libreCMC build HOWTO

This generic documentation is to help aid those who want to build libreCMC firmware images from source code. While this documentation is not an exhaustive source of information, it should help those who would like to build their own firmware images or would like to develop firmware based upon libreCMC.

While libreCMC does allow for building for other targets, not all of them have been tested to work with libreCMC and are not officially supported if they are not mentioned on the libreCMC wiki.

libreCMC is licensed under the GPLv2 and contains code from other free software projects. Some code may be licensed under other free software licenses and will be noted. All software is to be distributed under the terms of the GPLv2 or their respective free software licenses.

What do I need to get started?

GNU/Linux distro (Trisquel, *buntu, Fedora or others)
GNU GCC / GCC-C++
build-essential (Debian-based distro) or base-devel (Parabola)
flex
gawk
wget
unzip
ncurses-dev (ncurses5-devel, etc..)
libghc-zlib-dev
libssl-dev
patch
perl5
Python3 + jsmin module
subversion
git-core
8 - 10 GB of disk space
4 GB of RAM (8 GB or more is recommended)

Building libreCMC

1. Get the latest libreCMC source code:

git clone https://git.librecmc.org/git/librecmc/librecmc.git

If you want to build packages found in libreCMC's package feed, update and install the make files by running the following from $SRC_ROOT:

./scripts/feeds update && ./scripts/feeds install -a

This will pull the makefiles for the package feed and make them available for selection when configuring your build of libreCMC.

2. Configure libreCMC for your device.

make menuconfig

When configuring libreCMC for your device, it is imperative that the right target and profile are selected. Currently, we only officially support ath79 targets or devices listed on the supported hardware list. If you want other packages, please keep in mind that these devices don't have very much in terms of flash ROM and your selection of packages may not work properly. Generally, a good default configuration includes:

luci : Collections -> luci + luci -> protocols -> luci-proto-relayd
Networking : wpa-cli + wpa-supplicant + iw
Utilities : Editors -> Nano

3. Download the source packages needed to build libreCMC:

make download

4. Start the build :

make

The build process can be accelerated by running multiple concurrent job processes using the -j-option:

make -j <your number of CPU cores + 1>

If the build fails, type:

make V=s

if there are missing dependencies in your build environment, please install them and then run make again.

If the build exits without any errors, you should have a new image in:

$SRC_ROOT/bin/$BUILD_TARGET/librecmc-$BUILD_TARGET-generic-$TARGET_PROFILE-$VERSION-$FS_TYPE-factory.bin

Where $BUILD_TARGET = target (ex. ar71xx), $TARGET_PROFILE = device, $VERSION = device version (some don't any)