[Buildroot] Best way to update deployed systems created with BuildRoot?

[Buildroot] Best way to update deployed systems created with BuildRoot?

[Fred Basset]

Hi All,

Does anyone have any experience on the best way to update the root
filesystem of systems in the field once they're deployed?

Thank you,
Fred
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[Buildroot] Best way to update deployed systems created with BuildRoot?

[Brendan Heading]

Fred,

my advice is usually "don't". :)

The most popular and easiest way is to bake everything into a rootfs cpio
and include it with the kernel. To upgrade the system simply reflash the
kernel and reboot.

The way I really like to do it is to make a squashfs with the kernel
included within the rootfs, have the bootloader load the kernel from it,
and then have the kernel mount it as the rootfs when it starts. This is a
bit more memory efficient and usually boots a bit faster.

If you really want to have a system that can be upgraded piece by piece you
would need to use a package manager, such as ipkg. buildroot isn't really
intended for use in conjunction with such systems. I know there was some
chat a while back about supporting packagisation, but I don't recall the
outcome of the discussion. Yocto may be more appropriate for your needs in
this case. I'd repeat, though, don't go down the packaging route unless you
really have to. Most applications IME don't need it.

Brendan



On 26 July 2015 at 17:30, Fred Basset <fredbasset1000@gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> Does anyone have any experience on the best way to update the root
> filesystem of systems in the field once they're deployed?
>
> Thank you,
> Fred
>
> _______________________________________________
> buildroot mailing list
> buildroot at busybox.net
> http://lists.busybox.net/mailman/listinfo/buildroot
>
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[Buildroot] Best way to update deployed systems created with BuildRoot?

[Yann E. MORIN]

Fred, All,

On 2015-07-26 09:30 -0700, Fred Basset spake thusly:
> Does anyone have any experience on the best way to update the root
> filesystem of systems in the field once they're deployed?

Basically, you BR2_PACKAGE_XSERVER_XORG_SERVER_MODULARhave two options:

 1) duplication
    - you split your storage in two halves, each with a version of the
      firmware: N and N-1.
    - when you update to N+1, you overwrite the N-1 with N+1 and reboot
    - your bootloader has a way to find the latest version, check its
      integrity, and boot it.

 2) rescue/update
    - you split your storage in two, one large partition with the
      nominal system, a smal one with a minimalist system that only
      knows how to update the nominal
    - your bootloader is smart enough to detect which it should boot.

Regards,
Yann E. MORIN.

-- 
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| +33 662 376 056 | Software  Designer | \ / CAMPAIGN     |  ___               |
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[Buildroot] Best way to update deployed systems created with BuildRoot?

[Yann E. MORIN]

Fre, All,

On 2015-07-26 18:45 +0200, Yann E. MORIN spake thusly:
> On 2015-07-26 09:30 -0700, Fred Basset spake thusly:
> > Does anyone have any experience on the best way to update the root
> > filesystem of systems in the field once they're deployed?
> 
> Basically, you BR2_PACKAGE_XSERVER_XORG_SERVER_MODULARhave two options:

Damn, bad copy-paste... :-(

    Basically, you have two options:
    [...]

Regards,
Yann E. MORIN.

-- 
.-----------------.--------------------.------------------.--------------------.
|  Yann E. MORIN  | Real-Time Embedded | /"\ ASCII RIBBON | Erics' conspiracy: |
| +33 662 376 056 | Software  Designer | \ / CAMPAIGN     |  ___               |
| +33 223 225 172 `------------.-------:  X  AGAINST      |  \e/  There is no  |
| http://ymorin.is-a-geek.org/ | _/*\_ | / \ HTML MAIL    |   v   conspiracy.  |
'------------------------------^-------^------------------^--------------------'