Installing Packages

Installing Packages #

In this tutorial we will learn how to install packages on RACCOON OS. You should have completed the emulator or hardware machine in this tutorial before going through this one.

This tutorial is **only applicable for development use-cases**. To add packages to a custom image, see [this](TODO) tutorial.

Unlock the Filesystem #

The RACCOON OS filesystem is managed by OSTree and it is immutable by default (except for /home and /var, which are writeable). This is needed for low bandwidth Delta Updates.

# touch /bin/hello
touch: /bin/hello: Read-only file system

During development, you may want to build an application package and directly install it on your running system without needing to build a system update (which takes longer).

We can unlock the filesystem, which will create an overlay into which you can install packages (similar to how containers work). OSTree provides two filesystem unlock modes: transient (default, doesn’t persist across reboots) and hotfix (persists across reboots). We want our changes to persist, so use hotfix:

# ostree admin unlock --hotfix
Copying /etc changes: 0 modified, 0 removed, 8 added
Transaction complete; bootconfig swap: yes; bootversion: boot.0.1, deployment count change: 1
Hotfix mode enabled.  A writable overlayfs is now mounted on /usr
for this booted deployment.  A non-hotfixed clone has been created
as the non-default rollback target.

Let’s inspect the currently active OSTree deployments:

# ostree admin status
* raccoon-os 473726f8ab60d9bab99d9ab266a4baef55f4f70ffc5cef685c6180652ed36fc9.0
    Version: 0.4
    Unlocked: hotfix
    origin refspec: raccoon-os:qemux86-64
  raccoon-os 473726f8ab60d9bab99d9ab266a4baef55f4f70ffc5cef685c6180652ed36fc9.1 (rollback)
    Version: 0.4
    origin refspec: raccoon-os:qemux86-64

The current deployment is unlocked, and OSTree has created a rollback deployment. Reboot and you are now able to add files:

# touch /bin/foo
#
**Important**: any changes made to an *unlocked filesystem* will be **DISCARDED** the next time that you [download and deploy an update](TODO). This is intended: we want the filesystem to have the exact state that the build system generates. Files in `/home` and `/var` are preserved across upgrades.

Refresh the Package Index #

Now that the filesystem is unlocked, we can use opkg (the package manager on RACCOON OS) to install some of the programs that are available on the package repository. First, we need to update the package index:

# opkg update
Downloading https://raccoon.jdiez.me/deploy/ipk/all/Packages.gz.
Updated source 'uri-all-0'.
Downloading https://raccoon.jdiez.me/deploy/ipk/core2-64/Packages.gz.
Updated source 'uri-core2-64-0'.
Downloading https://raccoon.jdiez.me/deploy/ipk/qemux86_64/Packages.gz.
Updated source 'uri-qemux86_64-0'.
If you run `opkg update` or `opkg install` on a **locked** filesystem, you may encounter unexpected behaviour. This is a known [issue](TODO). Make sure to unlock the filesystem as described above before proceeding.

Install a Package #

You can see the list of packages that are compiled by default in the repo.yml configuration file.

Let’s go ahead and install a sane text editor:

# opkg install vim
[...]
Installing vim (9.1.0114) on root
Downloading https://raccoon.jdiez.me/deploy/ipk/core2-64/vim_9.1.0114-r0_core2-64.ipk.
[...]
Configuring vim.
update-alternatives: Linking /usr/bin/vi to /usr/bin/vim.vim
update-alternatives: Linking /usr/bin/vim to /usr/bin/vim.vim
#

Now you may want to install ROS2 and a demo workspace.

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