Armbian Linux Build Framework
- What does this project do?
- Getting started
- Compared with industry standards
- Download prebuilt images
- Project structure
- Contribution
- Support
- Contact
- Contributors
- Partners
- License
- Builds custom kernel, image or a distribution optimized for low-resource hardware,
- Include filesystem generation, low-level control software, kernel image and bootloader compilation,
- Provides a consistent user experience by keeping system standards across different platforms.
- x86_64 or aarch64 machine with at least 2GB of memory and ~35GB of disk space for a virtual machine, WSL2, container or bare metal installation
- Ubuntu Jammy 22.04.x amd64 or aarch64 for native building or any Docker capable amd64 / aarch64 Linux for containerised
- Superuser rights (configured sudo or root access).
- Make sure all your system components are up-to-date. Outdated Docker binaries, for example, can cause trouble.
apt-get -y install git
git clone --depth=1 --branch=main https://github.com/armbian/build
cd build
./compile.sh
- Interactive graphical interface.
- Prepares the workspace by installing the necessary dependencies and sources.
- It guides the entire process and creates a kernel package or a ready-to-use SD card image.
Show work-in-progress areas in interactive mode:
./compile.sh EXPERT="yes"Build minimal CLI Armbian Focal image for Orangepi Zero. Use modern kernel and write image to the SD card:
./compile.sh \
BOARD=orangepizero \
BRANCH=current \
RELEASE=focal \
BUILD_MINIMAL=yes \
BUILD_DESKTOP=no \
KERNEL_ONLY=no \
KERNEL_CONFIGURE=no \
CARD_DEVICE="/dev/sdX"More information:
- Building Armbian — how to start, how to automate;
- Build options — all build options;
- User configuration — how to add packages, patches, and override sources config;
- quarterly released supported builds — https://www.armbian.com/download
- weekly released unsupported community builds — https://github.com/armbian/community
- upon code change unsupported development builds — https://github.com/armbian/build/releases
Check similarities, advantages and disadvantages compared with leading industry standard build software.
| Function | Armbian | Yocto | Buildroot |
|---|---|---|---|
| Target | general purpose | embedded | embedded / IOT |
| U-boot and kernel | compiled from sources | compiled from sources | compiled from sources |
| Board support maintenance | complete | outside | outside |
| Root file system | Debian or Ubuntu based | custom | custom |
| Package manager | APT | any | none |
| Configurability | limited | large | large |
| Initramfs support | yes | yes | yes |
| Getting started | quick | very slow | slow |
| Cross compilation | yes | yes | yes |
Expand
├── cache Work / cache directory
│ ├── aptcache Packages
│ ├── ccache C/C++ compiler
│ ├── docker Docker last pull
│ ├── git-bare Minimal Git
│ ├── git-bundles Full Git
│ ├── initrd Ram disk
│ ├── memoize Git status
│ ├── patch Kernel drivers patch
│ ├── pip Python
│ ├── rootfs Compressed userspaces
│ ├── sources Kernel, u-boot and other sources
│ ├── tools Additional tools like ORAS
│ └── utility
├── config Packages repository configurations
│ ├── targets.conf Board build target configuration
│ ├── boards Board configurations
│ ├── bootenv Initial boot loaders environments per family
│ ├── bootscripts Initial Boot loaders scripts per family
│ ├── cli CLI packages configurations per distribution
│ ├── desktop Desktop packages configurations per distribution
│ ├── distributions Distributions settings
│ ├── kernel Kernel build configurations per family
│ ├── sources Kernel and u-boot sources locations and scripts
│ ├── templates User configuration templates which populate userpatches
│ └── torrents External compiler and rootfs cache torrents
├── extensions Extend build system with specific functionality
├── lib Main build framework libraries
│ ├── functions
│ │ ├── artifacts
│ │ ├── bsp
│ │ ├── cli
│ │ ├── compilation
│ │ ├── configuration
│ │ ├── general
│ │ ├── host
│ │ ├── image
│ │ ├── logging
│ │ ├── main
│ │ └── rootfs
│ └── tools
├── output Build artifact
│ └── deb Deb packages
│ └── images Bootable images - RAW or compressed
│ └── debug Patch and build logs
│ └── config Kernel configuration export location
│ └── patch Created patches location
├── packages Support scripts, binary blobs, packages
│ ├── blobs Wallpapers, various configs, closed source bootloaders
│ ├── bsp-cli Automatically added to armbian-bsp-cli package
│ ├── bsp-desktop Automatically added to armbian-bsp-desktopo package
│ ├── bsp Scripts and configs overlay for rootfs
│ └── extras-buildpkgs Optional compilation and packaging engine
├── patch Collection of patches
│ ├── atf ARM trusted firmware
│ ├── kernel Linux kernel patches
| | └── family-branch Per kernel family and branch
│ ├── misc Linux kernel packaging patches
│ └── u-boot Universal boot loader patches
| ├── u-boot-board For specific board
| └── u-boot-family For entire kernel family
├── tools Tools for dealing with kernel patches and configs
└── userpatches User: configuration patching area
├── lib.config User: framework common config/override file
├── config-default.conf User: default user config file
├── customize-image.sh User: script will execute just before closing the image
├── atf User: ARM trusted firmware
├── kernel User: Linux kernel per kernel family
├── misc User: various
└── u-boot User: universal boot loader patches
- The easiest way to help is by "Starring" our repository - it helps more people find our code.
- Check out our list of volunteer positions and choose what you want to do ❤️
- Seed torrents
- Help with forum moderating
- Project administration
- Donate.
Please review the Board Maintainers Procedures and Guidelines, and if you can meet the requirements and find a board on the Board Maintainers list with less than two maintainers, then please apply using the linked form.
To help with development, you should first review the Development Code Review Procedures and Guidelines. Then you can review the pre-made Jira dashboards and additional resources provided below to find open tasks and how you can assist:
- pull requests that need a review
- dashboard for junior and seniors developers
- documentation
- continuous integration
For commercial or prioritized assistance:
- Book an hour of professional consultation
- Consider becoming a project partner. Reach us at https://armbian.com/contact. Alternatively, find free support via general project search engine, documentation, community forums or IRC/Discord. Remember that our awesome community members mainly provide this in a best-effort manner, so there are no guaranteed solutions.
- Forums for Participate in Armbian
- IRC:
#armbianon Libera.chat - Discord: https://discord.gg/armbian
- Follow @armbian on Twitter, Fosstodon or LinkedIn.
- Bugs: issues / JIRA
- Office hours: Wednesday, 12 midday, 18 afternoon, CET
Thank you to all the people who already contributed to Armbian!
- Current and past contributors, our families and friends.
- Support staff that keeps forums usable.
- Friends and individuals who support us with resources and their time.
- The Armbian Community helps with their ideas, reports and donations.
Armbian's partnership program helps to support Armbian and the Armbian community! Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with our Partners:
This software is published under the GPL-2.0 License license.