Book Image

Mastering Embedded Linux Programming - Third Edition

By : Frank Vasquez, Chris Simmonds
5 (3)
Book Image

Mastering Embedded Linux Programming - Third Edition

5 (3)
By: Frank Vasquez, Chris Simmonds

Overview of this book

If you’re looking for a book that will demystify embedded Linux, then you’ve come to the right place. Mastering Embedded Linux Programming is a fully comprehensive guide that can serve both as means to learn new things or as a handy reference. The first few chapters of this book will break down the fundamental elements that underpin all embedded Linux projects: the toolchain, the bootloader, the kernel, and the root filesystem. After that, you will learn how to create each of these elements from scratch and automate the process using Buildroot and the Yocto Project. As you progress, the book will show you how to implement an effective storage strategy for flash memory chips and install updates to a device remotely once it’s deployed. You’ll also learn about the key aspects of writing code for embedded Linux, such as how to access hardware from apps, the implications of writing multi-threaded code, and techniques to manage memory in an efficient way. The final chapters demonstrate how to debug your code, whether it resides in apps or in the Linux kernel itself. You’ll also cover the different tracers and profilers that are available for Linux so that you can quickly pinpoint any performance bottlenecks in your system. By the end of this Linux book, you’ll be able to create efficient and secure embedded devices using Linux.
Table of Contents (27 chapters)
1
Section 1: Elements of Embedded Linux
10
Section 2: System Architecture and Design Decisions
18
Section 3: Writing Embedded Applications
22
Section 4: Debugging and Optimizing Performance

Building your own distro

At the start of the previous chapter, I told you that Yocto gives you the ability to build your own custom Linux distribution. This is done by way of a distro layer like meta-poky. As we have seen, you don't need your own distro layer to build your own custom images. You can go a long way without ever having to modify any of Poky's distribution metadata. But if you want to alter distro policies (for example, features, C library implementations, choice of package manager, and so on), then you can choose to build your own distro.

Building your own distro is a three-step process:

  1. Create a new distro layer.
  2. Create a distro configuration file.
  3. Add more recipes to your distro.

But before we get into the technical details of how to do that, let's consider when it's the right time to roll your own distro.

When and when not to

Distro settings define the package format (rpm, deb, or ipk), package feed, init system ...