Build VyOS

Prerequisites

There are different ways you can build VyOS.

Building using a Docker container, although not the only way, is the easiest way as all dependencies are managed for you. However, you can also set up your own build machine and run a Native Build.

Note

Starting with VyOS 1.2 the release model of VyOS has changed. VyOS is now free as in speech, but not as in beer. This means that while VyOS is still an open source project, the release ISOs are no longer free and can only be obtained via subscription, or by contributing to the community.

The source code remains public and an ISO can be built using the process outlined in this chapter.

The following includes the build process for VyOS 1.2 to the latest version.

This will guide you through the process of building a VyOS ISO using Docker. This process has been tested on clean installs of Debian Jessie, Stretch, and Buster.

Native Build

To build VyOS natively you require a properly configured build host with the following Debian versions installed:

  • Debian Jessie for VyOS 1.2 (crux)

  • Debian Buster for VyOS 1.3 (equuleus)

  • Debian Bookworm for VyOS 1.4 (sagitta)

  • Debian Bookworm for the upcoming VyOS 1.5/circinus/current (subject to change) - aka the rolling release

To start, clone the repository to your local machine:

# For VyOS 1.2 (crux)
$ git clone -b crux --single-branch https://github.com/vyos/vyos-build

# For VyOS 1.3 (equuleus)
$ git clone -b equuleus --single-branch https://github.com/vyos/vyos-build

# For VyOS 1.4 (sagitta)
$ git clone -b sagitta --single-branch https://github.com/vyos/vyos-build

# For VyOS 1.5 (circinus,current)
$ git clone -b current --single-branch https://github.com/vyos/vyos-build

$ cd vyos-build

# For VyOS 1.2 (crux) and VyOS 1.3 (equuleus)
$ ./configure --architecture amd64 --build-by "[email protected]"
$ sudo make iso

# For VyOS 1.4 (sagitta)
$ sudo make clean
$ sudo ./build-vyos-image iso --architecture amd64 --build-by "[email protected]"

# For VyOS 1.5 (circinus,current)
$ sudo make clean
$ sudo ./build-vyos-image generic --architecture amd64 --build-by "[email protected]"

For the packages required, you can refer to the docker/Dockerfile file in the repository. The ./build-vyos-image script will also warn you if any dependencies are missing.

This will guide you through the process of building a VyOS ISO using Docker. This process has been tested on clean installs of Debian Bullseye (11) and Bookworm (12).

Docker

Installing Docker and prerequisites:

Hint

Due to the updated version of Docker, the following examples may become invalid.

# Add Docker's official GPG key:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ca-certificates curl gnupg
sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/debian/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg
sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg

# Add the repository to Apt sources:
echo \
  "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg] https://download.docker.com/linux/debian \
  $(. /etc/os-release && echo "$VERSION_CODENAME") stable" | \
  sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin

To be able to use Docker without sudo, the current non-root user must be added to the docker group by calling: sudo usermod -aG docker yourusername.

Hint

Doing so grants privileges equivalent to the root user! It is recommended to remove the non-root user from the docker group after building the VyOS ISO. See also Docker as non-root.

Note

The build process needs to be built on a local file system, building on SMB or NFS shares will result in the container failing to build properly! VirtualBox Drive Share is also not an option as block device operations are not implemented and the drive is always mounted as “nodev”

Build Container

The container can be built by hand or by fetching the pre-built one from DockerHub. Using the pre-built containers from the VyOS DockerHub organisation will ensure that the container is always up-to-date. A rebuild is triggered once the container changes (please note this will take 2-3 hours after pushing to the vyos-build repository).

Dockerhub

To manually download the container from DockerHub, run:

$ docker pull vyos/vyos-build:crux     # For VyOS 1.2
$ docker pull vyos/vyos-build:equuleus # For VyOS 1.3
$ docker pull vyos/vyos-build:sagitta  # For VyOS 1.4
$ docker pull vyos/vyos-build:current  # For VyOS 1.5 rolling release
Build from source

The container can also be built directly from source:

# For VyOS 1.2 (crux)
$ git clone -b crux --single-branch https://github.com/vyos/vyos-build
# For VyOS 1.3 (equuleus)
$ git clone -b equuleus --single-branch https://github.com/vyos/vyos-build
# For VyOS 1.4 (sagitta)
$ git clone -b sagitta --single-branch https://github.com/vyos/vyos-build
# For VyOS 1.5 (circinus,current)
$ git clone -b current --single-branch https://github.com/vyos/vyos-build

$ cd vyos-build
$ docker build -t vyos/vyos-build:crux docker           # For VyOS 1.2
$ docker build -t vyos/vyos-build:equuleus docker       # For VyOS 1.3
$ docker build -t vyos/vyos-build:sagitta docker        # For VyOS 1.4
$ docker build -t vyos/vyos-build:current docker        # For VyOS 1.5 rolling release

Note

VyOS has switched to Debian (12) Bookworm in its current branch, Due to software version updates, it is recommended to use the official Docker Hub image to build VyOS ISO.

Tips and Tricks

You can create yourself some handy Bash aliases to always launch the latest - per release train (current or crux) - container. Add the following to your .bash_aliases file:

alias vybld='docker pull vyos/vyos-build:current && docker run --rm -it \
    -v "$(pwd)":/vyos \
    -v "$HOME/.gitconfig":/etc/gitconfig \
    -v "$HOME/.bash_aliases":/home/vyos_bld/.bash_aliases \
    -v "$HOME/.bashrc":/home/vyos_bld/.bashrc \
    -w /vyos --privileged --sysctl net.ipv6.conf.lo.disable_ipv6=0 \
    -e GOSU_UID=$(id -u) -e GOSU_GID=$(id -g) \
    vyos/vyos-build:current bash'

alias vybld_crux='docker pull vyos/vyos-build:crux && docker run --rm -it \
    -v "$(pwd)":/vyos \
    -v "$HOME/.gitconfig":/etc/gitconfig \
    -v "$HOME/.bash_aliases":/home/vyos_bld/.bash_aliases \
    -v "$HOME/.bashrc":/home/vyos_bld/.bashrc \
    -w /vyos --privileged --sysctl net.ipv6.conf.lo.disable_ipv6=0 \
    -e GOSU_UID=$(id -u) -e GOSU_GID=$(id -g) \
    vyos/vyos-build:crux bash'

Now you are prepared with two new aliases vybld and vybld_crux to spawn your development containers in your current working directory.

Note

Some VyOS packages (namely vyos-1x) come with build-time tests which verify some of the internal library calls that they work as expected. Those tests are carried out through the Python Unittest module. If you want to build the vyos-1x package (which is our main development package) you need to start your Docker container using the following argument: --sysctl net.ipv6.conf.lo.disable_ipv6=0, otherwise those tests will fail.

Build ISO

Now as you are aware of the prerequisites we can continue and build our own ISO from source. For this we have to fetch the latest source code from GitHub. Please note as this will differ for both current and crux.

# For VyOS 1.2 (crux)
$ git clone -b crux --single-branch https://github.com/vyos/vyos-build

# For VyOS 1.3 (equuleus)
$ git clone -b equuleus --single-branch https://github.com/vyos/vyos-build

# For VyOS 1.4 (sagitta)
$ git clone -b sagitta --single-branch https://github.com/vyos/vyos-build

# For VyOS 1.5 (circinus,current)
$ git clone -b current --single-branch https://github.com/vyos/vyos-build

Now a fresh build of the VyOS ISO can begin. Change directory to the vyos-build directory and run:

$ cd vyos-build
# For VyOS 1.2 (crux)
$ docker run --rm -it --privileged -v $(pwd):/vyos -w /vyos vyos/vyos-build:crux bash

# For VyOS 1.3 (equuleus)
$ docker run --rm -it --privileged -v $(pwd):/vyos -w /vyos vyos/vyos-build:equuleus bash

# For VyOS 1.4 (sagitta)
$ docker run --rm -it --privileged -v $(pwd):/vyos -w /vyos vyos/vyos-build:sagitta bash

# For VyOS 1.5 (current)
$ docker run --rm -it --privileged -v $(pwd):/vyos -w /vyos vyos/vyos-build:current bash
# For MacOS (crux, equuleus, sagitta)
$ git clone https://github.com/vyos/vyos-utils-misc
$ cd build-tools/macos-build

# For VyOS 1.2 (crux)
$ os=jessie64 branch=crux make build

# For VyOS 1.3 (equuleus)
$ os=buster64 branch=equuleus make build

# For VyOS 1.4 (sagitta)
$ os=buster64 branch=sagitta make build

Start the build:

# For VyOS 1.2 (crux) and VyOS 1.3 (equuleus)
vyos_bld@8153428c7e1f:/vyos$ ./configure --architecture amd64 --build-by "[email protected]"
vyos_bld@8153428c7e1f:/vyos$ sudo make iso

# For VyOS 1.4 (sagitta)
vyos_bld@8153428c7e1f:/vyos$ sudo make clean
vyos_bld@8153428c7e1f:/vyos$ sudo ./build-vyos-image iso --architecture amd64 --build-by "[email protected]"

# For VyOS 1.5 (circinus,current)
vyos_bld@8153428c7e1f:/vyos$ sudo make clean
vyos_bld@8153428c7e1f:/vyos$ sudo ./build-vyos-image generic --architecture amd64 --build-by "[email protected]"

When the build is successful, the resulting iso can be found inside the build directory as live-image-[architecture].hybrid.iso.

Good luck!

Hint

Building VyOS on Windows WSL2 with Docker integrated into WSL2 will work like a charm. No problems are known so far!

Customize

This ISO can be customized with the following list of configure options. The full and current list can be generated with ./build-vyos-image --help:

$ vyos_bld@8153428c7e1f:/vyos$ sudo ./build-vyos-image --help
  I: Checking if packages required for VyOS image build are installed
  usage: build-vyos-image [-h] [--architecture ARCHITECTURE]
  [--build-by BUILD_BY] [--debian-mirror DEBIAN_MIRROR]
  [--debian-security-mirror DEBIAN_SECURITY_MIRROR]
  [--pbuilder-debian-mirror PBUILDER_DEBIAN_MIRROR]
  [--vyos-mirror VYOS_MIRROR] [--build-type BUILD_TYPE]
  [--version VERSION] [--build-comment BUILD_COMMENT] [--debug] [--dry-run]
  [--custom-apt-entry CUSTOM_APT_ENTRY] [--custom-apt-key CUSTOM_APT_KEY]
  [--custom-package CUSTOM_PACKAGE]
      [build_flavor]

  positional arguments:
  build_flavor          Build flavor

  optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  --architecture ARCHITECTURE
                          Image target architecture (amd64 or arm64)
  --build-by BUILD_BY   Builder identifier (e.g. [email protected])
  --debian-mirror DEBIAN_MIRROR
                          Debian repository mirror
  --debian-security-mirror DEBIAN_SECURITY_MIRROR
                          Debian security updates mirror
  --pbuilder-debian-mirror PBUILDER_DEBIAN_MIRROR
                          Debian repository mirror for pbuilder env bootstrap
  --vyos-mirror VYOS_MIRROR
                          VyOS package mirror
  --build-type BUILD_TYPE
                          Build type, release or development
  --version VERSION     Version number (release builds only)
  --build-comment BUILD_COMMENT
                          Optional build comment
  --debug               Enable debug output
  --dry-run             Check build configuration and exit
  --custom-apt-entry CUSTOM_APT_ENTRY
                          Custom APT entry
  --custom-apt-key CUSTOM_APT_KEY
                          Custom APT key file
  --custom-package CUSTOM_PACKAGE
                          Custom package to install from repositories

ISO Build Issues

There are (rare) situations where building an ISO image is not possible at all due to a broken package feed in the background. APT is not very good at reporting the root cause of the issue. Your ISO build will likely fail with a more or less similar looking error message:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 vyos-1x : Depends: accel-ppp but it is not installable
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.
P: Begin unmounting filesystems...
P: Saving caches...
Reading package lists...
Building dependency tree...
Reading state information...
Del frr-pythontools 7.5-20210215-00-g8a5d3b7cd-0 [38.9 kB]
Del accel-ppp 1.12.0-95-g59f8e1b [475 kB]
Del frr 7.5-20210215-00-g8a5d3b7cd-0 [2671 kB]
Del frr-snmp 7.5-20210215-00-g8a5d3b7cd-0 [55.1 kB]
Del frr-rpki-rtrlib 7.5-20210215-00-g8a5d3b7cd-0 [37.3 kB]
make: *** [Makefile:30: iso] Error 1
(10:13) vyos_bld ece068908a5b:/vyos [current] #

To debug the build process and gain additional information of what could be the root cause, you need to use chroot to change into the build directory. This is explained in the following step by step procedure:

vyos_bld ece068908a5b:/vyos [current] # sudo chroot build/chroot /bin/bash

We now need to mount some required, volatile filesystems

(live)root@ece068908a5b:/# mount -t proc none /proc
(live)root@ece068908a5b:/# mount -t sysfs none /sys
(live)root@ece068908a5b:/# mount -t devtmpfs none /dev

We now are free to run any command we would like to use for debugging, e.g. re-installing the failed package after updating the repository.

(live)root@ece068908a5b:/# apt-get update; apt-get install vyos-1x
Get:1 file:/root/packages ./ InRelease
Ign:1 file:/root/packages ./ InRelease
Get:2 file:/root/packages ./ Release [1235 B]
Get:2 file:/root/packages ./ Release [1235 B]
Get:3 file:/root/packages ./ Release.gpg
Ign:3 file:/root/packages ./ Release.gpg
Hit:4 http://repo.powerdns.com/debian buster-rec-43 InRelease
Hit:5 http://repo.saltstack.com/py3/debian/10/amd64/archive/3002.2 buster InRelease
Hit:6 http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye InRelease
Hit:7 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster InRelease
Hit:8 http://deb.debian.org/debian-security buster/updates InRelease
Hit:9 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-updates InRelease
Hit:10 http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-backports InRelease
Hit:11 http://dev.packages.vyos.net/repositories/current current InRelease
Reading package lists... Done
N: Download is performed unsandboxed as root as file '/root/packages/./InRelease' couldn't be accessed by user '_apt'. - pkgAcquire::Run (13: Permission denied)
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
Some packages could not be installed. This may mean that you have
requested an impossible situation or if you are using the unstable
distribution that some required packages have not yet been created
or been moved out of Incoming.
The following information may help to resolve the situation:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 vyos-1x : Depends: accel-ppp but it is not installable
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

Now it’s time to fix the package mirror and rerun the last step until the package installation succeeds again!

Linux Kernel

The Linux kernel used by VyOS is heavily tied to the ISO build process. The file data/defaults.json hosts a JSON definition of the kernel version used kernel_version and the kernel_flavor of the kernel which represents the kernel’s LOCAL_VERSION. Both together form the kernel version variable in the system:

vyos@vyos:~$ uname -r
6.1.52-amd64-vyos
  • Accel-PPP

  • Intel NIC drivers

  • Intel QAT

Each of those modules holds a dependency on the kernel version and if you are lucky enough to receive an ISO build error which sounds like:

I: Create initramfs if it does not exist.
Extra argument '6.1.52-amd64-vyos'
Usage: update-initramfs {-c|-d|-u} [-k version] [-v] [-b directory]
Options:
 -k version     Specify kernel version or 'all'
 -c             Create a new initramfs
 -u             Update an existing initramfs
 -d             Remove an existing initramfs
 -b directory   Set alternate boot directory
 -v             Be verbose
See update-initramfs(8) for further details.
E: config/hooks/live/17-gen_initramfs.chroot failed (exit non-zero). You should check for errors.

The most obvious reasons could be:

  • vyos-build repo is outdated, please git pull to update to the latest release kernel version from us.

  • You have your own custom kernel *.deb packages in the packages folder but neglected to create all required out-of tree modules like Accel-PPP, Intel QAT or Intel NIC drivers

Building The Kernel

The kernel build is quite easy, most of the required steps can be found in the vyos-build/packages/linux-kernel/Jenkinsfile but we will walk you through it.

Clone the kernel source to vyos-build/packages/linux-kernel/:

$ cd vyos-build/packages/linux-kernel/
$ git clone https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git

Check out the required kernel version - see vyos-build/data/defaults.json file (example uses kernel 4.19.146):

$ cd vyos-build/packages/linux-kernel/linux
$ git checkout v4.19.146
Checking out files: 100% (61536/61536), done.
Note: checking out 'v4.19.146'.

You are in 'detached HEAD' state. You can look around, make experimental
changes and commit them, and you can discard any commits you make in this
state without impacting any branches by performing another checkout.

If you want to create a new branch to retain commits you create, you may
do so (now or later) by using -b with the checkout command again. Example:

  git checkout -b <new-branch-name>

HEAD is now at 015e94d0e37b Linux 4.19.146

Now we can use the helper script build-kernel.sh which does all the necessary voodoo by applying required patches from the vyos-build/packages/linux-kernel/patches folder, copying our kernel configuration x86_64_vyos_defconfig to the right location, and finally building the Debian packages.

Note

Building the kernel will take some time depending on the speed and quantity of your CPU/cores and disk speed. Expect 20 minutes (or even longer) on lower end hardware.

(18:59) vyos_bld 412374ca36b8:/vyos/vyos-build/packages/linux-kernel [current] # ./build-kernel.sh
I: Copy Kernel config (x86_64_vyos_defconfig) to Kernel Source
I: Apply Kernel patch: /vyos/vyos-build/packages/linux-kernel/patches/kernel/0001-VyOS-Add-linkstate-IP-device-attribute.patch
patching file Documentation/networking/ip-sysctl.txt
patching file include/linux/inetdevice.h
patching file include/linux/ipv6.h
patching file include/uapi/linux/ip.h
patching file include/uapi/linux/ipv6.h
patching file net/ipv4/devinet.c
Hunk #1 succeeded at 2319 (offset 1 line).
patching file net/ipv6/addrconf.c
patching file net/ipv6/route.c
I: Apply Kernel patch: /vyos/vyos-build/packages/linux-kernel/patches/kernel/0002-VyOS-add-inotify-support-for-stackable-filesystems-o.patch
patching file fs/notify/inotify/Kconfig
patching file fs/notify/inotify/inotify_user.c
patching file fs/overlayfs/super.c
Hunk #2 succeeded at 1713 (offset 9 lines).
Hunk #3 succeeded at 1739 (offset 9 lines).
Hunk #4 succeeded at 1762 (offset 9 lines).
patching file include/linux/inotify.h
I: Apply Kernel patch: /vyos/vyos-build/packages/linux-kernel/patches/kernel/0003-RFC-builddeb-add-linux-tools-package-with-perf.patch
patching file scripts/package/builddeb
I: make x86_64_vyos_defconfig
  HOSTCC  scripts/basic/fixdep
  HOSTCC  scripts/kconfig/conf.o
  YACC    scripts/kconfig/zconf.tab.c
  LEX     scripts/kconfig/zconf.lex.c
  HOSTCC  scripts/kconfig/zconf.tab.o
  HOSTLD  scripts/kconfig/conf
#
# configuration written to .config
#
I: Generate environment file containing Kernel variable
I: Build Debian Kernel package
  UPD     include/config/kernel.release
/bin/sh ./scripts/package/mkdebian
dpkg-buildpackage -r"fakeroot -u" -a$(cat debian/arch) -b -nc -uc
dpkg-buildpackage: info: source package linux-4.19.146-amd64-vyos
dpkg-buildpackage: info: source version 4.19.146-1
dpkg-buildpackage: info: source distribution buster
dpkg-buildpackage: info: source changed by vyos_bld <[email protected]>
dpkg-buildpackage: info: host architecture amd64
dpkg-buildpackage: warning: debian/rules is not executable; fixing that
 dpkg-source --before-build .
 debian/rules build
make KERNELRELEASE=4.19.146-amd64-vyos ARCH=x86         KBUILD_BUILD_VERSION=1 KBUILD_SRC=
  SYSTBL  arch/x86/include/generated/asm/syscalls_32.h

...

dpkg-shlibdeps: warning: binaries to analyze should already be installed in their package's directory
dpkg-shlibdeps: warning: binaries to analyze should already be installed in their package's directory
dpkg-shlibdeps: warning: binaries to analyze should already be installed in their package's directory
dpkg-shlibdeps: warning: binaries to analyze should already be installed in their package's directory
dpkg-shlibdeps: warning: binaries to analyze should already be installed in their package's directory
dpkg-shlibdeps: warning: binaries to analyze should already be installed in their package's directory
dpkg-shlibdeps: warning: binaries to analyze should already be installed in their package's directory
dpkg-shlibdeps: warning: binaries to analyze should already be installed in their package's directory
dpkg-shlibdeps: warning: binaries to analyze should already be installed in their package's directory
dpkg-shlibdeps: warning: binaries to analyze should already be installed in their package's directory
dpkg-shlibdeps: warning: binaries to analyze should already be installed in their package's directory
dpkg-shlibdeps: warning: binaries to analyze should already be installed in their package's directory
dpkg-shlibdeps: warning: package could avoid a useless dependency if /vyos/vyos-build/packages/linux-kernel/linux/debian/toolstmp/usr/bin/trace /vyos/vyos-build/packages/linux-kernel/linux/debian/toolstmp/usr/bin/perf were not linked against libcrypto.so.1.1 (they use none of the library's symbols)
dpkg-shlibdeps: warning: package could avoid a useless dependency if /vyos/vyos-build/packages/linux-kernel/linux/debian/toolstmp/usr/bin/trace /vyos/vyos-build/packages/linux-kernel/linux/debian/toolstmp/usr/bin/perf were not linked against libcrypt.so.1 (they use none of the library's symbols)
dpkg-deb: building package 'linux-tools-4.19.146-amd64-vyos' in '../linux-tools-4.19.146-amd64-vyos_4.19.146-1_amd64.deb'.
 dpkg-genbuildinfo --build=binary
 dpkg-genchanges --build=binary >../linux-4.19.146-amd64-vyos_4.19.146-1_amd64.changes
dpkg-genchanges: warning: package linux-image-4.19.146-amd64-vyos-dbg in control file but not in files list
dpkg-genchanges: info: binary-only upload (no source code included)
 dpkg-source --after-build .
dpkg-buildpackage: info: binary-only upload (no source included)

In the end you will be presented with the kernel binary packages which you can then use in your custom ISO build process, by placing all the *.deb files in the vyos-build/packages folder where they will be used automatically when building VyOS as documented above.

Firmware

If you upgrade your kernel or include new drivers you may need new firmware. Build a new vyos-linux-firmware package with the included helper scripts.

$ cd vyos-build/packages/linux-kernel
$ git clone https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git
$ ./build-linux-firmware.sh
$ cp vyos-linux-firmware_*.deb ../

This tries to automatically detect which blobs are needed based on which drivers were built. If it fails to find the correct files you can add them manually to vyos-build/packages/linux-kernel/build-linux-firmware.sh:

ADD_FW_FILES="iwlwifi* ath11k/QCA6390/*/*.bin"

Building Out-Of-Tree Modules

Building the kernel is one part, but now you also need to build the required out-of-tree modules so everything is lined up and the ABIs match. To do so, you can again take a look at vyos-build/packages/linux-kernel/Jenkinsfile to see all of the required modules and their selected versions. We will show you how to build all the current required modules.

Accel-PPP

First, clone the source code and check out the appropriate version by running:

$ cd vyos-build/packages/linux-kernel
$ git clone https://github.com/accel-ppp/accel-ppp.git

We again make use of a helper script and some patches to make the build work. Just run the following command:

$ ./build-accel-ppp.sh
I: Build Accel-PPP Debian package
CMake Deprecation Warning at CMakeLists.txt:3 (cmake_policy):
  The OLD behavior for policy CMP0003 will be removed from a future version
  of CMake.

  The cmake-policies(7) manual explains that the OLD behaviors of all
  policies are deprecated and that a policy should be set to OLD only under
  specific short-term circumstances.  Projects should be ported to the NEW
  behavior and not rely on setting a policy to OLD.

-- The C compiler identification is GNU 8.3.0

...

CPack: Create package using DEB
CPack: Install projects
CPack: - Run preinstall target for: accel-ppp
CPack: - Install project: accel-ppp
CPack: Create package
CPack: - package: /vyos/vyos-build/packages/linux-kernel/accel-ppp/build/accel-ppp.deb generated.

After compiling the packages you will find yourself the newly generated *.deb binaries in vyos-build/packages/linux-kernel from which you can copy them to the vyos-build/packages folder for inclusion during the ISO build.

Intel NIC

The Intel NIC drivers do not come from a Git repository, instead we just fetch the tarballs from our mirror and compile them.

Simply use our wrapper script to build all of the driver modules.

./build-intel-drivers.sh
  % Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current
                                 Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed
100  490k  100  490k    0     0   648k      0 --:--:-- --:--:-- --:--:--  648k
I: Compile Kernel module for Intel ixgbe driver

...

I: Building Debian package vyos-intel-iavf
Doing `require 'backports'` is deprecated and will not load any backport in the next major release.
Require just the needed backports instead, or 'backports/latest'.
Debian packaging tools generally labels all files in /etc as config files, as mandated by policy, so fpm defaults to this behavior for deb packages. You can disable this default behavior with --deb-no-default-config-files flag {:level=>:warn}
Created package {:path=>"vyos-intel-iavf_4.0.1-0_amd64.deb"}
I: Cleanup iavf source

After compiling the packages you will find yourself the newly generated *.deb binaries in vyos-build/packages/linux-kernel from which you can copy them to the vyos-build/packages folder for inclusion during the ISO build.

Intel QAT

The Intel QAT (Quick Assist Technology) drivers do not come from a Git repository, instead we just fetch the tarballs from 01.org, Intel’s open-source website.

Simply use our wrapper script to build all of the driver modules.

$ ./build-intel-qat.sh
  % Total    % Received % Xferd  Average Speed   Time    Time     Time  Current
                                 Dload  Upload   Total   Spent    Left  Speed
100 5065k  100 5065k    0     0  1157k      0  0:00:04  0:00:04 --:--:-- 1157k
I: Compile Kernel module for Intel qat driver
checking for a BSD-compatible install... /usr/bin/install -c
checking whether build environment is sane... yes
checking for a thread-safe mkdir -p... /bin/mkdir -p
checking for gawk... gawk
checking whether make sets $(MAKE)... yes

...

I: Building Debian package vyos-intel-qat
Doing `require 'backports'` is deprecated and will not load any backport in the next major release.
Require just the needed backports instead, or 'backports/latest'.
Debian packaging tools generally labels all files in /etc as config files, as mandated by policy, so fpm defaults to this behavior for deb packages. You can disable this default behavior with --deb-no-default-config-files flag {:level=>:warn}
Created package {:path=>"vyos-intel-qat_1.7.l.4.9.0-00008-0_amd64.deb"}
I: Cleanup qat source

After compiling the packages you will find yourself the newly generated *.deb binaries in vyos-build/packages/linux-kernel from which you can copy them to the vyos-build/packages folder for inclusion during the ISO build.

Mellanox OFED

The Mellanox OFED drivers do not come from a Git repository, instead we fetch the tarball from Nvidia and compile the sources its contains against our kernel tree.

Simply use our wrapper script to build all of the driver modules.

./build-mellanox-ofed.sh
...
Below is the list of OFED packages that you have chosen
(some may have been added by the installer due to package dependencies):

ofed-scripts
mlnx-tools
mlnx-ofed-kernel-utils
mlnx-ofed-kernel-modules
...
Building packages
Building DEB for ofed-scripts-24.04.OFED.24.04.0.6.6 (ofed-scripts)...
Running  /usr/bin/dpkg-buildpackage -us -uc
Installing ofed-scripts-24.04.OFED.24.04.0.6.6...
Running /usr/bin/dpkg -i --force-confmiss '/vyos/packages/linux-kernel/MLNX_OFED_SRC-debian-24.04-0.6.6.0/DEBS/debian12.1/x86_64/ofed-scripts_24.04.OFED.24.04.0.6.6-1_amd64.deb'
Building DEB for mlnx-tools-24.04.0 (mlnx-tools)...

After compiling the packages you will find yourself the newly generated *.deb binaries in vyos-build/packages/linux-kernel from which you can copy them to the vyos-build/packages folder for inclusion during the ISO build.

Packages

If you are brave enough to build yourself an ISO image containing any modified package from our GitHub organisation - this is the place to be.

Any “modified” package may refer to an altered version of e.g. vyos-1x package that you would like to test before filing a pull request on GitHub.

Building an ISO with any customized package is in no way different than building a regular (customized or not) ISO image. Simply place your modified *.deb package inside the packages folder within vyos-build. The build process will then pickup your custom package and integrate it into your ISO.

Troubleshooting

Debian APT is not very verbose when it comes to errors. If your ISO build breaks for whatever reason and you suspect it’s a problem with APT dependencies or installation you can add this small patch which increases the APT verbosity during ISO build.

diff --git i/scripts/live-build-config w/scripts/live-build-config
index 1b3b454..3696e4e 100755
--- i/scripts/live-build-config
+++ w/scripts/live-build-config
@@ -57,7 +57,8 @@ lb config noauto \
         --firmware-binary false \
         --updates true \
         --security true \
-        --apt-options "--yes -oAcquire::Check-Valid-Until=false" \
+        --apt-options "--yes -oAcquire::Check-Valid-Until=false -oDebug::BuildDeps=true -oDebug::pkgDepCache::AutoInstall=true \
+                             -oDebug::pkgDepCache::Marker=true -oDebug::pkgProblemResolver=true -oDebug::Acquire::gpgv=true" \
         --apt-indices false
         "${@}"
 """

Virtualization Platforms

QEMU

Run the following command after building the ISO image.

$ make qemu

VMware

Run the following command after building the QEMU image.

$ make vmware

Packages

VyOS itself comes with a bunch of packages that are specific to our system and thus cannot be found in any Debian mirror. Those packages can be found at the VyOS GitHub project in their source format can easily be compiled into a custom Debian (*.deb) package.

The easiest way to compile your package is with the above mentioned Docker container, it includes all required dependencies for all VyOS related packages.

Assume we want to build the vyos-1x package on our own and modify it to our needs. We first need to clone the repository from GitHub.

$ git clone https://github.com/vyos/vyos-1x

Build

Launch Docker container and build package

# For VyOS 1.3 (equuleus, current)
$ docker run --rm -it --privileged -v $(pwd):/vyos -w /vyos vyos/vyos-build:current bash

# Change to source directory
$ cd vyos-1x

# Build DEB
$ dpkg-buildpackage -uc -us -tc -b

After a minute or two you will find the generated DEB packages next to the vyos-1x source directory:

# ls -al ../vyos-1x*.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 vyos_bld vyos_bld 567420 Aug  3 12:01 ../vyos-1x_1.3dev0-1847-gb6dcb0a8_all.deb
-rw-r--r-- 1 vyos_bld vyos_bld   3808 Aug  3 12:01 ../vyos-1x-vmware_1.3dev0-1847-gb6dcb0a8_amd64.deb

Install

To take your newly created package on a test drive you can simply SCP it to a running VyOS instance and install the new *.deb package over the current running one.

Just install using the following commands:

vyos@vyos:~$ dpkg --install /tmp/vyos-1x_1.3dev0-1847-gb6dcb0a8_all.deb
(Reading database ... 58209 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to unpack .../vyos-1x_1.3dev0-1847-gb6dcb0a8_all.deb ...
Unpacking vyos-1x (1.3dev0-1847-gb6dcb0a8) over (1.3dev0-1847-gb6dcb0a8) ...
Setting up vyos-1x (1.3dev0-1847-gb6dcb0a8) ...
Processing triggers for rsyslog (8.1901.0-1) ...

You can also place the generated *.deb into your ISO build environment to include it in a custom iso, see Linux Kernel for more information.

Warning

Any packages in the packages directory will be added to the iso during build, replacing the upstream ones. Make sure you delete them (both the source directories and built deb packages) if you want to build an iso from purely upstream packages.