build

Armbian Linux Build Framework

What does this project do?

• Builds custom kernel, image or a distribution optimized for low-resource hardware,
• Include filesystem generation, low-level control software, kernel image and bootloader compilation,
• Provides a consistent user experience by keeping system standards across different platforms.

Getting started

Requirements for self hosted

• x86_64 / aarch64 machine
• at least 2GB of memory and ~35GB of disk space for VM, container or bare metal installation
• Armbian / Ubuntu Jammy 22.04.x for native building or any Docker capable Linux for containerised
• Windows 10/11 with WSL2 subsystem running Ubuntu Jammy 22.04.x
• Superuser rights (configured sudo or root access).
• Make sure your system is up-to-date! Outdated Docker binaries, for example, can cause trouble.

For stable branch use --branch=v25.02

apt-get -y install git
git clone --depth=1 --branch=main https://github.com/armbian/build
cd build
./compile.sh

• Interactive graphical interface.
• Prepares the workspace by installing the necessary dependencies and sources.
• It guides the entire process and creates a kernel package or a ready-to-use SD card image.

Build parameter examples

Show work-in-progress areas in interactive mode:

./compile.sh EXPERT="yes"

Build minimal CLI Armbian Jammy for Bananapi M5 with LTS kernel:

./compile.sh \
BOARD=bananapim5 \
BRANCH=current \
RELEASE=jammy \
BUILD_MINIMAL=yes \
BUILD_DESKTOP=no \
KERNEL_CONFIGURE=no

Build with GitHub actions: (advanced version)

name: "Build Armbian"
on:
  workflow_dispatch:
jobs:
  build-armbian:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: armbian/build@main
        with:
          armbian_token:     "${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}"  # GitHub token
          armbian_release:   "jammy"                        # userspace
          armbian_target:    "build"                        # build=image, kernel=kernel
          armbian_board:     "bananapim5"                   # build target

Generated image will be uploaded to your repository release. Note: GitHub upload file limit is 2Gb.

More information:

• Building Armbian (how to start)
• Build commands and switches (build options)
• User configuration (how to add packages, patches, and override sources config)
• System config (menu driven utility to setup OS and HW features)

Download prebuilt images releases

Point

• manually released standard supported builds (quarterly)

Rolling

• automatically released staging and standard supported builds (daily)
• automatically released community maintained builds (weekly)

Compared with industry standards

Expand

Check similarities, advantages and disadvantages compared with leading industry standard build software. Function | Armbian | Yocto | Buildroot | |:--|:--|:--|:--| | Target | general purpose | embedded | embedded / IOT | | U-boot and kernel | compiled from sources | compiled from sources | compiled from sources | | Board support maintenance   | complete | outside | outside | | Root file system | Debian or Ubuntu based| custom | custom | | Package manager | APT | any | none | | Configurability | limited | large | large | | Initramfs support | yes | yes | yes | | Getting started | quick | very slow | slow | | Cross compilation | yes | yes | yes |

Project structure

Expand

```text ├── cache Work / cache directory │   ├── aptcache Packages │   ├── ccache C/C++ compiler │   ├── docker Docker last pull │   ├── git-bare Minimal Git │   ├── git-bundles Full Git │   ├── initrd Ram disk │   ├── memoize Git status │   ├── patch Kernel drivers patch │   ├── pip Python │   ├── rootfs Compressed userspaces │   ├── sources Kernel, u-boot and other sources │   ├── tools Additional tools like ORAS │   └── utility ├── config Packages repository configurations │   ├── targets.conf Board build target configuration │   ├── boards Board configurations │   ├── bootenv Initial boot loaders environments per family │   ├── bootscripts Initial Boot loaders scripts per family │   ├── cli CLI packages configurations per distribution │   ├── desktop Desktop packages configurations per distribution │   ├── distributions Distributions settings │   ├── kernel Kernel build configurations per family │   ├── sources Kernel and u-boot sources locations and scripts │   ├── templates User configuration templates which populate userpatches │   └── torrents External compiler and rootfs cache torrents ├── extensions Extend build system with specific functionality ├── lib Main build framework libraries │   ├── functions │   │   ├── artifacts │   │   ├── bsp │   │   ├── cli │   │   ├── compilation │   │   ├── configuration │   │   ├── general │   │   ├── host │   │   ├── image │   │   ├── logging │   │   ├── main │   │   └── rootfs │   └── tools ├── output Build artifact │   └── deb Deb packages │   └── images Bootable images - RAW or compressed │   └── debug Patch and build logs │   └── config Kernel configuration export location │   └── patch Created patches location ├── packages Support scripts, binary blobs, packages │   ├── blobs Wallpapers, various configs, closed source bootloaders │   ├── bsp-cli Automatically added to armbian-bsp-cli package │   ├── bsp-desktop Automatically added to armbian-bsp-desktopo package │   ├── bsp Scripts and configs overlay for rootfs │   └── extras-buildpkgs Optional compilation and packaging engine ├── patch Collection of patches │   ├── atf ARM trusted firmware │   ├── kernel Linux kernel patches | |   └── family-branch Per kernel family and branch │   ├── misc Linux kernel packaging patches │   └── u-boot Universal boot loader patches | ├── u-boot-board For specific board |    └── u-boot-family For entire kernel family ├── tools Tools for dealing with kernel patches and configs └── userpatches User: configuration patching area ├── config-example.conf User: example user config file ├── customize-image.sh User: script will execute just before closing the image    ├── atf User: ARM trusted firmware    ├── kernel User: Linux kernel per kernel family    ├── misc User: various    └── u-boot User: universal boot loader patches ```

Contribution

Want to help?

We always need those volunteering positions:

• Code reviewer
• Build framework maintainer
• Test Automation Engineer

Just apply and follow!

Support

For commercial or prioritized assistance:

• Book an hour of professional consultation
• Consider becoming a project partner
• Contact us!

Free support:

Find free support via general project search engine, documentation, community forums or IRC/Discord. Remember that our awesome community members mainly provide this in a best-effort manner, so there are no guaranteed solutions.

Contact

• Forums for Participate in Armbian
• IRC: #armbian on Libera.chat / oftc.net
• Matrix: https://forum.armbian.com/topic/40413-enter-the-matrix/
• Discord: https://discord.gg/armbian
• Follow @armbian on 𝕏 (formerly known as Twitter), Mastodon or LinkedIn.
• Bugs: issues / JIRA
• Office hours: Wednesday, 12 midday, 18 afternoon, CET

Contributors

Thank you to all the people who already contributed to Armbian!

Also

• Current and past contributors, our families and friends.
• Support staff that keeps forums usable.
• Friends and individuals who support us with resources and their time.
• The Armbian Community helps with their ideas, reports and donations.

Armbian Partners

Armbian's partnership program helps to support Armbian and the Armbian community! Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with our Partners:

• Click here to visit our Partners page!
• How can I become a Partner?

Star History

License

This software is published under the GPL-2.0 License license.