ??= "\

bzr://.*/.* http://downloads.yoctoproject.org/mirror/sources/ \n \
cvs://.*/.* http://downloads.yoctoproject.org/mirror/sources/ \n \
git://.*/.* http://downloads.yoctoproject.org/mirror/sources/ \n \
hg://.*/.* http://downloads.yoctoproject.org/mirror/sources/ \n \
osc://.*/.* http://downloads.yoctoproject.org/mirror/sources/ \n \
p4://.*/.* http://downloads.yoctoproject.org/mirror/sources/ \n \
svk://.*/.* http://downloads.yoctoproject.org/mirror/sources/ \n \
svn://.*/.* http://downloads.yoctoproject.org/mirror/sources/ \n"
MIRRORS =+ "\
ftp://.*/.* http://downloads.yoctoproject.org/mirror/sources/ \n \
http://.*/.* http://downloads.yoctoproject.org/mirror/sources/ \n \
https://.*/.* http://downloads.yoctoproject.org/mirror/sources/ \n"
Configuring the mirrors
▶ It’s possible to prepend custom mirrors, using the PREMIRRORS variable:
PREMIRRORS_prepend = "\
git://.*/.* http://www.yoctoproject.org/sources/ \n \
ftp://.*/.* http://www.yoctoproject.org/sources/ \n \
http://.*/.* http://www.yoctoproject.org/sources/ \n \
https://.*/.* http://www.yoctoproject.org/sources/ \n"
▶ Another solution is to use the own-mirrors class:
INHERIT += "own-mirrors"
SOURCE_MIRROR_URL = "http://example.com/my-source-mirror"
Forbidding network access
▶ You can use BB_GENERATE_MIRROR_TARBALLS = "1" to generate tarballs of the git

repositories in DL_DIR
▶ You can also completely disable network access using BB_NO_NETWORK = "1"
▶ Or restrict BitBake to only download files from the PREMIRRORS, using
BB_FETCH_PREMIRRORONLY = "1"
Layers
Layers

Layers
Introduction to layers
Layers’ principles
▶ The OpenEmbedded build system manipulates metadata.

▶ Layers allow to isolate and organize the metadata.
▶ A layer is a collection of recipes.
▶ It is a good practice to begin a layer name with the prefix meta-.
Layers in Poky
Layers in Poky
▶ The Poky reference system is a set of basic common layers:

▶ meta
▶ meta-skeleton
▶ meta-poky
▶ meta-yocto-bsp
▶ Poky is not a final set of layers. It is the common base.
▶ Layers are added when needed.
▶ When making modifications to the existing recipes or when adding new ones, it is
a good practice not to modify Poky. Instead you can create your own layers!
Third party layers
Integrate and use a layer 1/3
▶ A list of existing and maintained layers can be found at

https://layers.openembedded.org/layerindex/branch/master/layers/
▶ Instead of redeveloping layers, always check the work hasn’t been done by others.
▶ It takes less time to download a layer providing a package you need and to add an
append file if some modifications are needed than to do it from scratch.
▶ The location where a layer is saved on the disk doesn’t matter.

▶ But a good practice is to save it where all others layers are stored.
▶ The only requirement is to let BitBake know about the new layer:
▶ The list of layers BitBake uses is defined in $BUILDDIR/conf/bblayers.conf
▶ To include a new layer, add its absolute path to the BBLAYERS variable.
▶ BitBake parses each layer specified in BBLAYERS and adds the recipes, configurations
files and classes it contains.
▶ The bitbake-layers tool is provided alongside bitbake.

▶ It can be used to inspect the layers and to manage
$BUILDDIR/conf/bblayers.conf:
▶ bitbake-layers show-layers
▶ bitbake-layers add-layer meta-custom
▶ bitbake-layers remove-layer meta-qt5
Some useful layers
▶ Many SoC specific layers are available, providing support for the boards using
these SoCs. Some examples: meta-ti, meta-freescale and meta-raspberrypi.
▶ Other layers offer to support applications not available in the Poky reference
system:
▶ meta-browser: web browsers (Chromium, Firefox).
▶ meta-filesystems: support for additional filesystems.
▶ meta-gstreamer10: support for GStreamer 1.0.
▶ meta-java and meta-oracle-java: Java support.
▶ meta-linaro-toolchain: Linaro toolchain recipes.
▶ meta-qt5: QT5 modules.
▶ meta-realtime: real time tools and test programs.
▶ meta-telephony and many more…
Notice that some of these layers do not come with all the Yocto branches. The
meta-browser did not have a krogoth branch, for example.
Layers
Creating a layer
Custom layer
Create a custom layer 1/2
▶ A layer is a set of files and directories and can be created by hand.

▶ However, the bitbake-layers create-layer command helps us create new
layers and ensures this is done right.
▶ bitbake-layers create-layer -p <PRIORITY> <layer>
Create a custom layer 2/2
▶ The layer created will be pre-filled with the following files:

conf/layer.conf The layer’s configuration. Holds its priority and generic
information. No need to modify it in many cases.
COPYING.MIT The license under which a layer is released. By default MIT.
README A basic description of the layer. Contains a contact e-mail to update.
▶ By default, all metadata matching ./recipes-*/*/*.bb will be parsed by the
BitBake build engine.
Use a layer: best practices
▶ Do not copy and modify existing recipes from other layers. Instead use append
files.
▶ Avoid duplicating files. Use append files or explicitly use a path relative to other
layers.
▶ Save the layer alongside other layers, in OEROOT.
▶ Use LAYERDEPENDS to explicitly define layer dependencies.
▶ Use LAYERSERIES_COMPAT to define the Yocto version(s) with which the layer is
compatible.
Practical lab - Create a custom layer
▶ Create a layer from scratch

▶ Add recipes to the new layer
▶ Integrate it to the build
Practical lab - Extend a recipe
▶ Apply patches to an existing recipe

▶ Use a custom configuration file for an existing
recipe
▶ Extend a recipe to fit your needs
BSP Layers
BSP Layers

BSP Layers
Introduction to BSP layers in the Yocto Project
BSP layers
Overview
▶ BSP layers are device specific layers. They hold metadata with the purpose of
supporting specific hardware devices.
▶ BSP layers describe the hardware features and often provide a custom kernel and
bootloader with the required modules and drivers.
▶ BSP layers can also provide additional software, designed to take advantage of the
hardware features.
▶ As a layer, it is integrated into the build system as we previously saw.
▶ A good practice is to name it meta-<bsp_name>.
BSP layers Specifics
▶ BSP layers are a subset of the layers.

▶ In addition to package recipes and build tasks, they often provide:
▶ Hardware configuration files (machines).
▶ Bootloader, kernel and display support and configuration.
▶ Pre-built user binaries.
BSP Layers
Hardware configuration files
Overview 1/2
▶ A layer provides one machine file (hardware configuration file) per machine it
supports.
▶ These configuration files are stored under
meta-<bsp_name>/conf/machine/*.conf
▶ The file names correspond to the values set in the MACHINE configuration variable.
▶ meta-ti/conf/machine/beaglebone.conf
▶ MACHINE = "beaglebone"
▶ Each machine should be described in the README file of the BSP.
Overview 2/2
▶ The hardware configuration file contains configuration variables related to the

architecture and to the machine features.
▶ Some other variables help customize the kernel image or the filesystems used.
Machine configuration
TARGET_ARCH The architecture of the device being built.

PREFERRED_PROVIDER_virtual/kernel The default kernel.
MACHINE_FEATURES List of hardware features provided by the machine, e.g.
usbgadget usbhost screen wifi
SERIAL_CONSOLES Speed and device for the serial console to attach. Passed to the
kernel as the console parameter, e.g. 115200;ttyS0
KERNEL_IMAGETYPE The type of kernel image to build, e.g. zImage
MACHINE_FEATURES
▶ Lists the hardware features provided by the machine.

▶ These features are used by package recipes to enable or disable functionalities.
▶ Some packages are automatically added to the resulting root filesystem depending
on the feature list.
▶ The feature bluetooth:
▶ Asks the bluez daemon to be built and added to the image.
▶ Enables bluetooth support in ConnMan.
conf/machine/include/cfa10036.inc
# Common definitions for cfa-10036 boards

include conf/machine/include/imx-base.inc
include conf/machine/include/tune-arm926ejs.inc
SOC_FAMILY = "mxs:mx28:cfa10036"
PREFERRED_PROVIDER_virtual/kernel ?= "linux-cfa"
PREFERRED_PROVIDER_virtual/bootloader ?= "barebox"
IMAGE_BOOTLOADER = "barebox"
BAREBOX_BINARY = "barebox"
IMAGE_FSTYPES_mxs = "tar.bz2 barebox.mxsboot-sdcard sdcard.gz"
IMXBOOTLETS_MACHINE = "cfa10036"
KERNEL_IMAGETYPE = "zImage"
KERNEL_DEVICETREE = "imx28-cfa10036.dtb"
# we need the kernel to be installed in the final image
IMAGE_INSTALL_append = " kernel-image kernel-devicetree"
SDCARD_ROOTFS ?= "${DEPLOY_DIR_IMAGE}/${IMAGE_NAME}.rootfs.ext3"
SERIAL_CONSOLE = "115200 ttyAMA0"
MACHINE_FEATURES = "usbgadget usbhost vfat"
conf/machine/cfa10057.conf
#@TYPE: Machine
#@NAME: Crystalfontz CFA-10057
#@SOC: i.MX28
#@DESCRIPTION: Machine configuration for CFA-10057, also called CFA-920
#@MAINTAINER: Alexandre Belloni <alexandre.belloni@bootlin.com>
include conf/machine/include/cfa10036.inc
KERNEL_DEVICETREE += "imx28-cfa10057.dtb"
MACHINE_FEATURES += "touchscreen"
BSP Layers
Bootloader
Default bootloader 1/2
▶ By default the bootloader used is the mainline version of U-Boot, with a fixed
version (per Poky release).
▶ All the magic is done in meta/recipes-bsp/u-boot/u-boot.inc
▶ Some configuration variables used by the U-Boot recipe can be customized, in the
machine file.
Default bootloader 2/2
SPL_BINARY If an SPL is built, describes the name of the output binary. Defaults to
an empty string.
UBOOT_SUFFIX bin (default) or img.
UBOOT_MACHINE The target used to build the configuration.
UBOOT_ENTRYPOINT The bootloader entry point.
UBOOT_LOADADDRESS The bootloader load address.
UBOOT_MAKE_TARGET Make target when building the bootloader. Defaults to
all.
Customize the bootloader
▶ It is possible to support a custom U-Boot by creating an extended recipe and to

append extra metadata to the original one.
▶ This works well when using a mainline version of U-Boot.
▶ Otherwise it is possible to create a custom recipe.
▶ Try to still use meta/recipes-bsp/u-boot/u-boot.inc
BSP Layers
Kernel
Linux kernel recipes in Yocto
▶ There are basically two ways of compiling a kernel in the Yocto Project:
▶ By using the linux-yocto packages, provided in Poky.
▶ By using a fully custom kernel recipe.
▶ The kernel used is selected in the machine file thanks to:
PREFERRED_PROVIDER_virtual/kernel
▶ Its version is defined with: PREFERRED_VERSION_<kernel_provider>
Linux Yocto 1/4
▶ linux-yocto is a generic set of recipes for building mainline Linux kernel images.
▶ PREFERRED_PROVIDER_virtual/kernel = "linux-yocto"
▶ PREFERRED_VERSION_linux-yocto = "5.10\%"
Linux Yocto 2/4
▶ Like other appended recipes, patches can be added by filling SRC_URI with .patch
and/or .diff files.
▶ The kernel configuration must also be provided, and the file containing it must be
called defconfig.
▶ This can be generated from a Linux source tree, by using make savedefconfig
▶ The configuration can be split in several files, by using the .cfg extension. It is the
best practice when adding new features:
SRC_URI += "file://defconfig \
file://nand-support.cfg \
file://ethernet-support.cfg"
Linux Yocto 3/4
▶ Configuration fragments can be generated directly with the bitbake command:

1. Configure the kernel following its recipe instructions:
bitbake -c kernel_configme linux-yocto
2. Edit the configuration: bitbake -c menuconfig linux-yocto
3. Save the configuration differences: bitbake -c diffconfig linux-yocto
▶ The differences will be saved at $WORKDIR/fragment.cfg
▶ After integrating configuration fragments into the appended recipe, you can check
everything is fine by running:
bitbake -c kernel_configcheck -f linux-yocto
Linux Yocto 4/4
▶ Another way of configuring linux-yocto is by using Advanced Metadata.

▶ It is a powerful way of splitting the configuration and the patches into several
pieces.
▶ It is designed to provide a very configurable kernel.
▶ The full documentation can be found at
https://docs.yoctoproject.org/kernel-dev/advanced.html#working-with-
advanced-metadata-yocto-kernel-cache
Linux Yocto: Kernel Metadata 1/4
▶ Kernel Metadata is a way to organize and to split the kernel configuration and
patches in little pieces each providing support for one feature.
▶ Two main configuration variables help taking advantage of this:
LINUX_KERNEL_TYPE standard (default), tiny or preempt-rt
▶ standard: generic Linux kernel policy.
▶ tiny: bare minimum configuration, for small kernels.
▶ preempt-rt: applies the PREEMPT_RT patch.
KERNEL_FEATURES List of features to enable. Features are sets of patches and
configuration fragments.
▶ Kernel Metadata can be stored in the linux-yocto recipe space.

▶ It must be under $FILESEXTRAPATHS. A best practice is to follow this directory
hierarchy:
bsp/
cfg/
features/
ktypes/
patches/
▶ Kernel Metadata are divided into 3 file types:
▶ Description files, ending in .scc
▶ Configuration fragments
▶ Patches
▶ Kernel Metadata description files have their own syntax, used to describe the
feature provided and which patches and configuration fragments to use.
▶ Simple example, features/smp.scc
define KFEATURE_DESCRIPTION "Enable SMP"
kconf hardware smp.cfg

patch smp-support.patch
▶ To integrate the feature into the kernel image:
KERNEL_FEATURES += "features/smp.scc"
▶ .scc syntax description:

branch <ref> Create a new branch relative to the current one.
define Defines variables.
include <scc file> Include another description file. Parsed inline.
kconf [hardware|non-hardware] <cfg file> Queues a configuration
fragment, to merge it into Linux’s .config
git merge <branch> Merge branch into the current git branch.
patch <patch file> Applies patch file to the current git branch.
Practical lab - Create a custom machine configuration
▶ Write a machine configuration

▶ Understand how the target architecture is
chosen
Distro Layers
Distro Layers

Distro Layers
Distro Layers
Distro layers
Distro layers
▶ You can create a new distribution by using a Distro layer.

▶ This allows to change the defaults that are used by Poky.
▶ It is useful to distribute changes that have been made in local.conf
Best practice
▶ A distro layer is used to provide policy configurations for a custom distribution.

▶ It is a best practice to separate the distro layer from the custom layers you may
create and use.
▶ It often contains:
▶ Configuration files.
▶ Specific classes.
▶ Distribution specific recipes: initialization scripts, splash screen…
Creating a Distro layer
▶ The configuration file for the distro layer is conf/distro/<distro>.conf

▶ This file must define the DISTRO variable.
▶ It is possible to inherit configuration from an existing distro layer.
▶ You can also use all the DISTRO_* variables.
▶ Use DISTRO = "<distro>" in local.conf to use your distro configuration.
require conf/distro/poky.conf
DISTRO = "distro"
DISTRO_NAME = "distro description"
DISTRO_VERSION = "1.0"
MAINTAINER = "..."
DISTRO_FEATURES
▶ Lists the features the distribution will provide.

▶ As for MACHINE_FEATURES, this is used by package recipes to enable or disable
functionalities.
▶ COMBINED_FEATURES provides the list of features that are enabled in both
MACHINE_FEATURES and DISTRO_FEATURES.
Toolchain selection
▶ The toolchain selection is controlled by the TCMODE variable.

▶ It defaults to "default".
▶ The conf/distro/include/tcmode-${TCMODE}.inc file is included.
▶ This configures the toolchain to use by defining preferred providers and versions for
recipes such as gcc, binutils, *libc…
▶ The providers’ recipes define how to compile or/and install the toolchain.
▶ Toolchains can be built by the build system or external.
Sample files
▶ A distro layer often contains sample files, used as templates to build key
configurations files.
▶ Example of sample files:
▶ bblayers.conf.sample
▶ local.conf.sample
▶ In Poky, they are in meta-poky/conf/.
▶ The TEMPLATECONF variable controls where to find the samples.
▶ It is set in ${OEROOT}/.templateconf.
Distro Layers
Release management
Release management
There are multiple tasks that OE/bitbake based projects let you do on your own to
ensure build reproducibility:
▶ Code distribution and project setup.
▶ Release tagging
A separate tool is needed for that, usual solutions are:
▶ combo-layer, as done by Poky:
https://wiki.yoctoproject.org/wiki/Combo-layer
▶ git submodules + setup script. Great example in YOE:
https://github.com/YoeDistro/yoe-distro
▶ repo and templateconf or setup script
▶ kas
Distribute the distribution
▶ A good way to distribute a distribution (Poky, custom layers, BSP,

.templateconf…) is to use Google’s repo.
▶ Repo is used in Android to distribute its source code, which is split into many git
repositories. It’s a wrapper to handle several git repositories at once.
▶ The only requirement is to use git.
▶ The repo configuration is stored in manifest file, usually available in its own git
repository.
▶ It could also be in a specific branch of your custom layer.
▶ It only handles fetching code, handling local.conf and bblayers.conf is done
separately
Manifest example
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<manifest>
<remote name="yocto-project" fetch="git.yoctoproject.org" />
<remote name="private" fetch="git.example.net" />
<default revision="dunfell" remote="private" />
<project name="poky" remote="yocto-project" />

<project name="meta-ti" remote="yocto-project" />
<project name="meta-custom" />
<project name="meta-custom-bsp" />
<project path="meta-custom-distro" name="distro">
<copyfile src="templateconf" dest="poky/.templateconf" />
</project>
</manifest>
Retrieve the project using repo
$ mkdir my-project; cd my-project

$ repo init -u https://git.example.net/manifest.git
$ repo sync -j4
▶ repo init uses the default.xml manifest in the repository, unless specified
otherwise.
▶ You can see the full repo documentation at
https://source.android.com/source/using-repo.html.
repo: release
To tag a release, a few steps have to be taken:

▶ Optionally tag the custom layers
▶ For each project entry in the manifest, set the revision parameter to either a tag
or a commit hash.
▶ Commit and tag this version of the manifest.
kas
▶ Specific tool developed by Siemens for OpenEmbedded:

https://github.com/siemens/kas
▶ Will fetch layers and build the image in a single command
▶ Uses a single JSON or YAML configuration file part of the custom layer
▶ Can generate and run inside a Docker container
▶ Can setup local.conf and bblayers.conf
kas configuration
header:
version: 8
machine: mymachine
distro: mydistro
target:
- myimage
repos:
meta-custom:
bitbake:
url: "https://git.openembedded.org/bitbake"
refspec: "1.46"
layers:
.: excluded
openembedded-core:
url: "https://git.openembedded.org/openembedded-core"
refspec: dunfell
layers:
meta:
kas configuration
meta-freescale:
url: "https://github.com/Freescale/meta-freescale"
refspec: dunfell
meta-openembedded:
url: http://git.openembedded.org/meta-openembedded
refspec: dunfell
layers:
meta-oe:
meta-python:
meta-networking:
▶ Then a single commande will build all the listed target for the machine:
$ kas build meta-custom/mymachine.yaml
▶ Or, alternatively, invoke bitbake commands:
$ kas shell /path/to/kas-project.yml -c 'bitbake dosfsutils-native'
Images
Images

Images
Introduction to images
Overview 1/3
▶ An image is the top level recipe and is used alongside the machine definition.
▶ Whereas the machine describes the hardware used and its capabilities, the image
is architecture agnostic and defines how the root filesystem is built, with what
packages.
▶ By default, several images are provided in Poky:
▶ meta*/recipes*/images/*.bb
Overview 2/3
▶ Common images are:

core-image-base Console-only image, with full support of the hardware.
core-image-minimal Small image, capable of booting a device.
core-image-minimal-dev Small image with extra tools, suitable for development.
core-image-x11 Image with basic X11 support.
core-image-rt core-image-minimal with real time tools and test suite.
Overview 3/3
▶ An image is no more than a recipe.

▶ It has a description, a license and inherits the core-image class.
Organization of an image recipe
▶ Some special configuration variables are used to describe an image:

IMAGE_BASENAME The name of the output image files. Defaults to ${PN}.
IMAGE_INSTALL List of packages and package groups to install in the
generated image.
IMAGE_ROOTFS_SIZE The final root filesystem size.
IMAGE_FEATURES List of features to enable in the image.
IMAGE_FSTYPES List of formats the OpenEmbedded build system will use to
create images.
IMAGE_LINGUAS List of the locales to be supported in the image.
IMAGE_PKGTYPE Package type used by the build system. One of deb, rpm,
ipk and tar.
IMAGE_POSTPROCESS_COMMAND Shell commands to run at post process.
Example of an image
require recipes-core/images/core-image-minimal.bb
DESCRIPTION = "Example image"
IMAGE_INSTALL += "ninvaders"
IMAGE_FSTYPES = "tar.bz2 cpio squashfs"
LICENSE = "MIT"
Images
Image types
IMAGE_FSTYPES
▶ Configures the resulting root filesystem image format.

▶ If more than one format is specified, one image per format will be generated.
▶ Image formats instructions are delivered in Poky, thanks to
meta/classes/image_types.bbclass
▶ Common image formats are: ext2, ext3, ext4, squashfs, squashfs-xz, cpio, jffs2,
ubifs, tar.bz2, tar.gz…
Creating an image type
▶ If you have a particular layout on your storage (for example bootloader location on
an SD card), you may want to create your own image type.
▶ This is done through a class that inherits from image_types.
▶ It has to define a function named IMAGE_CMD_<type>.
wic
▶ wic is a tool that can create a flashable image from the compiled packages and
artifacts.
▶ It can create partitions.
▶ It can select which files are located in which partition through the use of plugins.
▶ The final image layout is described in a .wks or .wks.in file.
▶ It can be extended in any layer.
▶ Usage example:
WKS_FILE = "imx-uboot-custom.wks.in"
IMAGE_FSTYPES = "wic.bmap wic"
imx-uboot-custom.wks.in
part u-boot --source rawcopy --sourceparams="file=imx-boot" --ondisk sda --no-table --align ${IMX_BOOT_SEEK}
part /boot --source bootimg-partition --ondisk sda --fstype=vfat --label boot --active --align 8192 --size 64
part / --source rootfs --ondisk sda --fstype=ext4 --label root --exclude-path=home/ --exclude-path=opt/ --align 8192
part /home --source rootfs --rootfs-dir=${IMAGE_ROOTFS}/home --ondisk sda --fstype=ext4 --label home --align 8192
part /opt --source rootfs --rootfs-dir=${IMAGE_ROOTFS}/opt --ondisk sda --fstype=ext4 --label opt --align 8192
bootloader --ptable msdos
▶ Copies imx-boot from $DEPLOY_DIR in the image, aligned on (and so at that

offset) ${IMX_BOOT_SEEK}.
▶ Creates a first partition, formatted in FAT32, with the files listed in the
IMAGE_BOOT_FILES variable.
▶ Creates an ext4 partition with the contents on the root filesystem, excluding the
content of /home and /opt
▶ Creates two ext4 partitions, one with the content of /home, the other one with
the content of /opt, from the image root filesystem.
Images
Package groups
Overview
▶ Package groups are a way to group packages by functionality or common

purpose.
▶ Package groups are used in image recipes to help building the list of packages to
install.
▶ They can be found under meta*/recipes-core/packagegroups/
▶ A package group is yet another recipe.
▶ The prefix packagegroup- is always used.
Common package groups
▶ packagegroup-core-boot
▶ packagegroup-core-buildessential
▶ packagegroup-core-nfs-client
▶ packagegroup-core-nfs-server
▶ packagegroup-core-tools-debug
▶ packagegroup-core-tools-profile
Example
./meta/recipes-core/packagegroups/packagegroup-core-tools-debug.bb:
SUMMARY = "Debugging tools"

LICENSE = "MIT"
inherit packagegroup
RDEPENDS_${PN} = "\
gdb \
gdbserver \
strace"
Practical lab - Create a custom image
▶ Write an image recipe

▶ Choose the packages to install
Licensing
Licensing

Licensing
Managing licenses
Tracking license changes
▶ The license of an external project may change at some point.

▶ The LIC_FILES_CHKSUM tracks changes in the license files.
▶ If the license’s checksum changes, the build will fail.
▶ The recipe needs to be updated.
LIC_FILES_CHKSUM = " \
file://COPYING;md5=... \
file://src/file.c;beginline=3;endline=21;md5=..."
▶ LIC_FILES_CHKSUM is mandatory in every recipe, unless LICENSE is set to CLOSED.
Package exclusion
▶ We may not want some packages due to their licenses.

▶ To exclude a specific license, use INCOMPATIBLE_LICENSE
▶ To exclude all GPLv3 packages:
INCOMPATIBLE_LICENSE = "GPLv3"
▶ License names are the ones used in the LICENSE variable.
▶ The meta-gplv2 layer provides recipes for software where upstream has moved to
GPLv3 licenses.
Commercial licenses
▶ By default the build system does not include commercial components.

▶ Packages with a commercial component define:
LICENSE_FLAGS = "commercial"
▶ To build a package with a commercial component, the package must be in the
LICENSE_FLAGS_WHITELIST variable.
▶ Example, gst-plugins-ugly:
LICENSE_FLAGS_WHITELIST = "commercial_gst-plugins-ugly"
Listing licenses
OpenEmbbedded will generate a manifest of all the licenses of the software present on
the target image in $BUILDDIR/tmp/deploy/licenses/<image>/license.manifest
PACKAGE NAME: busybox
PACKAGE VERSION: 1.31.1
RECIPE NAME: busybox
LICENSE: GPLv2 & bzip2-1.0.6
PACKAGE NAME: dropbear

PACKAGE VERSION: 2019.78
RECIPE NAME: dropbear
LICENSE: MIT & BSD-3-Clause & BSD-2-Clause & PD
Providing license text
To include the license text in the root filesystem either:

▶ Use COPY_LIC_DIRS = "1" and COPY_LIC_MANIFEST = "1"
▶ or use LICENSE_CREATE_PACKAGE = "1" to generate packages including the
license and install the required license packages.
Providing sources
OpenEmbbedded provides the archiver class to generate tarballs of the source code:
▶ Use INHERIT += "archiver"
▶ Set the ARCHIVER_MODE variable, the default is to provide patched sources. To
provide configured sources:
ARCHIVER_MODE[src] = "configured"
Writing recipes - going further
Writing recipes - going

further

Packages features
Benefits
▶ Features can be built depending on the needs.

▶ This allows to avoid compiling all features in a software component when only a
few are required.
▶ A good example is ConnMan: Bluetooth support is built only if there is Bluetooth
on the target.
▶ The PACKAGECONFIG variable is used to configure the build on a per feature
granularity, for packages.
PACKAGECONFIG
▶ PACKAGECONFIG takes the list of features to enable.

▶ PACKAGECONFIG[feature] takes up to four arguments, separated by commas:
1. Argument used by the configuration task if the feature is enabled (EXTRA_OECONF).
2. Argument added to EXTRA_OECONF if the feature is disabled.
3. Additional build dependency (DEPENDS), if enabled.
4. Additional runtime dependency (RDEPENDS), if enabled.
▶ Unused arguments can be omitted or left blank.
Example: from ConnMan
PACKAGECONFIG ??= "wifi openvpn"
PACKAGECONFIG[wifi] = "--enable-wifi, \
--disable-wifi, \
wpa-supplicant, \
wpa-supplicant"
PACKAGECONFIG[bluez] = "--enable-bluetooth, \
--disable-bluetooth, \
bluez5, \
bluez5"
PACKAGECONFIG[openvpn] = "--enable-openvpn, \
--disable-openvpn, \
, \
openvpn"
Conditional features
Conditional features
▶ Some values can be set dynamically, thanks to a set of functions:

▶ bb.utils.contains(variable, checkval, trueval, falseval, d): if
checkval is found in variable, trueval is returned; otherwise falseval is used.
▶ bb.utils.filter(variable, checkvalues, d): returns all the words in the
variable that are present in the checkvalues.
▶ Example:
PACKAGECONFIG ??= "wispr iptables client\

${@bb.utils.filter('DISTRO_FEATURES', '3g systemd wifi', d)} \
${@bb.utils.contains('DISTRO_FEATURES', 'bluetooth', 'bluez', '', d
"
Python tasks
Tasks in Python
▶ Tasks can be written in Python when using the keyword python.

▶ The d variable is accessible, and represents the BitBake datastore (where variables
are stored).
▶ Two modules are automatically imported:
▶ bb: to access BitBake’s internal functions.
▶ os: Python’s operating system interfaces.
▶ You can import other modules using the keyword import.
▶ Anonymous Python functions are executed during parsing.
Accessing the datastore with Python
▶ The d variable is accessible within Python tasks.
d.getVar("X", expand=False) Returns the value of X.

d.setVar("X", "value") Set X.
d.appendVar("X", "value") Append value to X.
d.prependVar("X", "value") Prepend value to X.
d.expand(expression) Expand variables in expression.
Python task example
# Anonymous function
python () {
if d.getVar("FOO", True) == "example":
d.setVar("BAR", "Hello, World.")
}
# Task
python do_settime() {
import time
d.setVar("TIME", time.strftime('%Y%m%d', time.gmtime()))

}
Variable flags
Variable flags
▶ Variable flags are used to store extra information on tasks and variables.
▶ They are used to control task functionalities.
▶ A number of these flags are already used by BitBake:
▶ dirs: directories that should be created before the task runs. The last one becomes
the work directory for the task.
▶ noexec: disable the execution of the task.
▶ nostamp: do not create a stamp file when running the task. The task will always be
executed.
▶ doc: task documentation displayed by listtasks.
do_settime[noexec] = "1"
do_compile[nostamp] = "1"
do_settime[doc] = "Set the current time in ${TIME}"
Root filesystem creation
Files and directories selection
▶ The FILES variable controls the list of files and directories to be placed into
packages.
▶ It must be package specific (e.g. with _${PN}).
▶ In Poky, defaults to:
FILES_${PN} = \
"${bindir}/* ${sbindir}/* ${libexecdir}/* ${libdir}/lib*${SOLIBS} \
${sysconfdir} ${sharedstatedir} ${localstatedir} \
${base_bindir}/* ${base_sbindir}/* \
${base_libdir}/*${SOLIBS} \
${base_prefix}/lib/udev/rules.d ${prefix}/lib/udev/rules.d \
${datadir}/${BPN} ${libdir}/${BPN}/* \
${datadir}/pixmaps ${datadir}/applications \
${datadir}/idl ${datadir}/omf ${datadir}/sounds \
${libdir}/bonobo/servers"
▶ To prevent configuration files to be overwritten during the Package Management

System update process, use CONFFILES.
Root filesystem generation
▶ Image generation overview:

1. The rootfs is created using packages.
2. One or more images files are created, depending on the IMAGE_FSTYPES value.
▶ The rootfs creation is specific to the IMAGE_PKGTYPE value. It should be defined
in the image recipe, otherwise the first valid package type defined in
PACKAGE_CLASSES is used.
▶ All the magic is done in meta/classes/rootfs_${IMAGE_PKGTYPE}.bbclass
Example: rootfs creation with .deb packages
rootfs_deb_do_rootfs () {
[...]
export INSTALL_ROOTFS_DEB="${IMAGE_ROOTFS}"
[...]
apt update
apt ${APT_ARGS} install ${package_to_install} \
--force-yes --allow-unauthenticated
[...]
}
Splitting packages
Benefits
▶ Packages can be split.

▶ Useful when a single remote repository provides multiple binaries or libraries.
▶ The list of packages to provide is defined by the PACKAGES variable.
▶ The FILES variable is often used to split the output into packages.
Example
▶ The kexec tools provides kexec and kdump:
require kexec-tools.inc
export LDFLAGS = "-L${STAGING_LIBDIR}"
EXTRA_OECONF = " --with-zlib=yes"
SRC_URI[md5sum] = \
"b9f2a3ba0ba9c78625ee7a50532500d8"
SRC_URI[sha256sum] = "..."
PACKAGES =+ "kexec kdump"
FILES_kexec = "${sbindir}/kexec"
FILES_kdump = "${sbindir}/kdump"
Default packages
▶ By default several packages are produced automatically:
PACKAGES = "${PN}-dbg ${PN}-staticdev \

${PN}-dev ${PN}-doc ${PN}-locale ${PN}"
▶ For each of these packages a FILES variable is defined in
meta/conf/bitbake.conf:
FILES_${PN}-dev = \
"${includedir} ${FILES_SOLIBSDEV} ${libdir}/*.la \
${libdir}/*.o ${libdir}/pkgconfig ${datadir}/pkgconfig \
${datadir}/aclocal ${base_libdir}/*.o \
${libdir}/${BPN}/*.la ${base_libdir}/*.la"
FILES_${PN}-dbg = "/usr/lib/debug /usr/src/debug"
Inspecting packages
oe-pkgdata-util is a tool that can help inspecting packages:
▶ Which package is shipping a file:
$ oe-pkgdata-util find-path /bin/busybox
busybox: /bin/busybox
▶ Which files are shipped by a package:

$ oe-pkgdata-util list-pkg-files busybox
busybox:
/bin/busybox
/bin/busybox.nosuid
/bin/busybox.suid
/bin/sh
▶ Which recipe is creating a package:

$ oe-pkgdata-util lookup-recipe kdump
kexec-tools
$ oe-pkgdata-util lookup-recipe libtinfo5
ncurses
Application development workflow
Application
development workflow

Recommended workflows
▶ Different development workflows are possible given the needs:

▶ Low-level application development (bootloader, kernel).
▶ Application development.
▶ Temporary modifications on an external project (bug fixes, security fixes).
▶ Three workflows exists for theses needs: the SDK, devtool and quilt.
The Yocto Project SDK
Overview
▶ An SDK (Software Development Kit) is a set of tools allowing the development of

applications for a given target (operating system, platform, environment…).
▶ It generally provides a set of tools including:
▶ Compilers or cross-compilers.
▶ Linkers.
▶ Library headers.
▶ Debuggers.
▶ Custom utilities.
The Yocto Project SDK
▶ The Poky reference system is used to generate images, by building many

applications and doing a lot of configuration work.
▶ When developing an application, we only care about the application itself.
▶ We want to be able to develop, test and debug easily.
▶ The Yocto Project SDK is an application development SDK, which can be
generated to provide a full environment compatible with the target.
▶ It includes a toolchain, libraries headers and all the needed tools.
▶ This SDK can be installed on any computer and is self-contained. The presence of
Poky is not required for the SDK to fully work.
Available SDKs
▶ Two different SDKs can be generated:

▶ A generic SDK, including:
▶ A toolchain.
▶ Common tools.
▶ A collection of basic libraries.
▶ An image-based SDK, including:
▶ The generic SDK.
▶ The sysroot matching the target root filesystem.
▶ Its toolchain is self-contained (linked to an SDK embedded libc).
▶ The SDKs generated with Poky are distributed in the form of a shell script.
▶ Executing this script extracts the tools and sets up the environment.
The generic SDK
▶ Mainly used for low-level development, where only the toolchain is needed:
▶ Bootloader development.
▶ Kernel development.
▶ The recipe meta-toolchain generates this SDK:
▶ bitbake meta-toolchain
▶ The generated script, containing all the tools for this SDK, is in:
▶ $BUILDDIR/tmp/deploy/sdk
▶ Example:
poky-glibc-x86_64-meta-toolchain-cortexa8hf-neon-toolchain-2.5.sh
▶ The SDK will be configured to be compatible with the specified MACHINE.
The image-based SDK
▶ Used to develop applications running on the target.

▶ One task is dedicated to the process. The task behavior can vary between the
images.
▶ populate_sdk
▶ To generate an SDK for core-image-minimal:
▶ bitbake -c populate_sdk core-image-minimal
▶ The generated script, containing all the tools for this SDK, is in:
▶ $BUILDDIR/tmp/deploy/sdk
▶ Example:
poky-glibc-x86_64-core-image-minimal-cortexa8hf-neon-toolchain-2.5.sh
▶ The SDK will be configured to be compatible with the specified MACHINE.
SDK format
▶ Both SDKs are distributed as bash scripts.

▶ These scripts self extract themselves to install the toolchains and the files they
provide.
▶ To install an SDK, retrieve the generated script and execute it.
▶ The script asks where to install the SDK. Defaults to /opt/poky/<version>
▶ Example: /opt/poky/2.5
$ ./poky-glibc-x86_64-meta-toolchain-cortexa8hf-neon-toolchain-2.5.sh
Poky (Yocto Project Reference Distro) SDK installer version 2.5
===============================================================
Enter target directory for SDK (default: /opt/poky/2.5):
You are about to install the SDK to "/opt/poky/2.5". Proceed[Y/n]?
Extracting SDK.................done
Setting it up...done
SDK has been successfully set up and is ready to be used.
Each time you wish to use the SDK in a new shell session, you need to source
the environment setup script e.g.
$ . /opt/poky/2.5/environment-setup-cortexa8hf-neon-poky-linux-gnueabi
Use the SDK
▶ To use the SDK, a script is available to set up the environment:
$ cd /opt/poky/2.5
$ source ./environment-setup-cortexa8hf-neon-poky-linux-gnueabi
▶ The PATH is updated to take into account the binaries installed alongside the SDK.
▶ Environment variables are exported to help using the tools.
SDK installation
environment-setup-cortexa8hf-neon-poky-linux-gnueabi Exports environment variables.

site-config-cortexa8hf-neon-poky-linux-gnueabi Variables used during the toolchain
creation
sysroots SDK binaries, headers and libraries. Contains one directory for the host
and one for the target.
version-cortexa8hf-neon-poky-linux-gnueabi Version information.
SDK environment variables
CC Full path to the C compiler binary.

CFLAGS C flags, used by the C compiler.
CXX C++ compiler.
CXXFLAGS C++ flags, used by CPP
LD Linker.
LDFLAGS Link flags, used by the linker.
ARCH For kernel compilation.
CROSS_COMPILE For kernel compilation.
GDB SDK GNU Debugger.
OBJDUMP SDK objdump.
▶ To see the full list, open the environment script.
Examples
▶ To build an application for the target:
$ $CC -o example example.c

▶ The LDFLAGS variables is set to be used with the C compiler (gcc).
▶ When building the Linux kernel, unset this variable.
$ unset LDFLAGS
$ make menuconfig
$ make
Devtool
Overview
▶ Devtool is a set of utilities to ease the integration and the development of

OpenEmbedded recipes.
▶ It can be used to:
▶ Generate a recipe for a given upstream application.
▶ Modify an existing recipe and its associated sources.
▶ Upgrade an existing recipe to use a newer upstream application.
▶ Devtool adds a new layer, automatically managed, in $BUILDDIR/workspace/.
▶ It then adds or appends recipes to this layer so that the recipes point to a local
path for their sources. In $BUILDDIR/workspace/sources/.
▶ Local sources are managed by git.
▶ All modifications made locally should be commited.
devtool usage 1/3
There are three ways of creating a new devtool project:

▶ To create a new recipe: devtool add <recipe> <fetchuri>
▶ Where recipe is the recipe’s name.
▶ fetchuri can be a local path or a remote uri.
▶ To modify an existing recipe: devtool modify <recipe>
▶ To upgrade a given recipe: devtool upgrade -V <version> <recipe>
▶ Where version is the new version of the upstream application.
devtool usage 2/3
Once a devtool project is started, commands can be issued:

▶ devtool edit-recipe <recipe>: edit recipe in a text editor (as defined by the
EDITOR environment variable).
▶ devtool build <recipe>: build the given recipe.
▶ devtool build-image <image>: build image with the additional devtool
recipes’ packages.
devtool usage 3/3
▶ devtool deploy-target <recipe> <target>: upload the recipe’s packages on

target, which is a live running target with an SSH server running
(user@address).
▶ devtool update-recipe <recipe>: generate patches from git commits made
locally.
▶ devtool reset <recipe>: remove recipe from the control of devtool.
Standard layers and remote sources are used again as usual.
Quilt
Overview
▶ Quilt is a utility to manage patches which can be used without having a clean
source tree.
▶ It can be used to create patches for recipes already available in the build system.
▶ Be careful when using this workflow: the modifications won’t persist across builds!
Using Quilt
1. Find the recipe working directory in $BUILDDIR/tmp/work/.

2. Create a new Quilt patch: $ quilt new topic.patch
3. Add files to this patch: $ quilt add file0.c file1.c
4. Make the modifications by editing the files.
5. Test the modifications: $ bitbake -c compile -f recipe
6. Generate the patch file: $ quilt refresh
7. Move the generated patch into the recipe’s directory.
Practical lab - Create and use a Poky SDK
▶ Generate an SDK
▶ Compile an application for the target in the
SDK
Runtime Package Management
Runtime Package
Management

Introduction
▶ BitBake always builds packages selected in IMAGE_INSTALL.

▶ The packages are used to generate the root filesystem.
▶ It is also possible to update the system at runtime using these packages, for many
use cases:
▶ In-field security updates.
▶ System updates over the wire.
▶ System, packages or configuration customization at runtime.
▶ Remote debugging.
▶ Using the Runtime Package Management is an optional feature.
▶ We’ll use the IPK package format as an example in the following slides.
Requirements
▶ First of all, you need a server to serve the packages to a private subnet or over the
Internet. Packages are typically served over https or http.
▶ Specific tools are also required on the target, and must be shipped on the
product. They should be included into the images generated by the build system.
▶ These tools will be specific to the package type used.
▶ This is similar to Linux distributions: Debian is using .deb related tools (dpkg,
apt…) while Fedora uses .rpm related ones (rpm, dnf).
Build configuration
Build configuration 1/2
▶ The PACKAGE_CLASSES variable controls which package format to use. More than
one can be used.
▶ Valid values are package_rpm, package_deb, package_ipk.
▶ By default Poky uses the RPM format, while OpenEmbedded-Core uses the IPK
one.
▶ Example:
▶ PACKAGE_CLASSES = "package_ipk"
▶ PACKAGE_CLASSES = "package_rpm package_deb"
Build configuration 2/2
To install the required tools on the target, there are two possible solutions:
▶ By adding package-management to the images features.
▶ The required tool will be installed on the target.
▶ The package database corresponding to the build will be installed as well.
▶ Or by manually adding the required tools in IMAGE_INSTALL. For example, to use
the IPK format we need opkg.
Build considerations
▶ The Runtime Package Management uses package databases to store information

about available packages and their version.
▶ Whenever a build generates a new package or modifies an existing one, the
package database must be updated.
▶ $ bitbake package-index
▶ Be careful: BitBake does not properly schedule the package-index target. You
must use this target alone to have a consistent package database.
▶ $ bitbake ninvaders package-index won’t necessarily generate an updated
package database.
Package server configuration
Apache2 example setup
Apache2 HTTP setup for IPK packages. This should go in

/etc/apache2/sites-enabled/package-server.conf.
<VirtualHost *:80>
ServerName packages.example.net
DocumentRoot /path/to/build/tmp/deploy/ipk
<Directory /path/to/build/tmp/deploy/ipk>
Options +Indexes
Options Indexes FollowSymLinks
Order allow,deny
allow from all
AllowOverride None
Require all granted
</Directory>
</VirtualHost>
Target configuration
The IPK runtime management software
▶ The IPK runtime management software is opkg.

▶ It can be configured using configurations files ending in .conf in /etc/opkg/.
▶ This configuration helps opkg to find the package databases you want to use.
▶ For example, with our previously configured package server:
src/gz all http://packages.example.net/all

src/gz armv7a http://packages.example.net/armv7a
src/gz beaglebone http://packages.example.net/beaglebone
▶ This can be automatically generated by defining the PACKAGE_FEED_URIS,
PACKAGE_FEED_BASE_PATHS and PACKAGE_FEED_ARCHS variables
opkg usage
▶ opkg update: fetch and update the package databases, from the remote package
servers.
▶ opkg list: list available packages.
▶ opkg upgrade: upgrade all installed packages.
▶ opkg upgrade <package>: upgrade one package explicitly.
▶ opkg install <package>: install a specific package.
opkg upgrade over an unstable network
▶ To avoid upgrade issues when downloading packages from a remote package

server using an unstable connection, you can first download the packages and
then proceed with the upgrade.
▶ To do this we must use a cache, which can be defined in the opkg configuration
with: option cache /tmp/opkg-cache.
# opkg update
# opkg --download-only upgrade
# opkg upgrade
Yocto Project Resources
Yocto Project Resources

Yocto Project documentation
▶ https://docs.yoctoproject.org/
▶ Wiki: https://wiki.yoctoproject.org/wiki/Main_Page
▶ https://layers.openembedded.org/
Useful Reading (1)
Embedded Linux Development with Yocto Project - Second

Edition, Nov 2017
▶ https://www.packtpub.com/virtualization-and-
cloud/embedded-linux-development-using-yocto-
projects-second-edition
▶ By Otavio Salvador and Daiane Angolini
▶ From basic to advanced usage, helps writing better,
more flexible recipes. A good reference to jumpstart
your Yocto Project development.
Useful Reading (2)
Embedded Linux Projects Using Yocto Project Cookbook -

Second Edition, January 2018
▶ https://www.packtpub.com/virtualization-and-
cloud/embedded-linux-development-using-yocto-
project-cookbook-second-edition
▶ By Alex González
▶ A set of recipes that you can refer to and solve your
immediate problems instead of reading it from cover to
cover.
See our review: https://bit.ly/1GgVmCB
Last slides
Last slides

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Thank you!
And may the Source be with you

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Yocto Project and OpenEmbedded Training

Yocto Project and OpenEmbedded

© Copyright 2004-2021, Bootlin.

Document updates and sources:

© Copyright 2004-2021, Bootlin

Document sources: https://github.com/bootlin/training-materials/

There are many hyperlinks in the document

▶ Engineering company created in 2004,

▶ All our training materials and technical

© Copyright 2004-2021, Bootlin.

Beaglebone Black STM32MP157A-DK1 Discovery

▶ Beaglebone Black or Beaglebone Black Wireless, USB-A to

▶ USB Serial Cable - 3.3 V - female ends (for serial console)

▶ Nintendo Nunchuk with UEXT connector

▶ Breadboard jumper wires - Male ends (to connect to

▶ STMicroelectronics STM32MP157A-DK1 Discovery kit

▶ USB-C cable for the power supply

▶ Breadboard jumper wires - Male ends

▶ Micro SD card with 8 GB capacity

BeagleBone Black or BeagleBone Black Wireless, from BeagleBoard.org

▶ Texas Instruments AM335x (ARM Cortex-A8 CPU)

STMicroelectronics STM32MP157A-DK1 Discovery board

Board and CPU documentation, design files, software:

First dive into the Yocto Project. Introduction to recipes.

Recipes and layers details: write, use, customize. Machine configuration.

During the lectures...

During practical labs...

in later labs. Cross-compiling kernel:

▶ That’s particular useful to keep kernel Making ubifs images:

▶ Also useful to get help from the instructor, Encountered issues:

▶ This memento sheet gives command examples

▶ The vi editor is very useful to make quick

Prepare your lab environment

© Copyright 2004-2021, Bootlin.

toolchain busybox libgtk3 xapp_xkbcomp rootfs-tar

toolchain-buildroot host-libgtk3 atk pango xserver_xorg-server host-fakeroot host-makedevs

host-gcc-final libsha1 libglib2 xproto_renderproto pixman xlib_libX11 xlib_libXfont host-xlib_libX11 host-xlib_libXfont

host-mpc host-automake host-zlib host-expat host-xproto_xproto host-xutil_util-macros expat

host-mpfr host-autoconf host-pkgconf

▶ Building from source → lot of flexibility

▶ A wide range of solutions: Yocto/OpenEmbedded, PTXdist, Buildroot,

Yocto Project and Poky

© Copyright 2004-2021, Bootlin.

The Yocto Project overview

▶ The core components of the Yocto Project are:

▶ To build images for a BeagleBone Black, we need:

The Poky reference system overview

▶ All official projects part of the Yocto Project are available at

meta-poky/ Holds the configuration for the Poky reference distribution.

▶ Documentation for the current sources, compiled as a ”mega manual”, is available

Using Yocto Project -

© Copyright 2004-2021, Bootlin.

▶ Modifies the environment: has to be sourced!

▶ Common targets are listed when sourcing the script:

BUILDDIR Absolute path of the build directory.

conf/ Configuration files. Image specific and layer configuration.

Configuring the build system

▶ The conf/local.conf configuration file holds local user configuration variables:

▶ The compilation is handled by the BitBake build engine.

▶ Download the sources