Your very own Build Farm for Apache NuttX RTOS

📝 27 Oct 2024

Refurbished Ubuntu PC becomes Build Farm for Apache NuttX RTOS

Refurbished Ubuntu PCs have become quite affordable ($370 pic above). Can we turn them into a (Low-Cost) Build Farm for Apache NuttX RTOS?

In this article we…

Compile NuttX for a group of Arm32 Boards
Then scale up and compile NuttX for All Arm32 Boards
Thanks to the Docker Image provided by NuttX

Why not do all this in GitHub Actions? It’s free ain’t it?

GitHub Actions taught us a Painful Lesson: Freebies Won’t Last Forever!

It’s probably a bad idea to be locked-in and over-dependent on a Single Provider for Continuous Integration. That’s why we’re exploring alternatives…

“[URGENT] Reducing our usage of GitHub Runners”

Build Logs for All Boards

§1 Target Groups in NuttX

We’re creating a Build Farm that will compile All Boards in All Configurations (pic above)

Build Logs for All Boards

To do that, we count every single thing that we’re compiling: Targets and Target Groups.

What’s a Target Group?

## Select the NuttX Target and compile it
tools/configure.sh rv-virt:nsh
make

Remember this configure.sh thingy? Let’s call rv-virt:nsh a NuttX Target. Thanks to the awesome NuttX Contributors, we have created 1,594 NuttX Targets.

To compile all 1,594 Targets, we lump them into 30 Target Groups (so they’re easier to track)

Looks familiar? Yep we see these when we Submit a Pull Request.

(See the Complete List)

What’s inside the Target Groups?

arm-01 has BeagleBone Black and Sony Spresense…

Target Group arm-01

arm-06 has RP2040 Boards…

Target Group arm-06

risc-v-03 has ESP32-C6 and ESP32-H2 Boards…

Target Group risc-v-03

(And So Many More)

How are Target Groups defined?

Every NuttX Target has its own defconfig…

$ cd nuttx ; find . -name defconfig
./boards/arm/am335x/beaglebone-black/configs/nsh/defconfig
./boards/arm/cxd56xx/spresense/configs/usbmsc/defconfig
./boards/arm/cxd56xx/spresense/configs/lte/defconfig
./boards/arm/cxd56xx/spresense/configs/wifi/defconfig
...

Thus NuttX uses a Wildcard Pattern to select the defconfig (which becomes a NuttX Target): tools/ci/testlist/arm-05.dat

## Target Group arm-05 contains:
## boards/arm/[m-q]*/*/configs/*/defconfig
/arm/[m-q]*,CONFIG_ARM_TOOLCHAIN_GNU_EABI

## Compile the above Targets
## with `make` and GCC Toolchain

## Except for these:
## Compile with CMake instead
CMake,arduino-nano-33ble:nsh

## Exclude this Target from the build
-moxa:nsh

We’re ready to build the Target Groups…

Build NuttX for One Target Group

§2 Build NuttX for One Target Group

Suppose we wish to compile the NuttX Targets inside Target Group arm-01…

Target Group arm-01

Here are the steps for Ubuntu x64…

Install Docker Engine

“Install Docker Engine on Ubuntu”

Download the Docker Image for NuttX

sudo docker pull \
  ghcr.io/apache/nuttx/apache-nuttx-ci-linux:latest

(Won’t work for Arm64)

Start the Docker Container

sudo docker run -it \
  ghcr.io/apache/nuttx/apache-nuttx-ci-linux:latest \
  /bin/bash -c "..."

Check out the master branch of nuttx repo

git clone \
  https://github.com/apache/nuttx

Do the same for nuttx-apps repo

git clone \
  https://github.com/apache/nuttx-apps \
  apps

Inside the Docker Container: Build the Targets for arm-01
```
cd nuttx/tools/ci
./cibuild.sh \
  -c -A -N -R \
  testlist/arm-01.dat
```
(cibuild.sh compiles a Target Group)

(arm-01.dat selects the Arm32 Targets)
Wait for arm-01 to complete, then clean up

(About 1.5 hours. That’s 15 mins slower than GitHub Actions)
```
## Optional: Free up the Docker disk space
sudo docker system prune --force
```

Put everything together: run-job.sh

## Build a NuttX Target Group with Docker
## Parameter is the Target Group, like "arm-01"
job=$1

## TODO: Install Docker Engine
## https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/ubuntu/

## TODO: For WSL, we may need to install Docker on Native Windows
## https://github.com/apache/nuttx/issues/14601#issuecomment-2453595402

## Download the Docker Image for NuttX
sudo docker pull \
  ghcr.io/apache/nuttx/apache-nuttx-ci-linux:latest

## Inside the Docker Container:
## Build the Target Group 
sudo docker run -it \
  ghcr.io/apache/nuttx/apache-nuttx-ci-linux:latest \
  /bin/bash -c "
  cd ;
  pwd ;
  git clone https://github.com/apache/nuttx ;
  git clone https://github.com/apache/nuttx-apps apps ;
  pushd nuttx ; echo NuttX Source: https://github.com/apache/nuttx/tree/\$(git rev-parse HEAD) ; popd ;
  pushd apps  ; echo NuttX Apps: https://github.com/apache/nuttx-apps/tree/\$(git rev-parse HEAD) ; popd ;
  cd nuttx/tools/ci ;
  (./cibuild.sh -c -A -N -R testlist/$job.dat || echo '***** BUILD FAILED') ;
"

We run it like this (will take 1.5 hours)…

$ sudo ./run-job.sh arm-01
NuttX Source: https://github.com/apache/nuttx/tree/9c1e0d3d640a297cab9f2bfeedff02f6ce7a8162
NuttX Apps: https://github.com/apache/nuttx-apps/tree/52a50ea72a2d88ff5b7f3308e1d132d0333982e8
====================================================================================
Configuration/Tool: pcduino-a10/nsh,CONFIG_ARM_TOOLCHAIN_GNU_EABI
2024-10-20 17:38:10
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Cleaning...
  Configuring...
  Disabling CONFIG_ARM_TOOLCHAIN_GNU_EABI
  Enabling CONFIG_ARM_TOOLCHAIN_GNU_EABI
  Building NuttX...
arm-none-eabi-ld: warning: /root/nuttx/nuttx has a LOAD segment with RWX permissions
  Normalize pcduino-a10/nsh
====================================================================================
Configuration/Tool: beaglebone-black/lcd,CONFIG_ARM_TOOLCHAIN_GNU_EABI
2024-10-20 17:39:09

(See the Complete Log)

(Ignore “arm-nuttx-eabi-gcc: command not found”)

What about building a Single Target?

Suppose we wish to build ox64:nsh. Just change this…

cd nuttx/tools/ci ;
./cibuild.sh -c -A -N -R testlist/$job.dat ;

To this…

cd nuttx ;
tools/configure.sh ox64:nsh ;
make ;

What if we’re testing our own repo?

Suppose we’re preparing a Pull Request at github.com/USER/nuttx/tree/BRANCH. Just change this…

git clone https://github.com/apache/nuttx ;

To this…

git clone https://github.com/USER/nuttx --branch BRANCH ;

(More about this)

How to copy the Compiled Files out of the Docker Container?

This will copy out the Compiled NuttX Binary from Docker…

## Get the Container ID
sudo docker ps

## Fill in the Container ID below
## Works only when the container is still running so, hmmm...
sudo docker cp \
  CONTAINER_ID:/root/nuttx/nuttx \
  .

Now we scale up…

Build NuttX for All Target Groups

§3 Build NuttX for All Target Groups

What about compiling NuttX for All Target Groups? From arm-01 to arm-14?

We loop through All Target Groups and compile them…

For Each Target Group:

arm-01 … arm-14
Compile NuttX for the Target Group
Check for Errors and Warnings
Upload the Build Log

Our script becomes more sophisticated: run-ci.sh

## Repeat Forever for All Target Groups
for (( ; ; )); do
  for job in \
    arm-01 arm-02 arm-03 arm-04 \
    arm-05 arm-06 arm-07 arm-08 \
    arm-09 arm-10 arm-11 arm-12 \
    arm-13 arm-14
  do
    ## Build the Target Group
    ## and find Errors / Warnings
    run_job $job
    clean_log
    find_messages

    ## Get the hashes for NuttX and Apps
    nuttx_hash=$(grep --only-matching -E "nuttx/tree/[0-9a-z]+" $log_file | grep --only-matching -E "[0-9a-z]+$")
    apps_hash=$(grep --only-matching -E "nuttx-apps/tree/[0-9a-z]+" $log_file | grep --only-matching -E "[0-9a-z]+$")

    ## Upload the log
    ## https://gist.github.com/nuttxpr
    upload_log $job $nuttx_hash $apps_hash
    sleep 10
  done

  ## Free up the Docker disk space
  sudo docker system prune --force
done

(clean_log is here)

We run our Build Farm like this…

## Download the scripts
git clone https://github.com/lupyuen/nuttx-release
cd nuttx-release

## Login to GitHub in Headless Mode
sudo apt install gh
sudo gh auth login

## (1) What Account: "GitHub.com"
## (2) Preferred Protocol: "HTTPS"
## (3) Authenticate GitHub CLI: "Login with a web browser"
## (4) Copy the One-Time Code, press Enter
## (5) Press "q" to quit the Text Browser that appears
## (6) Switch to Firefox Browser and load https://github.com/login/device
## (7) Enter the One-Time Code. GitHub Login will proceed.
## See https://stackoverflow.com/questions/78890002/how-to-do-gh-auth-login-when-run-in-headless-mode

## Run the Build Job forever: arm-01 ... arm-14
sudo ./run-ci.sh

(For Safety: Create a New GitHub Account for posting the gists)

How does it work?

Inside our script, run_job will compile a single Target Group: run-ci.sh

## Build the Target Group, like "arm-01"
function run_job {
  local job=$1
  pushd /tmp
  script $log_file \
    $script_option \
    "$script_dir/run-job.sh $job"
  popd
}

Which calls the script we’ve seen earlier: run-job.sh

upload_log will upload the log (to GitHub Gist) for further processing (and alerting): run-ci.sh

(Now we have a NuttX Dashboard!)

## Upload to GitHub Gist.
## For Safety: We should create a New GitHub Account for publishing Gists.
## https://gist.github.com/nuttxpr
function upload_log {
  local job=$1
  local nuttx_hash=$2
  local apps_hash=$3

  ## TODO: Change this to use GitHub Token for our new GitHub Account
  cat $log_file | \
    gh gist create \
    --public \
    --desc "[$job] CI Log for nuttx @ $nuttx_hash / nuttx-apps @ $apps_hash" \
    --filename "ci-$job.log"
}

(See the Uploaded Logs)

(How to Delete Gists)

Build Server is constrained by CPU, not RAM or I/O

The whole thing (arm-01 … arm-14) will take 17.5 Hours to complete on our Refurbished Intel i5 PC.

(Constrained by CPU, not RAM or I/O. Pic above)

Something quirky about about Errors and Warnings…

Find Errors and Warnings

§4 Find Errors and Warnings

In the script above, we call find_messages to search for Errors and Warnings: run-ci.sh

## Search for Errors and Warnings
function find_messages {
  local tmp_file=/tmp/release-tmp.log
  local msg_file=/tmp/release-msg.log
  local pattern='^(.*):(\d+):(\d+):\s+(warning|fatal error|error):\s+(.*)$'
  grep '^\*\*\*\*\*' $log_file \
    > $msg_file
  grep -P "$pattern" $log_file \
    | uniq \
    >> $msg_file
  cat $msg_file $log_file >$tmp_file
  mv $tmp_file $log_file
}

Which will insert the Errors and Warnings into the top of the Log File.

Why the funny Regex Pattern?

The Regex Pattern above is the same one that NuttX uses to detect errors in our Continuous Integration builds: .github/gcc.json

## Filename : Line : Col : warning/error : Message
^(.*):(\d+):(\d+):\s+(warning|fatal error|error):\s+(.*)$

Which will match and detect GCC Compiler Errors like…

chip/stm32_gpio.c:41:11: warning: CONFIG_STM32_USE_LEGACY_PINMAP will be deprecated

But it won’t match CMake Errors like this!

CMake Warning at cmake/nuttx_kconfig.cmake:171 (message):
  Kconfig Configuration Error: warning: STM32_HAVE_HRTIM1_PLLCLK (defined at
  arch/arm/src/stm32/Kconfig:8109) has direct dependencies STM32_HRTIM &&
  ARCH_CHIP_STM32 && ARCH_ARM with value n, but is currently being y-selected

And Linker Errors…

arm-none-eabi-ld: /root/nuttx/staging//libc.a(lib_arc4random.o): in function `arc4random_buf':
/root/nuttx/libs/libc/stdlib/lib_arc4random.c:111:(.text.arc4random_buf+0x26): undefined reference to `clock_systime_ticks'

Also Network and Timeout Errors…

curl: (6) Could not resolve host: github.com
make[1]: *** [open-amp.defs:59: open-amp.zip] Error 6

We might need to tweak the Regex Pattern and catch more errors.

NuttX GitHub Runners: Live Update

§5 What’s Next

Huh? Aren’t we making a Build Farm, not a Build Server?

Just add a second Ubuntu PC, partition the Target Groups across the PCs. And we’ll have a Build Farm!

What about macOS?

macOS compiles NuttX a little differently from Linux. (See sim/rpserver_virtio)

BUT… GitHub charges a 10x Premium for macOS Runners. That’s why we shut them down to cut costs. (Pic above)

Probably cheaper to buy our own Refurbished Mac Mini (Intel only), running NuttX Jobs all day?

(Seeking help to port NuttX Jobs to M1 Mac)

Many Thanks to my GitHub Sponsors (and the awesome NuttX Community) for supporting my work! This article wouldn’t have been possible without your support.

Got a question, comment or suggestion? Create an Issue or submit a Pull Request here…

lupyuen.github.io/src/ci2.md