Create and build projects

Create projects

Before you build Digi Embedded Yocto, you need to create a platform-specific project. Use the mkproject.sh script to check supported platforms:

source /usr/local/dey-2.0/mkproject.sh -l

To initialize the project and environment, use the mkproject.sh script. For example, for the ccimx6ulstarter, do the following:

mkdir -p ${HOME}/workspace/ccimx6ulstarter
cd ${HOME}/workspace/ccimx6ulstarter
source /usr/local/dey-2.0/mkproject.sh -p ccimx6ulstarter

This initializes the project with a conf directory and two configuration files:

• bblayers.conf: The available layers are configured here.
• local.conf: Local configuration variables affecting only this project are customized here.

The mkproject.sh script sets the environment for the build in the current running terminal. It also creates a dey-setup-environment script in the project's root folder. This script can safely be rerun over existing projects to set up the build environment on a new terminal.

Note If you close your current terminal and open a new one, you need to run the dey-setup-environment script before you use Digi Embedded Yocto.

Update existing projects

When updating your installation of Digi Embedded Yocto, you need to erase the tmp and sstate-cache directories from existing projects and build them from scratch. Leaving the directories intact may result in problems in the build and the final images.

Build images

To build DEY images, use the command bitbake <image-recipe> from your project's directory. For example:

bitbake core-image-base

Note The compilation can take several hours on a powerful state-of-the-art workstation, depending on the selected image recipe.

Inspect build deliverables

You can find generated images inside your project's directory, in the <project>/tmp/deploy/images/<platform> folder. This directory contains the following files:

• Boot image which contains the Linux kernel, device tree files, and U-Boot scripts, in the following format:
  • boot.ubifs, a UBIFS partition image suitable for NAND devices
• Root file system images in the following formats (depending on the target platform):
  • ubifs, a UBIFS partition image suitable for NAND devices
  • tar.bz2, a compressed root file system tarball that you can use to set up a remote NFS share to boot from
  • manifest, a text file with the list of all the built packages

• Recovery image which contains the recovery Linux kernel, device tree files, and U-Boot scripts, in the following format:

  • recovery.ubifs, a UBIFS partition image suitable for NAND devices
• U-Boot images with the imx file extension
• Linux kernel images with the bin file extension, which you can use to update an existing boot partition
• Linux kernel device tree images with the dtb file extension, which you can use to update an existing boot partition

Build a software update package

To build a software update package, use the following command from your project's directory:

bitbake core-image-base-swu

This will generate the update package under <project>/tmp/deploy/images/<platform>:

core-image-base-swu-<platform>-<timestamp>.swu

Note You probably need to generate a software update package only when you have new functionality or fixes over your currently deployed images.

To install the update package core-image-base-swu-<platform>-<timestamp>.swu in your device, see Program the firmware from Linux.