An overview of OpenEmbedded for embedded Linux systems. Presentation given for the Portland Linux User Group Advanced Topics meeting on February 17, 2010.

1. OpenEmbedded Scott Garman [email_address] PLUG Advanced Topics February 17, 2010

3. A framework for creating customized embedded Linux distributions

4. Å ngstr ö m is one of the more popular OE-based distros

5. History: The OpenZaurus Project

7. Taking a well-known Linux distro (Debian, RedHat) and “butchering” it by ripping out package mgmt and documentation

8. Result: Need to take your device off-line to update software, re-flash completely

11. More than 250 machine definitions

12. More than 25 machine/package configurations (distros) (estimates based on directory/configuration file counts)

14. Download BitBake

15. Checkout the OpenEmbedded repository (git)

16. Create your local.conf file, which defines which distro your are building for which target machine

17. local.conf # Where BitBake should download sources to DL_DIR = “/oe/build/sources” # BitBake recipe files BBFILES = “/oe/openembedded/recipes/*/*.bb” # Hardware, distribution, and image filesystem MACHINE = “gumstix-connex” DISTRO = “angstrom-2008.1” IMAGE_FSTYPES = “jffs2”

22. BitBake Demos Machine configuration: conf/machine/gumstix.conf Package recipe: recipes/xscreensaver/ Task recipe: recipes/tasks/task-nas-server.bb

24. BitBake can take a lot of time and disk space to compile everything

25. BitBake's power and flexibility comes at the cost of some complexity

26. If you don't need/care about package management/live updates, OE loses many advantages

28. You need a robust package management system for deploying live updates to your devices in the field

29. You already have in-house expertise with OE/BitBake and want to leverage it

31. www.angstrom-distribution.org

32. developer.berlios.de/projects/bitbake/