Skip to content

The automotive-image-builder tool

The automotive-image-builder tool uses OSBuild to build images based on objects called manifests, which are YAML files that you use to define your OS image.

Running automotive-image-builder from a container

The Automotive SIG maintains a container image that you can use to run automotive-image-builder in the automotive-osbuild Quay.io repo.

To quickly run automotive-image-builder from a container, run the following shell script within your local clone of the AutoSD sample-images repository:

$ sudo sample-images/auto-image-builder.sh build --target qemu --mode image \
--distro cs9 --arch x86_64 --export qcow2 images/minimal.mpp.yml cs9-qemu-minimal-image.x86_64.qcow2

If you already installed automotive-image-builder locally with its dependencies and you want to run it in a container, use the following command with the --container option:

$ ./automotive-image-builder --container build --mode package --target qemu \
--export qcow2 <path-to-my-manifest>.mpp.yml <my-image>.qcow2

Important

If you build multiple images, you must run make clean and dnf clean all between builds to clear build artifacts and reset the DNF cache.

For more information about the container, see the automotive-osbuild repository.

automotive-image-builder options

When you build an image with automotive-image-builder, you must specify some options in the build command:

$ ./automotive-image-builder build --mode <package-or-image> --target <target> \
--export <export-format> <path-to-manifest>.mpp.yml <my-image>.qcow2

Architecture

--arch
The hardware architecture to build for (x86_64 or aarch64). If unspecified, the native architecture is used.

Note

You can compose an image for any architecture, but you can only build one for the native architecture.

Distributions

--distro
Define the package repositories for the distribution you intend to use. The default is “cs9”. View available distributions with the automotive-image-builder list-dist command. Available distributions include:
  • autosd or autosd9
  • cs9
  • eln
  • f40

To extend the list-dist with custom distributions, add an ipp.yml in a directory called /some/dir/distro and pass --include /some/dir to the argument list.

Modes

--mode
Set the value to package or image. The default value is image.
  • Use package to build a package-based OS image, which is useful for development and testing.
  • Use image to build an OSTree image for use in production.

Targets

--target
The physical or virtual deployment target for your image. The default value is qemu. View the available targets with the ./automotive-image-builder list-targets command. Available targets include:
  • QEMU with aboot or grub
  • KVM
  • TI AM62, AM69, BeaglePlay, J784S4 EVM, and TDA4
  • AWS
  • Qualcomm QDrive3 and RideSX4
  • ccimx93
  • Windows PC
  • Renesas R-Car
  • Raspberry Pi 4
  • NXP S32G2-VNP-RDB3

Export formats

--export
The image file type that you want to build. View the available export formats with the ./automotive-image-builder list-exports command. Export formats available as of October 2024 include:
  • image: A raw disk image with partitions
  • qcow2: A qcow2 format disk image with partitions
  • ext4: An ext4 filesystem containing just the rootfs partition (i.e., no boot partitions)
  • aboot: An android boot system partition image and a boot partition
  • container: A container image you can run with podman or docker
  • tar: A tar file containing the basic rootfs files
  • ostree-commit: An ostree repo with the commit built from the image
  • ostree-oci-image: An oci image wrapping the ostree commit from ostree-commit
  • rpmlist: A json file listing all the RPMs used in the image

Next steps

For more information about using the automotive-image-builder tool with build options and manifests to provision your hardware, see the flashing guide specific to your target hardware:

© Red Hat