Description

Developers are increasingly integrating Linux into their embedded systems: It supports virtually all hardware architectures and many peripherals, scales well, offers full source code, and requires no royalties. The Yocto Project makes it much easier to customise Linux for embedded systems. If you’re a developer with working knowledge of Linux, Embedded Linux Systems with the Yocto Project™ will help you make the most of it.

An indispensable companion to the official documentation, this guide starts by offering a solid grounding in the embedded Linux landscape and the challenges of creating custom distributions for embedded systems. You’ll master the Yocto Project’s toolbox hands-on, by working through the entire development lifecycle with a variety of real-life examples that you can incorporate into your own projects.

Author Rudolf Streif offers deep insight into Yocto Project’s build system and engine, and addresses advanced topics ranging from board support to compliance management.

You’ll learn how to:

• Overcome key challenges of creating custom embedded distributions
• Jumpstart and iterate OS stack builds with the OpenEmbedded Build System
• Master build workflow, architecture, and the BitBake Build Engine
• Quickly troubleshoot build problems
• Customise new distros with built-in blueprints or from scratch
• Use BitBake recipes to create new software packages
• Build kernels, set configurations, and apply patches
• Support diverse CPU architectures and systems
• Create Board Support Packages (BSP) for hardware-specific adaptations
• Provide Application Development Toolkits (ADT) for round-trip development
• Remotely run and debug applications on actual hardware targets
• Ensure open-source license compliance
• Scale team-based projects with Toaster, Build History, Source Mirrors, and Autobuilder

Features

• Master the entire Yocto Project lifecycle: laying out system components, building the core OS stack, customization, configuration, application development, and deployment
• Maintain a common software base across multiple devices, while supporting different architectures and configurations
• Learn from a realistic, start-to-finish case study: a distributed home automation system containing multiple embedded and networked devices
• Perfect for engineers in many fast-growing Linux embedded systems markets: 'hard' embedded, mobile, medical, IVI, aerospace, military, space systems, and beyond

Table of Contents

• Chapter 1: Linux for Embedded Systems
• Chapter 2: The Yocto Project
• Chapter 3: OpenEmbedded Build System
• Chapter 4: BitBake Build Engine
• Chapter 5: Troubleshooting
• Chapter 6: Linux System Architecture
• Chapter 7: Building a Custom Linux Distribution
• Chapter 8: Software Package Recipes
• Chapter 9: Kernel Recipes
• Chapter 10: Board Support Packages
• Chapter 11: Application Development
• Chapter 12: Licensing and Compliance
• Chapter 13: Advanced Topics
• Appendix A: Open Source Licenses
• Appendix B: Metadata Reference

Author

Rudolf J. Streif has more than twenty years of experience in software engineering as a developer and as a manager leading cross-functional engineering teams with more than one hundred members. He previously served as the Linux Foundation's Director of Embedded Solutions, coordinating the Foundation's efforts for Linux in embedded. Rudolf developed the Linux Foundation's training course on the Yocto Project, which he delivered multiple times to companies and in a crash course variant during Linux Foundation events. He lives in El Cajon, California.