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

# 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

# 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.

# 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:

yoctoctl

Command Line Mode

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

# Start Docker Desktop application
open -a Docker

Network alias already exists

# The tool handles this automatically, but you can manually clear:
sudo ifconfig lo0 -alias 127.0.0.2

Permission denied on script execution

# 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