MVH

Appearance

Leverage Armbian Build Framework for custom image generation ​

In this topic we'll explore how to leverage the Armbian Build Framework to create a custom Armbian image. I'll introduce you to the steps needed to set up the build environment, add extensions, and generate a tailored image for your device. I've created a comprehensive implementation in this repository that you can use as a reference and fork to extend with your own logic. In this blogpost, we'll delve deeper into my recommended customizations for each board in the respective docs underneath this topic.

Before we continue if you like armbian please consider supporting the project

Setting Up the Build Environment ​

start by cloning the build framework

bash
git clone https://github.com/armbian/build
cd build

Install the necessary dependencies. The build framework will guide you through the installation, or you can pre-install them with:

bash
sudo apt-get install git curl zip unzip rsync bc

you can now run the framework using ./compile.sh

Configure Extensions ​

Armbian has support for various extensions, I'll show guide you through how you might add some of these.

Extension Structure ​

Extensions use function naming pattern: <hook_name>__<implementation_name>()

bash
function run_after_build__custom_action() {
    echo "Running custom post-build action"
}

Creating Extensions ​

Single-file Extension ​

bash
# userpatches/extensions/my-extension.sh
function prepare_host__install_deps() {
    apt-get install -y custom-package
}

function run_after_build__deploy() {
    echo "Build completed, deploying..."
}

Directory-based Extension ​

Create the directory

bash
mkdir -p userpatches/extensions/my-complex-ext

afterwards add a shell file with an extension function

bash
# userpatches/extensions/my-complex-ext/my-complex-ext.sh
function post_customize_image__configure() {
    cp "${EXTENSION_DIR}/config.template" "${SDCARD}/etc/myconfig"
}

Enabling Extensions ​

bash
./compile.sh ENABLE_EXTENSIONS=my-extension,cloud-init

Or in configuration:

bash
enable_extension "my-extension"

Cloud-init Extension Implementation ​

Add the official cloud init extension to your build.

bash
mkdir -p userpatches/extensions
cp -r extensions/cloud-init userpatches/extensions/cloud-init

Since you'll want to be modifying the user-data file, you can copy your own version into the image. We show an example automation of this in our repository.