Virtual Machine Setup

Practice work is designed to run on a QEMU based virtual machine. Kernel code is developed and built on the host machine and then deployed and run on the virtual machine.

In order to run and use the virtual machine the following packages are required on a Debian/Ubuntu system:

  • flex
  • bison
  • build-essential
  • gcc-multilib
  • libncurses5-dev
  • qemu-system-x86
  • qemu-system-arm
  • python3
  • minicom

The kvm package is not strictly required, but will make the virtual machine faster by using KVM support (with the -enable-kvm option to QEMU). If kvm is absent, the virtual machine will still run (albeit slower) using emulation.

The virtual machine setup uses prebuild Yocto images that it downloads and a kernel image that it builds itself. The following images are supported:

  • core-image-minimal-qemu
  • core-image-minimal-dev-qemu
  • core-image-sato-dev-qemu
  • core-image-sato-qemu
  • core-image-sato-sdk-qemu

By default, core-image-minimal-qemu it used. This setting can be changed by updating the YOCTO_IMAGE variable in tools/labs/qemu/Makefile.

Starting the Virtual Machine

You start the virtual machine in the tools/labs/ folder by running make boot:

.../linux/tools/labs$ make boot

The first run of the make boot command will compile the kernel image and it will take longer. Subsequent runs will only start the QEMU virtual machine, with verbose output provided:

.../linux/tools/labs$ make boot
mkdir /tmp/tmp.7rWv63E9Wf
sudo mount -t ext4 -o loop core-image-minimal-qemux86.ext4 /tmp/tmp.7rWv63E9Wf
sudo make -C /home/razvan/school/so2/linux.git modules_install INSTALL_MOD_PATH=/tmp/tmp.7rWv63E9Wf
make: Entering directory '/home/razvan/school/so2/linux.git'
  INSTALL crypto/crypto_engine.ko
  INSTALL drivers/crypto/virtio/virtio_crypto.ko
  INSTALL drivers/net/netconsole.ko
  DEPMOD  4.19.0+
make: Leaving directory '/home/razvan/school/so2/linux.git'
sudo umount /tmp/tmp.7rWv63E9Wf
rmdir /tmp/tmp.7rWv63E9Wf
sleep 1 && touch .modinst
qemu/create_net.sh tap0

dnsmasq: failed to create listening socket for 172.213.0.1: Address already in use
qemu/create_net.sh tap1

dnsmasq: failed to create listening socket for 127.0.0.1: Address already in use
/home/razvan/school/so2/linux.git/tools/labs/templates/assignments/6-e100/nttcp -v -i &
nttcp-l: nttcp, version 1.47
nttcp-l: running in inetd mode on port 5037 - ignoring options beside -v and -p
bind: Address already in use
nttcp-l: service-socket: bind:: Address already in use, errno=98
ARCH=x86 qemu/qemu.sh -kernel /home/razvan/school/so2/linux.git/arch/x86/boot/bzImage -device virtio-serial -chardev pty,id=virtiocon0 -device virtconsole,chardev=virtiocon0 -serial pipe:pipe1 -serial pipe:pipe2 -netdev tap,id=tap0,ifname=tap0,script=no,downscript=no -net nic,netdev=tap0,model=virtio -netdev tap,id=tap1,ifname=tap1,script=no,downscript=no -net nic,netdev=tap1,model=i82559er -drive file=core-image-minimal-qemux86.ext4,if=virtio,format=raw -drive file=disk1.img,if=virtio,format=raw -drive file=disk2.img,if=virtio,format=raw --append "root=/dev/vda loglevel=15 console=hvc0" --display none -s
qemu-system-i386: -chardev pty,id=virtiocon0: char device redirected to /dev/pts/68 (label virtiocon0)

Note

To show the QEMU console use

.../linux/tools/labs$ QEMU_DISPLAY=gtk make boot

       This will show the VGA output and will also give
       access to the standard keyboard.

Note

The virtual machine setup scripts and configuration files are located in tools/labs/qemu/.

Connecting to the Virtual Machine

Once the virtual machine is started you can connect to it on the serial port. A symbolic link named serial.pts is created to the emulated serial port device:

.../linux/tools/labs$ ls -l serial.pts
lrwxrwxrwx 1 razvan razvan 11 Apr  1 08:03 serial.pts -> /dev/pts/68

On the host you use the minicom command to connect to the virtual machine via the serial.pts link:

.../linux/tools/labs$ minicom -D serial.pts
[...]
Poky (Yocto Project Reference Distro) 2.3 qemux86 /dev/hvc0

qemux86 login: root
root@qemux86:~#

Note

When you connect to the virtual machine, simply enter root at the login prompt and you will get a root console, no password required.

Note

You exit minicom by pressing Ctrl+a and then x. You will get a confirmation prompt and then you will exit minicom.