How to find the base image distribution of my DietPi installation?

zj9 · July 21, 2024, 12:16pm

Hi! I’m testing DietPi on my NanoPi R4S board and may need to build a custom kernel myself. If I understand correctly, every DietPi image is built from some base image distribution. Is it possible for me to find the specific base image distribution of my current DietPi installation? Thanks!

StephanStS · July 21, 2024, 12:18pm

Maybe the uname command gives some hints.
uname -a
uname -r
Many of the NanoPi images are based on Armbian.

Joulinar · July 21, 2024, 1:39pm

If I’m not mistaken it could be Armbian kernel used.

zj9 · July 22, 2024, 3:22pm

Thank you for the info! Please find my uname output below:

# uname -a
Linux np1 6.6.34-current-rockchip64 #2 SMP PREEMPT Sun Jun 16 11:47:49 UTC 2024 aarch64 GNU/Linux

The uname output didn’t provide enough info to reliably determine the base image origin. There are two NanoPI R4S variants: one with 1GB RAM and the other with 4GB RAM. The Armbian image seems to be built for the 4GB RAM variant and doesn’t work with my 1GB RAM variant. Fortunately the DietPi image works with my 1GB RAM variant and that’s why I need to identify its base image origin and corresponding kernel source. Thanks!

zj9 · July 22, 2024, 3:24pm

Ditto. Thank you!

Joulinar · July 23, 2024, 7:09am

If I’m not mistaken, we create debootstrap images and don’t use a real image. What is interesting for you is the used kernel source. @MichaIng could give some more information on this.

zj9 · July 24, 2024, 1:54am

I tested some other Armbian images for R4S and can confirm that the full bookworm one (Armbian_23.5.1_Nanopi-r4s_bookworm_current_6.1.30.img.xz) works on my 1GB variant. The minimal ones seem not working. I’ll start from there and build my own kernel. The missing module is 8021q for VLAN. By the way, it would be very helpful if there could be some documentation about the corresponding base image of each DietPi image. Thank you!

Joulinar · July 26, 2024, 2:29pm

not sure if it helps, but following script is used to generate all our images.

github.com

MichaIng/DietPi/blob/b9bebf642bf2a4bc21532dbe8c4b64409a365b93/.build/images/dietpi-build

#!/bin/bash
# Created by MichaIng / micha@dietpi.com / dietpi.com
{
##########################################
# Load DietPi-Globals
##########################################
if [[ -f '/boot/dietpi/func/dietpi-globals' ]]
then
	. /boot/dietpi/func/dietpi-globals
else
	curl -sSf "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/${G_GITOWNER:=MichaIng}/DietPi/${G_GITBRANCH:=master}/dietpi/func/dietpi-globals" -o /tmp/dietpi-globals || exit 1
	# shellcheck disable=SC1091
	. /tmp/dietpi-globals
	G_EXEC rm /tmp/dietpi-globals
	export G_GITOWNER G_GITBRANCH G_HW_ARCH_NAME=$(uname -m)
	read -r debian_version < /etc/debian_version
	case $debian_version in
		'11.'*|'bullseye/sid') G_DISTRO=6;;
		'12.'*|'bookworm/sid') G_DISTRO=7;;
		'13.'*|'trixie/sid') G_DISTRO=8;;

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MichaIng · July 27, 2024, 5:32pm

Are you sure this module is really missing (and not builtin)? I am pretty sure VLAN works OOTB on all DietPi images, especially those with Armbian kernel. Or ia this some special standard (I am not experienced with VLANs)?

modinfo 8021q

We could add it to our kernel builds.

However, if the Armbian desktop image works (VLAN works with it the way you use it), but the minimal one not, then it is not a missing kernel module, but a missing userland tool or library. Because both use the same kernel, and we use that one as well (though a little newer version).

zj9 · August 3, 2024, 2:27am

Thank you for pointing out the command! I was looking at the wrong direction and searched for the file 8021q.ko. It turns out to be a builtin module:

# modinfo 8021q
name:           8021q
filename:       (builtin)
version:        1.8
license:        GPL
file:           net/8021q/8021q
alias:          rtnl-link-vlan

zj9 · August 3, 2024, 2:39am

Thank you for the link! I also found this link (https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/450776/check-armbian-version-on-the-command-line) showing the exact Armbian version can be identified via the file /etc/armbian-release.

# cat /etc/armbian-release 
# PLEASE DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
BOARD=nanopi-r4s
BOARD_NAME="NanoPi R4S"
BOARDFAMILY=rk3399
BUILD_REPOSITORY_URL=https://github.com/armbian/build
BUILD_REPOSITORY_COMMIT=508a701
VERSION=23.05.1
LINUXFAMILY=rockchip64
ARCH=arm64
IMAGE_TYPE=stable
BOARD_TYPE=conf
INITRD_ARCH=arm64
KERNEL_IMAGE_TYPE=Image
FORCE_BOOTSCRIPT_UPDATE=
VENDOR=Armbian
REVISION=23.05.1
BOOTSCRIPT_FORCE_UPDATE="no"
BOOTSCRIPT_DST="boot.cmd"
BRANCH=current

This file shows the exact commit number of the Armbian source. I haven’t checked if this file is included in the DietPi image yet.

Joulinar · August 3, 2024, 7:19am

Should not be there

system · January 30, 2025, 7:19am

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