v25.04

Stable release 25.04

Notable Changes since v24.09:

• Update to labgrid 25.0 which uses gRPC instead of crossbar/autobahn for communication between client/exporter and coordinator.
  This is a breaking change. You will need to update your complete labgrid setup when installing this release. See the Breaking Changes section below for upgrade instructions.
  The LXA TAC images now also contain the labgrid-coordinator, which means you could now build a fully self-contained "distributed" labgrid setup (exporter, coordinator, client) on a single TAC.
• Update yocto version from scarthgap to walnascar
• Update Linux Kernel from 6.10 to 6.14.
• Enable more USB Bluetooth and WiFi drivers and make them available via NetworkManager.
• Fix an issue where the TAC would freeze when performing some USB gadget operations.
• Update various pieces of included software and switch to mainlined bitbake recipes where available.

Breaking Changes:

(This is an excerpt from the labgrid 25.0 release notes)

Due to the gRPC migration, labgrid 25.0 includes the following breaking changes:

• The labgrid environment config option crossbar_url was replaced by coordinator_address. The environment variable LG_CROSSBAR was replaced by LG_COORDINATOR¹.
• The labgrid environment config option crossbar_realm is now obsolete as well as the environment variable LG_CROSSBAR_REALM.
• The coordinator is available as labgrid-coordinator (instead of crossbar start). No additional configuration file is required.
• The systemd services in contrib/systemd/ were updated¹.

To update your deployment to labgrid 25.0, you'll need to:

• Update the coordinator, all clients and all exporters to the new release.
• Start labgrid-coordinator directly (instead of via the crossbar configuration file)². If needed, you can set the listening address using the --listen option.
• Update any existing client and exporter configuration by replacing the crossbar URL with the coordinator address.¹

1. Unless you are using a customized setup this is already handled on the TAC for you. You will have to update the rest of your labgrid deployment.
2. This step has to be performed on the host where your coordinator runs, which is most likely not the TAC.

---

PS: we are a bit late for this April (25.04) release, but decided to keep the naming schema since we aim to follow the yocto release schedule (April and October).

v24.09.1

Bugfix release for the September 2024 release (24.09.1).

Changes since v24.09:

• Update python3-labgrid to version v24.0.2.

  This fixes an incompatibility between the ser2net version on the TAC and the labgrid version on the TAC.
  The ser2net command has started requiring ,tcp as part of the port description but the labgrid version on the TAC did not provide it, breaking console access on the TAC.

v24.09

The September 2024 release (24.09).

Changes since v24.04:

• Update yocto version from nanbield to scarthgap.
• Update Linux Kernel from 6.8 to 6.10.
• Update bottom, github-act-runner, gitlab-runner, ripgrep, imx-uuu, lxa-iobus, usbsdmux, rauc.
• Include license information in the generated images and bundles and display them on the web interface.
• Update the system management daemon and web interface (tacd) with the
  following new features:
  • Retry polling for update bundles with exponential backoff.
    This solves a problem where the first update poll after bootup is likely to fail, because the network is not yet up, and the next one only takes place hours or days later.
  • A diagnostics screen that displays a lot of information on a single screen and provides a border that can be used to align the LCD.
    It also allows toggling the LEDs and backlight to make sure they work correctly.
  • Notifications in the web interface that redirect the user to appropriate command lines when they try to change the active RAUC slot or enable/disable update channels in the web interface.
  • A /etc/motd that is updated in realtime with relevant information about the TAC.
  • A web view of the software packages and licenses that make up the meta-lxatac image.

v24.04

The April 2024 release (24.04).

Changes since v23.11:

• Update the yocto version from langdale to mickledore and from mickledore to nanbield.
• Create a custom yocto distribution (tacos) instead of using meta-ptx'es example distribution.
• Statically assign UIDs / GIDs on the system at build time.
• Enable the stable update channel by default when building new images (previously the devel channel was enabled by default).
• The RAUC update hook now also migrates custom files via /etc/rauc/migrate.d/*.conf files.
• Migrate /etc/hostname between RAUC installs.
• Update the USB-SD-Mux control software to add support for the new USB-SD-Mux Fast.
• Update the Linux Kernel to 6.8, Barebox to 2024.03 and TF-A to 2.9.
• Update the tacd LXA TAC system daemon
  • Add web interface / local display notifications on USB port current overloads.
  • Add web interface / local display notifications on DUT Power failure.
  • Add error messages on the LCD if the tacd startup failed.
  • Fix an issue where the IPv4 address on the display would not always update.
  • The RGB LED is dimmed to match the brightness of the other LEDs.
  • Reboot notifications after an update should be less confusing if e.g. the other slot is bad or intentionally disabled.
  • The setup mode wizard was improved and simplified.
  • The setup mode asks for consent before polling for updates online. When updating from a version without consent support, update polling has to be enabled manually.
  • The stray "Your TAC is overheating" warning when the web interface loses the connection to the TAC was fixed.
  • The web interface no longer tries to highlight and lint the labgrid yaml files since the templating resulted in linting errors.
  • Users are informed better about the information that is shared with the Linux Automation GmbH when update polling is enabled.
  • Overcurrent/Overvoltage/Voltage inversion errors are no longer checked while the power switch is off. This prevents errors with some power supplies in some setups.
  • The on screen display now shows a legend of which button does what.
• Add github-act-runner (an alternative runner for self hosted GitHub actions) and the official gitlab-runner. This allows scheduling CI jobs directly on the TAC.
• Add the bcu utility to control some NXP eval boards.
• Add the lrzsz utility for x/y/zmodem support.
• Fix an issue where a TAC may come up with an unexpected MAC address on some boots.
• Configure Barebox to only interrupt the boot when Ctrl+C is pressed. This should prevent issues where the boot is stopped e.g. due to noise on the RX line.
• Add support for LXA TAC Generation 3 devices.

To keep releasing regularly and to have a stable release that supports LXA TAC Generation 3 devices now, we accept some known issues in this release that will be fixed in a later release:

• The TAC may get stuck in the bootloader when connected to some host PCs via the USB-C device port (see #129).
• The avahi daemon (responsible for announcing the existence of the TAC to a network and providing lxatac-12345.local name resolution) keeps detecting hostname conflicts and retrying with other hostnames in some situations (see #128).
• The TAC sometimes does not reboot cleanly due to kernel hangs when powering off, adding a delay to reboots because the watchdog needs to trigger before the TAC restarts (see #127).
• The TAC's kernel may hang when there is still data to be sent in the ttySTM* serial port when it is closed (see #134 for a proposed solution).

v23.11

The November 2023 release (23.11).

This is our first stable release, so it comes without a change log.

This release is based on Yocto release 4.1 (langdale), Linux kernel 6.5 and labgrid 23.0.2.
It contains a broad selection of embedded development tools like the control software for the USB-SD-Mux, USB-Mux, lxa-iobus-server and other development software like fastboot, dfu-utils and podman.