{"slug": "buildroot", "name": "Buildroot", "category": "os", "category_name": "Operating systems and desktop", "description": "", "recommenders": 4, "commenters": 7, "warners": 1, "score": 3.276, "rising": 0.02, "first": "2025-11-03", "latest": "2026-09-07", "why": "So much easier to keep track of everything and it's very easy to start with (unlike yocto). I recommend taking a look at buildroot.", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 4, "neutral": 2, "compare": 0, "warn": 1}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "So much easier to keep track of everything and it's very easy to start with (unlike yocto). I recommend taking a look at buildroot.", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": "github.com/jimsynz/buildroot", "official_url": "https://buildroot.org", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Buildroot", "buildroot"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 793666448, "item_id": 49604153, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49604153", "by": "Neywiny", "date": "2026-09-07", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "So much easier to keep track of everything and it's very easy to start with (unlike yocto). I recommend taking a look at buildroot.", "excerpt": "I've done this for a cortex-m in qemu (meaning I wrote the chip and peripheral emulation code too for the timer, uart, sd controller with dma, and rcc). But I used buildroot. So much easier to keep track of everything and it's very easy to start with (unlike yocto). I recommend taking a look at buildroot. You also don't need an MMU to run Linux. Just helps compatibility. Good work", "context": "emulated a Cortex-M chip in QEMU", "use_case": "building embedded Linux", "switched_from": "", "story": "How to bring up the Linux Kernel on a new platform"}, {"id": 778331376, "item_id": 48645711, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48645711", "by": "voidUpdate", "date": "2026-06-23", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "by using Buildroot they got it down to acceptable boot times", "excerpt": "https://mitxela.com/projects/thermal_paper_polaroid talks about making a camera with a raspberry pi, and by using Buildroot they got it down to acceptable boot times", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Optocam Zero: a Pi Zero based digital camera made using off the shelf components"}, {"id": 772148064, "item_id": 48259254, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48259254", "by": "maxlin", "date": "2026-05-24", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I'd just go with something like Buildroot", "excerpt": "FYI, most meals that are DISTRibuted through different convenient means are \"prepared\". If I didn't want a distro, I'd just go with something like Buildroot, or even more elementary. Yes, this is one of the projects I also have in mind to understand better and with the cross-supporting goal of reducing boot time of a machine that'll eventually run my game engine, with the reference of running said game engine on a n ", "context": "", "use_case": "Minimal Linux image builds", "switched_from": "", "story": "Your Dotfiles Are Not a Distro"}, {"id": 757358066, "item_id": 47334879, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47334879", "by": "haerwu", "date": "2026-03-11", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Which is not a case when you use OpenEmbedded/Yocto or Buildroot to build it.", "excerpt": "Cross compilation of entire distributions requires such distributions to be prepated for it. Which is not a case when you use OpenEmbedded/Yocto or Buildroot to build it. But it gets complicated with distributions which are built natively. Fedora does not have a way to cross compile packages. The only cross compiler available in repositories is bare-metal one. You can use it to build firmware (EDK2, U-Boot) or Linux ", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "RISC-V Is Sloooow"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 764459088, "item_id": 47778693, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47778693", "by": "ValdikSS", "date": "2026-04-15", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "which I personally see little value in", "excerpt": ">Those tickets would not be \"unreliable\" but simply \"broken\" with a \"Won't fix\" status. Check the Wi-Fi tickets, they are sitting without any replies from the RPi team since 2025. It is broken in these configurations, I decided not to use this strong general term for this case (it's broken only in certain configurations and use cases). The USB bug (from 2019) has not be fully fixed. They got it much less extent, but ", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Orange Pi 6 Plus"}]}], "who": [{"by": "Neywiny", "context": "emulated a Cortex-M chip in QEMU", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49604153", "date": "2026-09-07"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["building embedded linux", "minimal linux image builds"], "compared": [{"slug": "yocto", "name": "Yocto", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49553988", "title": "How to bring up the Linux Kernel on a new platform", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48634778", "title": "Optocam Zero: a Pi Zero based digital camera made using off the shelf components", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48257612", "title": "Your Dotfiles Are Not a Distro", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47871519", "title": "Arch Linux Now Has a Bit-for-Bit Reproducible Docker Image", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47732535", "title": "The Orange Pi 6 Plus", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47328214", "title": "RISC-V Is Sloooow", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"neutral": 1}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-04": {"warn": 1, "neutral": 1}, "2026-05": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-06": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-10": {}}, "versions": [], "version_unnamed": 0, "family_ref": null, "runs_on": null, "lines": [], "quotes": [{"id": 793666448, "item_id": 49604153, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49604153", "by": "Neywiny", "date": "2026-09-07", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "So much easier to keep track of everything and it's very easy to start with (unlike yocto). I recommend taking a look at buildroot.", "excerpt": "I've done this for a cortex-m in qemu (meaning I wrote the chip and peripheral emulation code too for the timer, uart, sd controller with dma, and rcc). But I used buildroot. So much easier to keep track of everything and it's very easy to start with (unlike yocto). I recommend taking a look at buildroot. You also don't need an MMU to run Linux. Just helps compatibility. Good work", "context": "emulated a Cortex-M chip in QEMU", "use_case": "building embedded Linux", "switched_from": "", "story": "How to bring up the Linux Kernel on a new platform"}, {"id": 778331376, "item_id": 48645711, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48645711", "by": "voidUpdate", "date": "2026-06-23", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "by using Buildroot they got it down to acceptable boot times", "excerpt": "https://mitxela.com/projects/thermal_paper_polaroid talks about making a camera with a raspberry pi, and by using Buildroot they got it down to acceptable boot times", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Optocam Zero: a Pi Zero based digital camera made using off the shelf components"}, {"id": 772148064, "item_id": 48259254, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48259254", "by": "maxlin", "date": "2026-05-24", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I'd just go with something like Buildroot", "excerpt": "FYI, most meals that are DISTRibuted through different convenient means are \"prepared\". If I didn't want a distro, I'd just go with something like Buildroot, or even more elementary. Yes, this is one of the projects I also have in mind to understand better and with the cross-supporting goal of reducing boot time of a machine that'll eventually run my game engine, with the reference of running said game engine on a n ", "context": "", "use_case": "Minimal Linux image builds", "switched_from": "", "story": "Your Dotfiles Are Not a Distro"}, {"id": 766015906, "item_id": 47875994, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47875994", "by": "AntiUSAbah", "date": "2026-04-23", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "", "excerpt": "So if i have a docker container which needs a handful of packages, you would handle it how? I'm handling it by using a slim debian or ubuntu, then using apt to install these packages with necessary dependencies. For everything easy, like one basic binary, I use the most minimal image but as soon as it gets just a little bit annoying to set it up and keep it maintained, i start using apt and a nightly build of the ima", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Arch Linux Now Has a Bit-for-Bit Reproducible Docker Image"}, {"id": 764459088, "item_id": 47778693, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47778693", "by": "ValdikSS", "date": "2026-04-15", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "which I personally see little value in", "excerpt": ">Those tickets would not be \"unreliable\" but simply \"broken\" with a \"Won't fix\" status. Check the Wi-Fi tickets, they are sitting without any replies from the RPi team since 2025. It is broken in these configurations, I decided not to use this strong general term for this case (it's broken only in certain configurations and use cases). The USB bug (from 2019) has not be fully fixed. They got it much less extent, but ", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Orange Pi 6 Plus"}, {"id": 757358066, "item_id": 47334879, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47334879", "by": "haerwu", "date": "2026-03-11", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Which is not a case when you use OpenEmbedded/Yocto or Buildroot to build it.", "excerpt": "Cross compilation of entire distributions requires such distributions to be prepated for it. Which is not a case when you use OpenEmbedded/Yocto or Buildroot to build it. But it gets complicated with distributions which are built natively. Fedora does not have a way to cross compile packages. The only cross compiler available in repositories is bare-metal one. You can use it to build firmware (EDK2, U-Boot) or Linux ", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "RISC-V Is Sloooow"}, {"id": 732758561, "item_id": 45797410, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45797410", "by": "lawik", "date": "2025-11-03", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "he has it running with Buildroot already", "excerpt": "I wonder if the limitation of the application processor and Linux starting is mostly a default for the standard OS or an actual limitation. Typically with a hybrid SoC like this part of the point is that you can use the micro-controller as the power efficient thing that decides when the bigger application processor should boot or not. I'd be curious to see if that's possible with this one. Shipping only Debian to sta", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Arduino Uno Q is a weird hybrid SBC"}]}