Package repository for OpenSTLinux distribution

1 Disclaimers

STMicroelectronics packages repository service is provided for evaluation purpose only, and therefore not approved for use in production.
The package licenses hosted in these repositories can be found here: OpenSTLinux_licenses.

2 Description

OpenSTLinux provides a package repository service hosted at packages.openstlinux.st.com.

The package repository service is designed for STM32MP157C-DK2 boards and is enabled by default in the Starter Package.

2.1 Organization

Within each repository, packages are organized in two groups (a.k.a "components" in the APT terminology):

• the "main" group contains a wide selection of packages whose installation is automatically tested by STMicroelectronics
• the "untested" group contains all the other packages that can be built using the bitbake world command. However their installation is not guaranteed.

A third group named "updates" is reserved for future use.

2.2 Limitations

Packages repository service doesn't include the packages that are shipped in the rootfs image, nor the BSP components (TF-A, U-Boot, Linux and OP-TEE). They can be installed only from the Starter Package using the STM32CubeProgrammer.

rootfs available space is about 60MB by default. For a better experience it is recommend to flash the Starter Package using the "extensible" flashlayout (*-extensible.tsv).
Extensible flashlayout does not flash userfs partition to extend the rootfs partition to the size of the sdcard.

3 Usage

3.1 Apt

OpenSTLinux packages can be handled using apt-* utilities, which are the same utilities used on a Debian system. The first apt-* command that must be run before any other is:

 root@board# apt-get update

This command synchronizes the local packages index from the repositories enumerated in /etc/apt/sources.list{,.d}. Once it is updated, apt-cache can be used to get the list of all available packages:

 root@board# apt-cache search .

Obviously it is possible to list only packages that match a given pattern, for example:

 root@board# apt-cache search emacs
 [...]
 zile - very small Emacs-subset editor

The desired package(s) can then be easily installed:

 root@board# apt-get install zile

... or removed:

 root@board# apt-get remove zile

This command only removes the files that were installed from this package. It does not remove the package from the apt download cache. If there is not enough space available on the system, it is recommended to clean the cache:

 root@board# apt-get clean

Likewise, some packages may have been automatically installed to respect dependencies with other packages. If they are no longer required, they can be removed to free space:

 root@board# apt-get autoremove

In addition, it is recommended to regularly install the latest versions of the packages currently installed on the system:

 root@board# apt-get upgrade

3.2 How to create a repository

A lot of different tools can be used to generate an Apt repository; the most recommended one is reprepro, and the easiest one is probably apt-ftparchive. For instance, to quickly create an Apt repository from a build of OpenSTLinux:

 user@pc$ cd build-openstlinuxweston-stm32mp1
 user@pc$ cd tmp-glibc/deploy/deb/
 user@pc$ ls
 all/  cortexa7t2hf-neon-vfpv4/  stm32mp1/
 user@pc$ apt-ftparchive --arch armhf packages . > Packages
 user@pc$ apt-ftparchive release . > Release

The whole content of this directory (deb in the previous example) must then be copied to a location that can be accessed by the OpenSTLinux OS. It could be a file server or a local disk. Just declare this location ($location in the example below) to the Apt system:

 root@board# echo "deb [trusted=yes] $location /" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/custom.list

In the above example, [trusted=yes] has been specified because the package manifest is not signed. Eventually, apt-* commands can be used as described in the apt section.

4 Support

Bug reports, request for new packages, or any other kind of support requests can be submitted through https://community.st.com.

5 Further readings

• Dpkg
• https://manpages.debian.org/stable/apt/apt-get.8.en.html
• https://manpages.debian.org/stable/apt/sources.list.5.en.html
• https://manpages.debian.org/stable/apt/apt-cache.8.en.html
• https://wiki.debian.org/DebianRepository/Setup
• https://wiki.debian.org/DebianRepository/SetupWithReprepro
• https://wiki.debian.org/SecureApt
• https://wiki.st.com/stm32mpu/wiki/STM32MP15_Discovery_kits_-_Starter_Package
• https://wiki.st.com/stm32mpu/wiki/STM32MP15_Evaluation_boards_-_Starter_Package
• https://wiki.st.com/stm32mpu/wiki/STM32MP1_Developer_Package