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Mastering Embedded Linux Programming
Mastering Embedded Linux Programming

Mastering Embedded Linux Programming: Unleash the full potential of Embedded Linux with Linux 4.9 and Yocto Project 2.2 (Morty) Updates , Second Edition

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Mastering Embedded Linux Programming

Learning About Toolchains

The toolchain is the first element of embedded Linux and the starting point of your project. You will use it to compile all the code that will run on your device. The choices you make at this early stage will have a profound impact on the final outcome. Your toolchain should be capable of making effective use of your hardware by using the optimum instruction set for your processor. It should support the languages that you require, and have a solid implementation of the Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX) and other system interfaces. Not only that, but it should be updated when security flaws are discovered or bugs are found. Finally, it should be constant throughout the project. In other words, once you have chosen your toolchain, it is important to stick with it. Changing compilers and development libraries in an inconsistent way during a project...

Introducing toolchains

A toolchain is the set of tools that compiles source code into executables that can run on your target device, and includes a compiler, a linker, and run-time libraries. Initially you need one to build the other three elements of an embedded Linux system: the bootloader, the kernel, and the root filesystem. It has to be able to compile code written in assembly, C, and C++ since these are the languages used in the base open source packages.

Usually, toolchains for Linux are based on components from the GNU project (http://www.gnu.org), and that is still true in the majority of cases at the time of writing. However, over the past few years, the Clang compiler and the associated Low Level Virtual Machine (LLVM) project (http://llvm.org) have progressed to the point that it is now a viable alternative to a GNU toolchain. One major distinction between LLVM and...

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:

  • An 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.
  • A third-party Linux tool vendor, such as Mentor...

Building a toolchain using crosstool-NG

Some years ago, Dan Kegel wrote a set of scripts and makefiles for generating cross development toolchains and called it crosstool (http://kegel.com/crosstool/). In 2007, Yann E. Morin used that base to create the next generation of crosstool, crosstool-NG (http://crosstool-ng.github.io/). Today it is by far the most convenient way to create a stand-alone cross toolchain from source.

Installing crosstool-NG

Before you begin, you will need a working native toolchain and build tools on your host PC. To work with crosstool-NG on an Ubuntu host, you will need to install the packages using the following command:

$ sudo apt-get install automake bison chrpath flex g++ git gperf \
gawk libexpat1...

Anatomy of a toolchain

To get an idea of what is in a typical toolchain, I want to examine the crosstool-NG toolchain you have just created. The examples use the ARM Cortex A8 toolchain created for the BeagleBone Black, which has the prefix arm-cortex_a8-linux-gnueabihf-. If you built the ARM926EJ-S toolchain for the QEMU target, then the prefix will be arm-unknown-linux-gnueabi instead.

The ARM Cortex A8 toolchain is in the directory ~/x-tools/arm-cortex_a8-linux-gnueabihf/bin. In there you will find the cross compiler, arm-cortex_a8-linux-gnueabihf-gcc. To make use of it, you need to add the directory to your path using the following command:

$ PATH=~/x-tools/arm-cortex_a8-linux-gnueabihf/bin:$PATH

Now you can take a simple helloworld program, which in the C language looks like this:

#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>

int main (int argc, char *argv[])
{
printf...

Linking with libraries – static and dynamic linking

Any application you write for Linux, whether it be in C or C++, will be linked with the C library libc. This is so fundamental that you don't even have to tell gcc or g++ to do it because it always links libc. Other libraries that you may want to link with have to be explicitly named through the -l option.

The library code can be linked in two different ways: statically, meaning that all the library functions your application calls and their dependencies are pulled from the library archive and bound into your executable; and dynamically, meaning that references to the library files and functions in those files are generated in the code but the actual linking is done dynamically at runtime. You will find the code for the examples that follow in the book code archive in MELP/chapter_02/library.

...

The art of cross compiling

Having a working cross toolchain is the starting point of a journey, not the end of it. At some point, you will want to begin cross compiling the various tools, applications, and libraries that you need on your target. Many of them will be open source packages—each of which has its own method of compiling and its own peculiarities. There are some common build systems, including:

  • Pure makefiles, where the toolchain is usually controlled by the make variable CROSS_COMPILE
  • The GNU build system known as Autotools
  • CMake (https://cmake.org/)

I will cover only the first two here since these are the ones needed for even a basic embedded Linux system. For CMake, there are some excellent resources on the CMake website referenced in the preceding point.

Simple...

Summary

The toolchain is always your starting point; everything that follows from that is dependent on having a working, reliable toolchain.

Most embedded build environments are based on a cross development toolchain, which creates a clear separation between a powerful host computer building the code and a target computer on which it runs. The toolchain itself consists of the GNU binutils, a C compiler from the GNU compiler collection—and quite likely the C++ compiler as well—plus one of the C libraries I have described. Usually, the GNU debugger, GDB, will be generated at this point, which I describe in Chapter 14, Debugging with GDB. Also, keep a watch out for the Clang compiler, as it will develop over the next few years.

You may start with nothing but a toolchain—perhaps built using crosstool-NG or downloaded from Linaro—and use it to compile all...

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Key benefits

  • ? Discover how to build and configure reliable embedded Linux devices
  • ? This book has been updated to include Linux 4.9 and Yocto Project 2.2 (Morty)
  • ? This comprehensive guide covers the remote update of devices in the field and power management

Description

Embedded Linux runs many of the devices we use every day, from smart TVs to WiFi routers, test equipment to industrial controllers - all of them have Linux at their heart. Linux is a core technology in the implementation of the inter-connected world of the Internet of Things. The comprehensive guide shows you the technologies and techniques required to build Linux into embedded systems. You will begin by learning about the fundamental elements that underpin all embedded Linux projects: the toolchain, the bootloader, the kernel, and the root filesystem. You’ll see how to create each of these elements from scratch, and how to automate the process using Buildroot and the Yocto Project. Moving on, you’ll find out how to implement an effective storage strategy for flash memory chips, and how to install updates to the device remotely once it is deployed. You’ll also get to know the key aspects of writing code for embedded Linux, such as how to access hardware from applications, the implications of writing multi-threaded code, and techniques to manage memory in an efficient way. The final chapters show you how to debug your code, both in applications and in the Linux kernel, and how to profile the system so that you can look out for performance bottlenecks. By the end of the book, you will have a complete overview of the steps required to create a successful embedded Linux system.

Who is this book for?

If you are an engineer who wishes to understand and use Linux in embedded devices, this book is for you. It is also for Linux developers and system programmers who are familiar with embedded systems and want to learn and program the best in class devices. It is appropriate for students studying embedded techniques, for developers implementing embedded Linux devices, and engineers supporting existing Linux devices.

What you will learn

  • ? Evaluate the Board Support Packages offered by most manufacturers of a system on chip or embedded module
  • ? Use Buildroot and the Yocto Project to create embedded Linux systems quickly and efficiently
  • ? Update IoT devices in the field without compromising security
  • ? Reduce the power budget of devices to make batteries last longer
  • ? Interact with the hardware without having to write kernel device drivers
  • ? Debug devices remotely using GDB, and see how to measure the performance of the systems using powerful tools such as perk, ftrace, and valgrind
  • ? Find out how to configure Linux as a real-time operating system
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Length: 478 pages
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Table of Contents

16 Chapters
Starting Out Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Learning About Toolchains Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
All About Bootloaders Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Configuring and Building the Kernel Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Building a Root Filesystem Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Selecting a Build System Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Creating a Storage Strategy Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Updating Software in the Field Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Interfacing with Device Drivers Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Starting Up – The init Program Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Managing Power Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Learning About Processes and Threads Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Managing Memory Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Debugging with GDB Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Profiling and Tracing Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Real-Time Programming Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

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Rating distribution
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Half star icon 4.3
(12 Ratings)
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3 star 8.3%
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Estilicon Dec 27, 2018
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
A complete guide to all you'll need to know if you are serious about linux embedded.The most important part of the book is the first part, it explains how to create your very own linux distribution from scratch (Toolchain, Bootloader, Kernel and Root filesystem). Even if your SoM provides you a working Linux I would recommend reading this chapters first, you will learn things you will need later (you'll need the toolchain to compile your apps on your desk computer).Then the book talks about Buildroot and Yocto, both are build systems that help to create your linux version. The rest of the book helps you to understand how linux works and how you can make the best of it for your embedded device. There are also practical chapters that explain how to update software remotely, how to create your own device drivers for your hardware, how to start your services with init, how to use a watchdog to restart the system if it stops responding ... have a look at the index, all topics are very interesting.To sum up, this is a guide for linux embedded, a starting point. The topic is huge, it can't treat always all subjects with the level of detail needed. If you want to deepen into any particular subject, let's say you want to build your own device driver, the book has references to information you can find on the internet to broaden your knowledge.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Daiane Dec 08, 2017
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
I think this is a very important book for everyone willing to work with embedded linux projects. I am very happy this book exists because I can refer to it everytime I need a good reference. I have 2 copies on my cube.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Robert M Sep 30, 2017
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
This is an excellent book. Well written with enough detail and explanation to make learning embedded Linux easy. I'm not a novice on embedded Linux but there are several areas that I have only cursory knowledge in and this book does a great job filling them in. Other Linux books I've bought either were not focused on embedded or were well out of date. Bootloaders, building the kernel, the root file system, selecting a build system, understanding init vs. systemd, It's all here and accessible. The book focuses on two platforms: the Beaglebone Black and the QEMU emulator.One of the best technical books I have purchased in a while.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
amazon222 Dec 02, 2018
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
I have a few books on embedded linux.This book though really does it for me just outstanding and superbly walks you through the process.very knowledgeable author and just superbly explained.Awesome work.
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Amazon Customer Nov 10, 2017
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Very good book, well written with a lot of pratical details. It was the first time I found a book that gives a lot of up to date details to how to deal with the entire build of an embedded Linux system.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
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