Custom ODROID X2 U2 Image

The following document describes our own method of creating a custom Kali Linux ODROID image and is targeted at developers. If you would like to install a pre-made Kali ODROID image, check our Install Kali on ODROID article.

You’ll need to have root privileges to do this procedure, or the ability to escalate your privileges with the command “sudo su”.

01. Create a Kali rootfs

Start by building a Kali rootfs as described in our Kali documentation using an armhf architecture. By the end of this process, you should have a populated rootfs directory in ~/arm-stuff/rootfs/kali-armhf.

02. Create the Image File

Next, we create the physical image file which will hold our ODROID rootfs and boot images:

:~$ sudo apt install -y kpartx xz-utils uboot-mkimage
:~$ mkdir -p ~/arm-stuff/images/
:~$ cd ~/arm-stuff/images/
:~$ dd if=/dev/zero of=kali-custom-odroid.img conv=fsync bs=4M count=7000

03. Partition and Mount the Image File

:~$ parted kali-custom-odroid.img --script -- mklabel msdos
:~$ parted kali-custom-odroid.img --script -- mkpart primary fat32 4096s 266239s
:~$ parted kali-custom-odroid.img --script -- mkpart primary ext4 266240s 100%
:~$
:~$ loopdevice=`losetup -f --show kali-custom-odroid.img`
:~$ device=`kpartx -va $loopdevice| sed -E 's/.*(loop[0-9])p.*/\1/g' | head -1`
:~$ device="/dev/mapper/${device}"
:~$ bootp=${device}p1
:~$ rootp=${device}p2
:~$ mkfs.vfat $bootp
:~$ mkfs.ext4 -L kaliroot $rootp
:~$ mkdir -p boot root
:~$ mount $bootp boot
:~$ mount $rootp root

04. Copy and Modify the Kali rootfs

Copy over the Kali rootfs you bootstrapped earlier using rsync to the mounted image:

:~$ cd ~/arm-stuff/images/
:~$ rsync -HPavz ~/arm-stuff/rootfs/kali-armhf/ root
:~$ echo nameserver 8.8.8.8 > root/etc/resolv.conf

Edit the ~/arm-stuff/images/root/etc/inittab file and locate the “Example how to put a getty on a serial line”:

:~$ vim root/etc/inittab

Add the following line to the end of that section:

T1:12345:respawn:/sbin/agetty 115200 ttySAC1 vt100

If you want the serial console to autologin as root, use the following line instead:

T1:12345:respawn:/bin/login -f root ttySAC1 /dev/ttySAC1 >&1

Now, make sure there is a ttySAC1 entry in the ~/arm-stuff/images/root/etc/udev/links.conf file:

:~$ vim root/etc/udev/links.conf

If an entry for ttySAC1 doesn’t already exist, add it to the file so it looks as follows:

M null c 1 3
M console c 5 1
M ttySAC1 c 5 1

Add ttySAC entries in the ~/arm-stuff/images/root/etc/udev/links.conf file:

:~$ cat <<EOF >> root/etc/securetty
ttySAC0
ttySAC1
ttySAC2
EOF

Place a basic xorg.conf file in the rootfs:

:~$ cat <<EOF > root/etc/X11/xorg.conf
# X.Org X server configuration file for xfree86-video-mali

Section "Device"
Identifier "Mali-Fbdev"
# Driver "mali"
Option "fbdev" "/dev/fb1"
Option "DRI2" "true"
Option "DRI2_PAGE_FLIP" "true"
Option "DRI2_WAIT_VSYNC" "true"
Option "UMP_CACHED" "true"
Option "UMP_LOCK" "false"
EndSection

Section "Screen"
Identifier "Mali-Screen"
Device "Mali-Fbdev"
DefaultDepth 24
EndSection

Section "DRI"
Mode 0666
EndSection
EOF

Link init in the root, rootfs directory:

:~$ cd ~/arm-stuff/images/root/
:~$ ln -s /sbin/init init

05. Compile the ODROID Kernel and Modules

We next need to fetch the ODROID kernel sources and place them in our development tree structure:

:~$ mkdir -p ~/arm-stuff/kernel/
:~$ cd ~/arm-stuff/kernel/
:~$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/hardkernel/linux.git -b odroid-3.8.y odroid
:~$ cd odroid/
:~$ touch .scmversion

Configure, then cross-compile the ODROID kernel:

:~$ export ARCH=arm
:~$ export CROSS_COMPILE=~/arm-stuff/kernel/toolchains/arm-eabi-linaro-4.6.2/bin/arm-eabi-
:~$
:~$ # for ODROID-X2
:~$ make odroidx2_defconfig
:~$ # for ODROID-U2
:~$ make odroidu2_defconfig
:~$ # configure your kernel !
:~$ make menuconfig
:~$ # and enable
:~$ CONFIG_HAVE_KERNEL_LZMA=y
:~$ CONFIG_RD_LZMA=y
:~$
:~$ # If cross compiling, run this once
:~$ sed -i 's/if defined(__linux__)/if defined(__linux__) ||defined(__KERNEL__) /g' include/uapi/drm/drm.h
:~$
:~$ make -j $(cat /proc/cpuinfo|grep processor | wc -l)
:~$ make modules_install INSTALL_MOD_PATH=~/arm-stuff/images/root/

Chroot into the rootfs and create an initrd. Make sure to use the correct kernel version/extraversion for the mkinitramfs command. In our case, it was “3.8.13”:

:~$ LANG=C chroot ~/arm-stuff/images/root/
:~$ sudo apt install -y initramfs-tools uboot-mkimage
:~$ cd /
:~$ # Change the example "3.8.13" to your current odroid kernel revision
:~$ mkinitramfs -c lzma -o ./initramfs 3.8.13
:~$ mkimage -A arm -O linux -T ramdisk -C none -a 0 -e 0 -n initramfs -d ./initramfs ./uInitrd
:~$ rm initramfs
:~$ exit

06. Prepare the Boot Partition

Copy the kernel and generated initrd file to the mounted boot partition as shown below:

:~$ mv ~/arm-stuff/images/root/uInitrd ~/arm-stuff/images/boot/
:~$ cp arch/arm/boot/zImage ~/arm-stuff/images/boot/

Dump a boot.txt file, which contains required boot parameters for the ODROID in the boot partition:

:~$ cat <<EOF > ~/arm-stuff/images/boot/boot.txt
setenv initrd_high "0xffffffff"
setenv fdt_high "0xffffffff"
setenv bootcmd "fatload mmc 0:1 0x40008000 zImage; fatload mmc 0:1 0x42000000 uInitrd; bootm 0x40008000 0x42000000"
setenv bootargs "console=tty1 console=ttySAC1,115200n8 root=LABEL=kaliroot rootwait ro mem=2047M"
boot
EOF

Generate a boot.scr file, which is required to boot the ODROID:

:~$ mkimage -A arm -T script -C none -n "Boot.scr for ODROID" -d ~/arm-stuff/images/boot/boot.txt ~/arm-stuff/images/boot/boot.scr

Unmount the root and boot partitions, then umount the loop device:

:~$ cd ~/arm-stuff/images/
:~$ umount $bootp
:~$ umount $rootp
:~$ kpartx -dv $loopdevice
:~$
:~$ wget http://www.mdrjr.net/odroid/mirror/old-releases/BSPs/Alpha4/unpacked/boot.tar.gz
:~$ tar -zxpf boot.tar.gz
:~$ cd boot/
:~$ sh sd_fusing.sh $loopdevice
:~$ cd ../
:~$ losetup -d $loopdevice

Now, image the file onto your USB storage device. Our device is /dev/sdb. Change this as needed:

:~$ dd if=kali-linux-odroid.img of=/dev/sdb conv=fsync bs=4M

Once this operation is complete, connect your UART serial cable to the ODROID and boot it up with the microSD/SD card plugged in. Through the serial console, you will be able to log in to Kali (root / toor) and startx.

If everything works and you want the ODROID to start on boot, make sure to use the “autologin” line in the inittab given above and add the following to your bash_profile:

# If you don't have a .bash_profile, copy it from /etc/skel/.profile first
:~$ cat <<EOF >> ~/.bash_profile
if [ -z "$DISPLAY" ] && [ $(tty) = /dev/ttySAC1 ]; then
startx
fi
EOF

08. Install Mali Graphic Drivers (Optional)

These steps are experimental and not fully tested yet. They should be performed inside the Kali rootfs:

:~$ # http://malideveloper.arm.com/develop-for-mali/drivers/open-source-mali-gpus-linux-exadri2-and-x11-display-drivers/
:~$ sudo apt install -y build-essential autoconf automake make libtool xorg xorg-dev xutils-dev libdrm-dev
:~$ wget http://malideveloper.arm.com/downloads/drivers/DX910/r3p2-01rel0/DX910-SW-99003-r3p2-01rel0.tgz
:~$ wget http://malideveloper.arm.com/downloads/drivers/DX910/r3p2-01rel0/DX910-SW-99006-r3p2-01rel0.tgz
:~$ wget --no-check-certificate https://dl.dropbox.com/u/65312725/mali_opengl_hf_lib.tgz
:~$
:~$ tar -xzvf mali_opengl_hf_lib.tgz
:~$ cp mali_opengl_hf_lib/* /usr/lib/
:~$
:~$ tar -xzvf DX910-SW-99003-r3p2-01rel0.tgz
:~$ tar -xzvf DX910-SW-99006-r3p2-01rel0.tgz
:~$ cd DX910-SW-99003-r3p2-01rel0/x11/xf86-video-mali-0.0.1/
:~$ ./autogen.sh
:~$ chmod +x configure
:~$
:~$ CFLAGS="-O3 -Wall -W -Wextra -I/usr/include/libdrm -IDX910-SW-99006-r3p2-01rel0/driver/src/ump/include" LDFLAGS="-L/usr/lib -lMali -lUMP -lpthread" ./configure --prefix=/usr --x-includes=/usr/include --x-libraries=/usr/lib
:~$ cp -rf ../../../DX910-SW-99006-r3p2-01rel0/driver/src/ump/include/ump src/
:~$ mkdir -p umplock/
:~$ cd umplock/
:~$ wget http://service.i-onik.de/a10_source_1.5/lichee/linux-3.0/modules/mali/DX910-SW-99002-r3p0-04rel0/driver/src/devicedrv/umplock/umplock_ioctl.h
:~$ cd ../
:~$
:~$ make
:~$ make install
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