Contributing to CRUX-ARM

Introduction

Since CRUX-ARM is formed by a small team we are always open to new contributions, suggestions and/or ideas. But there are some steps you need to go through before we can accept your contributions:

• be familiar with CRUX and/or Linux and have some technical skills
• have a compatible attitude with the rest of the team

CRUX-ARM welcomes contributions from the community. Whether you're interested in providing support, managing bug reports, or contributing directly to development, there are many ways to get involved.

Ways to Contribute

• Community Support: Help other users via IRC or mailing lists.
• Bug Management: Track issues at any of the official repositories (release or ports)
  • Gitea CRUX-ARM (You need to signIn or register to check the repository)
  • GitHub CRUX-ARM
• Development: Contribute directly to CRUX-ARM releases.
• Donations: If you'd like to support us in any way, visit our donations page.

Joining the Community

Get involved in our #crux-arm IRC channel. Join us with web.libera.chat client or check our Mailing list.
Introduce yourself and let us know your interests.

Adding Support for a New Device

• Check existing support: Before starting, review our supported devices to ensure your device isn't already supported.
• Contact ss: Reach out to the CRUX-ARM team with detailed information about the device and your plans for support.
• Device Approval: We'll evaluate the device and, if appropriate, add it to our "Work In Progress" list.
• Development Requirements:
  • Kernel image and device tree file (.dtb) specific to the device (if applicable).
  • U-Boot bootloader (if applicable).
  • Detailed instructions for setting up the boot environment.
  • CRUX-ARM configuration files (.mk files) tailored to the device.
• Testing CRUX-ARM:
  • Download a generic CRUX-ARM release from our download page. This is the release without a device-specific suffix.
  • Prepare your boot media as required for the device.
    • Boot the generic release.
    • Confirm the generic release works as expected.
  • Read crux-rootfs README
  • Install needed dependencies
  • Get crux-rootfs repository
  • Create a devices/yourdevice.mk file based on the templates armhf.mk or arm64.mk files:
    • Adapt the needed variables to your device:
      • CRUX_ARM_ARCH: the default value provided in the selected template can be kept
      • CFLAGS: your device specific CFLAGS
      • COLLECTIONS: an overlay is needed to setup a mininal set of ports (ports, prt-get and pkgutils) for your device
      • RELEASE_TAR_FILE: the default value provided in the selected template can be kept
  • Start the bootstrap process:
    • RELEASE_VERSION=release_version DEVICE_OPTIMIZATION=yourdevice make bootstrap
  • The optimized rootfs for your device will be created under release/ directory