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Install Linux Host Dependencies

Important

Go back to the main Getting Started Guide when you’re done here.

Documentation is available for these Linux distributions:

  • Ubuntu
  • Fedora
  • Clear Linux
  • Arch Linux

For distributions that are not based on rolling releases, some of the requirements and dependencies may not be met by your package manager. In that case please follow the additional instructions that are provided to find software from sources other than the package manager.

Update Your Operating System

Ensure your host system is up to date.

Ubuntu:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

Fedora:

sudo dnf upgrade

Clear Linux:

sudo swupd update

Arch Linux:

sudo pacman -Syu

Install Requirements and Dependencies

Note that both Ninja and Make are installed with these instructions; you only need one.

Ubuntu:

sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends git cmake ninja-build gperf \
  ccache dfu-util device-tree-compiler wget \
  python3-pip python3-setuptools python3-tk python3-wheel xz-utils file \
  make gcc gcc-multilib

Fedora:

sudo dnf group install "Development Tools" "C Development Tools and Libraries"
dnf install git cmake ninja-build gperf ccache dfu-util dtc wget \
  python3-pip python3-tkinter xz file glibc-devel.i686 libstdc++-devel.i686

Clear Linux:

sudo swupd bundle-add c-basic dev-utils dfu-util dtc \
  os-core-dev python-basic python3-basic python3-tcl

The Clear Linux focus is on native performance and security and not cross-compilation. For that reason it uniquely exports by default to the environment of all users a list of compiler and linker flags. Zephyr’s CMake build system will either warn or fail because of these. To clear the C/C++ flags among these and fix the Zephyr build, run the following command as root then log out and back in:

# echo 'unset CFLAGS CXXFLAGS' >> /etc/profile.d/unset_cflags.sh

Note this command unsets the C/C++ flags for all users on the system. Each Linux distribution has a unique, relatively complex and potentially evolving sequence of bash initialization files sourcing each other and Clear Linux is no exception. If you need a more flexible solution, start by looking at the logic in /usr/share/defaults/etc/profile.

Arch Linux:

sudo pacman -S git cmake ninja gperf ccache dfu-util dtc wget \
    python-pip python-setuptools python-wheel tk xz file make

CMake version 3.13.1 or higher is required. Check what version you have by using cmake --version. If you have an older version, there are several ways of obtaining a more recent one:

  • Use pip3 (see Python and pip for more details):

    pip3 install --user cmake

  • Download and install from the pre-built binaries provided by the CMake project itself in the CMake Downloads page. For example, to install version 3.13.1 in ~/bin/cmake:

    mkdir $HOME/bin/cmake && cd $HOME/bin/cmake
wget https://github.com/Kitware/CMake/releases/download/v3.13.1/cmake-3.13.1-Linux-x86_64.sh
yes | sh cmake-3.13.1-Linux-x86_64.sh | cat
echo "export PATH=$PWD/cmake-3.13.1-Linux-x86_64/bin:\$PATH" >> $HOME/.zephyrrc

  • Check your distribution’s beta or unstable release package library for an update.

  • On Ubuntu you can also use snap to get the latest version available:

    sudo snap install cmake

You might also want to uninstall the CMake provided by your package manager to avoid conflicts.

A recent DTC version (1.4.6 or higher) is required. Check what version you have by using dtc --version. If you have an older version, either install a more recent one by building from source, or use the one that is bundled in the Zephyr SDK by installing it and setting the ZEPHYR_SDK_INSTALL_DIR environment variable.

Install the Zephyr Software Development Kit (SDK)

Use of the Zephyr SDK is optional, but recommended. Some of the dependencies installed above are only needed for installing the SDK.

Zephyr’s SDK contains all necessary tools to build Zephyr on all supported architectures. Additionally, it includes host tools such as custom QEMU binaries and a host compiler. The SDK supports the following target architectures:

  • X86
  • X86 IAMCU ABI
  • Arm
  • ARC
  • Nios II
  • Xtensa
  • RISC-V

Follow these steps to install the Zephyr SDK:

  1. Download the latest SDK as a self-extracting installation binary:

    wget https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/sdk-ng/releases/download/v0.10.3/zephyr-sdk-0.10.3-setup.run

    (You can change 0.10.3 to another version if needed; the Zephyr Downloads page contains all available SDK releases.)

  2. Run the installation binary, installing the SDK at ~/zephyr-sdk-0.10.3:

    cd <sdk download directory>
chmod +x zephyr-sdk-0.10.3-setup.run
./zephyr-sdk-0.10.3-setup.run -- -d ~/zephyr-sdk-0.10.3

    You can pick another directory if you want. If this fails, make sure Zephyr’s dependencies were installed as described in Install Requirements and Dependencies.

  3. Set these environment variables:

    • set ZEPHYR_TOOLCHAIN_VARIANT to zephyr
    • set ZEPHYR_SDK_INSTALL_DIR to $HOME/zephyr-sdk-0.10.3 (or wherever you chose to install the SDK)

If you ever want to uninstall the SDK, just remove the directory where you installed it and unset these environment variables.

Building on Linux without the Zephyr SDK

The Zephyr SDK is provided for convenience and ease of use. It provides toolchains for all Zephyr target architectures, and does not require any extra flags when building applications or running tests. In addition to cross-compilers, the Zephyr SDK also provides prebuilt host tools. It is, however, possible to build without the SDK’s toolchain by using another toolchain as as described in the main Getting Started Guide document.

As already noted above, the SDK also includes prebuilt host tools. To use the SDK’s prebuilt host tools with a toolchain from another source, keep the ZEPHYR_SDK_INSTALL_DIR environment variable set to the Zephyr SDK installation directory. To build without the Zephyr SDK’s prebuilt host tools, the ZEPHYR_SDK_INSTALL_DIR environment variable must be unset before you run source zephyr-env.sh later on in the Getting Started Guide.

To make sure this variable is unset, run:

unset ZEPHYR_SDK_INSTALL_DIR