2.3. Building Images

The build process creates an entire Linux distribution, including the toolchain, from source. For more information on this topic, see the "Building Images" section in the Yocto Project Quick Start.

The build process is as follows:

  1. Make sure you have set up the Source Directory described in the previous section.

  2. Initialize the build environment by sourcing a build environment script (i.e. oe-init-build-env or oe-init-build-env-memres).

  3. Optionally ensure the conf/local.conf configuration file, which is found in the Build Directory, is set up how you want it. This file defines many aspects of the build environment including the target machine architecture through the MACHINE variable, the packaging format used during the build (PACKAGE_CLASSES), and a centralized tarball download directory through the DL_DIR variable.

  4. Build the image using the bitbake command. If you want information on BitBake, see the BitBake User Manual.

  5. Run the image either on the actual hardware or using the QEMU emulator.