Selecting a Build System
The preceding chapters covered the first four elements of embedded Linux. You built a bootloader, kernel, and root filesystem step by step before combining them into a basic embedded Linux system. That’s a lot of steps! Now it is time to simplify the process by automating as much of it as possible. Embedded Linux build systems can help, and we will look at two in particular: Buildroot and The Yocto Project. Both are complex tools that require an entire book to explain how they work.
In this chapter I will only present the general ideas behind build systems, laying the groundwork for Chapters 7 and 8. First, I will show you how to build a simple image to get an overall feel for the system. Then, I will show you how to make some useful modifications to the Nova board and Raspberry Pi 4 examples from the previous chapters. In subsequent chapters, we will dive deeper into The Yocto Project, now the preeminent build system for embedded Linux.
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