Cookbook PhobOS

PhobOS is the Debian based and Toradex Torizon compatible Linux distribution that Gaia builds. The name is a reference to the Greek god, and brother of Deimos, Phobos.

PhobOS is compatible with the Toradex Torizon ecosystem. It uses OSTree to manage the system rootfs, Aktualizr to handle updates through Torizon OTA and comes with a Docker container runtime.

Torizon™ is a registered trademark of Toradex Group AG. Gaia project does not talk on behalf of Toradex or on behalf of any Toradex product.

Building PhobOS

Prerequisites

• Docker;
• Gaia project Gaia Core;

• One of the Machine specific BSP cookbooks:
  • NXP Boards
  • Raspberry Pi Boards
  • x86_64 Boards

Build

Example of building PhobOS for Toradex iMX95 Verdin EVK using manifest:

1. Create the work directory:

mkdir workdir
cd workdir

2. Clone the Gaia core repo:

git clone https://github.com/gaiaBuildSystem/gaia.git

3. Clone manifest repo:

git clone https://github.com/gaiaBuildSystem/manifests.git

4. Copy the manifest.json file from the platform that you want to build for the root of the work directory:

cp manifests/cookbook-nxp/manifest.json .

5. Run the Gaia init script from the root of the work directory:

./gaia/scripts/init

At end of this script execution a dev shell will be opened inside the Gaia container.

6. Run the bitcook to build the image on the dev container shell:

Warning

The --buildPath argument must be an absolute path.

./gaia/scripts/bitcook/gaia.ts --buildPath /home/<user>/workdir --distro ./cookbook-phobos/distro-phobos-imx95-verdin-evk.json --installHostDeps

This will generate the image on the --buildPath directory ./build-PhobOS/tmp/imx95-verdin-evk/deploy

Torizon OS Feature Comparison

Although systems have design and architectural differences the goal as the project grows is to add to PhobOS some level of feature parity. The table below shows the current status of each key feature:

✅ - Feature is available
⚠️ - Work in progress
⌛ - Feature possible but not planned yet
❌ - Feature will never match
ℹ️ - Community support

Feature	Torizon OS	PhobOS
OTA Update OS Image	✅	✅
OTA Update Container App	✅	✅
OTA Update Bootloader	✅	⌛
Debian package development¹	❌	✅
Device Monitoring	✅	⌛
RAC Remote Access	✅	✅
Free Technical Support	✅	ℹ️
Prebuilt OS Image	✅	⌛
QA Approved Releases	✅	⌛
Built with Yocto	✅	❌
Image Customizing with TCB²	✅	❌
Image Customizing with Opus³	❌	✅
SBOM⁴	✅	⌛
Torizon VS Code Extension support⁵	✅	✅

¹Debian package development: it is possible to install Debian packages without need of containerization, as the OS is Debian based.
²TCB: Torizon Core Builder
³Opus: PhobOS image customization tool
⁴SBOM: Software Bill of Materials
⁵Torizon VS Code Extension support: PhobOS supports the Torizon VS Code templates trought a different repository that need to be configured on the VS Code settings