Buildroot, embedded Linux made simple
The problem:
- Carry only one device rather than two (a laptop and a braille display)
- Have Linux with me all the time
- Be able to upgrade the distribution easily and version-control the list of installed software and their configuration
- Fast boot
Solution: buildroot, a Linux distribution for embedded systems
How it works:
- Clone buildroot’s repository
- Configure the distribution (Linux kernel-like configuraiton interface)
- Cross-compile everything you need (bootloader, kernel, packages)
- Burn your image to a memory card and boot your device
Your own customizations can be kept in a separate tree that will be copied to the final file system (layered file system)
Consequences:
- Installing packages on a running system is discouraged, rather add them to your configuration, so that the configuration always reflects what’s embedded in your device
Supported hardware devices: let’s see make menuconfig
Misc:
- Great documentation
- Well thought and designed,inspiring
- Uses interesting tools like ccache
- Packaging tools is well documented