Hi @mdegans
Please help me further
sudo dd if=/dev/mmcblk1 of=clone_image.bin bs=512
It created a bin file but it cannot be burned on sd card directly.
Please guide me how can I create an image file which I could directly burn using balena etcher ( I have no issues of
Sorry for the delay. I will make a walkthrough and guide you through in a few hours.
Ok. So you want to master an image that can be flashed onto an SD card of any size with your own software pre-installed? No problem. I’m going to do this with you in this thread rather than write something all at once so others can follow along.
First, let’s prep a VM. You’ve already done this part, but i’ll put this for the benefit of others. I’m going to use multipass since it’s the easiest way I know of to start an Ubuntu VM and works on every platform.
After installing it:
multipass launch -c $(nproc) -d 64G -m 8G -n tegra-image-maker bionic
$(nproc) with the number of cpus on your system.8G of free memory, 4G will probably work.That creates a new ubuntu vm with access to all cpus on the system, a 64G disk, 8G of ram, named tegra-image-maker, using ubuntu bionic (18.04). As of writing, bionic is the default anwyay, but this will change.
It may take a while to start the VM.
When it’s done, we can enter it like this:
$ multipass exec tegra-image-maker bash
To run a command as administrator (user "root"), use "sudo <command>".
See "man sudo_root" for details.
ubuntu@tegra-image-maker:~$
Next, we’ll update the VM.
sudo apt update && sudo apt dist-upgrade -y --autoremove
If you get any interactive menu prompts, select “install the package maintainer’s version”.
Next, let’s install some software we’ll need to build a system image. I will probably forget some stuff here, so i’ll edit this to add things as we discover what’s missing later.
Off the top of my head, for what we’re doing, we probably only need qemu-user-static, so let’s install that. Note: building the kernel will require an arm toolchain, but we’re going to use the pre-compiled kernel and modules by Nvidia.
sudo apt install qemu-user-static binfmt-support
Let me know when you’re caught up @sarthak.srivastava14apr , and we’ll continue.
So, I haven’t heard back @sarthak.srivastava14apr (ninja’d) but for the benefit of others (if there are any interested in this), let’s continue. I’m roughly following the guide from nvidia here for flashing, if anybody is curious as to where these instructions are coming from.
So the next step is to download and extract the BSP tarball and the rootfs tarball. This will unpack what SDK manager installs ( only without SDK manager :P ). For platforms other than Nano, or if you’re reading this when 32.4.3 is not the current release, you’ll want to use a different tarballs available here.
downloading:
ubuntu@tegra-image-maker:~$ wget https://developer.nvidia.com/embedded/L4T/r32_Release_v4.3/t210ref_release_aarch64/Tegra210_Linux_R32.4.3_aarch64.tbz2
--2020-07-15 11:13:46-- https://developer.nvidia.com/embedded/L4T/r32_Release_v4.3/t210ref_release_aarch64/Tegra210_Linux_R32.4.3_aarch64.tbz2
Resolving developer.nvidia.com (developer.nvidia.com)... 152.199.0.24
Connecting to developer.nvidia.com (developer.nvidia.com)|152.199.0.24|:443... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 302 Found
...
Tegra210_Linux_R32.4.3_aarch 100%[==============================================>] 230.84M 79.8MB/s in 2.9s
2020-07-15 11:13:50 (79.8 MB/s) - â saved [242054516/242054516]
ubuntu@tegra-image-maker:~$ wget https://developer.nvidia.com/embedded/L4T/r32_Release_v4.3/t210ref_release_aarch64/Tegra_Linux_Sample-Root-Filesystem_R32.4.3_aarch64.tbz2
--2020-07-15 11:14:00--
...
Tegra_Linux_Sample-Root-File 100%[==============================================>] 1.25G 89.8MB/s in 16s
2020-07-15 11:14:17 (80.6 MB/s) - â saved [1342963536/1342963536]
extraction:
ubuntu@tegra-image-maker:~$ tar -xf Tegra210_Linux_R32.4.3_aarch64.tbz2
ubuntu@tegra-image-maker:~$ sudo chown root:root Linux_for_Tegra/rootfs/
ubuntu@tegra-image-maker:~$ sudo rm Linux_for_Tegra/rootfs/README.txt
ubuntu@tegra-image-maker:~$ cd Linux_for_Tegra/rootfs/
ubuntu@tegra-image-maker:~/Linux_for_Tegra/rootfs$ sudo tar -xpf ../../Tegra_Linux_Sample-Root-Filesystem_R32.4.3_aarch64.tbz2
Next step will be to mount your sd card, or a live nano, and copy your software into the rootfs. Let me know when you’re ready.
So, the next step it so enter an environment where it’s possible to edit the rootfs. The easiest way to install a python package globally is with either apt-get or pip. Assuming your project is on pypi or GitHub and has a setup.py, it can be installed this way.
First, let’s download a chroot script which will let us enter the rootfs.
ubuntu@tegra-image-maker:~$ git clone https://github.com/mdegans/enter_chroot.git
ubuntu@tegra-image-maker:~$ sudo cp enter_chroot/enter_chroot.sh /usr/bin/
Now that the script is installed, let’s enter the rootfs and run the arch command to test we can execute aarch64 binaries.
ubuntu@tegra-image-maker:~$ sudo enter_chroot.sh Linux_for_Tegra/rootfs/
+ cp /usr/bin/qemu-aarch64-static Linux_for_Tegra/rootfs//usr/bin
+ mount -t sysfs -o ro none Linux_for_Tegra/rootfs//sys
+ mount -t proc -o ro none Linux_for_Tegra/rootfs//proc
+ mount -t tmpfs none Linux_for_Tegra/rootfs//tmp
+ mount -o bind,ro /dev Linux_for_Tegra/rootfs//dev
+ mount -t devpts none Linux_for_Tegra/rootfs//dev/pts
+ mount -o bind,ro /etc/resolv.conf Linux_for_Tegra/rootfs//run/resolvconf/resolv.conf
+ chroot Linux_for_Tegra/rootfs/
root@tegra-image-maker:/# arch
aarch64
root@tegra-image-maker:/#
You’re now in a “virtual nano” of sorts you can use to install software from apt repositories or from pip as if you were on the device itself. There are some limitations to what you can do (example, using the GPU is not possible), however simple things like apt or pip will usually work fine. As a example, I’m going to install one of my own python packages, mce.
Apt update and apt install pip3 since it’s not installed by default:
Note: sudo is not needed since we’re already root (in fact it may cause warnings/errors in this case).
root@tegra-image-maker:/# apt update
...
144 packages can be upgraded. Run 'apt list --upgradable' to see them.
root@tegra-image-maker:/# apt install python3-pip
...
Setting up python3.6-dev (3.6.9-1~18.04ubuntu1) ...
Setting up libpython3-dev:arm64 (3.6.7-1~18.04) ...
Setting up python3-dev (3.6.7-1~18.04) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.8.3-2ubuntu0.1) ...
Then install the python package itself, which, since we’re root will install to a system python path.
root@tegra-image-maker:/# pip3 install mce
Collecting mce
Downloading https://files.pythonhosted.org/packages/cc/34/017ffa686b1e5f1e35e4828400bb406c5d57188c978be86f11512aff833f/mce-0.1.3.tar.gz
Building wheels for collected packages: mce
Running setup.py bdist_wheel for mce ... done
Stored in directory: /home/ubuntu/.cache/pip/wheels/65/93/26/6ca68cc28171db6639be1dfd917e2747c8d64e76bbf83d28c9
Successfully built mce
Installing collected packages: mce
Successfully installed mce-0.1.3
Note: If a package is available in the apt repos, you should usually prefer that, since they’re tested to play nice with other system pakages.
Note2: For reasons, pip created a /home/ubuntu folder. that sould be deleted with rm -rf /home/ubuntu (from within the chroot)
Note3: Mce will not actually work for several reasons, (deepstream is not installed and it hasnt’ been updated to work with DS 5.0)
When you’re done, just type exit to exit the chroot.
root@tegra-image-maker:/home# exit
exit
+ umount Linux_for_Tegra/rootfs//sys
+ umount Linux_for_Tegra/rootfs//proc
+ umount Linux_for_Tegra/rootfs//tmp
+ umount Linux_for_Tegra/rootfs//dev/pts
+ umount Linux_for_Tegra/rootfs//dev
+ umount Linux_for_Tegra/rootfs//run/resolvconf/resolv.conf
+ rm Linux_for_Tegra/rootfs//usr/bin/qemu-aarch64-static
@sarthak.srivastava14apr Let me know if that helps, or if you need any help creating a setup.py so you can package and pip install your thing. Alternatively you can just copy your files to a python path of choice, but you won’t be able to as easily uninstall/upgrade your software that way.
Note on apt-get and nvidia software: if you need to apt install any Nvidia software from their apt repos on a custom rootfs (not the one you extracted), you will need to install nvidia’s apt key and create a nvidia sources.list. If anybody is needs help with that, please ask.
Tomorrow, I’ll write a post on mastering a .img from this prepared rootfs. If you’re going to make an image for multple platforms, now might be a good time to tarball up your rootfs since the next step will apply board specific changes to the rootfs. Right now the rootfs should work on any Tegra device. Also, if something goes wrong, you have a backup.
that is a great approach that is defined above;
it is ipmortant, however, to make sure that if an image is taken from the entire sdcard [!not from a single partition], then it will need to be restored to the entire sdcard, not to a partition. Doing otherwise would cause e.g partitioning error. Typically an entire sdcard is something like mmcblk0 and partition is smth. like mmcblk0p1.
somre reference reading
upd: running dd from virtual machine doesn’t seem correct;
ubuntu usblive drive should do better
I don’t plan on dd’ing from the VM, but it should work fine so long as a block device is passed through. I wouldn’t trust it without some sort of verification pass (i don’t anyway).
So. The next step once you’ve setup your rootfs the way you like it is to follow these instructions here. to apply binaries (kernel, modules, optional debian packages) to the rootfs. All we have to do at this point is to run apply_binaries.sh:
ubuntu@tegra-image-maker:~/Linux_for_Tegra$ sudo ./apply_binaries.sh
Using rootfs directory of: /home/ubuntu/Linux_for_Tegra/rootfs
/home/ubuntu/Linux_for_Tegra/nv_tegra/nv-apply-debs.sh
Root file system directory is /home/ubuntu/Linux_for_Tegra/rootfs
Copying public debian packages to rootfs
Start L4T BSP package installation
QEMU binary is not available, looking for QEMU from host system
Found /usr/bin/qemu-aarch64-static
Installing QEMU binary in rootfs
~/Linux_for_Tegra/rootfs ~/Linux_for_Tegra
Installing BSP Debian packages in /home/ubuntu/Linux_for_Tegra/rootfs
Selecting previously unselected package nvidia-l4t-core.
(Reading database ... 122305 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../nvidia-l4t-core_32.4.3-20200625213809_arm64.deb ...
Pre-installing... skip compatibility checking.
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Pre-installing xusb firmware package, skip flashing
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~/Linux_for_Tegra
Removing QEMU binary from rootfs
Removing stashed Debian packages from rootfs
L4T BSP package installation completed!
Rename ubuntu.desktop --> ux-ubuntu.desktop
Copying USB device mode filesystem image to /home/ubuntu/Linux_for_Tegra/rootfs
Disabling NetworkManager-wait-online.service
Disable the ondemand service by changing the runlevels to 'K'
Installing extlinux.conf into /boot/extlinux in target rootfs
Success!
Bam. And Nvidia’s kernel, modules, and debian packages get installed using the same techinque as we used above (the script runs dpkg in a chroot). At the above link there are detailed instructions on customizing those bits if you need to.
The last step is to master the card image.
Apparently, python needs to be installed or it’ll complain about a missing “signed” dir so we’ll
sudo apt install python
and finally, to create the image itself:
ubuntu@tegra-image-maker:~/Linux_for_Tegra/tools$ sudo ./jetson-disk-image-creator.sh -o sdcard.img -b jetson-nano -r 200
You’ll find a sdcard.img in the path you ran that script.
If your board revision is not 200, or you have a Xavier NX, you will need to adjust the above command accordingly. Help (currently) is as folows, but if you’re reading this in the future you should check with --help anyway.
ubuntu@tegra-image-maker:~/Linux_for_Tegra/tools$ ./jetson-disk-image-creator.sh --help
********************************************
Jetson Disk Image Creation Tool
********************************************
ERROR: This script requires root privilege
Usage:
jetson-disk-image-creator.sh -o <sd_blob_name> -b <board> -r <revision>
sd_blob_name - valid file name
board - board name. Supported boards are:
jetson-nano
jetson-xavier-nx-devkit
revision - SKU revision number
jetson-nano: 100/200/300 for A01/A02/B00
jetson-xavier-nx-devkit: default
Example:
jetson-disk-image-creator.sh -o sd-blob.img -b jetson-nano -r 300
jetson-disk-image-creator.sh -o sd-blob.img -b jetson-xavier-nx-devkit
And there you have it. You can copy sdcard.img to your host (or wherever) and flash it on a SD card with Etcher, and it will include your software pre-installed.
Hope that helps, @sarthak.srivastava14apr
If you need help customizing the kernel or modules, lmk. There’s another thread that I did on that but it’s a bit out of date.
I am trying to back up Jetson nano image files but failed because of permission errors. I was facing permission problem when copy proc folder, I tried to change permissions using
sudo chmod -R u+rw /proc
command, but giving error
error: operation not permitted
so please suggest me how to solve this problem and its necessary copy proc folder or not while backup the image? Thank you
could you detach the microsdcard and backup it at some other device e… using card reader?
I tried this but without format sd card we can’t use in other device like laptop… Please suggest
if your laptop hhas ubuntu you should be able to see the sdcard in lsblk or df -h outputs;
it doesn’t need to be recognized as a mounted folder in order to be dumped with dd
@shankarjadhav232
/proc is a virtual filesystem, so you can’t back it up. It’s created by the kernel and the files inside are not real files. I wouldn’t recommend trying to back up an entire sd card or live Nano. Rather, create a script to install your necessary things and apply that either in a chroot as above or on a live system. Packaging your app or or writing such a script so this is possible will save you time and headaches later, so the inital cost is more than worth it.
You can copy other files or even python packages, but be aware that doing so will require an understanding of unix permissions and the basic filesystem structure. You may find this handy cheat-sheet helpful:
I take backup of jetson nano image successfully and i flash this image in same jetson nano again but he take same user id and password. my Question is can i use this image for another jetson nano ? please reply…
I take backup of jetson nano image successfully and i flash this image in same jetson nano again but he take same user id and password. my Question is can i use this image for another jetson nano ? please reply…
As @mdegans says, it is not safe. I will qualify though that if you are flashing the exact same install to another Nano using the same exact flash software release, and if there are no “/etc/udev” entries depending on specific MAC addresses or serial numbers, then it stands a chance of working (but is definitely not a guarantee). As soon as you use different eMMC versus microSD variants, you are guaranteed a fail. As soon as you mix across a different release of flash software versus the clone source, you are guaranteed a fail.