ENV

ENV

[Mark Diener]

Is there better resources to detail how to properly understand the
details behind /env/  (its creation and components)?

I cannot get the barebox.efi to actually execute the /env/bin/init script.

bareboxenv seems like a utility that would be involved.

Also, when I bootm my bzImage, it hangs up and seems to lose track of
mounting the storage so it just stops processing.

My barebox.efi is launching, but tripping on properly have the
/env/bin/init directory established

Any comments appreciated,

Marco

Re: ENV

[Ahmad Fatoum]

Hello Mark,

On 5/14/26 11:53 PM, Mark Diener wrote:
> Is there better resources to detail how to properly understand the
> details behind /env/  (its creation and components)?

What are you missing in the official documentation?

> I cannot get the barebox.efi to actually execute the /env/bin/init script.

Scripts in /env/bin are added to PATH, so you can execute them by just
their name (instead of their full path), but they are not automatically
executed.

If you want a script to be executed automatically at init time, add it
into /env/init/.

> bareboxenv seems like a utility that would be involved.

If you want to modify the script from Linux, yes. bareboxenv is also
used by barebox itself during the build process and can be used to bake
a built-in environment into barebox.

That's the preferred way of shipping the default environment.

What do you want to do in your init script?

> Also, when I bootm my bzImage, it hangs up and seems to lose track of
> mounting the storage so it just stops processing.

Hanging as in seeing a

  Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init

?

If so, you must have barebox add a root= option to inform the kernel
where it can find its rootfs.

You can try it out manually using:

global linux.bootargs.myroot="root=<insert your root device or PARTUUID,
..etc. here>"

> My barebox.efi is launching, but tripping on properly have the
> /env/bin/init directory established

/env/bin/init is an optional init script you can provide. I just Cc'd
you on changes to the docs that make this clearer.

Putting your init scripts in /env/init/ is what you are likely after.

Cheers,
Ahmad

> 
> Any comments appreciated,
> 
> Marco
> 
> 

-- 
Pengutronix e.K.                  |                             |
Steuerwalder Str. 21              | http://www.pengutronix.de/  |
31137 Hildesheim, Germany         | Phone: +49-5121-206917-0    |
Amtsgericht Hildesheim, HRA 2686  | Fax:   +49-5121-206917-5555 |

Re: ENV

[Ahmad Fatoum]

Hello,

On 5/18/26 12:50 PM, Mark Diener wrote:
> Hello Ahmad & Sascha:
> 
> I am able to boot bzImage, but I cannot get it past the root= error
> 
> My disk (USB, ssd, etc) is partitions with vfat32 (EFI/ESP) and ext4
> (rootfs)
> 
> My bootscript has:
> 
> global.autoboot_timeout=5
> global.bootm.verbose=1
> global.bootm.earlycon=1
> global.bootm.image="/mnt/disk0.1/boot/bzImage"
> global.bootm.boot_dev=PARTUUID=12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789ABC

global linux.bootargs.yourroot="root=PARTUUID=12345678-1234-1234-1234-123456789ABC"

provided that's indeed a correct PARTUUID.

If you want to use global.bootm.boot_dev, set it to a barebox device path
(e.g. /dev/usbdisk0.1) and additionally enable global.bootm.appendroot=1,
so barebox dynamically determines the correct PARTUUID.

> global.linux.bootargs.myroot="console=tty0 earlyprintk rootfstype=ext4

Drop the first . as to use the global command which creates new variables.

global.x=y -> sets existing variable x to y
global x=y -> creates new variable x and sets it to y


Cheers,
Ahma

> rw rootwait"
> 
> Cannot seem to get past /dev/root: Can't open devblock error
> 
> PXL_20260518_100418240.jpg
> 
> Any guidance appreciated,
> 
> Mark
> 
> 
> Mark Diener
> LinkedIn <https://www.linkedin.com/in/markdiener/>
> 
> 
> On Mon, May 18, 2026 at 4:53 AM Ahmad Fatoum <a.fatoum@pengutronix.de
> <mailto:a.fatoum@pengutronix.de>> wrote:
> 
>     Hello Mark,
> 
>     On 5/14/26 11:53 PM, Mark Diener wrote:
>     > Is there better resources to detail how to properly understand the
>     > details behind /env/  (its creation and components)?
> 
>     What are you missing in the official documentation?
> 
>     > I cannot get the barebox.efi to actually execute the /env/bin/init
>     script.
> 
>     Scripts in /env/bin are added to PATH, so you can execute them by just
>     their name (instead of their full path), but they are not automatically
>     executed.
> 
>     If you want a script to be executed automatically at init time, add it
>     into /env/init/.
> 
>     > bareboxenv seems like a utility that would be involved.
> 
>     If you want to modify the script from Linux, yes. bareboxenv is also
>     used by barebox itself during the build process and can be used to bake
>     a built-in environment into barebox.
> 
>     That's the preferred way of shipping the default environment.
> 
>     What do you want to do in your init script?
> 
>     > Also, when I bootm my bzImage, it hangs up and seems to lose track of
>     > mounting the storage so it just stops processing.
> 
>     Hanging as in seeing a
> 
>       Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init
> 
>     ?
> 
>     If so, you must have barebox add a root= option to inform the kernel
>     where it can find its rootfs.
> 
>     You can try it out manually using:
> 
>     global linux.bootargs.myroot="root=<insert your root device or PARTUUID,
>     ..etc. here>"
> 
>     > My barebox.efi is launching, but tripping on properly have the
>     > /env/bin/init directory established
> 
>     /env/bin/init is an optional init script you can provide. I just Cc'd
>     you on changes to the docs that make this clearer.
> 
>     Putting your init scripts in /env/init/ is what you are likely after.
> 
>     Cheers,
>     Ahmad
> 
>     >
>     > Any comments appreciated,
>     >
>     > Marco
>     >
>     >
> 
>     -- 
>     Pengutronix e.K.                  |                             |
>     Steuerwalder Str. 21              | http://www.pengutronix.de/
>     <http://www.pengutronix.de/>  |
>     31137 Hildesheim, Germany         | Phone: +49-5121-206917-0    |
>     Amtsgericht Hildesheim, HRA 2686  | Fax:   +49-5121-206917-5555 |
> 

-- 
Pengutronix e.K.                  |                             |
Steuerwalder Str. 21              | http://www.pengutronix.de/  |
31137 Hildesheim, Germany         | Phone: +49-5121-206917-0    |
Amtsgericht Hildesheim, HRA 2686  | Fax:   +49-5121-206917-5555 |