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 (16 chapters)
15
Index

Finding a toolchain


You have three choices for your cross development toolchain: you may find a ready built toolchain that matches your needs, you can use the one generated by an embedded build tool which is covered in Chapter 6, Selecting a Build System, or you can create one yourself as described later in this chapter.

A pre-built cross toolchain is an attractive option in that you only have to download and install it, but you are limited to the configuration of that particular toolchain and you are dependent on the person or organization you got it from. Most likely, it will be one of these:

  • SoC or board vendor. Most vendors offer a Linux toolchain.

  • A consortium dedicated to providing system-level support for a given architecture. For example, Linaro, (https://www.linaro.org) have pre-built toolchains for the ARM architecture.

  • Third-party Linux tool vendors such as Mentor Graphics, TimeSys, or MontaVista.

  • Cross tool packages for your desktop Linux distribution, for example, Debian-based distributions...