GNet Solutions » FreeBSD Administration

This is a guide on how I set up the crochet build tool to compile an image for the Raspberry Pi 2.

Prepare the Environment¶

• Make sure the system is up to date:
  

  pkg update && pkg upgrade
  

• Install a couple dependencies:
  

  pkg install subversion git u-boot-rpi2
  

• Checkout the FreeBSD 11-CURRENT kernel sources:
  

  svn co svn://svn0.us-west.freebsd.org/base/head /usr/src
  

Install Crochet¶

• Clone the latest crochet from GitHub:
  

  mkdir /usr/local/src && cd /usr/local/src
  git clone https://github.com/freebsd/crochet.git
  cd crochet
  

• Create config file from the sample config provided:
  

  cp config.sh.sample config.sh
  

• Edit the crochet config file:
  

  vi config.sh
  

  • And modify the script to use the Raspberry Pi 2, and any additional parameters:
    

    board_setup RaspberryPi2
    option ImageSize 1950mb
    option Growfs
    option User pi
    option SwapFile 1024mb
    

• Build the image:
  

  sh crochet.sh -c config.sh
  

Write the Image¶

• Write the FreeBSD image to a micro SD card:
  

  dd if=/usr/local/src/crochet/work/FreeBSD-armv6-11.0-RPI2-290209.img of=/dev/da0 bs=1m
  

• Now insert the micro SD card into the Raspberry Pi 2, plug in power, and log in using the user created during the image creation; username is pi, password is pi.

Post Install¶

• Since the Pi does not have an on board clock, ntp must be used to keep the time correct. Start and enable ntpd at boot:
  

  echo 'ntpd_enable="YES"' >> /etc/rc.conf
  service ntpd start
  

Resources¶

• https://github.com/freebsd/crochet
• https://github.com/freebsd/crochet/wiki/How-to-Build-a-Disk-Image