To build a BlueField boot stream (BFB), run:

For production cards:

IMAGE_TYPE=prod ./bfb-build <distro> <version>

or for engineering samples (ES)

IMAGE_TYPE=dev ./bfb-build <distro> <version>

The BFB is created under /tmp/<distro>/<version>.<pid> directory.

1. Contents

Common files are located under <distro>/<version>:

bfb-build
create_bfb
Dockerfile
install.sh

Dockerfile

Contains commands to build a container that will represent the target OS that runs on BlueField using the following steps:

Container is created from the base target OS image for ARM64.
The tools required to be installed on the target OS are added.
Add repository with DOCA packages that includes kernel for BlueField, MLNX_OFED drivers, and other DOCA packages.
Install doca-runtime, doca-tools and doca-sdk meta-packages that bring and install all the packages from the DOCA repository.

install.sh

This script is run on the BlueField during bfb-install (cat <BFB> > /dev/rshim0/boot). It creates and formats partitions on eMMC device and extracts OS tarball.

create_bfb

This script is run on the Docker container to turn its file system into the target BFB.

First, it creates initramfs that are loaded on BlueField during bfb-install (cat <BFB> > /dev/rshim0/boot) and adds all the tools necessary to access eMMC device on BlueField, creates and formats partitions and extracts the target OS file system. A tarball file that includes the containers file system and the install.sh script are also packed into the initramfs. Then it runs the mlx-mkbfb command to create the BFB file.

The BFB file name is based on the content of /etc/mlnx-release file which is included in bf-release package.

bfb-build

Runs docker commands to build target OS container and run it to create the BFB.

2. Customizations for Target OS Image

2.1 User Space Packages and Services

Changes in user space package selection can be done in Dockerfile.

To decrease the BFB size and target OS footprint, consider removing the "doca-sdk" package that brings the development environment required to build DOCA related software.

To install a smaller subset of the DOCA packages, use the direct list of the required packages instead of doca-runtime, doca-sdk, and doca-tools.

The online repository with DOCA packages is available under https://linux.mellanox.com/public/repo/doca/latest.

2.2 Kernel changes

To install a customized kernel on the BlueField OS, it is required to rebuild MLNX_OFED driver packages and other BlueField SoC drivers.

The relevant source packages are available under https://linux.mellanox.com/public/repo/bluefield/latest/extras/.

Example for RPM based Distros: The following steps can be added to the Dockerfile based on the real kernel and MLNX_OFED versions.

After installing the customized kernel and kernel-devel packages, download and build MLNX_OFED drivers:

wget https://linux.mellanox.com/public/repo/bluefield/3.9.0/extras/mlnx_ofed/5.6-1.0.3.3/MLNX_OFED_SRC-5.6-1.0.3.3.tgz
tar xzf MLNX_OFED_SRC-5.6-1.0.3.3.tgz
cd MLNX_OFED_SRC-5.6-1.0.3.3
./install.pl -k <kernel version> --kernel-sources /lib/modules/<kernel version>/build \
	--kernel-extra-args '--with-sf-cfg-drv --without-xdp --without-odp' \
	--kernel-only --build-only
cd ..

Binary RPMS can be found under MLNX_OFED_SRC-5.6-1.0.3.3/RPMS directory.

find MLNX_OFED_SRC-5.6-1.0.3.3/RPMS -name '*rpm' -a ! -name '*debuginfo*rpm' -exec rpm -ihv '{}' \;

Build and install BlueField SoC drivers:

cd /tmp && wget -r -np -nH --cut-dirs=3 -R "index.html*" https://linux.mellanox.com/public/repo/bluefield/3.9.0/extras/SRPMS/
mkdir -p /tmp/3.9.0/extras/{SPECS,RPMS,SOURCES,BUILD}
for p in 3.9.0/extras/SRPMS/*.src.rpm; do rpmbuild --rebuild -D "debug_package %{nil}" -D "KVERSION <kernel version>" --define "_topdir /tmp/3.9.0/extras" $p;done
rpm -ivh --force /tmp/3.9.0/extras/RPMS/aarch64/*.rpm

After installing MLNX_OFED drivers and BlueField SoC drivers, install DOCA user space packages individually:

DOCA runtime packages:

yum install -y doca-runtime-user

DOCA SDK packages:

yum install -y doca-sdk-user

DOCA tools packages:

yum install -y doca-tools

Update the kernel version parameter for the create_bfb command at the end of the Dockerfile.

To change the resulted BFB name and version edit /etc/mlnx-release file after bf-release RPM installation.

dannf/bfb-build