yoctoctl - Yocto Development Environment Manager

A comprehensive environment management tool for Poky CROPS development on Apple Silicon macOS, providing automated container orchestration, network configuration and seamless file system integration.

Overview

yoctoctl provides a streamlined interface for managing containerized Yocto Project development environments, specifically optimized for Apple Silicon Macs. It automates the complexity of container lifecycle management while providing seamless integration with macOS native tools.

Key Features

• Automated Container Lifecycle Management - Intelligent orchestration of file server and build containers
• Network Infrastructure Configuration - Automatic SMB endpoint setup for native macOS file access
• Interactive Command Interface - Professional TUI powered by Charm's gum for intuitive operations
• Real-time Environment Monitoring - Comprehensive health checks and status reporting
• Persistent Storage Management - Shared volume architecture for efficient builds across projects

System Requirements

• macOS on Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3/M4)
• Docker Desktop 4.0+ with Rosetta enabled
• Homebrew package manager
• Minimum 16GB RAM (8GB usable for Docker)
• Minimum 100GB available disk space

Installation

Prerequisites

```bash

Install Homebrew if not already installed

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

Install gum for UI components

brew install gum

Verify Docker Desktop is installed and running

docker --version ```

Installing yoctoctl

```bash

Download the latest release

sudo curl -L https://raw.githubusercontent.com/anaskalt/yoctoctl/main/yoctoctl -o /usr/local/bin/yoctoctl

Make executable

sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/yoctoctl

Verify installation

yoctoctl version ```

Quick Start

Note: First-time users must build the container infrastructure. See the Yocto Development Environment for Apple Silicon guide for detailed instructions.

```bash

Initialize and start the development environment

yoctoctl start

Check environment status

yoctoctl status

Connect to the development shell

yoctoctl shell

Access files via Finder

open "smb://127.0.0.2/workdir" ```

Usage

Interactive Mode

Launch without arguments for the interactive menu:

bash yoctoctl

Command Line Mode

```bash yoctoctl [command]

Commands: status Display comprehensive environment status start Initialize and start Yocto containers shell Connect to Poky development container shutdown Stop all containers gracefully version Display version information help Show help message ```

Container Architecture

The system manages two primary containers:

1. yocto-fileserver - Samba server providing SMB access to the workspace
2. yocto-builder - Poky CROPS environment for Yocto builds

Both containers share a persistent Docker volume (yocto-workspace) ensuring data preservation across sessions.

Documentation

• Yocto Development Environment for Apple Silicon - Comprehensive guide for environment setup and deployment
• Architecture Overview - Technical implementation details

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Docker daemon not running ```bash

Start Docker Desktop application

open -a Docker ```

Network alias already exists ```bash

The tool handles this automatically, but you can manually clear:

sudo ifconfig lo0 -alias 127.0.0.2 ```

Permission denied on script execution ```bash

Ensure proper permissions

sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/yoctoctl ```

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit issues or pull requests.

Author

Anastasios Kaltakis
GitHub: @anaskalt

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

• Charm for the excellent gum TUI framework
• CROPS for Poky container images
• ejaaskel for exceptional work supporting Yocto on Apple Silicon Macs
• The Yocto Project community