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Mastering Embedded Linux Development

Mastering Embedded Linux Development

By : Frank Vasquez, Mr. Chris Simmonds
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Mastering Embedded Linux Development

Mastering Embedded Linux Development

By: Frank Vasquez, Mr. Chris Simmonds

Overview of this book

Mastering Embedded Linux Development' is designed to be both a learning resource and a reference for your embedded Linux projects. The book starts by breaking down the fundamental elements that underpin all embedded Linux projects: the toolchain, the bootloader, the kernel, and the root filesystem. First, you will download and install a pre-built toolchain. After that, you will cross-compile each of the remaining three elements from scratch and learn to automate the process using Buildroot and the Yocto Project. The book progresses with coverage of over-the-air software updates and rapid prototyping with add-on boards. Two new chapters tackle modern development practices including Python packaging and deploying containerized applications. These are followed by a chapter on writing multithreaded code and another on techniques to manage memory in an efficient way. The final chapters demonstrate how to debug your code, whether it resides in user space or in the Linux kernel itself. In addition to GDB, the book also covers the different tracers and profilers that are available for Linux so that you can quickly pinpoint any performance bottlenecks in your system. By the end of this book, you will be able to create efficient and secure embedded devices with Linux that will delight your users.
Table of Contents (28 chapters)
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1
Part 1: Elements of Embedded Linux
7
Part 2: Building Embedded Linux Images
11
Part 3: System Architecture and Design Decisions
18
Part 4: Developing Applications
23
Part 5: Debugging and Optimizing Performance

BusyBox init

BusyBox has a minimal init program that uses an /etc/inittab configuration file to start programs at bootup and stop them at shutdown. The actual work is done by shell scripts, which, by convention, are placed in the /etc/init.d directory.

init begins by reading /etc/inittab. This file contains a list of programs to run, one per line, in this format:

<id>::<action>:<program>

The roles of these parameters are:

  • id: The controlling terminal for the command
  • action: When and how to run the program
  • program: The program to run along with all its command-line arguments

The actions are:

  • sysinit: Runs the program when init starts before any of the other types of actions.
  • respawn: Runs the program and restarts it if it terminates. It is used to run a program as a daemon.
  • askfirst: The same as respawn, but it prints the message Please press Enter to activate this console to the console and runs...

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