[Sugar-devel] Regarding the Sugar on Raspberry Pi project

[Simrann Arora]

Hello James,

Thanks for your quick response.

>From what I understand, `rpi23-gen-image` repository is old so it cannot be
used for this project.
I think I should run Sugar on Raspberry Pi OS and identify what is
broken/bugs, so I can work on fixing them during my GSoC period.

I will also check out other debian image builders for Raspberry Pi
which can be leveraged to create Sugar OS images.

I would also request my mentors @walterbender and @alexperez  to see if my
understanding is correct and also discuss the hardware requirements to
extend the functionalities of existing activities like Turtle Blocks,
Measure, and Pippy.

Thanks and Best Regards
Simrann Arora
GitHub Handle: @simrann20

On Tue, Mar 28, 2023 at 5:39 AM James Cameron <quozl at laptop.org> wrote:

> Hello Simrann,
>
> I've just now tested https://github.com/drtyhlpr/rpi23-gen-image on a
> Debian 10 Buster 64-bit system, and it got past the debootstrap stage,
> compiled a kernel, generated an image, but failed with "losetup:
> cannot find an unused loop device".  I did not see an exec format
> error.  The method was;
>
> ```
> apt install -y git debootstrap debian-archive-keyring qemu-user-static
> binfmt-support dosfstools rsync bmap-tools whois git bc psmisc dbus sudo
> crossbuild-essential-armhf crossbuild-essential-armel bison flex libssl-dev
> git clone https://github.com/drtyhlpr/rpi23-gen-image.git
> cd rpi23-gen-image
> ./rpi23-gen-image.sh
> ```
>
> I suggest making sure you are using the operating system versions
> described in the README.md file, and the HEAD of the master branch.
>
> Do not use the Sugar Labs fork of the repository, as it is very old.
>
> Do engage with the rpi23-gen-image project; it is not part of Sugar
> Labs, and we have not used it for a while.  Your problem with
> debootstrap is best answered there, or by reading the debootstrap
> or Linux source code.
>
> I'm not a mentor for Google Summer of Code this year, but I've a few
> things to say.
>
> I doubt that rpi23-gen-image is suitable for your project.  It is for
> making images.  It is an external tool, and not part of the workflow
> of either the Raspberry Pi Foundation, Debian Project, or Fedora
> Project.  These projects use other tools to prepare their images,
> based on their package archives.
>
> Sugar is available for Raspberry Pi on Debian, Fedora, and Raspberry
> Pi OS already.
>
> Raspberry Pi OS does not include Sugar in the images, but it can be
> installed.  This is because Raspberry Pi OS is based on Debian.
>
> The Fedora Sugar on a Stick images are available for Raspberry Pi.
>
> The number of organisations involved that are not Sugar Labs makes
> your project a challenge.  Mentors working for Sugar Labs can't easily
> affect the other projects or make resources available for you.  You
> should ask your mentors to better define the scope, without creating
> work dependencies on other organisations.
>
> Sugar on Raspberry Pi does have several bugs, and does not have
> Raspberry Pi specific extensions.
>
> Fixing those bugs is a matter of either (a) fixing our software in a
> Sugar Labs repository, (b) fixing packaging in the Fedora or Debian
> Projects, and (c) waiting for the fixes to reach the released images.
> That wait always exceeds the time available for Google Summer of Code.
>
> Adding features specific to the Raspberry Pi is important.  For that,
> you will need a Raspberry Pi, and electronics components and tools.
> If you've worked on Arduino previously, this will be easy.  You will
> write software in Sugar Labs repositories, such as Turtle Blocks,
> Measure, and Pippy.
>
> References:
>
> https://arm.fedoraproject.org/
> https://spins.fedoraproject.org/en/soas/
> https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Architectures/ARM/Raspberry_Pi
> https://github.com/sugarlabs/sugar/blob/master/docs/rpi-soas.md
> https://github.com/sugarlabs/sugar/blob/master/docs/rpi.md
> https://github.com/sugarlabs/sugar/blob/master/docs/debian.md
> https://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Raspberry_Pi
>
> On Tue, Mar 28, 2023 at 03:09:48AM +0530, Simrann Arora wrote:
> > Hi Mentors,
> >
> > Hope you all are doing well!
> >
> > My name is Simrann Arora and I am an aspiring GSoC 2023 contributor. I
> have
> > been actively trying to contribute to the 'Sugar on Raspberry Pi'
> project that
> > has been selected for GSoC this year. As far as my progress is
> concerned, till
> > now I have completed the following tasks:
> > - Setting up Debian version 11(bullseye) VM on my mac using Parallels
> Desktop,
> > earlier I had installed Ubuntu 23.04 using VMware Fusion
> > - Cloning the rpi23-gen-image repo for building Sugar OS image.
> > - I tried running the rpi23-gen-image builder script but I am getting
> this
> > error:
> > ```
> >  chroot: failed to run command '/debootstrap/debootstrap': Exec format
> error.
> > ```
> >
> > I did some research to fix this, and found out that it might have
> occured due
> > to the architecture mismatch of the chroot environment and the command
> that I
> > am using to run the script, like suppose the chroot environment is
> 64-bit and
> > the executable is 32-bit. Another reason could be that the executable is
> not
> > compatible with the OS or the linux distro within the chroot environment.
> >
> > - To fix this, I created a chroot environment of Debian version 9
> (stretch)
> > within my Debian 11 distro to make it compatible with the
> `rpi3stretch-sugar`
> > template as given in the `rpi23-gen-image` repository and cloned it.
> > However, when I ran the script, I encountered the same error:
> > ```
> >  chroot: failed to run command '/debootstrap/debootstrap': Exec format
> error.
> > ```
> >
> > To further troubleshoot this, I tried installing the `binfmts support`
> and
> > enabling qemu-arm within the chroot.
> > Again I got an error:  `update-binfmts: warning: qemu-arm not in
> database of
> > installed binary formats. `
> >
> > Now to fix this one I tried reinstalling qemu-user-static and enabling
> it but
> > it says that it might be possible that this package isn't installed in my
> > system's repo or I need to use another repo for the same.
> >
> > I would like to request the mentors to guide me further on this and
> discuss the
> > next steps of implementation and the project requirements.
> > I am very keen on working on this project, gaining in-depth
> understanding on
> > this and taking it further.
> >
> > Also, as the proposal deadline is just around the corner, I would be
> really
> > grateful if I could connect with all the mentors on a Zoom/GMeets call to
> > discuss the project
> >
> > Thanks a lot
> > Simrann Arora
> > GitHub Handle - @simrann20
> >
> > *
>
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