Lecture 2 — Module 0: Prerequisites and host setup¶
Course: Yocto guide · Phase 2 — Embedded Linux → Yocto
Previous: Lecture 01 · Next: Lecture 03 — Module 1
1. Skills you should already have¶
- Comfortable on the Linux command line (paths, environment variables,
grep, basic scripting). - Basic embedded concepts: bootloader → kernel → root filesystem; what a device tree is at a high level.
- Git workflows (clone, branch, commit). Yocto is a Git-heavy ecosystem.
2. Host machine expectations¶
Yocto builds are disk- and I/O-heavy more than they are “mystical.”
| Resource | Practical minimum | Comfortable |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | 4 cores | 8+ cores |
| RAM | 8 GB (small images only) | 16–32 GB |
| Disk (SSD strongly preferred) | 80 GB free | 200+ GB |
| OS | Linux (supported distro for your Yocto release) | Same, on ext4 or similar |
Use a case-sensitive filesystem for the build tree. On some platforms, case-insensitivity causes bizarre, hard-to-debug failures.
3. Lab 0 — Verify your host¶
- Install your distro’s build dependencies using the official Yocto guide for your release (package names drift by distro).
- Confirm
git,python3, and a working compiler toolchain for the host are present. - Create a dedicated user or directory convention so paths stay stable (teams will thank you).
Done when: you can clone a large Git repository and compile a small native C “hello world” on the host without errors.
Previous: Lecture 01 · Next: Lecture 03 — Module 1