🛠 Images custom et flotte : construire son Yocto, déployer par OTA avec fioctl et Waves

Objectives

Move from "hacking my board" to "managing a fleet." The factory image is a Linux microPlatform (LMP) from Foundries.io, built with Yocto; the Arduino BSP layer is public (arduino/meta-partner-arduino), as are the kernel modules (portentax8-x8h7). The official workflow: a FoundriesFactory builds the OS + containers, fioctl drives updates, and OTA — guaranteed atomic by LMP's A/B structure — pushes both the OS and containers. In the managed version, Arduino Cloud for Business / Portenta X8 Manager adds provisioning via individual keys and fleet monitoring; the official waves-fleet-managment tutorial covers remote container deployment.

Hardware

• 1 × Arduino Portenta X8 (ideally 2: one for production, one for the bench)
• A robust Linux build machine (Yocto: expect many GBs of disk space and hours of compilation on the first build)
• GitHub account + a FoundriesFactory (free tier available to get started)
• fioctl CLI installed on the build machine (docs.foundries.io)
• adb access to the board to enroll it in the factory

Full Code

# --- Cote poste de build ---
# 1. Initialiser sa factory (guidé par la doc Foundries.io)
fioctl login

# 2. Récuperer la BSP Arduino : couche meta-partner-arduino
#    (github.com/arduino/meta-partner-arduino) + recipes LMP ;
#    tuto officiel : docs.arduino.cc/tutorials/portenta-x8/image-building
#    puis : bitbake lmp-factory-image

# 3. Pousser la branche de build vers la factory
git push
# -> la factory compile en cloud et héberge l'OTA

# --- Cote carte : suivre la mise a jour ---
adb shell
fio@portenta-x8:~$ sudo journalctl -fu ostree-remount   # ou update manager
fio@portenta-x8:~$ docker ps      # les conteneurs applicatifs suivent l'OTA

# --- Cote flotte ---
fioctl updates list               # état de rollout par appareil
fioctl devices list
# Gestion managée alternative : Arduino Cloud for Business /
# Portenta X8 Manager (provisioning keys + monitoring),
# ou le workflow « Waves » du tuto officiel waves-fleet-managment.

Expected Verification

After git push, the factory compiles the image; the enrolled board downloads the OTA and switches to the new OS without bricking: if boot fails, LMP's A/B mechanism reverts to the previous image. Application containers update independently, versioned like Docker images — this is exactly the deployment model exploited by the Waves tutorial for a fleet.

Common Errors

• Trying to apt install in the image: this is Yocto — anything touching the OS must be declared in recipes and recompiled; quick tests go through opkg (used by Arduino for its kernel modules) or via containers.
• Modifying the BSP without reading image-building: the meta-partner-arduino layer has compatibility with LMP kernel 6.1.24 — mixing recent LMP branches with this layer breaks the build.
• Losing factory keys: provisioning is based on individual keys (Portenta X8 Manager model) — a lost key = a device that must be physically re-enrolled.
• Testing OTA on the only board in production: A/B rollback protects the boot, not your data — keep a bench board and validate every rollout on it.
• Confusing the two OTA levels: the OS (ostree/LMP via factory) and containers (registries) update separately; a container pull failure does not affect the OS, and vice versa.
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