A fast and easy way to flash an image to a bootable device is to use Bmaptool, which is integrated into the OpenEmbedded build system. Bmaptool is a generic tool that creates a file's block map (bmap) and then uses that map to copy the file. As compared to traditional tools such as dd or cp, Bmaptool can copy (or flash) large files like raw system image files much faster.
If you are using Ubuntu or Debian distributions, you
can install the bmap-tools
package
using the following command and then use the tool
without specifying PATH
even from
the root account:
$ sudo apt-get install bmap-tools
If you are unable to install the
bmap-tools
package, you will
need to build Bmaptool before using it.
Use the following command:
$ bitbake bmap-tools-native
Following, is an example that shows how to flash a Wic image. Realize that while this example uses a Wic image, you can use Bmaptool to flash any type of image. Use these steps to flash an image using Bmaptool:
Update your local.conf
File:
You need to have the following set in your
local.conf
file before building
your image:
IMAGE_FSTYPES += "wic wic.bmap"
Get Your Image:
Either have your image ready (pre-built with the
IMAGE_FSTYPES
setting previously mentioned) or take the step to build
the image:
$ bitbake image
Flash the Device:
Flash the device with the image by using Bmaptool
depending on your particular setup.
The following commands assume the image resides in the
Build Directory's deploy/images/
area:
If you have write access to the media, use this command form:
$ oe-run-native bmap-tools-native bmaptool copybuild-directory
/tmp/deploy/images/machine
/image
.wic /dev/sdX
If you do not have write access to the media, set your permissions first and then use the same command form:
$ sudo chmod 666 /dev/sdX
$ oe-run-native bmap-tools-native bmaptool copybuild-directory
/tmp/deploy/images/machine
/image
.wic /dev/sdX
For help on the bmaptool
command, use the
following command:
$ bmaptool --help