OS Differences

Use extreme caution

The OS update process can be unreliable. Proceed only with extreme caution. If you are unsure whether to update, contact MRX Technical Support before starting.

There are some things about the new Yocto OS that make it easy to distinguish from the Buildroot OS, which makes it easy to determine whether an OS update succeeded.

Here are some command-line checks to identify the operating system.

Filesystem Differences

There are many differences in the file structures of the two operating systems. Here are a few easy ones.

Keep in mind that, because these are just files, someone could have changed things from the defaults given here. Run multiple checks to make sure things match up.

The rw_data partition

Yocto has a structure that prevents the filesystem from filling up and going into read-only mode. It separates the OS-level files from the files the user can edit.

This way, even if the user-editable files are filled up, the OS can still run like normal.

To check for this structure:

1. Run lsblk. If one of the entries in the MOUNTPOINT column is /rw_data, the display is on Yocto.
2. Run ls /rw_data. If opt and etc do not show up, the display is on Buildroot.

Startup script name

Yocto has a slightly different system for running apps than Buildroot, so we can look at how apps are run to figure out which OS is in use.

1. Run ls /etc/systemd/system/startup-app*.service. There should be one file that matches.
2. For Yocto it will be startup-app@.service, while for Buildroot it will be startup-app.service.

Package Management Differences

The two operating systems have different package management systems, which can be used to identify the OS.

• Yocto uses dpkg to manage packages. Run dpkg -l to list installed packages.
• Buildroot uses opkg to manage packages. Run opkg list-installed to list installed packages.