NanoPi NEO2 - OpenWrt

Board Integrations OpenWrt
1

Design Philosophy / Build process
Generic OpenWrt with mender app and u-boot - non mender load created (with mender if selected in config)
generic openwrt image post-processed to become mender image
post-processing: mender disk layout created, distribution specific config, files and apps added
reason: we use generic openwrt for multiple products, post processing differentiates
This (post processing) approach also makes if fairly easy to port to other OpenWrt architectures. Amlogic S912 (proprietary) also ported.
Prequisites:
Mender, openwrt build host prerequisites
20-40GB free space for openwrt checkout, build
mkdir your_openwrt_build_dir; cd your_openwrt_build_dir (…/ from where git will place openwrt)
wget http://www.rossco.org/Downloads/OpenWrt/openwrt-mender-v1.0.0.tar.gz
tar -zxvf openwrt-mender-v1.0.0.tar.gz
It is highly recommended to examine the various scripts prior to running them
Install Mender host build packages. If using Centos 7+, run install_build_tools.sh else, determine how to install tools for your OS
Checkout required openwrt version, run: ./get_openwrt.sh
Patch openwrt for mender, run: ./openwrt_to_mender.sh
cd openwrt
OpenWrt Configuration (make menuconfig, already done by openwrt_to_mender.sh, change after, if required)):
Target System: Allwinner A1x/A20/A3x
SubTarget: Allwinner A64
Target Profile: Nanopi NEO2 (H5) (may work with other H5 dreivitaves)
Target Images-> Boot Partition Size: 20M
Target Images-> Root partition size: 3650M (assumes 8GB Flash, Total Sectors: 15523840)
Advanced Configuration -> ToolChain Options->GCC Compiler Version->GCC 7.X (other versions may work, untested)
Advanced Configuration -> C Library Implementation: Use glibc (crucial)
Utilities->mender->selected as builtin ()
Utilities->jitter-rngd->selected as builtin () (entropy source, to avoid slow boot)
OpenWrt Mender Configuration (make menuconfig):
Utilities->mender->Configuration (alter to taste):
() ServerURL # Mender update server URL
() ServerCertificate # If used
(/dev/mmcblk0p2) RootfsPartA
(/dev/mmcblk0p3) RootfsPartB
(86400) UpdatePollIntervalSeconds
(86400) InventoryPollIntervalSeconds
(30) RetryPollIntervalSeconds
Mender Variables, MENDER_* Configuration, if defaults need to be changed.
Before running openwrt_to_mender.sh (set as defaults)
edit: Custom/package/boot/uboot-sunxi/files/config_mender_defines.h
cp Custom/package/boot/uboot-sunxi/files/config_mender_defines.h
package/boot/uboot-sunxi/files/config_mender_defines.h
After running openwrt_to_mender.sh (set before build)
edit: package/boot/uboot-sunxi/files/config_mender_defines.h
Build Openwrt (with above configuration)
make, get a jug of coffee
if, during build, configuration questions arise, answer defaults to all
Flash Openwrt-Mender
Change the following variables in mender_flashdisk.sh to match your tastes / infrastructure:
BASE_NAME # What your distribution is called
DIST_DEST_DIR # Directory or cifs mount point of your package repository
MENDER_SERVER # URL of mender update server
MENDER_SERVER_UID # User ID for mender update server login
MENDER_SERVER_PASS # Password for mender update server login
TOTAL_SECTORS # Default SD sectors 15523840 for 8GB SD. Use fdisk to determine if different SD size
Place SD card in USB adapter, identify SD disk, IE; sde
To create image, flash SD and upload mender rootfs artifact:
./mender_flashdisk.sh disk
To only create image and upload mender rootfs artifact:
./mender_flashdisk.sh

Full mender image (for distribution and flashing by other means):
	/tmp/mender/mender-neo2-openwrt-$(build_date).zip

Enjoy;
Bill Ross
www.rossco.org

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2 Likes
2

Thanks @rossbcan, any specific OpenWrt versions that this has been tested on?

3

Works on the particular version / $ARCH downloaded by above tarball scripts. For the proprietary Amlogic S912 port, openwrt trunk was no problem. Porting to any u-boot based $ARCH is relatively straightforward, with minor script and patch tweaks should versions change…

4

Hey @rossbcan could you explain why there is this hard dependency on glibc? I thought Mender worked well with musl?

This is such a cool toolset. Thank you very much for sharing.

5

My distribution had other dependencies on glibc. Called it a dependency to avoid verifying alternatives. Why not try with musl, share results? That is what opensource / sharing is all about. Netizens perfect / improve what is shared.

…B

6

Please note that we have experienced some issues with musl in Yocto,

https://tracker.mender.io/browse/MEN-2443

Though this could have been isolated to Yocto, and the type of flags it uses during build and in the end there was a viable workaround.

7

Hi @rossbcan,

Thanks for sharing all your work and documenting it so well.

I’m having a few issues creating and uploading the Mender Rootfs Artifact and am wondering if you came across anything similar in making the mender_flashdisk script.

Problem: Parsing issues in upload

Failing on: mender-cli artifacts upload --server $MENDER_SERVER -v $BASE_NAME-ext4-rootfs-$DATE.mender

Description:
On my build server I can create a mender rootfs artifact with the following command:

mender-artifact write rootfs-image -n $BASE_NAME-$DATE -t $BASE_NAME -f $ROOTFS_IMAGE -o $BASE_NAME-ext4-rootfs-$DATE.mender

(using -f instead of -u to specify the .img file as per https://github.com/mendersoftware/mender-artifact/commit/e902214ae87e2376ca67656243d612ff16d19e32)

But whilst I can read the artifact generated fine with mender-artifact read and can login to my mender server with the mender-cli when i try the mender-artifact upload I get a failure response of “unexpected EOF” or “Cannot parse artifact file”.

Likewise if i try to manually upload the .mender rootfs file generated I receive a cannot parse failure.

Did you face any similar problems in mender-artifact creation/upload?

Many thanks

8

Check mender_flashdisk.sh:
mender-cli artifacts upload --server $MENDER_SERVER -v $BASE_NAME-ext4-rootfs-$DATE.mender
do mender-cli --help. Think the API changed (-v?)
you also need to be root for mender_flashdisk.sh

9

Thanks for suggestion. Seems its a problem with me using an old version of mender-server. :sweat_smile:

10

Hi @rossbcan The link at http://www.rossco.org/Downloads/OpenWrt/openwrt-mender-v1.0.0.tar.gz returns a 404 . Where might I find the file?

11

Try link again…

image001.jpg

12

It is still 404.

13

Could you please describe how you have patched your u-boot and where to get mender patch for openWRT?