Book Image

Mastering Embedded Linux Programming

By : Chris Simmonds
Book Image

Mastering Embedded Linux Programming

By: Chris Simmonds

Overview of this book

Mastering Embedded Linux Programming takes you through the product cycle and gives you an in-depth description of the components and options that are available at each stage. You will begin by learning about toolchains, bootloaders, the Linux kernel, and how to configure a root filesystem to create a basic working device. You will then learn how to use the two most commonly used build systems, Buildroot and Yocto, to speed up and simplify the development process. Building on this solid base, the next section considers how to make best use of raw NAND/NOR flash memory and managed flash eMMC chips, including mechanisms for increasing the lifetime of the devices and to perform reliable in-field updates. Next, you need to consider what techniques are best suited to writing applications for your device. We will then see how functions are split between processes and the usage of POSIX threads, which have a big impact on the responsiveness and performance of the final device The closing sections look at the techniques available to developers for profiling and tracing applications and kernel code using perf and ftrace.
Table of Contents (22 chapters)
Mastering Embedded Linux Programming
Credits
Foreword
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Making the root filesystem read-only


You need to make your target device able to survive unexpected events including file corruption, and still be able to boot and achieve at least a minimum level of function. Making the root filesystem read-only is a key part of achieving this ambition because it eliminates accidental over-writes. Making it read-only is easy: replace rw with ro on the kernel command line or use an inherently read-only filesystem such as squashfs. However, you will find that there are a few files and directories that are traditionally writable:

  • /etc/resolv.conf: This file is written by network configuration scripts to record the addresses of DNS name servers. The information is volatile, so you simply have to make it a symlink to a temporary directory, for example, /etc/resolv.conf -> /var/run/resolv.conf.

  • /etc/passwd: This file, along with /etc/group, /etc/shadow, and /etc/gshadow, stores user and group names and passwords. They need to be symbolically linked to an area...