NixOS and Nix packages for Xilinx Zynq 7000 SoCs and Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoCs. It's like PetaLinux, but instead of Yocto/OpenEmbedded/BitBake, it uses NixOS/Nixpkgs/Nix. Currently it targets Vivado 2022.2 and Nixpkgs unstable.
This project isn't considered stable yet. Options may change anytime without noticing. Pin your inputs!
Device-tree and FSBL BSP generation from XSA is highly coupled with Vitis HSI, and I haven't figured out a trivial way to generate them with Nix. Currently you have to build FSBL and device-tree with Vitis. I wrote a simple Vitis XSCT script vitisgenfw.tcl to make that process a bit easier.
This project targets 2022.2 only because I use that version in a project. More versions are planned but I don't expect I'll be able to test them on a real board any time soon.
After finishing your hardware design in Vivado, choose File > Export > Export Hardware... Save the XSA file. Run vitisgenfw.tcl to generate the bitstream, FSBL, PMUFW, and device-tree.
git clone https://github.com/Xilinx/device-tree-xlnx ~/.cache/device-tree-xlnx -b xilinx_v2022.2 --depth 1
source /installation/path/to/Vitis/2022.2/settings64.sh
xsct ./vitisgenfw.tcl vivado_exported.xsa ./output/directory/ -platform zynqmp # Or "zynq" for Zynq 7000Assuming you have Nix flakes enabled, configure NixOS as follows:
{
inputs.nixos-xlnx.url = "github:chuangzhu/nixpkgs";
inputs.nixpkgs.url = "github:NixOS/nixpkgs/nixos-unstable";
outputs = { self, nixpkgs, nixos-xlnx }: {
nixosConfigurations.zynqmpboard = nixpkgs.lib.nixosSystem {
modules = [
nixos-xlnx.nixosModules.sd-image
({ pkgs, lib, config, ... }: {
nixpkgs.hostPlatform = "aarch64-linux"; # Or "armv7l-linux" for Zynq 7000
# nixpkgs.buildPlatform = "x86_64-linux";
hardware.zynq = {
platform = "zynqmp"; # Or "zynq" for Zynq 7000
bitstream = ./output/directory/system.bit;
fsbl = ./output/directory/fsbl_a53.elf;
pmufw = ./output/directory/pmufw.elf; # Remove for Zynq 7000
dtb = ./output/directory/system.dtb;
};
hardware.deviceTree.overlays = [
{ name = "system-user"; dtsFile = ./system-user.dts; }
];
users.users.root.initialPassword = "INSECURE CHANGE ME LATER";
services.openssh = {
enable = true;
settings.PermitRootLogin = "yes";
};
# If zfs-kernel fails to build, add this line to exclude ZFS support
boot.supportedFilesystems = lib.mkForce [ "btrfs" "reiserfs" "vfat" "f2fs" "xfs" "ntfs" "cifs" ];
# ... Other NixOS configurations
})
];
};
};
}Vivado only knows your PL/PS configuration inside the SoC. Therefore, the device-tree generated by Vitis may not suit your board configuration. If you used PetaLinux before, you know that frequently you need to override properties, add/delete nodes in DTSIs in a special directory. In NixOS, we use device-tree overlays for that. Note that overlay DTSs are slightly different with a regular DTS:
/dts-v1/;
/plugin/; // Required
/ { compatible = "xlnx,zynqmp"; }; // Required, or "xlnx,zynq-7000"
// ... Your overridesnix build .#nixosConfigurations.zynqmpboard.config.system.build.sdImage -vL
zstdcat ./result/nixos-sd-image-24.05.20231222.6df37dc-aarch64-linux.img.zst | sudo dd of=/dev/mmcblk0 status=progressWhen you make changes to your configuration, you don't have to rebuild and reflash the SD card image. The rootfs (including kernel, device-tree) can be updated using:
out=$(nix build --no-link --print-out-paths -vL .#nixosConfigurations.zynqmpboard.config.system.build.toplevel)
nix copy --no-check-sigs --to "ssh://root@zynqmpboard.local" "$out"
ssh root@zynqmpboard.local nix-env -p /nix/var/nix/profiles/system --set $out
ssh root@zynqmpboard.local /nix/var/nix/profiles/system/bin/switch-to-configuration switchAfter that, you can update BOOT.BIN using
ssh root@zynqmpboard.local xlnx-firmware-update- For ZynqMP, Nixpkgs provides tons of prebuilt packages for aarch64-linux native/emulated builds, so you only need to build a small amount of packages.
- For aarch64-linux, native/emulated builds have a higher support Tier in Nixpkgs than cross builds.
- Even if you don't have an AArch64 builder, the build time for emulated builds is still acceptable given the small amount of packages you need to build.
- For Zynq 7000, Nixpkgs doesn't provide a binary cache for armv7l-linux.
- For native/emulated builds, you'll need to bootstrap from stage 0. For emulated builds, this is really time consuming.
- For armv7l-linux, cross builds and native/emulated have the same level of support Tier. But from my experience, native/emulated builds are more problematic due to limited userbase.
In short, I recommend native/emulated builds for ZynqMP, and cross builds for Zynq 7000.
- For NixOS, add this to the builder's configuration.nix:
boot.binfmt.emulatedSystems = [ "aarch64-linux" "armv7l-linux" ];
- For other systemd-based Linux distros, you need to install
qemu-user-static(something like that), edit/etc/binfmt.d/arm.confas follows:Restart:aarch64-linux:M::\x7fELF\x02\x01\x01\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x02\x00\xb7\x00:\xff\xff\xff\xff\xff\xff\xff\x00\xff\xff\xff\xff\xff\xff\x00\xff\xfe\xff\xff\xff:/usr/bin/qemu-aarch64-static:PF :armv7l-linux:M::\x7fELF\x01\x01\x01\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x02\x00\x28\x00:\xff\xff\xff\xff\xff\xff\xff\x00\xff\xff\xff\xff\xff\xff\x00\xff\xfe\xff\xff\xff:/usr/bin/qemu-armhf-static:PFsystemd-binfmt.service. Addextra-platforms = aarch64-linux armv7l-linuxto your/etc/nix/nix.conf. Restartnix-daemon.service.
Set nixpkgs.buildPlatform in the target's configuration to your builder's platform, for example:
nixpkgs.buildPlatform = "x86_64-linux";Many AArch64 CPUs also supports AArch32, which provides backward compatibility with ARMv7. Such "aarch64-linux" systems can be used to build armv7l-linux natively.
- Check whether your
lscpusaysCPU op-mode(s): 32-bit, 64-bit. - Add
extra-platforms = armv7l-linuxto your/etc/nix/nix.conf. Restartnix-daemon.service.
The Mali GPU built in ZynqMP isn't supported by Mesa yet. You have to use the closed source Mali OpenGL ES drivers:
hardware.opengl.extraPackages = [ pkgs.libmali-xlnx.x11 ]; # Possible choices: wayland, x11, fbdev, headless
boot.extraModulePackages = [ config.boot.kernelPackages.mali-module-xlnx ];
boot.blacklistedKernelModules = [ "lima" ];
boot.kernelModules = [ "mali" ];For some reason the Xorg modesetting driver doesn't work on ZynqMP DisplayPort subsystem. You have to use either armsoc or fbdev:
services.xserver.videoDrivers = lib.mkForce [ "armsoc" "fbdev" ];I haven't successfully launched a normal display manager on ZynqMP yet. If you also have issues with display managers, this is a working configuration:
services.xserver.enable = true;
services.xserver.videoDrivers = lib.mkForce [ "armsoc" ];
services.xserver.displayManager.sx.enable = true;
services.xserver.windowManager.i3.enable = true;
systemd.services.i3 = {
wantedBy = [ "graphical.target" ];
script = ''
. /etc/profile
chvt 7
exec sx i3 -c /etc/i3/config
'';
unitConfig.StartLimitIntervalSec = 0;
serviceConfig = {
User = "root";
Group = "root";
PAMName = "login";
WorkingDirectory = "~";
Restart = "always";
TTYPath = "/dev/tty7";
TTYReset = "yes";
TTYVHangup = "yes";
TTYVTDisallocate = "yes";
StandardInput = "tty-force";
StandardOutput = "journal";
StandardError = "journal";
};
};Zynq, ZynqMP, Zynq UltraScale+ MPSoC, Vivado, Vitis, PetaLinux are trademarks of Xilinx, Inc. This project is not endorsed by nor affiliated with Xilinx, Inc.
MIT license only applies to the files in this repository, not to the packages built with it. Licenses for patches in this repository are otherwise specified.