raspiblitz/ci

Automated builds

• The images are built using the dev branch.
• The lean image has no Gnome desktop or WebUI installed.
• Issue: https://github.com/rootzoll/raspiblitz/issues/3053
• The templates are made using: https://github.com/chef/bento

• Local build
  • Generate an arm64-rpi image
  • Generate an amd64 image
• Images generated in github actions
• Write the image to a disk connected with USB
  • Convert the qcow2 volume to a raw disk image
  • Write to a disk connected with USB with Balena Etcher or dd
  • Extend the partition on the new disk (optional)
• The first boot
  • fatpack image
  • lean image
    • Add Gnome desktop (optional)
  • Add wifi (optional)
  • Add wifi driver (optional)
• Workflow notes
  • Packer .json settings:
  • VNC
  • Flashing

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 /var/log
  # 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 sh256 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.

• Tested with
  • libvirt / virsh / virt-manager (https://virt-manager.org/)
  • written to disk and booted with legacy boot (non-UEFI)

  make amd64-lean-image
  

• find the compressed .qcow2 image and sh256 hashes in the ci/amd64/builds directory

Images generated in github actions

• To see the downloadable artifacts will need to log in to GitHub
• Find the latest successful builds for amd64 using the dev branch at:
  https://github.com/rootzoll/raspiblitz/actions/workflows/amd64-lean-image.yml?query=workflow%3Aamd64-lean-image-build+branch%3Adev+is%3Asuccess++

  # unzip to the same directory
  unzip raspiblitz-amd64-image-YEAR-MM-DD-COMMITHASH.zip
  

Write the image to a disk connected with USB

• identify the connected disk with lsblk eg /dev/sdd

Convert the qcow2 volume to a raw disk image

• the raw image is 33.5 GB

  # unzip
  gzip -dkv raspiblitz-amd64-debian-11.5-lean.qcow2.gz
  # convert
  qemu-img convert raspiblitz-amd64-debian-11.5-lean.qcow2 raspiblitz-amd64-debian-11.5-lean.img
  

Write to a disk connected with USB with Balena Etcher or dd

• Balena Etcher to write the .img to disk

• dd to write the .img to disk

  # identify partitions
  lsblk
  # write to disk
  sudo dd if=./raspiblitz-amd64-debian-11.5-lean.img of=/dev/sde bs=4M status=progress
  

• qemu-image dd to write the .qcow2 directly to disk

  sudo apt install -y qemu-utils
  sudo qemu-img dd if=./raspiblitz-amd64-debian-11.5-lean.qcow2 of=/dev/sde bs=4M
  

Extend the partition on the new disk (optional)

• Use Disks to resize the Extended Partition to the full size of the disk
• To extend the LVM:

  # identify the USB connected disk
  lsblk
  df -h
  # extend the lvm to the full free space and resize the filesystem
  sudo lvextend -r -l +100%FREE /dev/mapper/raspiblitz--amd74--debian--11--vg-root
  
  # alternatively download the script
  git clone https://git.scs.carleton.ca/git/extend-lvm.git
  # run with the disk as the parameter (sde for example)
  sudo bash extend-lvm/extend-lvm.sh /dev/sde
  

The first boot

fatpack image

• log in on screen:

  • username: admin
  • password: raspiblitz

• start a terminal for guidance

• alternatively 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

lean image

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

Add Gnome desktop (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
  

Add wifi (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 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
  

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 11.5)
• connects with ssh and runs the scripts including the build_sdcard.sh

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

• the base image (RasberryOS) 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)

Packer .json settings:

• disk_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
  

VNC

• can follow the setup locally in VNC with the port stated in the first part of the logs eg: Found available VNC port: 5952 on IP: 127.0.0.1

Flashing

• using qemu-img dd bs=4M if=raspiblitz-amd64-debian-11.5-lean.qcow2 of=/dev/sdd changed the UUID so it won't boot without editing GRUB