In this section, you prepare your workspace to build and simulate OpenBMC and UEFI firmware on the Neoverse RD-V3 r1 platform using Arm Fixed Virtual Platforms (FVPs). You will install the required tools, configure repositories, and set up a Docker-based build environment for both BMC and host firmware.
Before you start, review the related Learning Path CSS-V3 pre-silicon software development using Neoverse servers . It walks through using the CSSv3 reference design on FVP to perform early development and validation.
You will perform the steps outlined below on your Arm Neoverse-based Linux machine running Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. You will need at least 80 GB of free disk space, 48 GB of RAM.
Install the base packages for building OpenBMC with the Yocto Project:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y git gcc g++ make file wget gawk diffstat bzip2 cpio chrpath zstd lz4 bzip2 unzip xz-utils python3
Now install Docker:
curl -fsSL get.docker.com -o get-docker.sh && sh get-docker.sh
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER ; newgrp docker
See the Docker Install Guide for further information.
Next install the repo tool:
mkdir -p ~/.bin
PATH="${HOME}/.bin:${PATH}"
curl https://storage.googleapis.com/git-repo-downloads/repo > ~/.bin/repo
chmod a+rx ~/.bin/repo
mkdir -p ~/fvp
cd ~/fvp
wget https://developer.arm.com/-/cdn-downloads/permalink/FVPs-Neoverse-Infrastructure/RD-V3-r1/FVP_RD_V3_R1_11.29_35_Linux64_armv8l.tgz
tar -xvf FVP_RD_V3_R1_11.29_35_Linux64_armv8l.tgz
./FVP_RD_V3_R1.sh
Accept the defaults unless you have a reason not to. By default, the FVP installs under $HOME/FVP_RD_V3_R1.
mkdir -p ~/host
cd ~/host
~/.bin/repo init -u "https://git.gitlab.arm.com/infra-solutions/reference-design/infra-refdesign-manifests.git" -m "pinned-rdv3r1-bmc.xml" -b "refs/tags/RD-INFRA-2025.07.03" --depth=1
repo sync -c -j $(nproc) --fetch-submodules --force-sync --no-clone-bundle
These patches enable platform-specific functionality such as Redfish support and UEFI enhancements and align the build system with the RD-V3 FVP setup.
Use sparse checkout to download only the patch/ folder:
cd ~/host
git init
git remote add -f origin https://gitlab.arm.com/server_management/PoCs/fvp-poc
git config core.sparsecheckout true
echo /patch >> .git/info/sparse-checkout
git pull origin main
This approach allows you to fetch only the patch folder from the remote Git repository - saving time and disk space.
Next, using a file editor of your choice, create an apply_patch.sh script inside the ~ directory and paste in the following content.
This script automatically applies the necessary patches to each firmware component:
FVP_DIR="host"
SOURCE="$HOME/host"
GREEN='\033[0;32m'
NC='\033[0m'
pushd ${FVP_DIR} > /dev/null
echo -e "${GREEN}\n===== Apply patches to edk2 =====\n${NC}"
pushd uefi/edk2
git am --keep-cr ${SOURCE}/patch/edk2/*.patch
popd > /dev/null
echo -e "${GREEN}\n===== Apply patches to edk2-platforms =====\n${NC}"
pushd uefi/edk2/edk2-platforms > /dev/null
git am --keep-cr ${SOURCE}/patch/edk2-platforms/*.patch
popd > /dev/null
echo -e "${GREEN}\n===== Apply patches to edk2-redfish-client =====\n${NC}"
git clone https://github.com/tianocore/edk2-redfish-client.git
pushd edk2-redfish-client > /dev/null
git checkout 4f204b579b1d6b5e57a411f0d4053b0a516839c8
git am --keep-cr ${SOURCE}/patch/edk2-redfish-client/*.patch
popd > /dev/null
echo -e "${GREEN}\n===== Apply patches to buildroot =====\n${NC}"
pushd buildroot > /dev/null
git am ${SOURCE}/patch/buildroot/*.patch
popd > /dev/null
echo -e "${GREEN}\n===== Apply patches to build-scripts =====\n${NC}"
pushd build-scripts > /dev/null
git am ${SOURCE}/patch/build-scripts/*.patch
popd > /dev/null
popd > /dev/null
Run the script:
cd ~
chmod +x ./apply_patch.sh
./apply_patch.sh
This script automatically applies patches to edk2, edk2-platforms, buildroot, and related components. These patches enable additional UEFI features, integrate the Redfish client, and align the build system with the RD-V3 simulation setup.
Before building the host image, update the following line in ~/host/grub/bootstrap to replace the git:// protocol.
Some networks might restrict git:// access due to firewall or security policies. Switching to https:// ensures reliable and secure access to external Git repositories.
diff --git a/bootstrap b/bootstrap
index 5b08e7e2d..031784582 100755
--- a/bootstrap
+++ b/bootstrap
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ PERL="${PERL-perl}"
me=$0
-default_gnulib_url=git://git.sv.gnu.org/gnulib
+default_gnulib_url=https://git.savannah.gnu.org/git/gnulib.git
usage() {
cat <<EOF
Build the container image and host artifacts:
cd ~/host/container-scripts
./container.sh build
Within the host directory, run:
docker run --rm \
-v $HOME/host:$HOME/host \
-w $HOME/host \
--env ARCADE_USER=$(id -un) \
--env ARCADE_UID=$(id -u) \
--env ARCADE_GID=$(id -g) \
-t -i rdinfra-builder \
bash -c "./build-scripts/rdinfra/build-test-busybox.sh -p rdv3r1 all"
Verify the build artifacts:
ls -la ~/host/output/rdv3r1/rdv3r1/
The directory contents should look like:
total 4308
drwxr-xr-x 2 ubuntu ubuntu 4096 Aug 18 10:19 .
drwxr-xr-x 4 ubuntu ubuntu 4096 Aug 18 10:20 ..
lrwxrwxrwx 1 ubuntu ubuntu 25 Aug 18 10:19 Image -> ../components/linux/Image
lrwxrwxrwx 1 ubuntu ubuntu 35 Aug 18 10:19 Image.defconfig -> ../components/linux/Image.defconfig
-rw-r--r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 4402315 Aug 18 10:19 fip-uefi.bin
lrwxrwxrwx 1 ubuntu ubuntu 34 Aug 18 10:19 lcp_ramfw.bin -> ../components/rdv3r1/lcp_ramfw.bin
lrwxrwxrwx 1 ubuntu ubuntu 33 Aug 18 10:19 lcp_ramfw_ns -> ../components/rdv3r1/lcp_ramfw_ns
lrwxrwxrwx 1 ubuntu ubuntu 26 Aug 18 10:19 lkvm -> ../components/kvmtool/lkvm
lrwxrwxrwx 1 ubuntu ubuntu 34 Aug 18 10:19 mcp_ramfw.bin -> ../components/rdv3r1/mcp_ramfw.bin
lrwxrwxrwx 1 ubuntu ubuntu 33 Aug 18 10:19 mcp_ramfw_ns -> ../components/rdv3r1/mcp_ramfw_ns
lrwxrwxrwx 1 ubuntu ubuntu 28 Aug 18 10:19 rmm.img -> ../components/rdv3r1/rmm.img
lrwxrwxrwx 1 ubuntu ubuntu 34 Aug 18 10:19 scp_ramfw.bin -> ../components/rdv3r1/scp_ramfw.bin
lrwxrwxrwx 1 ubuntu ubuntu 33 Aug 18 10:19 scp_ramfw_ns -> ../components/rdv3r1/scp_ramfw_ns
lrwxrwxrwx 1 ubuntu ubuntu 41 Aug 18 10:19 signed_lcp_ramfw.bin -> ../components/rdv3r1/signed_lcp_ramfw.bin
lrwxrwxrwx 1 ubuntu ubuntu 41 Aug 18 10:19 signed_mcp_ramfw.bin -> ../components/rdv3r1/signed_mcp_ramfw.bin
lrwxrwxrwx 1 ubuntu ubuntu 41 Aug 18 10:19 signed_scp_ramfw.bin -> ../components/rdv3r1/signed_scp_ramfw.bin
lrwxrwxrwx 1 ubuntu ubuntu 31 Aug 18 10:19 tf-bl1.bin -> ../components/rdv3r1/tf-bl1.bin
lrwxrwxrwx 1 ubuntu ubuntu 30 Aug 18 10:19 tf-bl1_ns -> ../components/rdv3r1/tf-bl1_ns
lrwxrwxrwx 1 ubuntu ubuntu 31 Aug 18 10:19 tf-bl2.bin -> ../components/rdv3r1/tf-bl2.bin
lrwxrwxrwx 1 ubuntu ubuntu 32 Aug 18 10:19 tf-bl31.bin -> ../components/rdv3r1/tf-bl31.bin
lrwxrwxrwx 1 ubuntu ubuntu 55 Aug 18 10:19 tf_m_flash.bin -> ../components/arm/rse/neoverse_rd/rdv3r1/tf_m_flash.bin
lrwxrwxrwx 1 ubuntu ubuntu 48 Aug 18 10:19 tf_m_rom.bin -> ../components/arm/rse/neoverse_rd/rdv3r1/rom.bin
lrwxrwxrwx 1 ubuntu ubuntu 50 Aug 18 10:19 tf_m_vm0_0.bin -> ../components/arm/rse/neoverse_rd/rdv3r1/vm0_0.bin
lrwxrwxrwx 1 ubuntu ubuntu 50 Aug 18 10:19 tf_m_vm0_1.bin -> ../components/arm/rse/neoverse_rd/rdv3r1/vm0_1.bin
lrwxrwxrwx 1 ubuntu ubuntu 50 Aug 18 10:19 tf_m_vm1_0.bin -> ../components/arm/rse/neoverse_rd/rdv3r1/vm1_0.bin
lrwxrwxrwx 1 ubuntu ubuntu 50 Aug 18 10:19 tf_m_vm1_1.bin -> ../components/arm/rse/neoverse_rd/rdv3r1/vm1_1.bin
lrwxrwxrwx 1 ubuntu ubuntu 33 Aug 18 10:19 uefi.bin -> ../components/css-common/uefi.bin
See the Learning Path Develop and Validate Firmware Pre-Silicon on Arm Neoverse CSS V3 for an introduction to setting up the RD-V3 development environment.
OpenBMC is built on the Yocto Project, which uses BitBake as its build tool. BitBake is included in the OpenBMC environment, so you do not install it separately.
Clone and build:
cd ~
git clone https://github.com/openbmc/openbmc.git
cd ~/openbmc
source setup fvp
bitbake obmc-phosphor-image
During the OpenBMC build process, you might encounter a native compilation error when building Node.js (especially version 22+) due to high memory usage during the V8 engine build phase.
g++: fatal error: Killed signal terminated program cc1plus
compilation terminated.
ERROR: oe_runmake failed
This is a typical Out-of-Memory (OOM) failure, where the system forcibly terminates the compiler due to insufficient available memory.
To reduce memory pressure, explicitly limit parallel tasks in conf/local.conf:
BB_NUMBER_THREADS = "2"
PARALLEL_MAKE = "-j2"
This ensures that BitBake only runs two parallel tasks and that each Makefile invocation limits itself to two threads. It significantly reduces peak memory usage and avoids OOM terminations.
With a successful build, you should see output similar to:
Loading cache: 100% | | ETA: --:--:--
Loaded 0 entries from dependency cache.
Parsing recipes: 100% |#############################################################################################################| Time: 0:00:09
Parsing of 3054 .bb files complete (0 cached, 3054 parsed). 5148 targets, 770 skipped, 0 masked, 0 errors.
NOTE: Resolving any missing task queue dependencies
Build Configuration:
BB_VERSION = "2.12.0"
BUILD_SYS = "aarch64-linux"
NATIVELSBSTRING = "ubuntu-22.04"
TARGET_SYS = "aarch64-openbmc-linux"
MACHINE = "fvp"
DISTRO = "openbmc-phosphor"
DISTRO_VERSION = "nodistro.0"
TUNE_FEATURES = "aarch64 armv8-4a"
TARGET_FPU = ""
meta
meta-oe
meta-networking
meta-python
meta-phosphor
meta-arm
meta-arm-toolchain
meta-arm-bsp
meta-evb
meta-evb-fvp-base = "master:1b6b75a7d22262ec1bf5ab8e2bfa434ac84d981b"
Sstate summary: Wanted 0 Local 0 Mirrors 0 Missed 0 Current 2890 (0% match, 100% complete)############################### | ETA: 0:00:00
Initialising tasks: 100% |##########################################################################################################| Time: 0:00:03
NOTE: Executing Tasks
This confirms that the OpenBMC image was built successfully.
The first build can take up to an hour depending on system performance because it downloads and compiles the full firmware stack.
Your workspace separates the FVP, host build system, OpenBMC source, and patches for easier maintenance and troubleshooting.
├── FVP_RD_V3_R1
├── apply_patch.sh
├── fvp
│ ├── FVP_RD_V3_R1.sh
│ ├── FVP_RD_V3_R1_11.29_35_Linux64_armv8l.tgz
│ └── license_terms
├── host
│ ├── build-scripts
│ ├── buildroot
│ ├── patch
│ │ ├── build-scripts
│ │ ├── buildroot
│ │ ├── edk2
│ │ ├── edk2-platforms
│ │ └── edk2-redfish-client
│ ├── ...
├── openbmc
│ ├── ...
│ ├── build
│ ├── meta-arm
│ ├── ...
│ ├── poky
│ └── setup
└── run.sh
With both the OpenBMC and host firmware environments built and configured, you are ready to launch full-system simulation and observe the boot process.