/toolchain

Set of Docker images for cross-compiling binaries targeting the reMarkable tablet.

MIT LicenseMIT

Toltec Build Toolchain

This is a set of Docker images used for cross-compiling binaries for the the reMarkable tablet. They are primarily aimed at providing reproducible build environments for Toltec packages. They can also be useful for any project that needs to be built for the reMarkable.

Note: reMarkable also used to provide an official OpenEmbedded-Core-based toolchain on its https://remarkable.engineering website. However, the company seems to have phased out the website as of January 2021, so its status is currently unknown.

Paths

Name Location Contents
Build system root / Minimal Debian install with usual build tools, the CMake and Meson build systems, and the opkg package manager for installing packages in the host system root.
Cross-compiler root /opt/x-tools/arm-remarkable-linux-gnueabihf/bin GCC cross-compiler and assorted tools which target the ARMv7 architecture. This directory is in $PATH by default.
Host system root $SYSROOT This is where binaries targeting the reMarkable are installed. By default, it only contains a minimal set of libraries and executables (glibc and Linux headers).
Local Opkg repository /repo Packages stored in this directory can be installed to the host system root using the opkg command.

Images

Name Contents
toolchain Only the tools mentioned above.
base Adds to the host system root a set of libraries similar to those that come pre-installed on the reMarkable: libcap, util-linux, libsystemd, zlib, libpng, libevdev, OpenSSL, libcurl, and libbreakpad.
qt Adds Qt to the host system root, including the closed-source libqsgepaper plugin. Includes the qmake build tool in the build system root.
rust Adds Nightly Rust configured to use the ARMv7 cross-compiler to the build system root.
python Adds a Python 3.7.3 distribution to the build system root.
golang Adds a Go distribution to the build system root.
dotnet6 Adds dotnet6 to the build system root.

Version Matrix

The toolchain images aim to follow the library versions available on the stock reMarkable system. The major version number of the toolchain is increased each time an official reMarkable update changes the available libraries. The table below lists the version number of each library for each major toolchain release.

Deprecation notice: Images of the v1.x and v2.x series are kept for compatibility but will not be maintained further.

↓ Library \ Toolchain → 1.x 2.x 3.x
Compatible reMarkable updates ⩽ 2.5.0.26 ⩾ 2.6.1.71 ⩾ 2.9.0.153
toolchain Image
Linux headers 4.9 4.14 5.4.70
glibc 2.27 2.31 2.31
base Image
libcap 2.25 2.32 2.32
util-linux 2.32 2.36.1 2.36.1
libsystemd 237 244 244
zlib 1.2.11
libpng 1.6.34 1.6.37 1.6.37
libevdev 1.5.8 1.9.1 1.9.1
OpenSSL 1.1.1g 1.1.1g
libcurl 7.69.1 7.69.1
libbreakpad 0.1 (db1cda2653) 0.1 (db1cda2653)
qt Image
Qt 5.11.3 5.15.1 5.15.1 (reMarkable qtbase)

Installing Opkg Packages

Opkg is installed on every toolchain image and is configured to install packages in offline mode, i.e., without executing any maintainer script. By default, it is configured to install packages from Entware and from the local repository stored in /repo. Opkg stores its cache in /var/cache/opkg.

Changelog

See the changelog →