NixOS on RISCV/VisionFive 2: Difference between revisions

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== Status ==
== Status ==
The Visionfive 2 developers have pushed their Linux kernel patches quite early to the upstream mainline kernel and have gotten almost all merged already.
See  https://rvspace.org/en/project/JH7110_Upstream_Plan for an overview of which features are already supported by the latest mainline kernel used by NixOS.  


'''See  https://rvspace.org/en/project/JH7110_Upstream_Plan for an overview of what device is supported in which Linux kernel version.'''
Please note that HDMI display patches haven't been merged yet.  


NixOS (more precisely nixpkgs) already has the generic '''Linux kernel 6.9 available, which supports almost everything you need out of the box''' (for a server as HDMI display patches haven't been merged into 6.9). This means NixOS should be able to run without a custom kernel.
There's also a port of the UEFI reference implementation EDK2 available at https://github.com/starfive-tech/edk2 to support a future generic RISCV Linux image that can be booted from any RISCV device.


= Building a SD-card image =
= Setup =
Precompiled SD-card images can be found [https://hydra.nichi.co/job/nixos/riscv/visionfive2 on the Hydra instance] my NickCao. Before flashing the image, use <code>unzstd</code> to unpack the downloaded archive.


=== Manually build a SD-card image ===
This example assumes you have the latest revision of the board (v1.3) with 8GB memory. For other configurations please consult the [https://github.com/NixOS/nixos-hardware/blob/master/starfive/visionfive/v2/README.md nixos-hardware documentation on this board]. First create this [[Flake]] file
This example assumes you have the latest revision of the board (v1.3) with 8GB memory. For other configurations please consult the [https://github.com/NixOS/nixos-hardware/blob/master/starfive/visionfive/v2/README.md nixos-hardware documentation on this board]. First create this [[Flake]] file


{{file|flake.nix|nix|<nowiki>
{{file|flake.nix|nix|<nowiki>
{
{
   inputs.nixpkgs.url = "github:nixos/nixpkgs/nixos-23.11";
   inputs.nixpkgs.url = "github:nixos/nixpkgs/nixos-24.05";
   inputs.nixos-hardware.url = "github:nixos/nixos-hardware";
   inputs.nixos-hardware.url = "github:nixos/nixos-hardware";


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               };
               };


               system.stateVersion = "23.11";
               system.stateVersion = "24.05";
             };
             };
           inherit system;
           inherit system;
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</syntaxhighlight>
</syntaxhighlight>


After successfull build, flash the resulting file in the directory <code>results/sd-image</code> to the target device, in this example the SD-card (<code>/dev/mmcblk*</code>). Note that everything on the target device gets erased.
=== Flashing the SD-card image ===
After successfull build or unpack, flash the resulting file (build file is in the directory <code>results/sd-image</code>) to the target device, in this example the SD-card (<code>/dev/mmcblk*</code>). Note that everything on the target device gets erased.


<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
<syntaxhighlight lang="bash">
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See official documentation https://doc-en.rvspace.org/VisionFive2/Quick_Start_Guide/VisionFive2_SDK_QSG/boot_mode_settings.html .
See official documentation https://doc-en.rvspace.org/VisionFive2/Quick_Start_Guide/VisionFive2_SDK_QSG/boot_mode_settings.html .


TODO: boot from SDIO or QSPI mode for SD card?
First enable booting from SD-card by setting jumper 1 and 2 to "FLASH/QSPI mode" (both QSPI and SDIO mode support booting from an SD card):


First enable booting from SD-card by enabling jumper 1 and 2
[[File:Visionfive_2_jumper_config_sdcard_boot.jpg|border|frameless|803x803px]]


[[File:Visionfive_2_jumper_config_sdcard_boot.jpg|border|frameless|803x803px]]


For UART access, wire GND (black), RX (blue) and TX (purple) to your adapter
For UART access, wire GND (black), RX (blue) and TX (purple) to your adapter
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nixos-generate-config
nixos-generate-config
</syntaxhighlight>
</syntaxhighlight>
== Tips and tricks ==
=== Using the Visionfive 2 as a remote builder to build native RISCV packages for e.g. the Visionfive 2 ===
Building an NixOS system image that can be flashed to an SD card or NVMe SSD requires to '''build RISCV binaries''', more specifically for the <code>"riscv64-linux"</code>platform. From a typical Intel/AMD computer we can either
* '''emulated native compile using QEMU''' virtualization by enabling the binfmt kernel feature on NixOS configuration setting <code>boot.binfmt.emulatedSystems = [ "riscv64-linux" ];</code>). This can be fast if everything is downloaded pre-compiled from the cache.nixos.org cache (not supported yet though) and only few packages really need local compilation. In reality it can be extremely slow, e.g. compiling a Linux kernel alone can take days.
* '''cross-compile''' to RISCV from another (e.g. "x86_64-linux) machine using the setup in the example above. However very few packages will be cached from cache.nixos.org as cross-compiled packages are less likely to be pre-build than native compiled. So the compile itself is fast but there will be a lot more to compile locally. In practice this can be quite fragile, because you may encounter packages that don't really support cross-compilation get stuck.
* '''native compile on an remote builder''' like the Visionfive 2 itself running its custom Debian Linux at the beginning or later NixOS. This is quite simple to setup and reasonably fast as most packages can be pre-build and cached on cache.nixos.org, and building a remaining Linux kernel only takes 3h on the Visionfive 2.
'''Setting up the Visionfive 2 as a remote native builder''' can be done following the steps at [[Distributed build|https://wiki.nixos.org/wiki/Distributed_build]]. The rough steps are as follows:
# '''Install the Nix package manager''' on Visionfive 2 Debian OS the normal, multi-user way with <code>sh <(curl -L <nowiki>https://nixos.org/nix/install</nowiki>) --daemon</code>. If you already have NixOS running on the Visionfive 2, then you can skip this step.
# '''Setup a <code>ssh</code> connection''' from your local machine to the Visionfive 2, especially adding <code>SetEnv PATH=/nix/var/nix/profiles/default/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin</code> to the Pi's <code>/etc/ssh/sshd_config</code> file. If you already have NixOS running on the Visionfive 2, then you can skip this step.
# '''Make the remote Visionfive 2 known to you local computer''' by adding it as a <code>nix.buildMachines</code> entry to your  <code>/etc/nix/configuration.nix</code> file and use connection protocol <code>ssh-ng</code>(!).
# You can then '''build, e.g. an NixOS sd card image''' with a call similar to  <code>nix build .\#nixosConfigurations.visionfive2.config.system.build.sdImage</code>
# '''flash that resulting image onto an SD card''' or NVMe SSD using a call similar to <code>zstdcat result/sd-image/nixos-sd-image-23.11.20230703.ea4c80b-riscv64-linux.img.zst | sudo dd of=/dev/mmcblk0 bs=100M status=progress</code> and place that card into the Visionfive 2.
=== Deploy and Update the Visionfive 2 NixOS system once it's running NixOS ===
Once the Pi 5 is running NixOS, you can update it with newer NixOS system configurations using e.g. the usual  <code>nix-rebuild</code>
tool with a call similar to
<code>nixos-rebuild --flake .#visionfive2 --build-host piuser@visionfive2 --target-host piuser@visionfive2 --use-remote-sudo switch</code>
that uses the SSH connection from the remote builder section.
See [https://nixcademy.com/2023/08/10/nixos-rebuild-remote-deployment/ this guide] for a good explanation of this terminal call.
Retrieved from "https://wiki.nixos.org/wiki/NixOS_on_RISCV/VisionFive_2"