# Build with GitHub for unregistered users

Use GitHub and make a build using the prebuilt proprietary binaries/images.

For more details on the hardware SoCs supported in this build method, see the table *Sync and build methods* in the [Release Notes](https://docs.qualcomm.com/doc/80-70023-300/).

## Host computer requirements

- Configuration

    - x86 machine
    - Quad-core CPU, for example, Intel i7-2600 at 3.4 GHz (equivalent or better)
    - 300 GB free disk space (swap partition > 32 GB)
    - 16 GB RAM
    - Ubuntu 22.04
- Tools

    - Git 1.8.3.1 or later versions
    - Tar 1.28 or later versions
    - Python 3.10.2 or later versions
    - GCC 8.0 or later versions
    - GNU Make 4.0 or later versions
- Permissions

    - A `sudo` permission is required to run a few commands

Note

Code compilation on a VM is a slow process and can take a few hours. Qualcomm recommends using an Ubuntu host computer for compilation. To set up a virtual machine (VM) running Ubuntu 22.04 on Microsoft^®^ Windows^®^ or Apple^®^ macOS^®^, see [Qualcomm Linux Virtual Machine Setup Guide](https://docs.qualcomm.com/bundle/publicresource/topics/80-70023-41/).

## Set up the Ubuntu host computer

Install and configure the required software tools on the Ubuntu host computer.

1. Install the following packages to prepare your host environment for the Yocto build:

sudo apt update
        sudo apt install repo gawk wget git diffstat unzip texinfo gcc build-essential chrpath socat cpio python3 python3-pip python3-pexpect xz-utils debianutils iputils-ping python3-git python3-jinja2 libegl1-mesa libsdl1.2-dev pylint xterm python3-subunit mesa-common-dev zstd liblz4-tool locales tar python-is-python3 file libxml-opml-simplegen-perl vim whiptail g++ libacl1
        Copy to clipboard
2. Set up the locales (if not set up already):

sudo locale-gen en_US.UTF-8
        sudo update-locale LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
        export LC_ALL=en_US.UTF-8
        export LANG=en_US.UTF-8
        Copy to clipboard
3. Update git configurations:

# Check if your identity is configured in .gitconfig
        git config --get user.email
        git config --get user.name
        
        # Run the following commands if you don't have your account identity set in .gitconfig
        git config --global user.email <Your email ID>
        git config --global user.name <"Your Name">
        
        # Add the following UI color option for output of console (optional)
        git config --global color.ui auto
        
        # Add the following git configurations to fetch large size repositories and to avoid unreliable connections
        git config --global http.postBuffer 1048576000
        git config --global http.maxRequestBuffer 1048576000
        git config --global http.lowSpeedLimit 0
        git config --global http.lowSpeedTime 999999
        Copy to clipboard

## Sync

Use the Repo tool that was installed during the [Ubuntu host setup](https://docs.qualcomm.com/doc/80-70023-254/topic/github_workflow_unregistered_users.html#ubuntu-host-setup-github-unreg) to download git repositories and other attributes from the [Qualcomm manifest](https://github.com/quic-yocto/qcom-manifest). The Repo tool downloads the manifests using the `repo init` command.

The following table shows an example mapping of the Yocto layers to the manifest release tags. Use this mapping to download and build Qualcomm Linux.

Mapping Yocto layers to manifest release tags

| Yocto layers | Manifest release tag | Reference distribution (`DISTRO`) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| <ul class="simple"><br><li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">meta-qcom</span></code></p></li><br><li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">meta-qcom-hwe</span></code></p></li><br><li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">meta-qcom-distro</span></code></p></li><br></ul> | BSP build: High-level OS and prebuilt firmware (GPS only)<br><br><br>`qcom-6.6.116-QLI.1.7-Ver.1.1.xml` | `qcom-wayland` |
| <ul class="simple"><br><li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">meta-qcom</span></code></p></li><br><li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">meta-qcom-hwe</span></code></p></li><br><li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">meta-qcom-distro</span></code></p></li><br><li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">meta-qcom-qim-product-sdk</span></code></p></li><br></ul> | BSP build + Qualcomm IM SDK build:<br><br><br>`qcom-6.6.116-QLI.1.7-Ver.1.1_qim-product-sdk-2.2.1.xml` | `qcom-wayland` |
| <ul class="simple"><br><li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">meta-qcom</span></code></p></li><br><li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">meta-qcom-hwe</span></code></p></li><br><li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">meta-qcom-distro</span></code></p></li><br><li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">meta-qcom-realtime</span></code></p></li><br></ul> | BSP build + Real-time kernel build:<br><br><br>`qcom-6.6.116-QLI.1.7-Ver.1.1_realtime-linux-1.1.xml` | `qcom-wayland` |
| <ul class="simple"><br><li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">meta-qcom</span></code></p></li><br><li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">meta-qcom-hwe</span></code></p></li><br><li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">meta-qcom-distro</span></code></p></li><br><li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">meta-ros</span></code></p></li><br><li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">meta-qcom-robotics</span></code></p></li><br><li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">meta-qcom-robotics-distro</span></code></p></li><br><li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">meta-qcom-robotics-sdk</span></code></p></li><br><li><p><code class="docutils literal notranslate"><span class="pre">meta-qcom-qim-product-sdk</span></code></p></li><br></ul> | BSP build + QIR SDK build:<br><br><br>`qcom-6.6.116-QLI.1.7-Ver.1.1_robotics-sdk-1.1.xml` | `qcom-robotics-ros2-humble` |

The release tag syntax is as follows:

- Manifest release tag:

    `qcom-<Linux LTS Kernel Version>-QLI.<version>-Ver.<release>.xml`

    For example, the manifest release tag `qcom-6.6.116-QLI.1.7-Ver.1.1.xml` denotes the following:

    - 6.6.116: Qualcomm Linux kernel
    - QLI.1.7: Qualcomm Linux v1.7
    - 1.1: Milestone release
- Additional productization manifest release tag:

    `qcom-<Linux LTS Kernel version>-QLI.<version>-Ver.<milestone release>_<product/customization>-<patch release>.xml`

    For example, the additional productization manifest release tag `qcom-6.6.116-QLI.1.7-Ver.1.1_qim-product-sdk-2.2.1.xml` denotes the following:

    - 6.6.116: Qualcomm Linux kernel
    - QLI.1.7: Qualcomm Linux v1.7
    - qim-product-sdk-2.2.1: Qualcomm IM SDK release on top of QLI.1.7

        Other product/customization examples:

        - *realtime-linux-1.1*
        - *robotics-sdk-1.1*
    - 1.1: Milestone release
    - 2.2.1: Patch release associated with the milestone release

For more information about the Yocto layers, see [Qualcomm Linux metadata layers](https://docs.qualcomm.com/bundle/publicresource/topics/80-70023-27/qualcomm_linux_metadata_layers.html).

## Build a BSP image

The board support package (BSP) image build has software components for the Qualcomm device support and software features applicable to Qualcomm SoCs. This build includes a reference distribution configuration for the Qualcomm development kits. For more details, see [Qualcomm Linux metadata layers](https://docs.qualcomm.com/bundle/publicresource/topics/80-70023-27/qualcomm_linux_metadata_layers.html).

1. Download Qualcomm Yocto and the supporting layers. For the latest `<manifest release tag>`, see the section *Build-Critical Release Tags* in the [Release Notes](https://docs.qualcomm.com/doc/80-70023-300/).

# cd to directory where you have 300 GB of free storage space to create your workspaces
        mkdir <WORKSPACE_DIR>
        cd <WORKSPACE_DIR>
        repo init -u https://github.com/quic-yocto/qcom-manifest -b qcom-linux-scarthgap -m <manifest release tag>
        # Example, <manifest release tag> is qcom-6.6.116-QLI.1.7-Ver.1.1.xml
        repo sync
        Copy to clipboard
2. Set up the build environment:

MACHINE=<machine> DISTRO=qcom-wayland QCOM_SELECTED_BSP=<override> source setup-environment
        # Example, MACHINE=qcs6490-rb3gen2-vision-kit DISTRO=qcom-wayland QCOM_SELECTED_BSP=custom source setup-environment
        # source setup-environment: Sets the environment, creates the build directory build-qcom-wayland,
        # and enters into build-qcom-wayland directory.
        Copy to clipboard

    For various `<machine>` and `<override>` combinations, see [Release Notes](https://docs.qualcomm.com/doc/80-70023-300/).
3. Build the software image. For supported image recipes, see [Image recipes supported in the GitHub workflow](https://docs.qualcomm.com/doc/80-70023-254/topic/how_to.html#image-recipes-github-workflow).

bitbake <image recipe>
        # Example, bitbake qcom-multimedia-image
        Copy to clipboard
4. After a successful build, check that the `system.img` file is in the `<workspace_path>/build-qcom-wayland/tmp-glibc/deploy/images/qcs6490-rb3gen2-vision-kit/qcom-multimedia-image` directory:

cd <workspace_path>/build-qcom-wayland/tmp-glibc/deploy/images/qcs6490-rb3gen2-vision-kit/qcom-multimedia-image
        ls -al system.img
        Copy to clipboard

## Build Qualcomm IM SDK image

The Qualcomm® Intelligent Multimedia SDK (IM SDK) is a collection of four standalone function SDKs: Qualcomm IM SDK, Qualcomm® Neural Processing SDK, Qualcomm® AI Engine direct SDK, and Lite Runtime (LiteRT). This SDK also includes reference applications that you can use to develop use cases. For more details, see [Qualcomm IM SDK quickstart](https://docs.qualcomm.com/bundle/publicresource/topics/80-70023-51).

1. Download Qualcomm Yocto and the supporting layers. The `<manifest release tag>` for the Qualcomm IM SDK build is the same as the BSP build. Clone the Qualcomm IM SDK layer on top of the BSP build. For the latest `<manifest release tag>`, see the section *Build-Critical Release Tags* in the [Release Notes](https://docs.qualcomm.com/doc/80-70023-300/).

# cd to directory where you have 300 GB of free storage space to create your workspaces
        mkdir <WORKSPACE_DIR>
        cd <WORKSPACE_DIR>
        repo init -u https://github.com/quic-yocto/qcom-manifest -b qcom-linux-scarthgap -m <manifest release tag>
        # Example, <manifest release tag> is qcom-6.6.116-QLI.1.7-Ver.1.1.xml
        repo sync
        Copy to clipboard
2. Clone the Qualcomm IM SDK layer into the workspace:

git clone https://github.com/quic-yocto/meta-qcom-qim-product-sdk -b <meta-qcom-qim-product-sdk release tag> layers/meta-qcom-qim-product-sdk
        # Example, <meta-qcom-qim-product-sdk release tag> is qcom-6.6.116-QLI.1.7-Ver.1.1_qim-product-sdk-2.2.1
        Copy to clipboard
3. Export the Qualcomm IM SDK layer:

export EXTRALAYERS="meta-qcom-qim-product-sdk"
        Copy to clipboard
4. Set up the build environment:

MACHINE=<machine> DISTRO=qcom-wayland QCOM_SELECTED_BSP=custom source setup-environment
        # Example, MACHINE=qcs6490-rb3gen2-vision-kit DISTRO=qcom-wayland QCOM_SELECTED_BSP=custom source setup-environment
        # source setup-environment: Sets the environment, creates the build directory build-qcom-wayland,
        # and enters into build-qcom-wayland directory.
        Copy to clipboard

    To know the `MACHINE` parameter values, see [Release Notes](https://docs.qualcomm.com/doc/80-70023-300/).
5. Build the software image:

bitbake qcom-multimedia-image
        # Build SDK image
        bitbake qcom-qim-product-sdk
        Copy to clipboard
6. After a successful build, check that the `system.img` file is in the `<workspace_path>/build-qcom-wayland/tmp-glibc/deploy/images/qcs6490-rb3gen2-vision-kit/qcom-multimedia-image` directory:

cd <workspace_path>/build-qcom-wayland/tmp-glibc/deploy/images/qcs6490-rb3gen2-vision-kit/qcom-multimedia-image
        ls -al system.img
        Copy to clipboard

## Build QIR SDK image

The Qualcomm® Intelligent Robotics (QIR) SDK 2.0 is a collection of components that let you develop robotic features on Qualcomm platforms. This SDK is applicable to the Qualcomm Linux releases. For more details, see [QIR SDK 2.0 User Guide](https://docs.qualcomm.com/bundle/publicresource/topics/80-70023-265).

1. Download Qualcomm Yocto and the supporting layers. The `<manifest release tag>` for QIR SDK build is the same as the BSP build. Clone the QIR SDK layers on top of the BSP build. For the latest `<manifest release tag>`, see the section *Build-Critical Release Tags* in the [Release Notes](https://docs.qualcomm.com/doc/80-70023-300/).

# cd to directory where you have 300 GB of free storage space to create your workspaces
        mkdir <WORKSPACE_DIR>
        cd <WORKSPACE_DIR>
        repo init -u https://github.com/quic-yocto/qcom-manifest -b qcom-linux-scarthgap -m <manifest release tag>
        # Example, <manifest release tag> is qcom-6.6.116-QLI.1.7-Ver.1.1.xml
        repo sync
        Copy to clipboard
2. Download the QIR SDK layers into the BSP build `<WORKSPACE DIR>` directory:

git clone https://github.com/ros/meta-ros -b scarthgap layers/meta-ros && cd layers/meta-ros && git checkout c560699e810e60a9526f4226c2c23f8d877280c8 && cd ../../
        git clone https://github.com/quic-yocto/meta-qcom-robotics.git -b qcom-6.6.116-QLI.1.7-Ver.1.1_robotics-sdk-1.1 layers/meta-qcom-robotics
        git clone https://github.com/quic-yocto/meta-qcom-robotics-distro.git -b qcom-6.6.116-QLI.1.7-Ver.1.1_robotics-sdk-1.1 layers/meta-qcom-robotics-distro
        git clone https://github.com/quic-yocto/meta-qcom-robotics-sdk.git -b qcom-6.6.116-QLI.1.7-Ver.1.1_robotics-sdk-1.1 layers/meta-qcom-robotics-sdk
        git clone https://github.com/quic-yocto/meta-qcom-qim-product-sdk -b qcom-6.6.116-QLI.1.7-Ver.1.1_qim-product-sdk-2.2.1 layers/meta-qcom-qim-product-sdk
        Copy to clipboard
3. Set up the build environment:

ln -s layers/meta-qcom-robotics-distro/set_bb_env.sh ./setup-robotics-environment
        ln -s layers/meta-qcom-robotics-sdk/scripts/qirp-build ./qirp-build
        MACHINE=<machine> DISTRO=qcom-robotics-ros2-humble QCOM_SELECTED_BSP=<override> source setup-robotics-environment
        # Example, MACHINE=qcs6490-rb3gen2-vision-kit DISTRO=qcom-robotics-ros2-humble QCOM_SELECTED_BSP=custom source setup-robotics-environment
        # source setup-robotics-environment: Sets the environment, creates the build directory build-qcom-robotics-ros2-humble,
        # and enters into build-qcom-robotics-ros2-humble directory.
        Copy to clipboard

    For various `<machine>` and `<override>` combinations, see [Release Notes](https://docs.qualcomm.com/doc/80-70023-300/).
4. Build the robotics image and the QIR SDK artifacts:

../qirp-build qcom-robotics-full-image
        Copy to clipboard
5. After a successful build, check that the QIR SDK build artifacts are at the following paths:

QIR SDK artifacts: <WORKSPACE DIR>/build-qcom-robotics-ros2-humble/tmp-glibc/deploy/qirpsdk_artifacts/qirp-sdk_<version>.tar.gz
        # system.img is present in the following path
        Robotics image: <WORKSPACE DIR>/build-qcom-robotics-ros2-humble/tmp-glibc/deploy/images/qcs6490-rb3gen2-vision-kit/qcom-robotics-full-image
        Copy to clipboard

## Build real-time Linux image

The real-time layer provides recipes and configurations required to run the Qualcomm Linux kernel as a real-time kernel. The real-time kernel runs with preemption fully enabled through a configuration, `CONFIG_PREEMPT_RT=y`. This layer supports `linux-kernel-qcom-rt` recipe that fetches and builds the Qualcomm Linux kernel for the supported machine. This layer appends to the kernel and the upstream `PREEMPT_RT` patches based on the kernel version, and enables real-time configurations. For more details, see [Real-time kernel](https://docs.qualcomm.com/bundle/publicresource/topics/80-70023-3/real_time_kernel_overview.html).

1. Download Qualcomm Yocto and the supporting layers. The `<manifest release tag>` for real-time Linux image is the same as the BSP build. Clone the real-time Linux on top of the BSP build. For the latest `<manifest release tag>`, see the section *Build-Critical Release Tags* in the [Release Notes](https://docs.qualcomm.com/doc/80-70023-300/).

# cd to directory where you have 300 GB of free storage space to create your workspaces
        mkdir <WORKSPACE_DIR>
        cd <WORKSPACE_DIR>
        repo init -u https://github.com/quic-yocto/qcom-manifest -b qcom-linux-scarthgap -m <manifest release tag>
        # Example, <manifest release tag> is qcom-6.6.116-QLI.1.7-Ver.1.1.xml
        repo sync
        Copy to clipboard
2. Clone the real-time Linux layer into the workspace:

git clone https://github.com/quic-yocto/meta-qcom-realtime -b <meta-qcom-realtime release tag> layers/meta-qcom-realtime
        # Example, <meta-qcom-realtime release tag> is qcom-6.6.116-QLI.1.7-Ver.1.1_realtime-linux-1.1
        Copy to clipboard
3. Build the real-time layer:

export EXTRALAYERS="meta-qcom-realtime"
        Copy to clipboard
4. Set up the build environment:

MACHINE=<machine> DISTRO=qcom-wayland QCOM_SELECTED_BSP=<override> source setup-environment
        # Example, MACHINE=qcs6490-rb3gen2-vision-kit DISTRO=qcom-wayland QCOM_SELECTED_BSP=custom source setup-environment
        # source setup-environment: Sets the environment, creates the build directory build-qcom-wayland,
        # and enters into build-qcom-wayland directory.
        Copy to clipboard

    For various `<machine>` and `<override>` combinations, see [Release Notes](https://docs.qualcomm.com/doc/80-70023-300/).
5. Build the software image:

bitbake qcom-multimedia-image
        Copy to clipboard
6. After a successful build, check that the `system.img` file is in the `<workspace_path>/build-qcom-wayland/tmp-glibc/deploy/images/qcs6490-rb3gen2-vision-kit/qcom-multimedia-image` directory:

cd <workspace_path>/build-qcom-wayland/tmp-glibc/deploy/images/qcs6490-rb3gen2-vision-kit/qcom-multimedia-image
        ls -al system.img
        Copy to clipboard

## Flash

To flash the software images to the device, see [Flash software images](https://docs.qualcomm.com/doc/80-70023-254/topic/flash_images.html#flash-images).

## Related topics

- [Connect to UART shell](https://docs.qualcomm.com/doc/80-70023-254/topic/how_to.html#connect-uart)
- [Connect to network](https://docs.qualcomm.com/doc/80-70023-254/topic/how_to.html#connect-to-network)
- [Sign in using SSH](https://docs.qualcomm.com/doc/80-70023-254/topic/how_to.html#use-ssh)
- [Troubleshoot sync, build, and flash issues](https://docs.qualcomm.com/doc/80-70023-254/topic/troubleshoot_sync_build_and_flash.html#troubleshoot-sync-build-and-flash)

Last Published: Dec 30, 2025

[Previous Topic
Build with QSC CLI](https://docs.qualcomm.com/bundle/publicresource/80-70023-254/topics/build_frm_source_qsc_cli.md) [Next Topic
Build with GitHub for registered users](https://docs.qualcomm.com/bundle/publicresource/80-70023-254/topics/build_from_source_github_intro.md)