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

Cleaning kernel sources


There are three make targets for cleaning the kernel source tree:

  • clean: removes object files and most intermediates.

  • mrproper: removes all intermediate files, including the .config file. Use this target to return the source tree to the state it was in immediately after cloning or extracting the source code. If you are curious about the name, Mr Proper is a cleaning product common in some parts of the world. The meaning of make mrproper is to give the kernel sources a really good scrub.

  • distclean: This is the same as mrproper but also deletes editor backup files, patch leftover files, and other artifacts of software development.