Ubuntu Wiki

This page describe the process to build a root filesystem for an armel target device from scratch using a builder script.

Using the builder script

A script that automates this process in ubuntu jaunty (9.04) was created by the ubuntu mobile team, it can be downloaded here

• Note: this script requires the most recent debootstrap version from ubuntu jaunty.

The following example will create a tarball of a xubuntu-desktop based image for your target device (i.e. a beagleboard):

sudo ./build-arm-rootfs --fqdn beagleboard --login ogra --password temppwd --imagesize 2G --seed xubuntu-desktop

The options --fqdn (or -f), --login (or -l) and --password (-p) are required for the initial setup. Calling the script with --help shows you all the additional options that can be used to change the setup of the created rootfs.

• Recommendation: Don't pick a serious password if you plan to install this rootfs on other systems as well, rather pick something trivial and change your user password after the first login.

Building a qemu-only image

In case you want to just create an image for usage with qemu instead of building a rootfs tarball, the build-armel-rootfs script has the --notarball option, just call it like below and you will get a qemu image for usage with qemu-system-arm

sudo ./build-arm-rootfs --fqdn qemu-test --login qemu --password qemupwd --notarball

Settings

It is usually not necessary to set any additional options, things like the locale, keyboard setup and timezone will be automatically determined from the building host and will just be set accordingly in your target system, use the script options if you want any of these settings to differ from the build machine.

Typical images (example settings):

To build a xubuntu-desktop image use the following options: --imagesize 2G --seed xubuntu-desktop

For an ubuntu-desktop image (a similar size is needed if you want a kubuntu image): --imagesize 3G --seed ubuntu-desktop

A typical remote development comandline environment if you run an armel board headless (note that you should edit /etc/network/interfaces and set up your network device on first login for this): --imagesize 3G --seed build-essential,openssh-server

Bugs and Problems

If you run into any problems, please contact "ogra" in #ubuntu-arm on irc.freenode.net or send a mail to ogra@ubuntu.com

If you run into an error please keep the log of your failed build

A known issue is that langage-pack handling is not implemented yet, please install the packages for your language manually post install.