ACRN Installation via Tar Files

Project ACRN offers two ways to install ACRN on target systems, either via Debian packages or tar files. This document covers the tar file method. For information about the Debian method, see ACRN Installation via Debian Packages.

Tar files provide a way to package ACRN configurations for Linux target systems running non-Debian operating systems. You generate the tar files on your development computer, copy them to your target system, extract the tar files to the right places, and reboot the system with ACRN up and running.

This document shows examples of commands used to build and install the tar files. You might need to modify the commands for your environment.

Prerequisites

  • A development computer configured according to the Getting Started Guide (for example, it has an Ubuntu OS, ACRN dependencies, and ACRN hypervisor and kernel source code from the ACRN GitHub repository).

Build the Tar Files

  1. On your development computer, navigate to the acrn-hypervisor source code directory and build the ACRN hypervisor tar files. Replace <board.xml> and <scenario.xml> with the paths to your board configuration file and scenario configuration file.

    cd ~/acrn-work/acrn-hypervisor
    make -j $(nproc) BOARD=<board.xml> SCENARIO=<scenario.xml>
    make targz-pkg
    

    The build typically takes a few minutes. By default, the build results are found in the build directory.

  2. Navigate to the acrn-kernel source code directory and build the ACRN kernel tar files for the Service VM:

    cd ~/acrn-work/acrn-kernel
    cp kernel_config_service_vm .config
    make olddefconfig
    make -j $(nproc) targz-pkg
    

    The kernel build can take 15 minutes or less on a fast computer, but could take an hour or more depending on the performance of your development computer. By default, the build results are found in the current directory.

Install and Run ACRN

In the following steps, you will install the tar files, install the serial configuration tool, configure GRUB, and run ACRN on the target system.

  1. Copy all the necessary files generated on the development computer to the target system. The following steps show how to copy via USB disk; feel free to use a different method. Modify the file names in the following commands to match your files.

    1. Insert the USB disk into the development computer and run these commands:

      cd ~/acrn-work/acrn-kernel
      disk="/media/$USER/"$(ls /media/$USER)
      cp linux-5.10.90-acrn-service-vm-206626-g140f5035e1b1-x86.tar.gz "$disk"/
      cp ~/acrn-work/acpica-unix-20210105/generate/unix/bin/iasl "$disk"/
      cp ~/acrn-work/acrn-hypervisor/build/acrn-2.8-unstable.tar.gz "$disk"/
      sync && sudo umount "$disk"/
      
    2. Insert the USB disk you just used into the target system and run these commands to copy the files locally:

      disk="/media/$USER/"$(ls /media/$USER)
      cp "$disk"/linux-5.10.90-acrn-service-vm-206626-g140f5035e1b1-x86.tar.gz ~/acrn-work
      cp "$disk"/acrn-2.8-unstable.tar.gz ~/acrn-work
      sudo cp "$disk"/iasl /usr/sbin/
      sync && sudo umount "$disk"/
      
  2. Extract the Service VM files onto the target system:

    cd ~/acrn-work
    sudo tar -zxvf linux-5.10.90-acrn-service-vm-206626-g140f5035e1b1-x86.tar.gz -C / --keep-directory-symlink
    
  3. Extract the ACRN tools and images:

    sudo tar -zxvf acrn-2.8-unstable.tar.gz -C / --keep-directory-symlink
    
  4. Copy the ACRN bin file to the boot directory. Replace <board> and <scenario> to match your file.

    sudo mkdir -p /boot/acrn/
    sudo cp /usr/lib64/acrn/acrn.<board>.<scenario>.bin /boot/acrn
    
  5. Install the serial configuration tool in the target system as follows:

    sudo apt install setserial
    
  6. Find the root filesystem (rootfs) device name by using the lsblk command:

    ~$ lsblk
    NAME        MAJ:MIN RM   SIZE RO TYPE MOUNTPOINT
    loop0         7:0    0 255.6M  1 loop /snap/gnome-3-34-1804/36
    loop1         7:1    0  62.1M  1 loop /snap/gtk-common-themes/1506
    loop2         7:2    0   2.5M  1 loop /snap/gnome-calculator/884
    loop3         7:3    0 241.4M  1 loop /snap/gnome-3-38-2004/70
    loop4         7:4    0  61.8M  1 loop /snap/core20/1081
    loop5         7:5    0   956K  1 loop /snap/gnome-logs/100
    loop6         7:6    0   2.2M  1 loop /snap/gnome-system-monitor/148
    loop7         7:7    0   2.4M  1 loop /snap/gnome-calculator/748
    loop8         7:8    0  29.9M  1 loop /snap/snapd/8542
    loop9         7:9    0  32.3M  1 loop /snap/snapd/12704
    loop10        7:10   0  65.1M  1 loop /snap/gtk-common-themes/1515
    loop11        7:11   0   219M  1 loop /snap/gnome-3-34-1804/72
    loop12        7:12   0  55.4M  1 loop /snap/core18/2128
    loop13        7:13   0  55.5M  1 loop /snap/core18/2074
    loop14        7:14   0   2.5M  1 loop /snap/gnome-system-monitor/163
    loop15        7:15   0   704K  1 loop /snap/gnome-characters/726
    loop16        7:16   0   276K  1 loop /snap/gnome-characters/550
    loop17        7:17   0   548K  1 loop /snap/gnome-logs/106
    loop18        7:18   0 243.9M  1 loop /snap/gnome-3-38-2004/39
    nvme0n1     259:0    0 119.2G  0 disk
    ├─nvme0n1p1 259:1    0   512M  0 part /boot/efi
    └─nvme0n1p2 259:2    0 118.8G  0 part /
    

    As highlighted, you’re looking for the device name associated with the partition named /, in this case nvme0n1p2.

  7. Run the blkid command to get the UUID and PARTUUID for the rootfs device (replace the nvme0n1p2 name with the name shown for the rootfs on your system):

    sudo blkid /dev/nvme0n1p2
    

    In the output, look for the UUID and PARTUUID (example below). You will need them in the next step.

    /dev/nvme0n1p2: UUID="3cac5675-e329-4cal-b346-0a3e65f99016" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="03db7f45-8a6c-454b-adf7-30343d82c4f4"
    
  8. Add the ACRN Service VM to the GRUB boot menu:

    1. Edit the GRUB 40_custom file. The following command uses vi, but you can use any text editor.

      sudo vi /etc/grub.d/40_custom
      
    2. Add the following text at the end of the file. Replace UUID and PARTUUID with the output from the previous step. Replace <board> and <scenario> to match your bin file. Confirm the module2 file name matches the file in your boot directory.

      menuentry "ACRN Multiboot Ubuntu Service VM" --id ubuntu-service-vm {
        load_video
        insmod gzio
        insmod part_gpt
        insmod ext2
        search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set "UUID"
        echo 'loading ACRN...'
        multiboot2 /boot/acrn/acrn.<board>.<scenario>.bin  root=PARTUUID="PARTUUID"
        module2 /boot/vmlinuz-5.10.90-acrn-service-vm-206626-g140f5035e1b1 Linux_bzImage
      }
      

      Example:

      menuentry "ACRN Multiboot Ubuntu Service VM" --id ubuntu-service-vm {
        load_video
        insmod gzio
        insmod part_gpt
        insmod ext2
        search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set "3cac5675-e329-4cal-b346-0a3e65f99016"
        echo 'loading ACRN...'
        multiboot2 /boot/acrn/acrn.my_board.shared.bin  root=PARTUUID="03db7f45-8a6c-454b-adf7-30343d82c4f4"
        module2 /boot/vmlinuz-5.10.90-acrn-service-vm-206626-g140f5035e1b1 Linux_bzImage
      }
      
    3. Save and close the file.

  9. Make the GRUB menu visible when booting and make it load the Service VM kernel by default:

    1. Edit the grub file:

      sudo vi /etc/default/grub
      
    2. Edit lines with these settings (comment out the GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE line). Leave other lines as they are:

      GRUB_DEFAULT=ubuntu-service-vm
      #GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=hidden
      GRUB_TIMEOUT=5
      
    3. Save and close the file.

  10. Update GRUB and reboot the system:

    sudo update-grub
    reboot
    
  11. Confirm that you see the GRUB menu with the “ACRN Multiboot Ubuntu Service VM” entry. Select it and proceed to booting ACRN. (It may be autoselected, in which case it will boot with this option automatically in 5 seconds.)

                              GNU GRUB version 2.04
    ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
    Ubuntu
    Advanced options for Ubuntu
    UEFI Firmware Settings
    *ACRN Multiboot Ubuntu Service VM