Re: [Buildroot] creating packages for opkg for buildroot based embedded platform software

Re: [Buildroot] creating packages for opkg for buildroot based embedded platform software

[Karicheri, Murali]

Hi Baruch,

-----Original Message-----
From: buildroot <buildroot-bounces@buildroot.org> On Behalf Of Baruch Siach via buildroot
Sent: Tuesday, January 11, 2022 11:13 AM
To: Karicheri, Murali <Murali.Karicheri@sandc.com>
Cc: buildroot@buildroot.org
Subject: Re: [Buildroot] creating packages for opkg for buildroot based embedded platform software


Hi Murali,

On Tue, Jan 11 2022, Karicheri, Murali wrote:
> Hello, buildroot experts,
>
> I am new to buildroot and was working with a buildroot expert for
> migrating our yocto based build system to use buildroot.
> Unfortunately, he has left our company for another oppotunity. Ever
> since I have started using buildroot for our build, I am very happy
> with its simplicity compared to yocto based build system. However, I
> have learned that buildroot expect the entire rootfs to be updated on
> a running system for updating fixes which is very expensive for
> deployment where there is limited bandwidth available to update the
> system. So that is the challenge that I am facing. Good news is opkg
> tools are supported in buildroot which is good. Typically, we would
> like to let our customer do periodic update to the system to have
> vulnerability fixes and other fixes released by buildroot. For
> example, let us say we base our system on 2021.02.x. So, when there is
> a maintenance update to this branch say, 2021.02.06, we would like to
> create an ipk file with the changes and provide that for syst  em
> update. Idea is the file will be smaller and thus requires less
> bandwidth and will result in quicker update to the system. Do you have
> information on any project that is working to create a package manager for systems that uses buildroot for their build?
>
> My research showed one resource but is for open embedded or yocto or
> openwrt and is here.
> https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fraym
> ii.org%2Fs%2Ftutorials%2FBuilding_IPK_packages_by_hand.html&amp;data=0
> 4%7C01%7Cmurali.karicheri%40sandc.com%7Ced2996e04284449528fe08d9d51d6d
> f3%7C21c4b724f908455e813c11c8d17f3e9a%7C0%7C0%7C637775144649082517%7CU
> nknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1ha
> WwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&amp;sdata=VUvduRq9pPaHLRGnflGcQNzDo8ihorz8hOG
> GJp%2Bd%2FhA%3D&amp;reserved=0
>
> Do you think this is what I should try or any other relevant information on this topic?

This Buildroot FAQ is relevant:

  https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fbuildroot.org%2Fdownloads%2Fmanual%2Fmanual.html%23faq-no-binary-packages&amp;data=04%7C01%7Cmurali.karicheri%40sandc.com%7Ced2996e04284449528fe08d9d51d6df3%7C21c4b724f908455e813c11c8d17f3e9a%7C0%7C0%7C637775144649082517%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&amp;sdata=4XHwDcvvpLQiwcSTMDuJ3vF%2Bammr84VU013NXlhwoxM%3D&amp;reserved=0


Thanks for your quick response! Hope my email client (Outlook) doesn't create any annoying email format. My company also process these emails. So not sure if it messes up the format.

I fully appreciate the intentions of buildroot to keep it simple. I had already reviewed the FAQ you had pointed out.  What I am looking for is something outside buildroot. Typically, embedded systems that I am working with have firmware update mechanism in place. System doesn't modify the active rootfs but update an alternate set of partitions and switch to that once update is successful. So, we could potentially generate two rootfs contents using buildroot. One using say version 2021.02.02 and another with 2021.02.06 for example. We are using ARM tool chain for our build and assume we will keep it same for incremental updates. Understand that we might have to change the tool chain as well since there could be vulnerability fixes to tool chain. So, wondering if we could do a diff of both rootfs contents and create an ipk for the diff and update the alternate media for this purpose. Also, we will do extensive testing of our product software. So, this will be QA tested before pushing 
 to field. Is there anything work done for this type of use cases?

Regards,

Murali


baruch

--
                                                     ~. .~   Tk Open Systems
=}------------------------------------------------ooO--U--Ooo------------{=
   - baruch@tkos.co.il - tel: +972.52.368.4656, https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tkos.co.il%2F&amp;data=04%7C01%7Cmurali.karicheri%40sandc.com%7Ced2996e04284449528fe08d9d51d6df3%7C21c4b724f908455e813c11c8d17f3e9a%7C0%7C0%7C637775144649082517%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&amp;sdata=CI61wXVl0JJizrtYTd16lsPIUvw6s5nRLm0ez7XVZDQ%3D&amp;reserved=0 - _______________________________________________
buildroot mailing list
buildroot@buildroot.org
https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Flists.buildroot.org%2Fmailman%2Flistinfo%2Fbuildroot&amp;data=04%7C01%7Cmurali.karicheri%40sandc.com%7Ced2996e04284449528fe08d9d51d6df3%7C21c4b724f908455e813c11c8d17f3e9a%7C0%7C0%7C637775144649082517%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&amp;sdata=SVbBPgU%2B%2FMgWtx%2BDdXQ3AlSlkMBi2D96hDxDXXk6IMA%3D&amp;reserved=0
________________________________
NOTICE OF CONFIDENTIALITY:
This message may contain information that is considered confidential and which may be prohibited from disclosure under applicable law or by contractual agreement. The information is intended solely for the use of the individual or entity named above. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of the information contained in or attached to this message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this email transmission in error, please notify the sender by replying to this email and then delete it from your system.
_______________________________________________
buildroot mailing list
buildroot@buildroot.org
https://lists.buildroot.org/mailman/listinfo/buildroot

Re: [Buildroot] creating packages for opkg for buildroot based embedded platform software

[Charles Steinkuehler]

On 1/11/2022 11:37 AM, Karicheri, Murali wrote:
> Hi Baruch,
 > > <snip>
> 
> I fully appreciate the intentions of buildroot to keep it simple. I
> had already reviewed the FAQ you had pointed out.  What I am looking
> for is something outside buildroot. Typically, embedded systems that
> I am working with have firmware update mechanism in place. System
> doesn't modify the active rootfs but update an alternate set of
> partitions and switch to that once update is successful. So, we could
> potentially generate two rootfs contents using buildroot. One using
> say version 2021.02.02 and another with 2021.02.06 for example. We
> are using ARM tool chain for our build and assume we will keep it
> same for incremental updates. Understand that we might have to change
> the tool chain as well since there could be vulnerability fixes to
> tool chain. So, wondering if we could do a diff of both rootfs
> contents and create an ipk for the diff and update the alternate
> media for this purpose. Also, we will do extensive testing of our
> product software. So, this will be QA tested before pushing to field.
 >
> Is there anything work done for this type of use cases?

As you have discovered, buildroot is focused on building a complete root 
filesystem.  There are many tools available to manage updates and handle 
firmware upgrades.  Buildroot can build these tools for you (eg: RAUC, 
SWupdate, etc), but configuration of the embedded system, the update 
process, and generating the update packages is up to you.  There is 
almost infinite flexibility, which means you can probably do exactly 
what you want, but that can also make it hard to get something running.

I needed a mechanism to do "A B" firmware updates and recently put 
together a Buildroot + RAUC example for the Raspberry Pi that generates 
a working basic system that can be updated:

https://github.com/cdsteinkuehler/br2rauc

This does full rootfs updates and allows for atomic boot loader updates, 
using the post-image.sh script to build the RAUC bundles needed for 
performing an update along with the root filesystem image generated by 
Buildroot.  If you want to do partial updates, you can setup RAUC 
differently, perhaps with an overlay partition to hold your point 
release updates.

-- 
Charles Steinkuehler
charles@steinkuehler.net
_______________________________________________
buildroot mailing list
buildroot@buildroot.org
https://lists.buildroot.org/mailman/listinfo/buildroot

Re: [Buildroot] creating packages for opkg for buildroot based embedded platform software

[Baruch Siach via buildroot]

Hi Murali,

On Tue, Jan 11 2022, Karicheri, Murali wrote:
> Hello, buildroot experts,
>
> I am new to buildroot and was working with a buildroot expert for migrating
> our yocto based build system to use buildroot. Unfortunately, he has left our
> company for another oppotunity. Ever since I have started using buildroot for
> our build, I am very happy with its simplicity compared to yocto based build
> system. However, I have learned that buildroot expect the entire rootfs to be
> updated on a running system for updating fixes which is very expensive for
> deployment where there is limited bandwidth available to update the system. So
> that is the challenge that I am facing. Good news is opkg tools are supported
> in buildroot which is good. Typically, we would like to let our customer do
> periodic update to the system to have vulnerability fixes and other fixes
> released by buildroot. For example, let us say we base our system on
> 2021.02.x. So, when there is a maintenance update to this branch say,
> 2021.02.06, we would like to create an ipk file with the changes and provide
> that for syst
>  em update. Idea is the file will be smaller and thus requires less bandwidth
> and will result in quicker update to the system. Do you have information on
> any project that is working to create a package manager for systems that uses
> buildroot for their build?
>
> My research showed one resource but is for open embedded or yocto or openwrt
> and is here. https://raymii.org/s/tutorials/Building_IPK_packages_by_hand.html
>
> Do you think this is what I should try or any other relevant information on this topic?

This Buildroot FAQ is relevant:

  https://buildroot.org/downloads/manual/manual.html#faq-no-binary-packages

baruch

-- 
                                                     ~. .~   Tk Open Systems
=}------------------------------------------------ooO--U--Ooo------------{=
   - baruch@tkos.co.il - tel: +972.52.368.4656, http://www.tkos.co.il -
_______________________________________________
buildroot mailing list
buildroot@buildroot.org
https://lists.buildroot.org/mailman/listinfo/buildroot

[Buildroot] creating packages for opkg for buildroot based embedded platform software

[Karicheri, Murali]

Hello, buildroot experts,

I am new to buildroot and was working with a buildroot expert for migrating our yocto based build system to use buildroot. Unfortunately, he has left our company for another oppotunity. Ever since I have started using buildroot for our build, I am very happy with its simplicity compared to yocto based build system. However, I have learned that buildroot expect the entire rootfs to be updated on a running system for updating fixes which is very expensive for deployment where there is limited bandwidth available to update the system. So that is the challenge that I am facing. Good news is opkg tools are supported in buildroot which is good. Typically, we would like to let our customer do periodic update to the system to have vulnerability fixes and other fixes released by buildroot. For example, let us say we base our system on 2021.02.x. So, when there is a maintenance update to this branch say, 2021.02.06, we would like to create an ipk file with the changes and provide that for syst
 em update. Idea is the file will be smaller and thus requires less bandwidth and will result in quicker update to the system. Do you have information on any project that is working to create a package manager for systems that uses buildroot for their build?

My research showed one resource but is for open embedded or yocto or openwrt and is here. https://raymii.org/s/tutorials/Building_IPK_packages_by_hand.html

Do you think this is what I should try or any other relevant information on this topic?

Thanks

Murali Karicheri, Software Architect
S&C Electric Company


________________________________
NOTICE OF CONFIDENTIALITY:
This message may contain information that is considered confidential and which may be prohibited from disclosure under applicable law or by contractual agreement. The information is intended solely for the use of the individual or entity named above. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any disclosure, copying, distribution or use of the information contained in or attached to this message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this email transmission in error, please notify the sender by replying to this email and then delete it from your system.
_______________________________________________
buildroot mailing list
buildroot@buildroot.org
https://lists.buildroot.org/mailman/listinfo/buildroot