Author: Michael Opdenacker
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Yocto Security: Production and Development Images
What to avoid So, you use Yocto to build an image for your embedded device. You tweak the image and distribution settings to get the features you need, and other developers use the SDK built by Yocto to create and build the User Interface and other applications. As product release is getting closer, it’s then…
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“Securing Yocto Built Systems” presentation slides
Last week, I gave a “Making Yocto Built Images More Secure” presentation at the Embedded Linux Conference in Amsterdam. The main goal was to share the research I’ve done so far for a customer project, and gather feedback from the audience. Here are a few highlights: Check out the slides at https://rootcommit.com/pub/conferences/2025/elce/yocto-security/yocto-security.pdf. In the next…
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See how U-Boot modifies your board device tree
If you compare the device tree as loaded by Linux, available in /sys/firmware/fdt, you will see that it differs from the one that you loaded in U-Boot. Taking the time to make the comparison is quite instructive. Let’s do this on my Toradex Verdin iMX8M Mini SoM on the Dahlia carrier board. Decompiling the DTB…
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Seven steps to grow your embedded Linux skills
Do you already have a job in embedded Linux but wish to be given more challenging goals? Or are you in IT, already using Linux on your own laptop, and dreaming about landing an embedded Linux job, possibly starting as your own boss? Follow my advice in a patient and consistent way, and you will…
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Yocto: variable overrides tricks
I discovered a intriguing phenomenon while preparing my How to test the latest mainline Linux kernel or bootloader presentation at OpenEmbedded Workshop 2025. It turned out there was something incomplete in my understanding of BitBake variable overrides. Let’s take the example of a meta-mainline recipe from my Kernel Recipes: SRC_URI = “git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git;branch=linux-6.13.y;protocol=https” Then, depending on…
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Google-stored passwords insufficiently protected
Have you checked the passwords.google.com page? If you have a Google account, it’s the passwords that you’ve supposedly allowed Google to remember for you. In my case, I have a very limited list, and it’s so old that I don’t even remember letting Google remember them. I most probably accepted this on an Android phone,…
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Introducing Yocto Project Overview Seminars
Following discussions with a customer, and as a teaser for our Yocto Project and OpenEmbedded course, we are now offering a 1-day overview seminar on this topic. The main goal is to give you a clear view of the Yocto Project and the value it can bring to your embedded Linux device projects. You will…
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Build and run the mainline Linux kernel on your PC
Last week, I gave a “How to test a specific version of Linux on PC hardware” talk at the Alposs conference in Echirolles near Grenoble, France. This was a very nice technical conference, with 330 participants (+110 compared to last year), organized in the city hall of Echirolles near Grenoble and by Belledonne Communications (the…
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Booting the Raspberry Pi 5 with the Mainline Linux Kernel
If you have other boards, read on, these instructions support multiple other Raspberry Pi boards. Hardware In this tutorial, we assume you have the Raspberry Pi Debug Probe to access the board’s serial port. You could use the GPIO UARTs too, but they are neither enabled by default at the bootloader level nor as a…
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Video replay: Yocto Project devtool hands-on
I’ve just produced a 4K video replay of my Devtool Hands-on Class at Yocto Project Summit 2024.12. Here are the main reasons for shooting such a video: All this should make this tutorial easier to follow. Tutorial details Hands-on class that demonstrates the features of devtool devtool is a powerful set of features that can…