Dpto de Telemática y Electrónica

Universidad Politécnica de Madrid

Embedded Linux
Systems

Using Buildroot for building Embedded Linux

Systems on Raspberry Pi 3 Model B

Sergio Esquembri

2018

ETSIS. Telecomunicación –Universidad Politécnica de Madrid

Page 1 of 39
Acknoledgements
This document is based on a previous work using RPI Model B of my colleagues Dr. Mariano Ruiz and Dr.
Francisco Javier Jímenez from the Department of Telematics and Electronics Engineering of the Technical
University of Madrid.

Embedded Linux Systems: Using Buildroot for building Embedded Linux Systems on
Raspberry Pi 3 Model B by Sergio Esquembri is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Page 2 of 39
Table of contents
1 SCOPE ........................................................................................................................................5
Document Overview ..............................................................................................................5
Acronyms ..............................................................................................................................5
2 REFERENCED DOCUMENTS .........................................................................................................6
References .............................................................................................................................6
3 BUILDING LINUX USING BUILDROOT ...........................................................................................7
Elements needed for the execution of these LABS. ..................................................................7
Starting the VMware ..............................................................................................................7
Configuring Buildroot for RPI3. ............................................................................................. 11
Compiling buildroot. ............................................................................................................ 15
Buildroot Output.................................................................................................................. 16
Booting the Raspberry Pi. ..................................................................................................... 17
Connecting the RPI to the network ....................................................................................... 23
3.7.1 Inspecting the configuration of the network interface automatically generated ...................23
3.7.2 Adding support to WIFI ............................................................................................................23
4 USING INTEGRATED DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT: ECLIPSE/CDT ............................................ 25
Adding cross-compiling tools to PATH variable...................................................................... 25
Cross-Compiling applications using Eclipse. ........................................................................... 25
Automatic debugging using gdb and gdbserver. .................................................................... 33
5 PREPARING THE LINUX VIRTUAL MACHINE. .............................................................................. 35
Download VMware Workstation Player. ............................................................................... 35
Installing Ubuntu 14.04 LTS as virtual machine...................................................................... 35
Installing synaptic ................................................................................................................ 35
Installing putty ..................................................................................................................... 36
Installing packages for supporting Buildroot. ........................................................................ 37
Installing packages supporting Eclipse .................................................................................. 37

Page 3 of 39
 Table of figures
Fig. 1: Main screen of VMware player with some VM available to be executed. _______________ 7
Fig. 2: Ubuntu Virtual Machine login screen. ___________________________________________ 8
Fig. 3 Buildroot home page. ________________________________________________________ 8
Fig. 4: Example of Downloading buildroot source code. __________________________________ 9
Fig. 5: Buildroot folder (the folder name depends on the version downloaded). ______________ 9
Fig. 6: Dash home, Terminal application ______________________________________________ 10
Fig. 7: Buildroot setup screen. ______________________________________________________ 11
Fig. 8: Successful compilation and installation of Buildroot ______________________________ 16
Fig. 9: Schematic representation of the Buildroot tool. Buildroot generates the root file system,
the kernel image, the booloader and the toolchain. Figure copied from “Free
Electrons” training materials (http://free-electrons.com/training/) __________ 16
Fig. 10: images folder contains the binary files for our embedded system. __________________ 17
Fig. 11: RaspBerry-Pi (Version B) hardware with main elements identified. _________________ 18
Fig. 12: Raspberry-PI header terminal identification. ___________________________________ 19
Fig. 13: Identification of the terminals in the USB-RS232 adapter _________________________ 19
Fig. 14: Booting process for BCM2837 processor in the raspberry-pi._______________________ 20
Fig. 15: Putty program main window. ________________________________________________ 22
Fig. 16: Linux Running ____________________________________________________________ 22
Fig. 18: Summary of the different configurations for developing applications for embedded
systems. Figure copied from “Free Electrons” training materials (http://free-
electrons.com/training/) _____________________________________________ 25
Fig. 19: Cross compiling tools installed in the host computer _____________________________ 26
Fig. 20: Selection of the workspace for Eclipse. Use a folder in your account. ________________ 26
Fig. 21: Eclipse welcome window. ___________________________________________________ 27
Fig. 22: Eclipse main window. ______________________________________________________ 27
Fig. 23: Basic C project creation in Eclipse ____________________________________________ 28
Fig. 24: Cross-compiler prefix and path window. _______________________________________ 28
Fig. 25: Hello world example. ______________________________________________________ 29
Fig. 26: Tool Chain Editor should be configured to use Cross GCC. _________________________ 29
Fig. 27: Cross tools locate on (path).The path shown in this figure is an example.Use always the
path of your toolchain. ______________________________________________ 30
Fig. 28: Include search path. _______________________________________________________ 30
Fig. 29: Libraries search path. ______________________________________________________ 31
Fig. 30: Pop up window when executing “Connect to Server” ____________________________ 32
Fig. 31: Eclipse project compiled (Binaries has been generated). __________________________ 32
Fig. 32: Run test program in Raspberry PI _____________________________________________ 33
Fig. 33: Creating a Debug Configuration ______________________________________________ 33
Fig. 34: Debug configuration including the path to locate the cross gdb tool. ________________ 34
Fig. 35: Synaptic program from Dash ________________________________________________ 36
Fig. 36: Synaptic windows _________________________________________________________ 36

Page 4 of 39
 1 SCOPE
T

Document Overview
 This document describes the basic steps to develop and embedded Linux-based system using the
Raspberry PI board. The document has been specifically written to use a Raspberry-PI development
system based on the BCM2837 processor. All the software elements used have a GPL license.

[Time to complete the tutorial]: The time necessary to complete all the steps in this
tutorial is approximately 8 hours.

Read carefully all the instructions before executing the practical part otherwise you will find errors and
probably unpredicted errors. In parallel you need to review the slides available at Moodle site or at [RD1]

Acronyms
CPU Central Processing Unit
EABI Extended Application Binary Interface
EHCI Enhanced Host Controller Interface
I/O Input and Output
MMC Multimedia card
NAND Flash memory type for fast sequential read and write
PCI Peripheral Component Interconnect – computer bus standard
PCI Express Peripheral Component Interconnect Express
OS Operating system
UART Universal Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter
USB Universal Serial Bus

Page 5 of 39
 2 REFERENCED DOCUMENTS
References
[RD1] Embedded Linux system development.
Slides at https://moodle.upm.es/titulaciones/oficiales/course/<your course>
[RD2] Hallinan, C. Embedded Linux Primer. Second Edition. Prentice Hall. 2011.
[RD3] getting-started-with-ubuntu
[RD4] http://free-electrons.com/training/embedded-linux/
[RD5] Raspberry-Pi User Guide. Reference Manual.
www.myraspberry-pi.org/wp-content/.../Raspberry.Pi_.User_.Guide_.pdf
[RD6] http://www.uclibc.org/ uclib web site.
[RD7] http://www.gnu.org/software/binutils/ Binutils web site.

Page 6 of 39
 3 BUILDING LINUX USING BUILDROOT
Elements needed for the execution of these LABS.
In order to execute properly this lab you need the following elements:

1. VMware player version 5.0 or above. Available at www.wmware.com (free download and use). This
software is already installed in the laboratory desktop computer.
2. A VMWare virtual machine with Ubuntu 12.04 and all the software packages installed is already
available in the Desktop. This virtual machine is available for your personal use at the Department
assistance office (preferred method). If you want to setup your virtual machine by yourself follow
the instructions provided in the Annex I.
3. A Raspberry-Pi, the accessories and USB cable are available at the laboratory.
4. Basic knowledge of Linux commands.
Available at http://www.ee.surrey.ac.uk/Teaching/Unix/ UNIX tutorial for beginners.

Starting the VMware

Start VMware player and open the RPI Virtual Machine. Wait until the welcome screen is displayed (see Fig.
1 and Fig. 2). Login as “Ubuntu” user using the password “rpi.2018”. An Ubuntu tutorial is available at Moodle
site.

Fig. 1: Main screen of VMware player with some VM available to be executed.

Page 7 of 39
 Fig. 2: Ubuntu Virtual Machine login screen.
Open the Firefox web browser and download from https://buildroot.org/ the version identified as
buidlroot2018-02-1 (use the download link, see Fig. 3, and navigate searching for earlier releases if necessary,
https://buildroot.org/downloads/ ). Save the file to the Documents folder in your account (Fig. 4).

Fig. 3 Buildroot home page.

Buildroot is a tool to generate embedded Linux systems in our PC and then this Linux will be installed in the
target.

Page 8 of 39
 Fig. 4: Example of Downloading buildroot source code.
Copy the file to the “Documents” folder and decompress the file (Fig. 5).

Fig. 5: Buildroot folder (the folder name depends on the version downloaded).
Right click in the window and execute “Open in Terminal” or execute from Dash home the Terminal
application as is shown in the Fig. 6 (if “Open in Terminal” is not available, search how to install it in Ubuntu).
Page 9 of 39
 Fig. 6: Dash home, Terminal application

In some seconds a command window is displayed. Then, execute these commands:

rpi@ubuntu:~/Documents$ cd buildroot-xxxx.yy
rpi@ubuntu:~/Documents/buildroot-xxxx.yy$ make xconfig (or make menuconfig)

[Help]: In Linux “TAB” key helps you to autocomplete de commands, folders and files
names. You can find a description of “make” application in this link
https://www.gnu.org/software/make/manual/make.pdf

In some seconds you will see a new window similar to Fig. 7.

Page 10 of 39
 Fig. 7: Buildroot setup screen.

Configuring Buildroot for RPI3.

Once Buildroot configuration is started, it is necessary to configure the different items. You need to navigate
through the different menus and select the elements to install. Table I contains the specific configuration of
Buildroot for installing it in the Raspberry Pi. Depending on the version downloaded the organization and the
items displayed can be different.

[Help]: The Buildroot configuration is an iterative process. In order to set up your

embedded Linux system you will need to execute the configuration several times.

Table I: Parameters for Buildroot configuration

Main Item Subitem Value Comments

Target options Target Architecture ARM (little endian)
Target Architecture Cortex-A53
Variant
Target ABI EABIhf An embedded-application
binary interface (EABI)
specifies standard
conventions for file formats,
data types, register usage,
stack frame organization, and
function parameter passing of
an embedded software
program.
Floating point NEON/VFPv4
strategy
ARM instruction Set ARM
Build options Default values How Buildroot will built the
code. Leave default values.
Page 11 of 39
Main Item Subitem Value Comments
Toolchain Cross Compiler, linker,
libraries to be built to compile
out embedded application
Toolchain Type Buildroot toolchain Embedded system will be
compiled with tools
integrated in Buildroot
C library uClibc-ng Library (small size version)
containing the typical C
libraries used in Linux
environments (stdlib, stdio,
etc)[RD6]
Kernel Header s Same as kernel being built Source header files of the
Linux Kernel.
Custom Kernel 4.9.x
Headers Series
uClib configuration package/uclibc/uClibc-ng.config
file to use?
Enable WCHAR Yes Support for extender set of
support chars.

Thread library Native POSIX Threading (NTPL)

implementation
Thread library Yes Embedded system will have
debugging debugeable threads,
Compile and install Yes
uClibC utilities
Binutils Version binutils 2.29.1 [RD7]. Binutils contains tools
to manage the binary files
obtained in the compilation of
the different applications
GCC compiler gcc 6.x GCC tools version to be
Version installed
Enable C++ support Yes Including support for C++
programming, compiling, and
linking.
Build cross gdb for gdb 7.11.x Includes the support for GDB.
the host GCC debugger.

Enable MMU support Yes Mandatory if building a Linux

system
System
Configuration
System Hostname buildroot Name of the embedded
system
System Banner Linux RPI 3 Banner

Passwords encoding md5

Page 12 of 39
Main Item Subitem Value Comments
Init System Busybox
/dev management Dynamic using devtmpfs only
Path to permissions system/device_table.txt Text files with permissions for
table /dev files

Root filesystem Default target skeleton Linux folder organization for

skeleton the embedded system

Root password rpi

Run a getty: Port to /dev/ttyAMA0 Linux device file with the port
run a getty console to run getty (login) process.
Uses ttyAMA0 for serial port
Baud rate to use 115200
remount root Yes
filesystem read-write
during boot
Network interface to eth0
configure trough
DHCP
Purge unwanted
lcoales
Custom scripts to run board/raspberrypi3/post-build.sh
before creating
filesystem images
Custom scripts to run board/raspberrypi3/post-image.sh
after creating
filesystem images
Extra arguments --add-pi3-miniuart-bt-overlay
passed to custom
scripts
Linux Kernel
Kernel version Custom Git Repository
URL of custom https://github.com/raspberrypi/linux.
repository git
Custom repository 33ee56d5927ceff630fbc87e3f5caa409
version b6ae114
Kernel configuration Using and in-tree defconfig file

Defconfig name bcm2709

Kernel binary format zImage
Kernel compression Gzip compression
format
Build a Device Tree yes
Blob (DTB)
In-tree Device Tree bcm2710-rpi-3-b bcm2710-rpi-cm3
Source file names

Page 13 of 39
Main Item Subitem Value Comments
Linux Kernel Nothing
Extensions
Target
Packages
Busybox BusyBox 1.21.x
Busybox package/busybox/busybox.config
configuration file to
use
Audio and video Default values
applications
Compresssors and Default values
decompressors
Debugging, profiling Gdb, gdbserver
and benchmark
Developments tools Default values
Filesystem and flash Default values
utilities
Games Default values
Graphic libraries and Default values
applications
(graphic/text)
Hardware handling Firmware->rpi-firmware
Install DTB overlays
Interpreters Default values
language and
scripting
Libraries
Miscellaneous Default
Networking Open ssh->Yes
applications
Package managers Default
Real Time
Shell and utilities
System Tools
Text Editors and
viewers
Filesystem
Images
ext2/3/4 root ext4
filesystem size 200M
Compression method no compression
tar the root no compression
filesystem

Host utilities

Page 14 of 39
 Main Item Subitem Value Comments
host u-boot tools Yes
host mtools Yes
host dosfstools Yes
host genimage Yes

Legacy config Default values

options

Once you have configured all the menus you need to exit saving the values (File->Quit).

[Help]: The Buildroot configuration is stored in a file named as “.config”. You should
have a backup of this file.

Compiling buildroot.
In the Terminal Window executes the following command:
rpi@ubuntu:~/Documents/buildroot-xxxx.yy$ make
If everything is correct you will see a final window similar to the represented in Fig. 8.

[Time for this step]: In this step buildroot is going to connect, using the internet, to
different repositories. After downloading the code, Buildroot is going to compile the
applications and generates a lot files and folders. Depending of your internet speed
access and the configuration chosen this step could take up to one hour and half.

Warning. If you have errors in the configuration of buildroot you could obtain errors in
this compilation phase. Check correctly your configuration. Use “make clean” to clean
up your partial compilation.

Warning. dl subfolder in your buildroot folder contains all the packages download for
the internet. If you want to move your buildroot configuration from one computer to
another avoiding the copy of the virtual machine you can copy this folder.

Page 15 of 39
 Fig. 8: Successful compilation and installation of Buildroot
Buildroot has generated some folders with different files and subfolders containing the tools for generating
your Embedded Linux System. Next paragraph explains the main outputs obtained,

Buildroot Output.
The main output files of the execution of the previous steps can be located at the folder “./output/images”.
Fig. 9 summarizes the use of Buildroot. Buildroot generates a boot loader, a kernel image, and a file system.

Fig. 9: Schematic representation of the Buildroot tool. Buildroot generates the root file system, the kernel image,
the booloader and the toolchain. Figure copied from “Free Electrons” training materials (http://free-
electrons.com/training/)
In our specific case the folder content is shown in Fig. 10

Page 16 of 39
 Fig. 10: images folder contains the binary files for our embedded system.
Copy the sdcard.img file to your SDcard using this linux command in the bBuildroot folfer:

$ sudo dd if=output/images/sdcard.img of=/dev/sdX

Booting the Raspberry Pi.

Fig. 11 displays a Raspberry Pi. The description of this card, their functionalities, interfaces and connectors
are explained in the ref [RD5]. The basic connection requires:
a) To connect a USB to RS232 adapter (provided) to the raspberry-pi expansion header (see Fig. 12 and
Fig. 13). This adapter will be provide the serial line interface to be used as console in the Linux
operating system.
b) To connect the power supply with micro-USB connector provided (5 v).
c) To connect the Ethernet cable to the RJ45 port.

Page 17 of 39
Fig. 11: RaspBerry-Pi 3 Model B hardware with main elements identified.

Page 18 of 39
 RS232/USB

Fig. 12: Raspberry-PI header terminal identification.

Fig. 13: Identification of the terminals in the USB-RS232 adapter

The booting process of the Raspberry Pi BCM2837 processor is depicted in Fig. 14. Take into account that
this System On Chip (SoC), the BCM2837, contains two different processors: a GPU and an ARM processor.
The programs bootcode.bin, start.elf are specifically written for GPU and the source code is not available. In
fact Broadcom only provides details of this to customer that signs a commercial agreement. The last

Page 19 of 39
executable (start.elf) boots the ARM processor and allows the execution of programs written for ARM such
as Linux OS kernel or other binaries such as u-boot.

POWER ON GPU turns ON

(CPU is OFF)

First stage boot loader

ROM code in SOC
Not user programmable
Mount FAT32 SD
Reads bootcode.bin from SD card

Second stage boot loader

(bootcode.bin)
Retrieves GPU firmware
(start.elf) from SD

Third stage boot loader

(start.elf)
Executed by the GPU
Reads config.txt from SD
Load in memory the binary
specified in kernel=”binary”
Release the ARM processor
Executes “binary” with
cmdline.txt content as
parameters

“binary”

Fig. 14: Booting process for BCM2837 processor in the raspberry-pi.

Page 20 of 39
By default the config.txt file contains these lines (have a look to http://elinux.org/RPiconfig and check the
meaning of the different configuration parameters):
# Please note that this is only a sample, we recommend you to change it to fit
# your needs.
# You should override this file using a post-build script.
# See http://buildroot.org/manual.html#rootfs-custom
# and http://elinux.org/RPiconfig for a description of config.txt syntax

kernel=zImage

# To use an external initramfs file

#initramfs rootfs.cpio.gz

# Disable overscan assuming the display supports displaying the full resolution
# If the text shown on the screen disappears off the edge, comment this out
disable_overscan=1

# How much memory in MB to assign to the GPU on Pi models having

# 256, 512 or 1024 MB total memory
gpu_mem_256=100
gpu_mem_512=100
gpu_mem_1024=100

# fixes rpi3 ttyAMA0 serial console

dtoverlay=pi3-miniuart-bt

In this example, once the ARM is released from reset it executes the zImage application. This binary
application is typically the Linux Kernel in zImage format. The parameters that will be passed to the
application specified in the kernel=<….> are detailed in the cmdline.txt file. For instance, by default, Buildroot
generates this one:

root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 rootwait console=tty1 console=ttyAMA0,115200

In the Linux machine, or in the windows one, open a Terminal and execute the program putty with sudo
rights (sudo putty), in a seconds a window will be displayed. Configure the parameters using the information
displayed in Fig. 15 (for the specific case of putty), and then press “Open”. Apply the power to the raspberry
PI and you will see the booting messages.

[Serial interface identification in Linux]: In Linux the serial devices are identified
typically with the names /dev/ttyS0, /dev/ttyS1, etc. In the figure the example has been
checked with a serial port implemented with an USB-RS232 converter. This is the reason
of why the name is /dev/ttyUSB0. In your computer you need to find the identification
of your serial port. Use Linux dmesg command to do this.

Page 21 of 39
 Fig. 15: Putty program main window.
After some seconds you will see a lot messages displaying in the terminal. Linux kernel is booting and the
operating system is running its configuration and initial daemons. If the system boots correctly you will see
an output like the represented in Fig. 16. Introduce the user name root and the Linux shell will be available
for you.

Fig. 16: Linux Running

[DHCP Server]: The DHCP server providing the IP address to the RPI should be active in
your network. In the UPM ETSIST labs the IP is assigned using the RPI’s MAC address.
Check with your instructor the IP assigned to your RPI. If you are using the RPI at home,
the DNS server is running in your router. The method used by this should be different
from one manufactures to others. If you want to know the IP address assigned you have
two options: use a serial cable connected to the RPI or check the router status web page
and display the table of the DHCP clients connected. Looking for the MAC in the list you
will obtain the IP.

Page 22 of 39
 Connecting the RPI to the network
3.7.1 Inspecting the configuration of the network interface automatically generated
Inspect the content of /etc/network/interfaces and /etc/init.d/S40network. You will see a content similar to
this in the intrefaces file:
# interface file auto-generated by buildroot

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp
pre-up /etc/network/nfs_check
wait-delay 15

This configuration activates the use of eth0 with DHCP support. Test the connectivity trying to connect to
another computer in the laboratory. Use the ping command.

[Help]: If you execute the ping command in the raspberry trying to connect with a
computer in the laboratory probably you obtain a connection timeout. Consider that
computer running windows could have the firewall activated. You can also try to run the
ping in a windows computer or in Linux virtual machine. In this case the rpi doesn’t have
a firewall running and the connection should be ok.

[Question] What is the MAC address of your RPI? Is this MAC the same that
your instructor has given you? Use dmesg command to see the kernel boot
parameters and try to identify the method used to get the MAC address from the
hardware.

3.7.2 Adding support to WIFI

3.7.2.1 Adding mdev support to Embedded Linux
Execute make menuconfig or make xconfig in the Buildroot root folder. Navigate to System Configuration
and activates in “/dev management” the “Dynamic using devtmpfs+mdev” option. The folder
./package/busybox contains two files named S10mdev and mdev.conf. These files have to be added to the
target filesystem. This step is done adding these commands to the ./board/raspberrypi3/post-build.sh script:
cp package/busybox/S10mdev ${TARGET_DIR}/etc/init.d/S10mdev
chmod 755 ${TARGET_DIR}/etc/init.d/S10mdev
cp package/busybox/mdev.conf ${TARGET_DIR}/etc/mdev.conf

[mdev] mdev provides a method to add or remove homenutplug devices in

Linux.

3.7.2.2 Adding the Broadcom firmware support for Wireless hardware.

Page 23 of 39
The hardware element included in the RPI-3 for the Wireless communication is implemented with the
BCM43438 chip. It is needed to include the packages with the chip firmware and the wireless utilities.
1. Execute “make menuconfig” or “make xconfig”. Navigate to “Target Packages->Hardware Handling-
>Firmware” and select the “rpi-wifi-firmware”.
2. Before compiling Buildroot we need to add more software supporting the configuration of the WIFI.
a. Navigate to “Target Packages->Networking Applications” and select
 “crda”
 “ifupdown scripts”
 “iw”
 “wireless-regdb”
 “wireless tools”
 “wpa_supplicant”
1. “Enable EAP”
2. “Enable WPS”
3. “Install wpa_cli binary”
4. “Install wpa_client shared library”
5. “Instal wpa passphrase binary”
b. Add these lines to ./board/rapsberrypi3/post-build.sh.
cp board/raspberrypi3/interfaces ${TARGET_DIR}/etc/network/interfaces
cp board/raspberrypi3/wpa_supplicant.conf ${TARGET_DIR}/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

c. Modify the file ./board/raspberrypi3/interfaces adding this content:

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
pre-up wpa_supplicant -B -Dwext -iwlan0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
post-down killall -q wpa_supplicant
wait-delay 15

iface default inet dhcp

d. Create the file ./board/raspberrypi3/wpa_supplicant.conf with this content (ask professors

about the values to be provided as SSID and Key-passwd.
network={
ssid="SSID"
psk="PASSWORD"
}

3. Perform a make and burn the new image in the SDcard. Boot the Raspberry and check that you can
connect to the wireless network.

Page 24 of 39
 4 USING INTEGRATED DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT:
ECLIPSE/CDT
Adding cross-compiling tools to PATH variable.
Using a text editor, edit the .profile file (available at your home directory). Add a line at the end of the file
containing: PATH="<your buildroot installation>/output/host/usr/bin:$PATH". This add to the PATH
environment variable the location of the cross-compiling tools. You must logout and login again.

Cross-Compiling applications using Eclipse.

How a program will be compiled? Remember that we are developing cross applications. We are developing
and compiling the code in a Linux x86 machine and we are executing it in an ARM architecture (see Fig. 17).

Fig. 17: Summary of the different configurations for developing applications for embedded systems. Figure
copied from “Free Electrons” training materials (http://free-electrons.com/training/)
The first question is where the cross-compiler is located. The answer is this: in the folder
“<buildroot>/output/host/usr/bin”. If you inspect the content of this folder you can see the entire compiling,
linking and debugging tool (see Fig. 18). These programs are executed in your x86 computer but they
generate code for ARM processor.

Page 25 of 39
 Fig. 18: Cross compiling tools installed in the host computer
In a Terminal window start Eclipse with the following command:

xxxx@ubuntu:~$ eclipse
The popup window invites you to enter the workspace (see Fig. 19). The workspace is the folder that will
contain all the eclipse projects created by the user. You can have as many workspaces as you want. Please
specify a folder in your account.

[Help]: The figures displayed in the following paragraphs can be different depending on
the Eclipse version installed.

Fig. 19: Selection of the workspace for Eclipse. Use a folder in your account.

Page 26 of 39
Select Ok and the welcome window of Eclipse will be shown (Fig. 20). Next, close the welcome window and
the main eclipse window will be displayed (Fig. 21).

Fig. 20: Eclipse welcome window.

Fig. 21: Eclipse main window.

Create an Eclipse C/C++ project (File->New->Project->C/C++project->C project) selecting the hello world
example (see Fig. 22). Specify the project name and the toolchain to be used. In this case a Cross GCC. Press
Next.

Page 27 of 39
 Fig. 22: Basic C project creation in Eclipse
There is a window (Fig. 23) requesting the Cross Compiler prefix and path, leave both inputs blank and click
on the Finish button. You will obtain your first project created with eclipse.

Fig. 23: Cross-compiler prefix and path window.

Page 28 of 39
 Fig. 24: Hello world example.
The next step (mandatory) is the Eclipse project configuration for managing the Cross-tools. In Project ->
Properties configure the C/C++ Build Setting as the Fig. 25 and Fig. 26 shown. Pay attention that Prefix
requires a string ending in a hyphen.

Fig. 25: Tool Chain Editor should be configured to use Cross GCC.

Page 29 of 39
 Fig. 26: Cross tools locate on (path).The path shown in this figure is an example.Use always the path of your
toolchain.
The next step is to configure the search paths for the compiler and linker, and the different tools to use.
Complete the different fields with the information included in Fig. 27 and Fig. 28. Please consider the paths.
The figures are showing examples for a specific user account.

Fig. 27: Include search path.

Page 30 of 39
 Fig. 28: Libraries search path.

Once you have configured the cross chain in Eclipse you can build your project using Project->Build Project.
If everything is correct you will see the eclipse project as represented in Fig. 30.

[Console in Eclipse]: Have a look to the messages displayed in the Console. You will see
how eclipse is calling the cross compiler with different parameters.

In order to copy the executalbe to the target you have different options. You can use the linux application
called “scp” or other similar applications. In our case we are going to use “Connect to Server….” utility
included in ubuntu (under Places menu). Specify in Server Address ssh://<ip address>

Page 31 of 39
 Fig. 29: Pop up window when executing “Connect to Server”

Fig. 30: Eclipse project compiled (Binaries has been generated).

You can run the program in the Raspberry PI using putty (remember that once you have a network connection
available in the DE1-SoC you can also use putty to connect to it).

Page 32 of 39
 Fig. 31: Run test program in Raspberry PI

Warning. If you experiment problems using ssh, delete the .ssh folder in
your home directory.

Automatic debugging using gdb and gdbserver.

You can directly debug the program running in the DE1-SoC using Eclipse. There are two methods to do it:
manually and automatically. In the manual method, firstly, you need to copy the executable program to the
DE1-SoC, change the file permissions to “executable” and execute the program to be debugged using
gdbserver utility. Of course this is a time consuming process and very inefficient. The alternative solution is
to use the automatic debugging. In order to debug your applications we need to define a debug session and
configure it. Firstly, Select Run->Debug Configurations and generate a new configuration under C/C++
Remote Application. You need to complete the different tabs available in this window. The first one is the
main tab (see Fig. 32). You need to configure here the path to the C/C++ application to be debugged, the
project name, the connection with the target (you will need to create a new one using the IP address of your
BBB), the remote path where your executable file will be downloaded, and the mode for the debugging
(Automatic Remote Debugging Launcher). Secondly, in the argument tab you can specify the argument of
your executable program. Very important here is that you can also specify the path of the working directory
where the executable will be launched.

Fig. 32: Creating a Debug Configuration

In the debugger window (main tab) you need to configure the path of your gdb application. Remember that
we are working with a cross-compiler, cross debugging, therefore, you need to provide here the correct path
of your gdb. The GDB command file must be specified, providing a path with an empty file. In the Gdbserver
settings tab you need to provide path to the gdbserver in the target and the port used (by default 2345).

Page 33 of 39
 Fig. 33: Debug configuration including the path to locate the cross gdb tool.

Now, press Debug in Eclipse window and you can debug remotely your application.

Page 34 of 39
 5 PREPARING THE LINUX VIRTUAL MACHINE.

Download VMware Workstation Player.

The link https://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/player_pubs.html contains documentation describing the
installation and basic use of VMware Workstation Player. Follow the instructions to setup the application in
your computer.

Installing Ubuntu 14.04 LTS as virtual machine.

[Ubuntu version]: It is mandatory to install Ubuntu 14.04 version. 16.04 version will
generate compatibility problems.

The first step is to download Ubuntu 14.04 (32 bit PC-i386) from Ubuntu web site using this link:
http://releases.ubuntu.com/14.04/ . You will download an ISO image with this Linux operating System.
Run WMware player and install Ubuntu using the VMWare player instructions. Consider the following when
creating the virtual machine: you need at least 150Gbytes of hard disk space (in multiple files), 3GByte of
RAM, and if possible 2 processors. The installation time will be half an hour more or less depending of your
computer. Moving a virtual machine form one computer to another is a time consuming task, therefore, take
this into account to minimize the development time.

Installing synaptic
If you need to install software packages you can do it using the command apt-get. Another alternative process
is the use of synaptic utility. In order to use it you need to install it using this command:

$ sudo apt-get install synaptic

Once installed you can search and execute the synaptic program. When you click two times over the package
it will show all the dependent packages than would be installed.

Page 35 of 39
 Fig. 34: Synaptic program from Dash

Fig. 35: Synaptic windows

Installing putty
You need to install:
 putty

Page 36 of 39
 Installing packages for supporting Buildroot.
Using buildroot requires some software packages that have to be installed in the VM. These are listed in this
link http://buildroot.uclibc.org/downloads/manual/manual.html#requirement. You need to install:
 g++
 libqt-4-dev
 git

Installing packages supporting Eclipse

You need to install:
 eclipse-cdt (eclipse C/C++ programming)
 eclipse-rse (eclipse remote explorer)
 eclipse-cdt-launch-remote (eclipse for remote debugging)

Page 37 of 39