meta-pantavisor Overview

meta-pantavisor is the Yocto/OpenEmbedded layer that builds Pantavisor-based BSP images for embedded Linux products. It provides recipes, BitBake classes, and KAS configurations for producing initramfs images and container pvrexport bundles.

Directory Structure

meta-pantavisor/
├── classes/                    # BitBake classes
├── conf/                       # Layer and distro configuration
│   └── multiconfig/            # Per-multiconfig TMPDIR settings
├── dynamic-layers/             # Conditional recipes for other layers
├── kas/                        # KAS configuration fragments
│   ├── machines/               # Per-machine configurations
│   └── platforms/              # Platform-specific layer includes
├── recipes-containers/
│   └── pv-examples/            # Example containers for xconnect testing
├── recipes-pv/                 # Core pantavisor recipes
│   ├── images/                 # Appengine and BSP image recipes
│   ├── pantavisor/             # Pantavisor runtime
│   └── pvr/                   # PVR tool
├── recipes-devtools/           # Development tools (json-sh, fdisk)
└── wic/                        # WIC disk image layout files

Key Recipes

Recipe	Description
recipes-pv/pantavisor/pantavisor_git.bb	Core Pantavisor runtime (C, cmake-based); SRCREV forwarded from pantavisor.inc
recipes-pv/images/pantavisor-initramfs.bb	Initramfs image
recipes-pv/images/pantavisor-bsp.bb	BSP image (generates pvrexport bundles)
recipes-pv/pvr/pvr_*.bb	PVR CLI tool (Go-based)
recipes-pv/lxc-pv/lxc-pv_git.bb	Pantavisor-specific LXC fork

BitBake Classes

Class	Description
classes/pvbase.bbclass	Defines PANTAVISOR_FEATURES variable and defaults
classes/pvrexport.bbclass	PVR export functionality for images
classes/container-pvrexport.bbclass	Container pvrexport packaging
classes/pvr-ca.bbclass	Certificate authority handling
classes/pvroot-image.bbclass	Root container image support

PANTAVISOR_FEATURES

Controls which optional Pantavisor components are compiled in and installed. Defined in pvbase.bbclass:

Feature	Description
dm-crypt	Storage encryption
dm-verity	Container rootfs integrity verification
autogrow	Automatic partition growing
runc	OCI runtime support
tailscale	Tailscale VPN integration
debug	Debug features
pvcontrol	pv-ctrl socket and CLI tools (pvcurl, pvcontrol)
xconnect	Service mesh for container-to-container communication
container-mdev	Per-container mdev device-node hook (runs an mdev LXC mount hook on each container start)
rngdaemon	Random number generator daemon
squash-lz4	LZ4 squashfs compression
squash-zstd	Zstd squashfs compression
rpi-tryboot	Raspberry Pi A/B boot partition support
bootchartd	Boot timing analysis (writes to /; use rdinit=/sbin/bootchartd)

Default: dm-crypt dm-verity autogrow runc tailscale debug rngdaemon pvcontrol xconnect container-mdev

The += vs :append Pitfall

pvbase.bbclass sets defaults via ??= (weak default operator):

PANTAVISOR_FEATURES ??= " dm-crypt dm-verity autogrow runc tailscale debug rngdaemon pvcontrol xconnect container-mdev "

In distro includes, you must use :append or :remove — never +=:

# WRONG — clobbers ??= defaults, silently drops xconnect, pvcontrol, rngdaemon
PANTAVISOR_FEATURES += "appengine"

# CORRECT — preserves ??= defaults and appends
PANTAVISOR_FEATURES:append = " appengine"

Supported Yocto Releases

Release	Status
scarthgap	Current
kirkstone	LTS

Layer compatibility is declared in conf/layer.conf:

LAYERSERIES_COMPAT_meta-pantavisor = "kirkstone scarthgap"