Yocto Linux BSP Ver.9 User Guide for iMX6 series

Getting Started

Conventions

${PREBUILT_IMAGE} : compressed prebuilt image (*.img.gz)

${CONTAINER_NAME} : container name (e.g. imx6LBV8040)

${BSP_TARBALL} : BSP tarball (*.tgz)

${BSP_HOME} : home directory of the BSP

${BDIR} : build directory (e.g. build_x11)

${MX6PROC} : i.MX6 Processor

mx6q for iMX6 Quad Core / Dual Core

mx6dl for iMX6 Dual Lite / Solo

${IMX6PROC} : i.MX6 Processor

imx6q / imx6dl

${BOARD} : available target boards list below

rom5420/ / rom7421 / ubc220 / rom3420 / rom7420 / rsb4410 / rsb4411 / rsb6410 / ubcds31 / wise3310

${BOARD_REV} : board revision

a1 / a2 / b1

${MC} : machine code combined with ${IMX6PROC}${BOARD}${BOARD_REV}

for example,

imx6dlrom5420b1 for ROM-5420 B1 Solo

imx6dlrom7421a1 for ROM-7421 A1 Solo

imx6dlrsb3430a1 for RSB-3430 A1 Dual-Lite

imx6dlubc220a1 for UBC-220 A1 Dual-Lite

imx6qprom7421a1 for ROM-7421 A1 Dual/Quad-Plus

imx6qrom3420a1 for ROM-3420 A1 Dual/Quad

imx6qrom5420a1 for ROM-5420 A1 Dual/Quad

imx6qrom5420b1 for ROM-5420 B1 Dual/Quad

imx6qrom7420a1 for ROM-7420 A1 Dual/Quad

imx6qrsb3430a1 for RSB-3430 A1 Dual/Quad

imx6qrsb4410a1 for RSB-4410 A1 Dual

imx6qrsb4410a2 for RSB-4410 A2 Dual

imx6qrsb4411a1 for RSB-4411 A1 Dual/Quad

imx6qrsb6410a1 for RSB-6410 A1 Dual/Quad

imx6qrsb6410a2 for RSB-6410 A2 Dual/Quad

imx6qubcds31a1 for UBC-DS31 A1 Dual

imx6qwise3310a1 for WISE-3310 A1 Dual

You can also use the command below to check supported machines on BSP

$ source setup-environment

${MEM_SIZE} : memory size

1G / 2G / 512M

${SD_DEVICE} : device name of SD card in Linux (e.g. /dev/sdf)

${SDCARD_IMAGE} : sdcard image built by bitbake (*.sdcard)

${WORKSPACE} : host workspace folders

${UBOOT} :u-boot version(e.g. 2016.03)

${KERNEL} : linux kernel version(e.g. 4.1.15)

${TOOLCHAIN} : toolchain installed directory(e.g. /opt/fsl-imx-x11/4.1.15-2.0.0)

debug console / serial console

serial terminal program (e.g. minicom, putty, teraterm ...) that serial port is configured to 115200 8N1

terminal console

terminal program (e.g. gnome-terminal, xfce4-terminal ...)

Docker install and setting

If you don't have docker in your system, then you can follow the below  steps to install docker and run it first.

To install Docker Engine on your platform

Please refer to Docker Installation Guide for details

To pull ubuntu 16.04 image from Docker Hub 

$ docker pull advrisc/u16.04-imx8lbv1

$ docker run --name imx6LBV8200  -it advrisc/u16.04-imx8lbv1 /bin/bash

To copy BSP from local filesystem to the container

$ docker cp ${BSP_PACK} imx6LBV8200:/home/adv/ 

To create container

$ docker run --privileged -it --name ${CONTAINER_NAME} -v ${WORKSPACE}:/home/adv/adv-release-bsp -v /dev:/dev advrisc/u16.04-imx8lbv1 /bin/bash

Get BSP

You have two methods to put BSP into container created above

Download BSP From GitHub

The following example shows how to download the Advantech Yocto BSP from GitHub.

For this example, a directory called adv-release-bsp is created for the project.

Refer to IoTGateway/BSP/Linux/iMX6/OS Support List new , Official version "imx6LBV8040" is taken as an example :

TBD

If you want to get latest bsp

$ repo init -u git://github.com/ADVANTECH-Corp/adv-arm-yocto-bsp.git  -b imx-linux-sumo -m imx-4.14.98-2.0.0_ga.xml 
$ repo sync

Copy BSP tarball to Container

TBD

Downloads tarball

TBD

Introducing BSP

The BSP is based on Yocto Project with Freescale enhanced features for i.MX8, plus specific target board features from Advantech Inc..

The Advantech Yocto Project BSP Release directory contains a "sources" directory, which contains the recipes used to build,

one or more build directories, and a set of scripts used to set up the environment.

The recipes used to build the project come from both the community and Advantech. The Yocto Project layers are downloaded

to the sources directory. This sets up the recipes that are used to build the project.

Naming Rule

The tarball/prebuilt image name is consist of the model name followed by "LB" or "LI" plus version number and released date.

For example, BSP file name: imx6LBV8040_2017-01-16.tgz

which , "LB" is acronym of Linux BSP,

           "V8040" stands for Version 8.040.

For example, Yocto image name: 7421A1LIV8040_DualPlus_2017-01-16.img.gz

which "7421A1" stands for ROM-7421 A1

          "LI" is acronym for prebuilt Linux Image,

          "DualPlus" means this image is fit for Dual Plus Core/Quad Plus Core.

For example, Yocto image name: 3420A1LIV8050_DualQuad_2017-01-17.img.gz

which "3420A1" stands for ROM-3420 A1

          "LI" is acronym for prebuilt Linux Image,

          "DualQuad" means this image is fit for Dual Core/Quad Core.

For example, Yocto image name: U220A1LIV8080_DualLiteSolo_2017-02-08.img.gz

which "U220A1" stands for UBC-220 A1

          "LI" is acronym for prebuilt Linux Image,

          "DualLiteSolo" means this image is fit for Dual Lite Core/Solo Core.

BSP Content

The description of some important folders list below:

sources/

meta-advantech/ : meta layer by Advantech

meta-fsl-*/ : meta layer by Freescale

fsl-setup-release.sh : to create one new build environment

setup-environment : to continue an exist build environment

Build Instructions

To create one new build environment

Perform the following commands in terminal console

$ cd ${BSP_HOME}

$ MACHINE=${MC} DISTRO=fsl-imx-wayland source fsl-setup-release.sh -b ${BDIR}

You need to read and accept the EULA.

To continue an exist build environment

Perform the following commands in terminal console

$ cd ${BSP_HOME}

$ source setup-environment ${BDIR}

To build sdcard image

To create/continue a build environment

Perform the following command in terminal console

$ bitbake fsl-image-qt5-validation-imx

The file, fsl-image-qt5-validation-imx-${MC}.sdcard, will be located in directory, ./tmp/deploy/images/${MC}, while building process finished successfully.

To build toolchain installer

To create/continue a build environment

Perform the following command in terminal console

$ bitbake meta-toolchain-qt5

The below installer will be located in the directory "./tmp/deploy/sdk".

fsl-imx-x11-glibc-x86_64-meta-toolchain-qt5-cortexa9hf-vfp-neon-toolchain-${KERNEL}-1.1.0.sh

To build u-boot

TBD

To build linux kernel

TBD

To modify source code and rebuild linux kernel

TBD

Creating boot-up on-board flash from prebuilt image

To create one boot-up SD card

Perform the following command in terminal console

$ gunzip -c ${PREBUILT_IMAGE | dd of=${SD_DEVICE} bs=1M

# sync

To transfer whole system to on-board flash

Boot up from SD card

Perform the following commands in debug console

# cd /mk_inand

# ./mksd-linux.sh /dev/mmcblk0

press y followed by Enter, if following message shows up:

While "[Done]" shows up means the transferring is finished.

Creating boot-up on-board flash from built sdcard image

To create one boot-up SD card

Perform the following commands in terminal console

$ pushd ${BSP_HOME}/${BDIR}/tmp/deploy/images/${MC}

$ dd if=${SDCARD_IMAGE} of=${SD_DEVICE} bs=1M

$ sync

$ popd

To transfer whole system to on-board flash

Boot up from SD card

Insert USB stick that contains ${SDCARD_IMAGE}, USB stick will be auto mounted to /run/media/sda1.

Perform the following commands in debug console

# umount /dev/mmcblk0p?

# cd /run/media/sda1

# dd if=${SDCARD_IMAGE} of=/dev/mmcblk0 bs=4M conv=fsync

# P2START=$(fdisk -lu | grep mmcblk0p2 | awk '{print $2}')

# echo -e "d\n2\nn\np\n2\n${P2START}\n\nw\n" | fdisk -u /dev/mmcblk0

# umount /dev/mmcblk0p2

# e2fsck -f -y /dev/mmcblk0p2

# resize2fs /dev/mmcblk0p2

# poweroff

Debug console information

If you want to see debug message from device, you need to prepare for hardware device and software tool.

Preparing for hardware device

• The following URL provides information about the debug port slot and the debug port line for each device

Debug Port Information

Preparing for software tool

• You need to prepare the debug console tool. For example: "minicom" tool or "putty" tool.
• Baud rate: 115200

Customization

Package addition

To add tcf-agent & openssh-sftp-server

Navigate to the directory where fsl-image-adv.inc located

$ cd ${BSP_HOME}/sources/meta-advantech/recipes-fsl/images

Add following line to fsl-image-adv.inc

IMAGE_INSTALL += " tcf-agent openssh-sftp-server "

Continue an exist build environment and build sdcard image

To add chromium browser

Navigate to the directory where local.conf located

$ cd ${BSP_HOME}/${BDIR}/conf

Add following two lines to local.conf

CORE_IMAGE_EXTRA_INSTALL += "chromium"

LICENSE_FLAGS_WHITELIST="commercial"

Continue an exist build environment and build sdcard image

Setting up SDK

Please follow the section,To build toolchain installer, to build one toolchain installer

Perform the following command in terminal console

$ cd ${BSP_HOME}/${BDIR}/tmp/deploy/sdk

$ sudo ./fsl-imx-x11-glibc-x86_64-meta-toolchain-qt5-cortexa9hf-vfp-neon-toolchain-${KERNEL}-1.1.0.sh

Enter new installed directory or just press Enter to use default directory.

While Proceed[y/n]? shows up, please enter the correct one.

Waiting for the SDK installed (while the following messages show up completely)

Setting up cross compiling environment

SDK has been set up (ref.Setting up SDK)

Perform the following command in terminal console

$ source ${TOOLCHAIN}/environment-setup-aarch64-poky-linux

Building & updating u-boot manually

TBD

Building & updating kernel/modules/dtb manually

TBD

Improve boot speed

• Bootloader

1.bootdelay time

We can cancel the bootdelay time by setting bootloader environment value.

setenv bootdelay 0
env save
reset

2.Disable console

Disable debug message output can also improve boot speed

Disable kernel message

setenv mmcargs setenv bootargs console=${console},${baudrate} ${smp} root=${mmcroot} ${bootargs} quiet
env save
reset

Or

Disable debug port

setenv console
env save
reset

• Rootfs

1.Use smaller rootfs

We can speed up boot times by using a smaller rootfs instead of fsl-image-qt5 image

eg. core-image-full-cmdline, core-image-minimal

bitbake core-image-full-cmdline

It's a console-only image with more full-featured Linux system functionality installed.

And replace the original fsl-image-qt5 rootfs.

• Services

1. Using update-rc.d remove ,we can remove unnecessary services.

update-rc.d -f ＜basename＞ remove

System Recovery

Please refer to Creating boot-up on-board flash from prebuilt image / sdcard image to create a boot-up SD card and transfer whole system to on-board flash.

Package List

In BSP, list all packages which will be built in the image

bitbake -g fsl-image-qt5 && cat pn-depends.dot | grep -v -e '-native' | grep -v digraph | grep -v -e '-image' \
| awk '{print $1}' | sort | uniq

File:Package List

Show all recipes (include non-installed packages)

bitbake -s

File:Package Version List

You can also check ${BDIR}/tmp/deploy/images/${MC}/fsl-image-qt5-${MC}.manifest

It will show the same content with checking by rpm tool on target board.

On target board, list all packages by rpm tool

rpm -qa --root / --dbpath /var/lib/rpm | sort

File:Package List