Armbian Linux Build Framework
- Builds custom kernel, image or a distribution optimized for low-resource hardware,
- Include filesystem generation, low-level control software, kernel image and bootloader compilation,
- Provides a consistent user experience by keeping system standards across different platforms.
- x86_64 / aarch64 machine
- at least 2GB of memory and ~35GB of disk space for VM, container or bare metal installation
- Armbian / Ubuntu Jammy 22.04.x for native building or any Docker capable Linux for containerised
- Windows 10/11 with WSL2 subsystem running Ubuntu Jammy 22.04.x
- Superuser rights (configured sudo or root access).
- Make sure your system is up-to-date! Outdated Docker binaries, for example, can cause trouble.
For stable branch use --branch=v24.11
apt-get -y install git
git clone --depth=1 --branch=main https://github.com/armbian/build
cd build
./compile.sh
- Interactive graphical interface.
- Prepares the workspace by installing the necessary dependencies and sources.
- It guides the entire process and creates a kernel package or a ready-to-use SD card image.
Show work-in-progress areas in interactive mode:
./compile.sh EXPERT="yes"Build minimal CLI Armbian Jammy for Bananapi M5 with LTS kernel:
./compile.sh \
BOARD=bananapim5 \
BRANCH=current \
RELEASE=jammy \
BUILD_MINIMAL=yes \
BUILD_DESKTOP=no \
KERNEL_CONFIGURE=noBuild with GitHub actions: (advanced version)
name: "Build Armbian"
on:
workflow_dispatch:
jobs:
build-armbian:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: armbian/build@main
with:
armbian_token: "${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}" # GitHub token
armbian_release: "jammy" # userspace
armbian_target: "build" # build=image, kernel=kernel
armbian_board: "bananapim5" # build target
Generated image will be uploaded to your repository release. Note: GitHub upload file limit is 2Gb.
- Building Armbian (how to start)
- Build commands and switches (build options)
- User configuration (how to add packages, patches, and override sources config)
- System config (menu driven utility to setup OS and HW features)
- manually released standard supported builds (quarterly)
- automatically released staging and standard supported builds (daily)
- automatically released community maintained builds (weekly)
Expand
Check similarities, advantages and disadvantages compared with leading industry standard build software.| Function | Armbian | Yocto | Buildroot |
|---|---|---|---|
| Target | general purpose | embedded | embedded / IOT |
| U-boot and kernel | compiled from sources | compiled from sources | compiled from sources |
| Board support maintenance | complete | outside | outside |
| Root file system | Debian or Ubuntu based | custom | custom |
| Package manager | APT | any | none |
| Configurability | limited | large | large |
| Initramfs support | yes | yes | yes |
| Getting started | quick | very slow | slow |
| Cross compilation | yes | yes | yes |
Expand
├── cache Work / cache directory
│ ├── aptcache Packages
│ ├── ccache C/C++ compiler
│ ├── docker Docker last pull
│ ├── git-bare Minimal Git
│ ├── git-bundles Full Git
│ ├── initrd Ram disk
│ ├── memoize Git status
│ ├── patch Kernel drivers patch
│ ├── pip Python
│ ├── rootfs Compressed userspaces
│ ├── sources Kernel, u-boot and other sources
│ ├── tools Additional tools like ORAS
│ └── utility
├── config Packages repository configurations
│ ├── targets.conf Board build target configuration
│ ├── boards Board configurations
│ ├── bootenv Initial boot loaders environments per family
│ ├── bootscripts Initial Boot loaders scripts per family
│ ├── cli CLI packages configurations per distribution
│ ├── desktop Desktop packages configurations per distribution
│ ├── distributions Distributions settings
│ ├── kernel Kernel build configurations per family
│ ├── sources Kernel and u-boot sources locations and scripts
│ ├── templates User configuration templates which populate userpatches
│ └── torrents External compiler and rootfs cache torrents
├── extensions Extend build system with specific functionality
├── lib Main build framework libraries
│ ├── functions
│ │ ├── artifacts
│ │ ├── bsp
│ │ ├── cli
│ │ ├── compilation
│ │ ├── configuration
│ │ ├── general
│ │ ├── host
│ │ ├── image
│ │ ├── logging
│ │ ├── main
│ │ └── rootfs
│ └── tools
├── output Build artifact
│ └── deb Deb packages
│ └── images Bootable images - RAW or compressed
│ └── debug Patch and build logs
│ └── config Kernel configuration export location
│ └── patch Created patches location
├── packages Support scripts, binary blobs, packages
│ ├── blobs Wallpapers, various configs, closed source bootloaders
│ ├── bsp-cli Automatically added to armbian-bsp-cli package
│ ├── bsp-desktop Automatically added to armbian-bsp-desktopo package
│ ├── bsp Scripts and configs overlay for rootfs
│ └── extras-buildpkgs Optional compilation and packaging engine
├── patch Collection of patches
│ ├── atf ARM trusted firmware
│ ├── kernel Linux kernel patches
| | └── family-branch Per kernel family and branch
│ ├── misc Linux kernel packaging patches
│ └── u-boot Universal boot loader patches
| ├── u-boot-board For specific board
| └── u-boot-family For entire kernel family
├── tools Tools for dealing with kernel patches and configs
└── userpatches User: configuration patching area
├── lib.config User: framework common config/override file
├── config-default.conf User: default user config file
├── customize-image.sh User: script will execute just before closing the image
├── atf User: ARM trusted firmware
├── kernel User: Linux kernel per kernel family
├── misc User: various
└── u-boot User: universal boot loader patches
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Just apply and follow!
For commercial or prioritized assistance:
- Book an hour of professional consultation
- Consider becoming a project partner
- Contact us!
Free support:
Find free support via general project search engine, documentation, community forums or IRC/Discord. Remember that our awesome community members mainly provide this in a best-effort manner, so there are no guaranteed solutions.
- Forums for Participate in Armbian
- IRC:
#armbianon Libera.chat / oftc.net - Matrix: https://forum.armbian.com/topic/40413-enter-the-matrix/
- Discord: https://discord.gg/armbian
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- Bugs: issues / JIRA
- Office hours: Wednesday, 12 midday, 18 afternoon, CET
Thank you to all the people who already contributed to Armbian!
- Current and past contributors, our families and friends.
- Support staff that keeps forums usable.
- Friends and individuals who support us with resources and their time.
- The Armbian Community helps with their ideas, reports and donations.
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This software is published under the GPL-2.0 License license.