Keeping up to date by rebuilding your root file system and kernel from the latest source code is not the only option available to you. You can update your current software and add functionality using pre-built binary packages. Gumstix-oe uses the ipkg package management tool.

 

 

 

 

Updating your current software

You will need a network connection on your gumstix to utilize ipkg. To update all installed packages on your gumstix to the latest version:

$ ipkg update 
$ ipkg upgrade

The first command downloads a directory of all packages currently in the repository. The second command will scan the list of all currently installed packages, determine which have upgrades available, and then finally download and install those upgrades.

Installing additional software packages

Your gumstix ships from the factory with just a basic set of software pre-installed. The ipkg repository contains a large number of additional packages. To see a list of those packages:

$ ipkg update 
$ ipkg list

Be prepared for a long list! There are literally hundreds of packages in the repository with more being added regularly.

Installing a new package is quite simple. For example, to install the perl interpreter package:

$ ipkg install perl 

The package management system will automatically install any other packages that are required for proper functioning of your chosen package.

Building packages not contained in the repository

While the gumstix ipkg repositiry contains a large number of packages, OpenEmbedded itself has recipes for an even greater number of packages. You can see the available package recipes by browsing the org.openembedded.snapshot/packages directory in your build tree.

If you find that a package you need is not available as a pre-built binary in the repository, it is a simple matter to build it. For example, to build the strace package:

$ bitbake strace

After the build completes, the ipkg file for strace will be placed in tmp/deploy/glibc/ipk/armv5te directory (assuming you have selected glibc builds). To install the strace package you would transfer the strace ipgk file (in this case strace_4.5.14-r4_armv5te.ipk) to your gumstix using scp (or compact flash, mmc, microSD, USB drive, etc) and then then type:

$ ipkg install strace_4.5.14-r4_armv5te.ipk