micro-rootfs - Generate a minimal Linux root file system

This project relies on buildroot to generate a minimal BusyBox based file system. The resulting rootfs, usually smaller than 1MB can then be loaded as an initramfs or standard rootfs file.

micro-rootfs is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This project has been inspired-by and derived-from the kgdbtest project:

• https://github.com/daniel-thompson/kgdbtest

Prebuilts

micro-rootfs prebuilts are available at http://people.linaro.org/~loic.poulain/micro-rootfs/.

Building

The root Makefile contains a simple buildroot-config convenience rule allowing to bootstrap buildroot configuration.

ARCH=arm make buildroot-config
ARCH=arm64 make buildroot-config
ARCH=x86 make buildroot-config

Once buildroot-config has been run it is possible to run all buildroot rules directly from the build directory:

make -C buildroot/arm

Then you will find generated rootfs in buildroot/arm/images.

Customization

There is an existing default buildroot config file for each architecture. You can, however, edit it to add tools/functionalities.

make -C buildroot/arm menuconfig

Moreover, the project comes with a default buildroot overlay (buildroot/overlay) which can be used to customize the root file system (add/overwrite files).