Busybox Boot

Important

This feature might not be applicable to all Platforms. Please check individual Platform pages, section Supported Features to confirm if this feature is listed as supported.

Note

This section assumes the user has completed the chapter Getting Started and has a functional working environment.

Busybox is a lightweight executable which packages lots of POSIX compliant UNIX utilities in a single file system. Busybox boot with Neoverse Reference Design (RD) platform software stack demonstrates the integration of various software compontents on the software stack resulting in the ability to boot linux kernel on RD fixed virtual platform (FVP).

Booting to busybox is especially helpful when porting the software stack for new platforms which are derivative of Neoverse reference design platform as this can be quickly executed to ensure that the various software components are properly integrated and verify the basic functionality of various software components.

This document describes how to build the Neoverse RD platform software stack and and use it to boot upto busybox on the Neoverse RD FVP.

Build the platform software

This section describes the procedure to build the disk image for busybox boot. The disk image consists of two partitions. The first partition is a EFI partition and contains grub. The second parition is a ext3 partition which contains the linux kernel image. Examples on how to use the build command for busybox boot are listed below.

To build the software stack, the command to be used is

./build-scripts/rdinfra/build-test-busybox.sh -p <platform name> <command>

Supported command line options are listed below

• <platform name>

  • Lookup a platform name in Platform Names.

• <command>

  • Supported commands are

    • clean

    • build

    • package

    • all (all of the three above)

Note

On networks where git port is blocked, the build procedure might not progress. Refer the troubleshooting guide for possible ways to resolve this issue.

Examples of the build command are

• Command to clean, build and package the RD-N2 software stack required for busybox boot on RD-N2 platform:

  ./build-scripts/rdinfra/build-test-busybox.sh -p rdn2 all
  

• Command to perform an incremental build of the software components included in the software stack for the RD-N2 platform.

  ./build-scripts/rdinfra/build-test-busybox.sh -p rdn2 build
  

Note

This command should be followed by the package command to complete the preparation of the FIP and the disk image.

• Command to package the previously built software stack and prepare the FIP and the disk image.

  ./build-scripts/rdinfra/build-test-busybox.sh -p rdn2 package
  

Boot upto Busybox

After the build of the platform software stack for busybox boot is complete, the following commands can be used to start the execution of the selected platform fastmodel and boot the platform up to the busybox prompt. Examples on how to use the command are listed below.

To boot up to the busybox prompt, the commands to be used are

• Set MODEL path before launching the model:

  export MODEL=<absolute path to the platform FVP binary>
  

• If platform is SGI-575:

  cd model-scripts/sgi
  

• If platform is an RD:

  cd model-scripts/rdinfra
  

• Launch busybox boot:

  ./boot.sh -p <platform name> -a <additional_params> -n [true|false]
  

Supported command line options are listed below

• -p <platform name>

  • Lookup for a platform name in Platform Names.

• -n [true|false] (optional)

  • Controls the use of network ports by the model. If network ports have to be enabled, use ‘true’ as the option. Default value is set to ‘false’.

• -a <additional_params> (optional)

  • Specify any additional model parameters to be passed. The model parameters and the data to be passed to those parameters can be found in the FVP documentation.

Example commands to boot upto busybox are as listed below.

• Command to start the execution of the RD-N2 model to boot up to the Busybox prompt:

  ./boot.sh -p rdn2
  

• Command to start the execution of the RD-N2 model to boot up to the Busybox prompt with network enabled. The model supports virtio.net allowing the software running within the model to access the network:

  ./boot.sh -p rdn2 -n true
  

• Command to start the execution of the RD-N2 model with networking enabled and to boot up to the Busybox prompt. Additional parameters to the model are supplied using the -a command line parameter:

  ./boot.sh -p rdn2 -n true -a "-C board.flash0.diagnostics=1"