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| − | + | == Building a minimal RootFS with Busybox == | |
[http://www.busybox.net/ BusyBox] is a collection of cut down versions of common UNIX utilities compiled into a single small executable. This makes BusyBox an ideal foundation for resource constrained systems. | [http://www.busybox.net/ BusyBox] is a collection of cut down versions of common UNIX utilities compiled into a single small executable. This makes BusyBox an ideal foundation for resource constrained systems. | ||
| − | == BusyBox == | + | === BusyBox === |
BusyBox can be built either as a single static binary requiring no external libraries, or built requiring shared libraries such as GLIBC (default). This setting can be found under BusyBox Settings -> Build Options -> Build BusyBox as a static binary (no shared libs). | BusyBox can be built either as a single static binary requiring no external libraries, or built requiring shared libraries such as GLIBC (default). This setting can be found under BusyBox Settings -> Build Options -> Build BusyBox as a static binary (no shared libs). | ||
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</PRE> | </PRE> | ||
| − | == GLIBC == | + | === GLIBC === |
GLIBC is the [http://www.gnu.org/software/libc/libc.html GNU C Library] and includes common system calls required by executables running on your system. | GLIBC is the [http://www.gnu.org/software/libc/libc.html GNU C Library] and includes common system calls required by executables running on your system. | ||
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</PRE> | </PRE> | ||
| − | == Preparing RootFS == | + | === Preparing RootFS === |
Once BusyBox and GLIBC has been cross-compiled, you will want to create the remainder of the root file system. Start by creating the necessary directory structure: | Once BusyBox and GLIBC has been cross-compiled, you will want to create the remainder of the root file system. Start by creating the necessary directory structure: | ||
BusyBox is a collection of cut down versions of common UNIX utilities compiled into a single small executable. This makes BusyBox an ideal foundation for resource constrained systems.
BusyBox can be built either as a single static binary requiring no external libraries, or built requiring shared libraries such as GLIBC (default). This setting can be found under BusyBox Settings -> Build Options -> Build BusyBox as a static binary (no shared libs).
I generally choose to build BusyBox to require GLIBC as it is highly likely you will want to run additional applications that will require GLIBC.
wget http://busybox.net/downloads/busybox-1.22.1.tar.bz2 tar -xjf busybox-1.22.1.tar.bz2 cd busybox-1.22.1/ make ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=arm-linux-gnueabi- defconfig make ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=arm-linux-gnueabi- menuconfig
At the menu, you can configure BusyBox options. Once configured, you can build BusyBox:
make ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=arm-linux-gnueabi- make ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=arm-linux-gnueabi- install CONFIG_PREFIX=/home/export/rootfs
GLIBC is the GNU C Library and includes common system calls required by executables running on your system.
Download, build and install GLIBC:
wget http://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/libc/glibc-2.19.tar.gz tar -xzf glibc-2.19.tar.gz mkdir glibc-build cd glibc-build/ ../glibc-2.19/configure arm-linux-gnueabi --target=arm-linux-gnueabi --prefix= --enable-add-ons make make install install_root=/home/export/rootfs
If you get an error similar to that below with cross-rpcgen, then it would appear cross-rpcgen was built for arm, but is trying to run on your x86 based build system. To alleviate the problem I pre-build a copy for x86 and place it in /glibc-build/sunrpc/cross-rpcgen and then restart the arm build.
CPP='arm-linux-gnueabi-gcc -E -x c-header' /.../glibc-build/sunrpc/cross-rpcgen -Y ../scripts -c rpcsvc/bootparam_prot.x -o /.../glibc-build/sunrpc/xbootparam_prot.T /lib/ld-linux.so.3: No such file or directory make[2]: *** [/.../glibc-build/sunrpc/xbootparam_prot.stmp] Error 255
Once BusyBox and GLIBC has been cross-compiled, you will want to create the remainder of the root file system. Start by creating the necessary directory structure:
mkdir proc sys dev etc etc/init.d
Now we must mount the /proc & /sys filesystem and populate the /dev nodes. This can be done at runtime by creating a file called /etc/init.d/rcS and adding:
#!bin/sh mount -t proc none /proc mount -t sysfs none /sys /sbin/mdev -s
and make executable:
chmod +x /etc/init.d/rcS
You should now have a basic, yet functional, BusyBox root file system.