Step 1: Build a Neutrino system image.

You use a buildfile to build a Neutrino system image that includes your program. The buildfile contains a list of files (or modules) to be included in the image, as well as information about the image. A buildfile lets you execute commands, specify command arguments, set environment variables, and so on. The buildfile will look like this:

[virtual=ppcbe,elf] .bootstrap = {
    startup-800fads 
    PATH=/proc/boot procnto-800
}
[+script] .script = {
    devc-serppc800 -e -c20000000 -b9600 smc1 &
    reopen 
    hello
}          

[type=link] /dev/console=/dev/ser1
[type=link] /usr/lib/ldqnx.so.2=/proc/boot/libc.so
[perms=+r,+x]
libc.so

[data=copy]
[perms=+r,+x]
devc-serppc800
hello &

The first part (the four lines starting with [virtual=ppcbe,elf]), contains information about the kind of image we're building.

The next part (the five lines starting with [+script]) is the startup script that indicates what executables (and their command-line parameters, if any) should be invoked.

The [type=link] lines set up symbolic links to specify the serial port and shared library file we want to use.

Note: The runtime linker is expected to be found in a file called ldqnx.so.2 (ldqnx.so.3 for MIPS), but the runtime linker is currently contained within the libc.so file, so we make a process manager symbolic link to it.

The [perms=+r,+x] lines assign permissions to the binaries that follow — in this case, we're setting them to be Readable and Executable.

Then we include the C shared library, libc.so.

Then the line [data=copy] specifies to the loader that the data segment should be copied. This applies to all programs that follow the [data=copy] attribute. The result is that we can run the executable multiple times.

Finally, the last part (the last two lines) is simply the list of files indicating which files should be included as part of the image. For more details on buildfile syntax, see the mkifs entry in the Utilities Reference.

Our sample buildfile indicates the following:

A PowerPC 800 FADS board and ELF boot prefix code are being used to boot.
The image should contain devc-serppc800, the serial communications manager for the PowerPC 80x family, as well as hello (our test program).
devc-serppc800 should be started in the background (specified by the & character). This manager will use a clock rate of 20 MHz, a baud rate of 9600, and an smc1 device.
Standard input, output, and error should be redirected to /dev/ser1 (via the reopen command, which by default redirects to /dev/console, which we've linked to /dev/ser1).
Finally, our hello program should run.

Let's assume that the above buildfile is called hello.bld. Using the mkifs utility, you could then build an image by typing:

mkifs hello.bld hello.ifs