raspiblitz/ci

Automated builds

Table of Contents

• Ready made images
• Write the image to a disk connected with USB
  • Prepare the disk
  • Option 1 - requires less disk space
    • Write the .qcow2 file directly to disk with qemu-image dd
  • Option 2 - convert to a raw disk image first
    • Convert the .qcow2 volume to a raw disk image
    • Write the .img to the disk
• The first boot
  • Lean image with Gnome desktop (default image)
  • Extend the root partition (optional - recommended)
  • Add wifi driver (optional)
• Local build
  • Generate an arm64-rpi image
  • Generate an amd64 image
    • amd64-lean-desktop-uefi-image
    • amd64-lean-server-legacyboot-image
• Notes for the lean server image without Gnome desktop
  • After the boot
  • Connect to wifi from the command line (optional)
    • Add Gnome desktop to the server image (optional)
• Fatpack images
• Workflow notes
  • VNC
  • Packer settings
  • Flashing

Ready made images

• The images are built in GitHub actions
• To see the downloadable artifacts will need to log in to GitHub
• Find the latest successful build of the default amd64 image: https://github.com/rootzoll/raspiblitz/actions/workflows/amd64-lean-image.yml?query=workflow%3Aamd64-lean-image-build+branch%3Adev+is%3Asuccess++

  # unpack the artifact to the same directory
  unzip ./raspiblitz-amd64-image-*.zip
  # unpack the image
  gzip -dkv raspiblitz-amd64-debian-lean.qcow2.gz
  # install qemu-utils
  sudo apt install -y qemu-utils
  

Write the image to a disk connected with USB

Prepare the disk

• identify the connected disk with lsblk e.g., /dev/sdk
• set the disk variable

  # identify the USB connected disk
  lsblk
  # set the disk variable
  disk=/dev/sdk
  

• clean the existing partitions:

  # unmount all partitions
  sudo umount ${disk}*
  # wipe the partition table
  sudo wipefs --all ${disk}
  

Option 1 - requires less disk space

Write the .qcow2 file directly to disk with qemu-image dd

• the .qcow2 volume is 8.1 GB

  sudo qemu-img dd if=./raspiblitz-amd64-debian-lean.qcow2 of=${disk} bs=4M
  

Option 2 - convert to a raw disk image first

Convert the .qcow2 volume to a raw disk image

• the raw .img is 30GB

  # convert
  qemu-img convert ./raspiblitz-amd64-debian-lean.qcow2 ./raspiblitz-amd64-debian-lean.img
  

Write the .img to the disk

• identify the connected disk with lsblk e.g., /dev/sdk
• use Balena Etcher
• or dd to write the .img to disk

  sudo dd if=./raspiblitz-amd64-debian-lean.img of=${disk} bs=4M status=progress
  

The first boot

Lean image with Gnome desktop (default image)

• log in on screen:
  • username: admin
  • password: raspiblitz
• start a terminal for guidance
• alternatively connect with ssh over the LAN with the same username and password

Extend the root partition (optional - recommended)

• The default image is 30GB. The partition can be extended to the full size of the disk.
• The lvm partition can be extended while mounted so this step can be done later as well while the system is running.
• CLI (recommended)

  # identify the USB connected disk
  lsblk
  df -h
  # select the disk carefully
  disk="/dev/sde"
  # resize the extended partition to the full size of the disk
  sudo parted ${disk} -- resizepart 2 100%
  # resize the lvm partition to the full size of the disk
  sudo parted ${disk} -- resizepart 5 100%
  # extend the physical volume to size of the lvm partition
  sudo pvresize ${disk}5
  # extend the root lvm to the full free space and resize the filesystem
  sudo lvextend -r -l +100%FREE /dev/mapper/raspiblitz--amd64--vg-root
  

• GUI with GParted

  # install
  sudo apt install gparted
  # start the gparted GUI
  sudo gparted
  # resize the extended partition to the full size of the disk
  # extend the lvm to the full free space and resize the filesystem (extends the swap space by default)
  # in CLI: extend the root lvm
  sudo lvextend -r -l +100%FREE /dev/mapper/raspiblitz--amd64--vg-root
  

Add wifi driver (optional)

• as in https://wiki.debian.org/iwlwifi
• add the component non-free after deb http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye main in /etc/apt/sources.list
• install the wifi driver for the mentioned cards:

  sudo apt update && sudo apt install firmware-iwlwifi
  

• alternatively download the deb package from: http://ftp.debian.org/debian/pool/non-free-firmware/f/firmware-nonfree/firmware-iwlwifi_20230210-5_all.deb
• install with:

  sudo dpkg -i firmware-iwlwifi_20230210-5_all.deb
  

Local build

with the Makefile

• needs ~20 GB free space
• tested on:
  • Ubuntu Live (jammy)
  • Debian Bullseye Desktop
• Preparation:

  # change to a mountpoint with sufficient space (check with 'df -h')
  cd $HOME/
  # switch to root
  sudo su
  # install git and make
  apt update && apt install -y git make
  # download the repo (or your fork)
  git clone https://github.com/rootzoll/raspiblitz
  cd raspiblitz
  # checkout the desired branch
  git checkout dev
  

Generate an arm64-rpi image

• The workflow locally and in github actions generates a .img raw format image for the Raspberry Pi.

  make arm-rpi-lean-image
  

• find the image and sha256 hashes in the ci/arm64-rpi/packer-builder-arm directory
• the .img.gz file can be written to an SDcard directly with Balena Etcher

Generate an amd64 image

• The workflow locally and in github actions generates a .qcow2 format amd64 image.
• When finished find the compressed .qcow2 image and sha256 hashes in the ci/amd64/builds directory

amd64-lean-desktop-uefi-image

• lean image, Gnome desktop, UEFI boot
• Tested with
  • written to disk and booted with UEFI

  make amd64-lean-desktop-uefi-image
  

amd64-lean-server-legacyboot-image

• lean image, no desktop (cli only), legacy boot for old computers
• Tested with
  • libvirt / virsh / virt-manager (https://virt-manager.org/)
  • written to disk and booted with legacy boot (non-UEFI / CSM mode)

  make amd64-lean-server-legacyboot-image
  

Notes for the lean server image without Gnome desktop

After the boot

• press any key to get to a login prompt after the splash screen
  • username: admin
  • password: raspiblitz

Connect to wifi from the command line (optional)

• if the wifi driver is included in the FOSS Debian distro
• in the command line run the network manager interface to connect:

  sudo nmtui
  

Add Gnome desktop to the server image (optional)

• Connect to the internet (easiest to plug in a LAN cable - use a USB - LAN adapter if have no port)

  apt install gnome
  systemctl start gdm
  

Fatpack images

• can open a browser and go to:
  • http://localhost
• can also open the WebUI on another computer
  • Find the the RaspiBlitz_IP in your router dashboard, in the terminal prompt or with hostname -I
  • open: http://RaspiBlitz_IP

Workflow notes

The github workflow files are the equivalent of the Makefile commands run locally. The local repo owner (GITHUB_ACTOR) and branch (GITHUB_HEAD_REF) is picked up. The build_sdcard.sh is downloaded from the source branch and built with the options pack=[lean|fatpack] to set fatpack=[0|1].

The github workflow is running the job in an ubuntu-22.04 image.

The amd64 image is built with running a qemu VM

• installs the base OS (Debian)
• connects with ssh and runs the scripts including the build_sdcard.sh

The arm64-rpi image generation runs in Docker in github actions and without Docker locally.

• the base image (RaspberryOS) is started in the qemu VM
• Packer runs the build_sdcard.sh directly in the VM

After the image is built (and there is no exit with errors) the next steps are:

• compute checksum of the qemu/raw image
• compress the image with gzip
• compute checksum of the compressed image
• (in github actions: upload the artifacts in one .zip file)

VNC

• can follow the setup locally in VNC with the port stated in the first part of the logs eg: Found available VNC port: 5900 on IP: 127.0.0.1

Packer settings

• disk_size / image_size - the size op the raw image. The .qcow2 file is compressed.
• template - image filename
• output_directory - directory under builds where the image will be placed
• the pi user is given passwordless sudo access and used for the image setup
• use file_checksum instead of file_checksum_url. The image must be downloaded and verified with PGP manually to fill the field:

  # image
  wget https://downloads.raspberrypi.org/raspios_arm64/images/raspios_arm64-2022-09-26/2022-09-22-raspios-bullseye-arm64.img.xz
  # signature
  wget https://downloads.raspberrypi.org/raspios_arm64/images/raspios_arm64-2022-09-26/2022-09-22-raspios-bullseye-arm64.img.xz.sig
  # hash
  wget https://downloads.raspberrypi.org/raspios_arm64/images/raspios_arm64-2022-09-26/2022-09-22-raspios-bullseye-arm64.img.xz.sha256
  
  curl https://www.raspberrypi.org/raspberrypi_downloads.gpg.key | gpg --import
  
  sha256sum -c 2022-09-22-raspios-bullseye-arm64.img.xz.sha256 && \
  gpg --verify 2022-09-22-raspios-bullseye-arm64.img.xz.sig
  
  cat 2022-09-22-raspios-bullseye-arm64.img.xz.sha256
  

Flashing

• using qemu-img dd bs=4M if=raspiblitz-amd64-debian-lean.qcow2 of=/dev/sdd changed the UUID so it won't boot without editing GRUB