# Set up the development environment for OpenBMC and UEFI ## In this learning path - [Introduction](https://learn.arm.com/learning-paths/servers-and-cloud-computing/openbmc-rdv3/) - [What are OpenBMC and UEFI?](https://learn.arm.com/learning-paths/servers-and-cloud-computing/openbmc-rdv3/1_introduction_openbmc/) - [Set up the development environment for OpenBMC and UEFI](https://learn.arm.com/learning-paths/servers-and-cloud-computing/openbmc-rdv3/2_openbmc_setup/) - [Run OpenBMC and host UEFI simulation on RD-V3 FVP](https://learn.arm.com/learning-paths/servers-and-cloud-computing/openbmc-rdv3/3_openbmc_simulate/) - [Monitor and control the host CPU using OpenBMC SOL and web UI](https://learn.arm.com/learning-paths/servers-and-cloud-computing/openbmc-rdv3/4_openbmc_communicate/) - [Customize IPMI commands in OpenBMC](https://learn.arm.com/learning-paths/servers-and-cloud-computing/openbmc-rdv3/5_openbmc_ipmi/) - [Next Steps](https://learn.arm.com/learning-paths/servers-and-cloud-computing/openbmc-rdv3/_next-steps/) ## Set up your development environment 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](https://learn.arm.com/learning-paths/servers-and-cloud-computing/neoverse-rdv3-swstack/). 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 required packages 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 $USER ; newgrp docker ``` **Note** See the [Docker Install Guide](https://learn.arm.com/install-guides/docker/) for further information. Next install the `repo` tool: ``` mkdir -p ~/.bin PATH="${HOME}/.bin:${PATH}" curl https://storage.googleapis.com/git-repo-downloads/repo > ~/.bin/repo chmod a+rx ~/.bin/repo ``` ## Download and install the Arm FVP (RD-V3 r1) ``` mkdir -p ~/fvp cd ~/fvp wget https://developer.arm.com/-/cdn-downloads/permalink/FVPs-Neoverse-Infrastructure/RD-V3-r1/FVP_RD_V3_R1_11.29_35_Linux64_armv8l.tgz tar -xvf FVP_RD_V3_R1_11.29_35_Linux64_armv8l.tgz ./FVP_RD_V3_R1.sh ``` Accept the defaults unless you have a reason not to. By default, the FVP installs under `$HOME/FVP_RD_V3_R1`. ## Initialize the host build environment ``` 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 $(nproc) --fetch-submodules --force-sync --no-clone-bundle ``` ## Apply required patches These patches enable platform-specific functionality such as Redfish support and UEFI enhancements and align the build system with the RD-V3 FVP setup. Use sparse checkout to download only the `patch/` folder: ``` cd ~/host git init git remote add -f origin https://gitlab.arm.com/server_management/PoCs/fvp-poc git config core.sparsecheckout true echo /patch >> .git/info/sparse-checkout git pull origin main ``` This approach allows you to fetch only the `patch` folder from the remote Git repository - saving time and disk space. Next, using a file editor of your choice, create an `apply_patch.sh` script inside the `~` directory and paste in the following content. This script automatically applies the necessary patches to each firmware component: ```bash FVP_DIR="host" SOURCE="$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 ${SOURCE}/patch/build-scripts/*.patch popd > /dev/null popd > /dev/null ``` Run the script: ``` cd ~ chmod +x ./apply_patch.sh ./apply_patch.sh ``` This script automatically applies patches to edk2, edk2-platforms, buildroot, and related components. These patches enable additional UEFI features, integrate the Redfish client, and align the build system with the RD-V3 simulation setup. ## Build RDv3 R1 host Docker image Before building the host image, update the following line in `~/host/grub/bootstrap` to replace the `git://` protocol. Some networks might restrict `git://` access due to firewall or security policies. Switching to `https://` ensures reliable and secure access to external Git repositories. ``` diff --git a/bootstrap b/bootstrap index 5b08e7e2d..031784582 100755 --- a/bootstrap +++ b/bootstrap @@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ PERL="${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 < ../components/linux/Image __output__ lrwxrwxrwx 1 ubuntu ubuntu 35 Aug 18 10:19 Image.defconfig -> ../components/linux/Image.defconfig __output__ -rw-r--r-- 1 ubuntu ubuntu 4402315 Aug 18 10:19 fip-uefi.bin __output__ lrwxrwxrwx 1 ubuntu ubuntu 34 Aug 18 10:19 lcp_ramfw.bin -> ../components/rdv3r1/lcp_ramfw.bin __output__ lrwxrwxrwx 1 ubuntu ubuntu 33 Aug 18 10:19 lcp_ramfw_ns -> ../components/rdv3r1/lcp_ramfw_ns __output__ lrwxrwxrwx 1 ubuntu ubuntu 26 Aug 18 10:19 lkvm -> ../components/kvmtool/lkvm __output__ lrwxrwxrwx 1 ubuntu ubuntu 34 Aug 18 10:19 mcp_ramfw.bin -> ../components/rdv3r1/mcp_ramfw.bin __output__ lrwxrwxrwx 1 ubuntu ubuntu 33 Aug 18 10:19 mcp_ramfw_ns -> ../components/rdv3r1/mcp_ramfw_ns __output__ lrwxrwxrwx 1 ubuntu ubuntu 28 Aug 18 10:19 rmm.img -> ../components/rdv3r1/rmm.img __output__ lrwxrwxrwx 1 ubuntu ubuntu 34 Aug 18 10:19 scp_ramfw.bin -> ../components/rdv3r1/scp_ramfw.bin __output__ lrwxrwxrwx 1 ubuntu ubuntu 33 Aug 18 10:19 scp_ramfw_ns -> ../components/rdv3r1/scp_ramfw_ns __output__ lrwxrwxrwx 1 ubuntu ubuntu 41 Aug 18 10:19 signed_lcp_ramfw.bin -> ../components/rdv3r1/signed_lcp_ramfw.bin __output__ lrwxrwxrwx 1 ubuntu ubuntu 41 Aug 18 10:19 signed_mcp_ramfw.bin -> ../components/rdv3r1/signed_mcp_ramfw.bin __output__ lrwxrwxrwx 1 ubuntu ubuntu 41 Aug 18 10:19 signed_scp_ramfw.bin -> ../components/rdv3r1/signed_scp_ramfw.bin __output__ lrwxrwxrwx 1 ubuntu ubuntu 31 Aug 18 10:19 tf-bl1.bin -> ../components/rdv3r1/tf-bl1.bin __output__ lrwxrwxrwx 1 ubuntu ubuntu 30 Aug 18 10:19 tf-bl1_ns -> ../components/rdv3r1/rom.bin __output__ lrwxrwxrwx 1 ubuntu ubuntu 50 Aug 18 10:19 tf_m_vm0_0.bin -> ../components/arm/rse/neoverse_rd/rdv3r1/vm0_0.bin ``` **Note** See the Learning Path [Develop and Validate Firmware Pre-Silicon on Arm Neoverse CSS V3](https://learn.arm.com/learning-paths/servers-and-cloud-computing/neoverse-rdv3-swstack/3_rdv3_sw_build/) for an introduction to setting up the RD-V3 development environment. ## Build the OpenBMC image 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 = "" ``` This confirms that the OpenBMC image was built successfully. **Note** The first build can take up to an hour depending on system performance because it downloads and compiles the full firmware stack. ## Workspace layout Your workspace separates the FVP, host build system, OpenBMC source, and patches for easier maintenance and troubleshooting. ``` __output__ ├── 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.