Build Instructions for Ubuntu
Build Instructions for Ubuntu
Reference: Ubuntu 15.04 Vivid Vervet
Build Pre-requisites
sudo apt-get install build-essential git
Useful for building or troubleshooting older builds:
sudo apt-get install u-boot-tools sunxi-tools
Getting the Cross-Toolchain
See also: Toolchain
- Add the ArmHF architecture
sudo dpkg --add-architecture armhf
- Modify existing sources, restricting to appropriate architectures (i.e. all i386 and amd64 package sources are prefixed as "deb [arch=i386,amd64]")
sudo sed 's~\(\(deb\(-src\)*\) \([^\[]\)\)~\2 [arch=i386,amd64] \4~' /etc/apt/sources.list | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list #Manually configure third party sources sudo sed 's~\(\(deb\(-src\)*\) \([^\[]\)\)~\2 [arch=i386,amd64] \4~' /etc/apt/sources.list.d/*.list
- Create source list for the port architecture(s) (this adds the armhf port sources to apt)
sudo bash -c 'cat > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/armhf-ports.list <<EOT deb [arch=armhf] http://ports.ubuntu.com/ `lsb_release -cs` main universe multiverse restricted deb [arch=armhf] http://ports.ubuntu.com/ `lsb_release -cs`-updates main universe multiverse restricted deb [arch=armhf] http://ports.ubuntu.com/ `lsb_release -cs`-security main universe multiverse restricted EOT'
- Update apt and install crossbuild tools for armhf
sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install crossbuild-essential-armhf
Building u-boot
Mainline u-boot works fine:
git clone -b v2015.04 git://git.denx.de/u-boot.git cd u-boot make CROSS_COMPILE=arm-linux-gnueabihf- Mele_A1000_defconfig make -j4 CROSS_COMPILE=arm-linux-gnueabihf-
search in the directory configs/ for your board, the file name looks like <board_name>_defconfig
(Also refer to Mainline_U-boot#Compile U-Boot)
Setting up the sd card
Enter an interactive superuser sudo shell
sudo su -
${card} is the SD device (ie /dev/sdc). ${partition} is the partition number (ie. 1). Warning: This will delete the content.
dd if=/dev/zero of=${card} bs=1M count=1
dd if=u-boot-sunxi-with-spl.bin of=${card} bs=1024 seek=8
Create partition(s). ie one big partition beginning with sector 2048, type 83 (Linux)
fdisk ${card}
mkfs.ext4 ${card}${partition}
mount ${card}${partition} /mnt
This will first clean the card (at least the first 1M), install the u-boot bootloader you compiled in the step before, and then you can create -for example- one partition, format it, and mount it to /mnt/ for use in the next steps.
(Also refer to Bootable_SD_card)
Ubuntu Core
- Download Ubuntu Core filesystem
Link to Ubuntu Core download:
Ubuntu 15.04 (Vivid Vervet) - http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-core/releases/vivid/release/
- Extract Ubuntu Core filesystem to the mounted SD card
cd /mnt sudo tar zxvf $path_to_root_fs
- Install qemu-arm-static
sudo apt-get install qemu-user-static
- Prepare chroot environment
cp /usr/bin/qemu-arm-static /mnt/usr/bin/ mount chproc /mnt/proc -t proc mount chsys /mnt/sys -t sysfs
cp /etc/resolv.conf /mnt/etc/resolv.conf
will allow network access after chroot-ing (in step 7) by copying the DNS resolver configuration
- Open a chroot session into the target root filesystem. This will allow you to install packages and configure the target system before it is bootable.
sudo LC_ALL=C LANGUAGE=C LANG=C chroot /mnt
for f in /sys /proc /dev ; do mount --rbind $f /mnt/$f ; done ; chroot /mnt\
will go to a chroot, see Is there an easier way to chroot than bind-mounting? for details about mount rbind
apt-get update && apt-get install linux-{headers,image}-generic
will install kernel ("linux")
Note: it's possible that apt-get update will not work because no network is present.
Ubuntu Core for Offline instalation
- Download the Linux Kernel
apt-get download linux-generic:armhf flash-kernel:armhf linux-base linux-image-generic:armhf linux-headers-generic:armhf devio:armhf
- Install flash-kernel
dpkg -i devio_1.2-1build2_armhf.deb
- Install the kernel:
# dpkg -i /tmp/$dependencies # dpkg -i /tmp/$kernel
- Copy the kernel and any dependencies to the target root filesystem, e.g.
cp $path_to_kernel/*deb /mnt/tmp
Configuring the system
flash-kernel
We are going to use flash-kernel to generate the boot.src. Tell it which hardware we're aiming for. (Devices listed in: /usr/share/flash-kernel/db/all.db)
mkdir /mnt/etc/flash-kernel/ echo "Cubietech Cubietruck" >> /mnt/etc/flash-kernel/machine
Kernel arguments:
echo 'LINUX_KERNEL_CMDLINE="console=ttyS0,115200 hdmi.audio=EDID:0 disp.screen0_output_mode=EDID:1280x1024p60 root=/dev/mmcblk0p1 rootwait panic=10 ${extra}"' >> /mnt/etc/default/flash-kernel
Kernel modules
Write extra modules that should be loaded at boot time to /mnt/etc/modules.
echo "rtc_sunxi" >> /etc/initramfs-tools/modules
Base configuration files
echo "/dev/mmcblk0p1 / ext4 relatime,errors=remount-ro 0 1" > /mnt/etc/fstab echo "HOSTNAME" > /mnt/etc/hostname
Hint: Please consider using your favorite debian-mirror instead of ftp.debian.org.
cat <<EOF > /mnt/etc/apt/sources.list # deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ testing main non-free contrib deb-src http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ testing main non-free contrib deb http://security.debian.org/ testing/updates main contrib non-free deb-src http://security.debian.org/ testing/updates main contrib non-free # testing-updates, previously known as 'volatile' deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ testing-updates main contrib non-free deb-src http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ testing-updates main contrib non-free EOF
cat <<EOF > /mnt/etc/apt/sources.list.d/experimental.list deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ unstable main non-free contrib deb-src http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ unstable main non-free contrib deb http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ experimental main non-free contrib deb-src http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ experimental main non-free contrib EOF
cat <<EOF > /mnt/etc/apt/preferences.d/experimental Package: * Pin: release o=Debian,a=unstable Pin-Priority: 150 Package: * Pin: release a=experimental Pin-Priority: -10 EOF
cat <<EOF > /mnt/etc/network/interfaces # This file describes the network interfaces available on your system # and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5). # The loopback network interface auto lo iface lo inet loopback # The primary network interface allow-hotplug eth0 iface eth0 inet dhcp EOF
Prepare Login
Remember: We won't have any display output, so we can eiter: spawn a login on the serial console:
echo "T0:23:respawn:/sbin/getty -L ttyS0 115200 vt100" >> /mnt/etc/inittab
and/or use ssh. Since debian disabled root password-login in jessie, re-enable it:
sed -i "s/^PermitRootLogin without-password/PermitRootLogin yes/" /mnt/etc/ssh/sshd_config
or copy your key:
umask 077; mkdir /mnt/root/.ssh/ cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub >> /mnt/root/.ssh/authorized_keys
chroot and setup
Now chroot in to the new system, install kernel and set everything up.
mount -t proc chproc /mnt/proc mount chsys /mnt/sys -t sysfs mount -t devtmpfs chdev /mnt/dev || mount --bind /dev /mnt/dev mount -t devpts chpts /mnt/dev/pts echo -e '#!/bin/sh\nexit 101' > /mnt/usr/sbin/policy-rc.d chmod 755 /mnt/usr/sbin/policy-rc.d DEBIAN_FRONTEND=noninteractive DEBCONF_NONINTERACTIVE_SEEN=true LC_ALL=C LANGUAGE=C LANG=C chroot /mnt dpkg --configure -a
LC_ALL=C LANGUAGE=C LANG=C chroot /mnt
The next steps are executed inside the chroot:
apt-get update apt-get install locales && dpkg-reconfigure locales dpkg-reconfigure tzdata
Install the kernel and u-boot (u-boot from debian is not used, but it does no harm and i'll include it for future reference)
apt-get -t experimental install linux-image-3.16-rc6-armmp-lpae u-boot u-boot-tools
Or, if you want simple frame-buffer support (on some cards) go with kernel >3.19:
apt-get -t experimental install linux-image-3.19.0-trunk-armmp-lpae u-boot u-boot-tools
Install non-free firmware and add one currently missing file to the wifi-firmware:
apt-get install firmware-linux firmware-brcm80211 sunxi-tools flash-kernel wget -O /lib/firmware/brcm/brcmfmac43362-sdio.txt http://dl.cubieboard.org/public/Cubieboard/benn/firmware/ap6210/nvram_ap6210.txt
Install a few other things:
apt-get install console-setup keyboard-configuration systemd systemd-sysv openssh-server ntp
At this point, debian should have generated a kernel image /boot/vmlinuz-??? and an initrd /boot/initrd.img-??? for you. Generate the /boot/boot.scr, set a password and after a little cleanup you're set:
flash-kernel passwd root exit