Zephyr Docker Images

This repository contains the Dockerfiles for the following images:

• Base Image (ci-base): contains only the minimal set of software needed for basic development without the toolchains.
• CI Image (ci): contains toolchains, the zephyr sdk and additional packages needed for ci operations.
• Developer Image (zephyr-build): includes additional tools that can be useful for Zephyr development.

Developer Docker Image

Overview

The Developer docker image includes all tools included in the CI image as well as the additional tools that can be useful for Zephyr development, such as the VNC server for testing display sample applications.

The Base docker images should be used to build custom docker images with 3rd party toolchains and tooling.

These images include the Zephyr SDK, which supports building most Zephyr targets.

Installation

Using Pre-built Developer Docker Image

The pre-built developer docker image is available on both GitHub Container Registry (ghcr.io) and DockerHub (docker.io).

For Zephyr 3.7 LTS, use the v0.26-branch or the latest v0.26.x release Docker image.

GitHub Container Registry (ghcr.io)

Current Zephyr versions

docker run -ti -v $HOME/Work/zephyrproject:/workdir \
           ghcr.io/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr-build:main

Zephyr 3.7 LTS

docker run -ti -v $HOME/Work/zephyrproject:/workdir \
           ghcr.io/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr-build:v0.26-branch

DockerHub (docker.io)

Current Zephyr versions

docker run -ti -v $HOME/Work/zephyrproject:/workdir \
           docker.io/zephyrprojectrtos/zephyr-build:main

Zephyr 3.7 LTS

docker run -ti -v $HOME/Work/zephyrproject:/workdir \
           docker.io/zephyrprojectrtos/zephyr-build:v0.26-branch

Building Developer Docker Image

The developer docker image can be built using the following commands:

docker build -f Dockerfile.base --build-arg UID=$(id -u) --build-arg GID=$(id -g) -t zephyr-ci-base:v<tag> .
docker build -f Dockerfile.ci --build-arg BASE_IMAGE=zephyr-ci-base:v<tag> -t zephyr-ci:v<tag> .
docker build -f Dockerfile.devel --build-arg BASE_IMAGE=zephyr-ci:v<tag> -t zephyr-build:v<tag> .

It can be used for building Zephyr samples and tests by mounting the Zephyr workspace into it:

docker run -ti -v <path to zephyr workspace>:/workdir zephyr-build:v<tag>

Using SSH Agent with Docker Image

The docker images can be built to use the SSH agent on the host to provide authorization to assets like restricted git repos. To do this there are a few requirements. One of which is that the user name of the processes inside the docker container must match the real user name on the host. The USERNAME build argument can be passed into the build process to override the default user name. Note that all three images need to be built locally with this USERNAME argument set correctly.

docker build -f Dockerfile.base \
   --build-arg UID=$(id -u) \
   --build-arg GID=$(id -g) \
   --build-arg USERNAME=$(id -u -n) \
    -t ci-base:<tag> .

docker build -f Dockerfile.ci \
    --build-arg UID=$(id -u) \
    --build-arg GID=$(id -g) \
    --build-arg USERNAME=$(id -u -n) \
    --build-arg BASE_IMAGE=ci-base:v4.0-branch \
    -t ci:<tag> .

 docker build -f Dockerfile.devel \
     --build-arg UID=$(id -u) \
     --build-arg GID=$(id -g) \
     --build-arg USERNAME=$(id -u -n) \
     --build-arg BASE_IMAGE=ci:v4.0-branch \
     -t devel:<tag> .

Then when running the ci or devel image there are additional command line arguments to connect the host ssh-agent ports to the ssh-agent ports inside the container.

docker run -ti \
    -v $HOME/Work/zephyrproject:/workdir \
    --mount type=bind,src=$SSH_AUTH_SOCK,target=/run/host-services/ssh-auth.sock \
    --env SSH_AUTH_SOCK="/run/host-services/ssh-auth.sock" \
    devel:<tag>

Usage

Building a sample application

Follow the steps below to build and run a sample application:

west build -b qemu_x86 samples/hello_world
west build -t run

Building display sample applications

It is possible to build and run the native POSIX sample applications that produce display outputs by connecting to the Docker instance using a VNC client.

In order to allow the VNC client to connect to the Docker instance, the port 5900 needs to be forwarded to the host:

docker run -ti -p 5900:5900 -v <path to zephyr workspace>:/workdir zephyr-build:v<tag>

Follow the steps below to build a display sample application for the native POSIX board:

west build -b native_posix samples/subsys/display/cfb
west build -t run

The application display output can be observed by connecting a VNC client to localhost at the port 5900. The default VNC password is zephyr.

On a Ubuntu host, this can be done by running the following command:

vncviewer localhost:5900