Cbrake/master

README.md

@@ -79,7 +79,7 @@ Additional machines can be added by including appropriate BSP layers.
 This is where all the magic happens. In general, this build system
 must be run in a bash shell. To set up the environment, source the following file:
 
-`. ./\<machine\>-envsetup.sh`
+`. ./<machine>-envsetup.sh`
 
 Or, you can export a MACHINE environment variable, and then source envsetup.sh.
 
@@ -124,12 +124,7 @@ as parallel build options.
 
 Sometimes you want to install packages you build on the target system
 without building and re-installing the entire rootfs. This can be done
-using a feed server.
-
-- Workstation: `yoe_feed_server` (this starts a feed server on port 4000)
-- Target: modify /etc/opkg to http://[your workstation IP]:4000
-- Target: `opkg update`
-- Target: `opkg install [package]`
+using a [feed server](docs/packages.md).
 
 This advantage of a feed server versus scp'ing opkg files to the target
 and installing manually is that dependencies will automatically get installed.

docs/README.md

@@ -14,8 +14,10 @@ included for some of them below.
 
 ## Using Yoe
 
-- [Working with git submodules](git-submodules.md)
 - [Docker Integration](docker.md)
+- [Packages](packages.md) - information on installing packages from your build directory
+  in a development scenario.
+- [Working with git submodules](git-submodules.md)
 
 ## Image Configuration
 

docs/packages.md

@@ -0,0 +1,49 @@
+# Packages
+
+[up](README.md)
+
+During an image build, OpenEmbedded builds all software into packages, which are then
+combined into a rootfs. One benefit of this is you can install packages later into a
+running system, much like you would a desktop distribution like Debian, Ubuntu, Arch,
+etc. OE supports the RPM, DEB, and IPK package formats, and the format can be set using the
+[PACKAGE_CLASSES](https://www.yoctoproject.org/docs/latest/mega-manual/mega-manual.html#var-PACKAGE_CLASSES)
+variable.
+
+## Installing packages from a local build
+
+You can install packages directly from your local OE build onto a target system with the
+following procedure:
+
+- packaging information must be included in the target image:
+  - `IMAGE_FEATURES += "packages-management"`
+- a ssh server must be enabled in the target image:
+  - `IMAGE_FEATURES += "ssh-server-dropbear"`
+- target system just be on the same network as your build computer.
+- run `yoe_setup_feed_server <target ip address>`. This configures the target to fetch packages
+  from your build computer. Alternatively you can set the MACHINE_IP environment variable.
+- run `yoe_feed_server`. This starts a web server that serves packages.
+- on target system, run:
+  - `opkg update`
+  - `opkg list` (list packages available)
+  - `opkg install python3` (install python3)
+
+If the package is not built yet, simply:
+
+- `bitbake <recipe for package to install>`
+- `bitbake package-index` (required to rebuild the package index)
+- on target:
+  - `opkg update`
+  - `opkg install <package>`
+
+This technique is very useful for testing new packages, or for installing packages that
+are only needed for development that you don't want to include in production images
+(strace, gdb, testing tools, etc). Dependencies are automatically handled by the package
+manager.
+
+For larger development teams or field deployments, you might want to set up a feed server
+to serve packages to any connected device.
+
+See also:
+
+- https://www.yoctoproject.org/docs/latest/mega-manual/mega-manual.html#package-feeds-dev-environment
+- https://www.yoctoproject.org/docs/latest/ref-manual/ref-manual.html#var-FEED_DEPLOYDIR_BASE_URI

envsetup.sh

@@ -284,23 +284,42 @@ _EOF
 yoe_feed_server() {
   SAVEDPWD=$PWD
   cd $OE_BASE
-  bitbake package-index
+  bitbake package-index || return 1
   cd build/tmp/deploy/ipk
   python3 -m http.server 8000
   cd $SAVEDPWD
 }
 
+yoe_host_ip() {
+  hostname -i | cut -d' ' -f 1
+}
+
 yoe_setup_feed_server() {
+  if [ -n "$1" ]; then
+    MIP=$1
+  else
+    if [ -z "$MACHINE_IP" ]; then
+      echo
+      echo "Error: Machine IP address not given"
+      echo "Usage: yoe_setup_feed_server <machine ip>"
+      echo " or set the MACHINE_IP env variable"
+      echo
+      return 1
+    fi
+    MIP=$MACHINE_IP
+  fi
   # set TARGET_IP in local.sh
   # set HOST_IP in local.sh if different
-  if [ -n "${HOST_IP}" ]; then
+  if [ -z "${HOST_IP}" ]; then
     HOST_IP=$(hostname -i | cut -d' ' -f 1)
   fi
-  ssh root@$MACHINE_IP ls /etc/opkg/base-feeds.conf >/dev/null 2>&1
+  ssh root@$MIP ls /etc/opkg/base-feeds.conf >/dev/null 2>&1
   if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
-    echo "opkg is not installed, can't setup feeds on  machine $MACHINE_IP"
+    echo "opkg is not installed, can't setup feeds on  machine $MIP"
   else
-    ssh root@$MACHINE_IP "sed -i -e 's|http://.*\/|http://$HOST_IP:8000/|' /etc/opkg/base-feeds.conf"
+    SERVER=http://$HOST_IP:8000
+    echo "pointing feeds to $SERVER"
+    ssh root@$MIP "sed -i -e 's|http://.*\/|${SERVER}/|' /etc/opkg/base-feeds.conf"
   fi
 }
 
@@ -395,7 +414,6 @@ yoe_clean_sstate() {
 
 if [ -z "$DOCKER_REPO" ]; then
   echo "Setting DOCKER_REPO to yoedistro/yoe-build:stretch"
-  echo "set DOCKER_REPO to 'none' to disable docker"
   export DOCKER_REPO=yoedistro/yoe-build:stretch
 fi