Build & Flash

This section will detail the steps involved in building and flashing rustBoot onto a specific board. More precisely, it will cover the following topics.

• Partitioning:
  • rustBoot offers 2 different partitioning schemes, depending on the target device
    • microcontroller-partitions
    • linux-system partitions
• Building:
  • a rustBoot build usually involves
    • compiling firmware i.e. boot and update firmware.
    • signing the compiled firmware. We have 2 different signing schemes, depending on the target device.
    • compiling rustBoot i.e. the bootloader
• Programming:
  • After building the required artefacts, the next step is to program the board's non-volatile storage memory.
  • Again, depending on the target device, we employ different loading/programming strategies.
    • mcu(s): typically, rustBoot will use the probe-run utility for programming (and debugging).
    • sbc(s): this will depending the on type of single-board computer. For example: the raspberry-pi uses a sd card for storage and booting.
• Verifying:
  • To verify that everything works as expected, rustBoot outputs boot-logs.
    • mcu(s): we use a combination of boot-logs and blinking-leds to verify that secure boot and update works as expected. For specifics, please refer to the usage page for the board.
    • sbc(s): rustBoot simply outputs logs to a UART-terminal. For specifics, please refer to usage page for the board.
  • Among other things, rustBoot logs will indicate image-authentication status.

Note: drivers for peripherals such as flash-memory, uart, gpio etc. are included for each board.