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Version: master

Serial Console

The serial console is the most direct access path to a Pantavisor device — it works without any network configuration and shows the full boot sequence from the board's bootloader (U-Boot on most supported boards) through to Pantavisor startup.

Hardware Setup​

Connect a USB-to-TTY adapter to the device's TX/RX/GND serial pins — match the adapter's logic-level voltage to the board (3.3V on the Raspberry Pi and most SoC dev boards; a 5V-only adapter can damage the UART pins). Open a terminal emulator on your computer:

# Linux — adjust device node as needed (ttyUSB0, ttyUSB1, ttyACM0, …)
sudo minicom -b 115200 -D /dev/ttyUSB0

# Alternative
screen /dev/ttyUSB0 115200

Refer to your board's hardware manual for the correct UART pins and baud rate. Most Pantavisor images default to 115200 8N1.

Boot Sequence and Debug Shell​

When the device powers on you will see bootloader output followed by the Linux kernel log, then the Pantavisor banner:

_____           _              _
| ___ \         | |            (_)
| |_/ /_ _ _ __ | |_ __ ___   ___ ___  ___  _ __
|  __/ _` | '_ \| __/ _` \ \ / / / __|/ _ \| '__|
| | | (_| | | | | || (_| |\ V /| \__ \ (_) | |
\_|  \__,_|_| |_|\__\__,_| \_/ |_|___/\___/|_|

Pantavisor (TM) — pantavisor.io

To access the debug shell, press <ENTER>.
To exit the shell, type 'exit' or press CTRL+d.
Useful commands:
    * lxc-ls                 list available containers
    * pventer -c <CONTAINER> access a container's shell

Press Enter to open the debug shell. This is a root shell running in the Pantavisor initramfs — it gives you access to the device before or while containers are starting.

What You Can Do from the Debug Shell​

List containers​

lxc-ls -f

Shows all containers and their LXC state (RUNNING, STOPPED, etc.).

Enter a container's namespace​

pventer -c sensor-app

Drops you into the container's filesystem, process, and network namespaces. Exit with exit or Ctrl-D.

Query device status​

pvcontrol ls                            # list containers: status, group, status goal, restart policy
pvcontrol container ls                  # same container list
pvcontrol daemons ls                    # Pantavisor internal daemons
pvcontrol graph ls                      # xconnect service graph
pvcontrol steps show-progress current   # progress of the current revision
pvcontrol buildinfo                     # Pantavisor build info dump

status is one of INSTALLED, MOUNTED, BLOCKED, STARTING, STARTED, READY, RECOVERING, STOPPING, STOPPED — see Container status for what each means; BLOCKED and RECOVERING are the ones that indicate a problem.

View logs​

tail -f /pv/logs/<revision>/pantavisor/pantavisor.log
tail -f /pv/logs/<revision>/<container>/lxc/console.log

The /pv/ tree (logs, device-id, challenge, metadata, the pv-ctrl socket) is how the debug shell sees Pantavisor's control directory; inside a container the same tree is mounted at /pantavisor/.

Find credentials for Pantahub claiming​

cat /pv/device-id       # unique device ID
cat /pv/challenge       # one-time claim token

Use these when claiming the device on hub.pantacor.com.

Exiting the Debug Shell​

Type exit or press Ctrl-D. Containers start regardless of whether the shell is open, but an open debug shell blocks reboot and power-off — Pantavisor waits for a debug-shell timeout before a reboot proceeds. Pressing Enter again reopens the shell at any time.