Installation on RTEMS 6 (Release 6.1)
RTEMS 6 (Release 6.1) Information
RTEMS 6.1 was released on 22 January 2025. New in this release is the support of different network stacks. The familiar BSD stack (‘legacy’ stack) is still supported. This was used in the previous EPICS customisations for RTEMS 4.9 and 4.10. This BSD stack is a bit outdated and does not support NFSv4, for example, which is now mandatory for many organisations for security reasons. In order to be able to support these requirements in the future, the RTEMS developers have decided to use the libbsd stack from FreeBSD for new releases. With RTEMS 6.1, however, both stacks are supported for the time being. Unfortunately, the new stack does not support all the boards previously used in our environment. The missing Nexus device drivers are mostly missing.
This documentation provides a advice on using the RTEMS Source Builder to build the RTEMS tools, kernel and 3rd party packages from source. The process for creating this environment is documented [here] (https://ftp.rtems.org/pub/rtems/releases/6/6.1/). If you discover any other information that ought to be published here, please let me know.
Please note that we are specifically addressing the hardware used in the EPICS environment, primarily with RTEMS.
VMEbus CPUs (MVME3100, MVME6100, MVME2500)
Development boards (Beagleboneblack, ZYBO Z7-20, …)
Qemu - Support e.g. xilinx_zynq_a9_qemu
In order to support these systems, the tools for the arm and powerpc architectures must be installed.
On Mac development host
If the environment is to be installed on a Mac. It is helpful to create a virtual hard disc with a case-sensitive APFS file system (e.g. /Volumes/Epics):
We are now starting with our first board MVME6100 (aka beatnik). Unfortunately, there is no bsps-setup file for this in the source builder in the release, so we have to control the steps for installing the tools and the kernel with our own script.
On Mac: Make sure that the installation path used is on the APFS (case-sensitive) file system.
#!/bin/bash
#RTEMS development
export RTEMS_VERSION=6
export RTEMS_RELEASE=6.1
export RTEMS_CPU=powerpc
export RTEMS_BSP=beatnik
export RTEMS_ARCH=${RTEMS_CPU}-rtems${RTEMS_VERSION}
SCRIPT=$(readlink -f $0)
export RTEMS_ROOT=`dirname $SCRIPT`/rtems/${RTEMS_RELEASE}
#install rsb
wget https://ftp.rtems.org/pub/rtems/releases/6/6.1/sources/rtems-source-builder-6.1.tar.xz
tar Jxf rtems-source-builder-6.1.tar.xz
#build the tools
cd rtems-source-builder-6.1/rtems
../source-builder/sb-set-builder \
--prefix=${RTEMS_ROOT} \
6/rtems-${RTEMS_CPU}
Building the powerpc tools takes a while > 30 min.
In ./rtems/6.1/bin you should then find the powerpc-tools:
rtems@rtems-dev:~/RTEMS_MVME6100_legacy_stack$ ls rtems/6.1/bin/
convert-dtsv0 powerpc-rtems6-c++filt powerpc-rtems6-gdb powerpc-rtems6-size rtems-record-lttng
dtc powerpc-rtems6-cpp powerpc-rtems6-gdb-add-index powerpc-rtems6-strings rtems-run
dtdiff powerpc-rtems6-elfedit powerpc-rtems6-gprof powerpc-rtems6-strip rtems-syms
fdtdump powerpc-rtems6-g++ powerpc-rtems6-ld rtems-addr2line rtems-test
fdtget powerpc-rtems6-gcc powerpc-rtems6-ld.bfd rtems-bin2c rtems-tftp-proxy
fdtoverlay powerpc-rtems6-gcc-13.3.0 powerpc-rtems6-lto-dump rtems-boot-image rtems-tftp-server
fdtput powerpc-rtems6-gcc-ar powerpc-rtems6-nm rtems-bsp-builder rtems-tld
mkimage.py powerpc-rtems6-gcc-nm powerpc-rtems6-objcopy rtems-exeinfo trace-converter
powerpc-rtems6-addr2line powerpc-rtems6-gcc-ranlib powerpc-rtems6-objdump rtems-gen-acpica-patches
powerpc-rtems6-ar powerpc-rtems6-gcov powerpc-rtems6-ranlib rtems-ld
powerpc-rtems6-as powerpc-rtems6-gcov-dump powerpc-rtems6-readelf rtems-ra
powerpc-rtems6-c++ powerpc-rtems6-gcov-tool powerpc-rtems6-run rtems-rap
Now you can use the same script (except git clone) for other architectures by adapting RTEMS_CPU. e.g:
export RTEMS_CPU=arm
Now we install the kernel for the desired BSP (here beatnik).
#!/bin/bash
#RTEMS development
export RTEMS_VERSION=6
export RTEMS_RELEASE=6.1
export RTEMS_CPU=powerpc
export RTEMS_BSP=beatnik
export RTEMS_ARCH=${RTEMS_CPU}-rtems${RTEMS_VERSION}
SCRIPT=$(readlink -f $0)
export RTEMS_ROOT=`dirname $SCRIPT`/rtems/${RTEMS_RELEASE}
export PATH=${RTEMS_ROOT}/bin:${PATH}
echo ${PATH}
git clone https://gitlab.rtems.org/rtems/rtos/rtems.git kernel
cd kernel
git checkout origin/6
./waf bspdefaults --rtems-bsps=${RTEMS_CPU}/${RTEMS_BSP} > config.ini
sed -i \
-e "s|RTEMS_POSIX_API = False|RTEMS_POSIX_API = True|" \
-e "s|BUILD_TESTS = False|BUILD_TESTS = True|" \
config.ini
./waf configure --prefix=${RTEMS_ROOT}
./waf
./waf install
In ./rtems/6.1/powerpc-rtems6 you should then find the beatnik dependend stuff:
rtems@rtems-dev:~/RTEMS_MVME6100_legacy_stack$ ls -l rtems/6.1/powerpc-rtems6/
total 16
drwxr-xr-x 4 rtems rtems 4096 Feb 16 17:33 beatnik
drwxr-xr-x 2 rtems rtems 4096 Feb 16 15:43 bin
drwxr-xr-x 11 rtems rtems 4096 Feb 16 16:13 include
drwxr-xr-x 12 rtems rtems 4096 Feb 16 16:13 lib
Now we have to select the desired network stack.
Legacy network stack, supports old network drivers, old cards
LibBSD stack, requires Nexus drivers for network interfaces, prerequisite for e.g. NFSv4
MVME6100 with legacy stack:
#!/bin/bash
#RTEMS development
export RTEMS_VERSION=6
export RTEMS_RELEASE=6.1
export RTEMS_CPU=powerpc
export RTEMS_BSP=beatnik
export RTEMS_ARCH=${RTEMS_CPU}-rtems${RTEMS_VERSION}
SCRIPT=$(readlink -f $0)
export RTEMS_ROOT=`dirname $SCRIPT`/rtems/${RTEMS_RELEASE}
export PATH=${RTEMS_ROOT}/bin:${PATH}
echo ${PATH}
git clone https://gitlab.rtems.org/rtems/pkg/rtems-net-legacy.git
cd rtems-net-legacy
git checkout origin/6
git submodule init
git submodule update
./waf configure --prefix=${RTEMS_ROOT}
./waf build
./waf install
MVME6100 with libBsd (FreeBSD) stack:
#!/bin/bash #RTEMS development export RTEMS_VERSION=6 export RTEMS_RELEASE=6.1 export RTEMS_CPU=powerpc export RTEMS_BSP=beatnik export RTEMS_ARCH=${RTEMS_CPU}-rtems${RTEMS_VERSION} SCRIPT=$(readlink -f $0) export RTEMS_ROOT=`dirname $SCRIPT`/rtems/${RTEMS_RELEASE} export PATH=${RTEMS_ROOT}/bin:${PATH} echo ${PATH} git clone https://gitlab.rtems.org/rtems/pkg/rtems-libbsd.git cd rtems-libbsd git checkout 6-freebsd-12 git submodule init git submodule update ./waf configure --prefix=${RTEMS_ROOT} ./waf build ./waf install
In order to use network services such as ntp, we need to install the rtems-net-services.
#!/bin/bash
#RTEMS development
export RTEMS_VERSION=6
export RTEMS_RELEASE=6.1
export RTEMS_CPU=powerpc
export RTEMS_BSP=beatnik
export RTEMS_ARCH=${RTEMS_CPU}-rtems${RTEMS_VERSION}
SCRIPT=$(readlink -f $0)
export RTEMS_ROOT=`dirname $SCRIPT`/rtems/${RTEMS_RELEASE}
export PATH=${RTEMS_ROOT}/bin:${PATH}
echo ${PATH}
git clone https://gitlab.rtems.org/rtems/pkg/rtems-net-services.git
cd rtems-net-services
git checkout origin/6
git submodule init
git submodule update
./waf configure --prefix=${RTEMS_ROOT}
./waf
./waf install
EPICS on RTEMS
Install EPICS in the usual way:
mkdir EPICS
cd EPICS
git clone --recursive https://github.com/epics-base/epics-base.git
Switch to epics-base which has already been unpacked in the step before. You have to change a file (CONFIG_SITE.Common.RTEMS) and add another one (CONFIG_SITE.local).
diff --git a/configure/os/CONFIG_SITE.Common.RTEMS b/configure/os/CONFIG_SITE.Common.RTEMS
index 6857dc9a9..644ee73aa 100644
--- a/configure/os/CONFIG_SITE.Common.RTEMS
+++ b/configure/os/CONFIG_SITE.Common.RTEMS
@@ -13,8 +13,8 @@
#
# FHI:
-#RTEMS_VERSION = 5
-#RTEMS_BASE = /home/h1/DBG/rtems
+RTEMS_VERSION = 6
+RTEMS_BASE = /home/rtems/RTEMS_MVME6100_legacy_stack/rtems/6.1
#RTEMS_BASE = /home/ad/MVME6100/rtems/$(RTEMS_VERSION)
#RTEMS_BASE = /opt/RTEMS/qoriq/rtems/$(RTEMS_VERSION)
rtems@rtems-dev:~/RTEMS_MVME6100_legacy_stack/EPICS/epics-base$ cat configure/CONFIG_SITE.local
CROSS_COMPILER_TARGET_ARCHS=RTEMS-beatnik
Now it’s finally time to build EPICS:
make -j20
If everything went well, these files should have been build:
rtems@rtems-dev:~/RTEMS_MVME6100_legacy_stack/EPICS/epics-base$ ls -l bin/RTEMS-beatnik/
total 420172
-rwxr-xr-x 1 rtems rtems 55349884 Feb 16 18:27 caTestHarness
-rwxr-xr-x 1 rtems rtems 4515040 Feb 16 18:27 caTestHarness.boot
-rwxr-xr-x 1 rtems rtems 21777472 Feb 16 18:25 dbTestHarness
-rwxr-xr-x 1 rtems rtems 2213564 Feb 16 18:25 dbTestHarness.boot
-rwxr-xr-x 1 rtems rtems 21249380 Feb 16 18:25 filterTestHarness
-rwxr-xr-x 1 rtems rtems 2080716 Feb 16 18:25 filterTestHarness.boot
-rwxr-xr-x 1 rtems rtems 19929700 Feb 16 18:25 libComTestHarness
-rwxr-xr-x 1 rtems rtems 1989920 Feb 16 18:25 libComTestHarness.boot
-rwxr-xr-x 1 rtems rtems 21132804 Feb 16 18:25 linkTestHarness
-rwxr-xr-x 1 rtems rtems 2056596 Feb 16 18:25 linkTestHarness.boot
-rwxr-xr-x 1 rtems rtems 53219524 Feb 16 18:28 pvDbTestHarness
-rwxr-xr-x 1 rtems rtems 3411912 Feb 16 18:28 pvDbTestHarness.boot
-rwxr-xr-x 1 rtems rtems 49988884 Feb 16 18:27 pvaTestHarness
-rwxr-xr-x 1 rtems rtems 3478136 Feb 16 18:27 pvaTestHarness.boot
-rwxr-xr-x 1 rtems rtems 39176160 Feb 16 18:25 pvdTestHarness
-rwxr-xr-x 1 rtems rtems 2885528 Feb 16 18:25 pvdTestHarness.boot
-rwxr-xr-x 1 rtems rtems 26978440 Feb 16 18:25 recordTestHarness
-rwxr-xr-x 1 rtems rtems 6118604 Feb 16 18:25 recordTestHarness.boot
-rwxr-xr-x 1 rtems rtems 24487456 Feb 16 18:25 softIoc
-rwxr-xr-x 1 rtems rtems 2819524 Feb 16 18:25 softIoc.boot
-rwxr-xr-x 1 rtems rtems 60756264 Feb 16 18:27 softIocPVA
-rwxr-xr-x 1 rtems rtems 4588816 Feb 16 18:27 softIocPVA.boot