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From: Ahmad Fatoum <a.fatoum@pengutronix.de>
To: barebox@lists.infradead.org
Cc: Ahmad Fatoum <a.fatoum@pengutronix.de>
Subject: [PATCH 15/16] Documentation: user: devboot: add section on forwarding build dirs
Date: Thu, 12 Mar 2026 15:44:58 +0100	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20260312144505.2159816-15-a.fatoum@pengutronix.de> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20260312144505.2159816-1-a.fatoum@pengutronix.de>

In case the kernel is built on a remote build server, it can be useful
for devboot to fetch directly from there with the TFTP server running in
the local LAN. Add some documentation about that.

Signed-off-by: Ahmad Fatoum <a.fatoum@pengutronix.de>
---
 Documentation/user/devboot.rst | 53 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 53 insertions(+)

diff --git a/Documentation/user/devboot.rst b/Documentation/user/devboot.rst
index ad1b4c909ab0..4425f0ebe91a 100644
--- a/Documentation/user/devboot.rst
+++ b/Documentation/user/devboot.rst
@@ -202,3 +202,56 @@ script is loaded. Make them persistent with:
 
 ``global.hostname`` is typically derived from the device tree, but can be
 overridden.
+
+Forwarding a remote build directory over the internet
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+If the build server is not reachable from the Device-Under-Test, one
+possibility is to forward the build artifacts to a local TFTP server
+via SSHFS::
+
+  sshfs -o follow_symlinks,allow_other buildserver:/tftpboot /tftpboot
+
+The local development host can then export /tftpboot via TFTP.
+
+If the TFTP server is not running on the local development host, the
+``dpipe`` utility can be used to connect a local SFTP server process to
+an SSH session that runs ``sshfs`` in slave mode on the remote machine:
+
+.. code-block:: sh
+
+  dpipe /usr/lib/openssh/sftp-server = ssh a3f@tftpserver.in-my.lan sshfs -o slave,follow_symlinks,allow_other -o idmap=user -o gid=1001 :/tftpboot /tftpboot
+
+This works as follows:
+
+- ``dpipe`` connects the standard input/output of both sides of ``=``.
+- The left side runs the local SFTP server, giving the remote end access
+  to the local filesystem.
+- The right side runs ``sshfs`` on the TFTP server host in ``slave``
+  mode, reading SFTP protocol directly from stdin instead of spawning its
+  own SSH connection.
+- ``follow_symlinks`` resolves symlinks on the build host, so the TFTP
+  server sees regular files even if the build tree uses symlinks.
+- ``allow_other`` permits the TFTP daemon (which typically runs as a
+  different user) to read the mounted files.
+- ``idmap=user`` maps the remote user's UID to the local user, avoiding
+  permission issues.
+- ``gid=1001`` sets the group ID for all files (adjust to match the
+  group that the TFTP daemon runs as on the server, e.g. ``tftp`` or
+  ``nogroup``).
+- The colon prefix in ``:/tftpboot`` refers to the root of the *local*
+  (build host) filesystem as exported by the SFTP server.
+
+The result is that ``/tftpboot`` on the remote TFTP server mirrors the
+``/tftpboot`` directory on the build host. Build output can be
+symlinked there and the board will fetch it directly over TFTP.
+
+To undo the mount, terminate the ``dpipe`` process and run
+``fusermount -u /tftpboot`` on the TFTP server.
+
+.. note::
+
+   On Debian/Ubuntu, ``dpipe`` can be installed via ``apt install vde2``
+   ``sshfs`` and ``fuse`` must be installed on the TFTP server.
+   ``/etc/fuse.conf`` on the server must have ``user_allow_other``
+   enabled for ``allow_other`` to work.
-- 
2.47.3




  parent reply	other threads:[~2026-03-12 15:03 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 22+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2026-03-12 14:44 [PATCH 01/16] lib: add lazy loadable infrastructure for deferred boot component loading Ahmad Fatoum
2026-03-12 14:44 ` [PATCH 02/16] bootm: split preparatory step from handler invocation Ahmad Fatoum
2026-03-12 14:44 ` [PATCH 03/16] boot: add bootm_boot wrapper that takes struct bootentry Ahmad Fatoum
2026-03-12 14:44 ` [PATCH 04/16] bootchooser: pass along " Ahmad Fatoum
2026-03-12 14:44 ` [PATCH 05/16] bootm: switch plain file names case to loadable API Ahmad Fatoum
2026-03-12 14:44 ` [PATCH 06/16] uimage: add offset parameter to uimage_load Ahmad Fatoum
2026-03-12 14:44 ` [PATCH 07/16] bootm: uimage: switch to loadable API Ahmad Fatoum
2026-03-12 14:44 ` [PATCH 08/16] bootm: fit: switch to new " Ahmad Fatoum
2026-03-12 14:44 ` [PATCH 09/16] bootm: stash initial OS address/entry in image_data Ahmad Fatoum
2026-03-12 14:44 ` [PATCH 10/16] bootm: support multiple entries for bootm.initrd Ahmad Fatoum
2026-03-12 14:44 ` [PATCH 11/16] bootm: implement plain and FIT bootm.image override Ahmad Fatoum
2026-03-18  9:01   ` Sascha Hauer
2026-03-18  9:17     ` Ahmad Fatoum
2026-03-12 14:44 ` [PATCH 12/16] bootm: overrides: add support for overlays Ahmad Fatoum
2026-03-12 14:44 ` [PATCH 13/16] test: py: add test for initrd concatenation Ahmad Fatoum
2026-03-12 14:44 ` [PATCH 14/16] defaultenv: base: add new devboot script Ahmad Fatoum
2026-03-18  9:50   ` Sascha Hauer
2026-03-18 10:50     ` Ahmad Fatoum
2026-03-18 14:49       ` Sascha Hauer
2026-03-12 14:44 ` Ahmad Fatoum [this message]
2026-03-12 14:44 ` [PATCH 16/16] libfile: remove file_to_sdram Ahmad Fatoum
2026-03-18 10:06 ` [PATCH 01/16] lib: add lazy loadable infrastructure for deferred boot component loading Sascha Hauer

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