Run Buildroot in a Docker Container

This post explores how you can run Buildroot in a Docker container. Follow the getting started to install Docker. I prefer using Docker with the PowerShell prompt on Windows 10.

To download and run the ubuntu image in a new container

docker run -it ubuntu bash

From another command prompt, run the following to find container id

docker ps -l

Use the -a option to see all containers

docker ps -a

Type exit to exit bash shell and stop container.

To return to container created earlier

docker start -ai container_id

Update apt-get package cache so that you can search and install additional packages

apt-get update

You should now be able to search

apt-cache search wget

And install your favorite tools

apt-get install wget

Obtain Buildroot

wget https://buildroot.org/downloads/buildroot-2016.11.2.tar.gz

Untar Buildroot

tar xvzf buildroot-2016.11.2.tar.gz

Install dependencies required to run Buildroot

apt-get install patch cpio python unzip rsync bc bzip2 ncurses-dev git make g++

Go ahead and build your Linux system.