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EnglishHow to Get Started with OpenEmbedded as a Beginner
Updated
Start at the Getting started link on the OpenEmbedded main page, then work through the FAQ and Documentation sections before touching a build. OpenEmbedded is a build framework for embedded Linux that provides a cross-compile environment for creating a complete Linux distribution for embedded systems. The site is organized around two audiences — Users and Developers — and beginners should stay in the Users column until a build actually fails.
The beginner path through the site
The main page groups its links under Users and Developers. For a first pass, use only the Users links, in this order:
- Getting started — the intended entry point for new users.
- Frequently asked questions and their answers — read this before asking on IRC or the mailing list; it covers the questions that come up first.
- Documentation — the reference material you will return to repeatedly.
The Developers column (Policies, Debugging a build, OpenEmbedded-Core) is for people modifying the framework or maintaining layers, not for a first build. Skipping ahead to it is the most common way beginners get lost.
What OpenEmbedded actually gives you
Knowing what the framework does makes the documentation easier to read. According to the site, OpenEmbedded offers:
- A cross-compile environment that runs on any Linux distribution.
- Support for many hardware architectures, with multiple releases for those architectures.
- Cross-compilation of thousands of packages, including GTK+, Qt, the X Windows system, Mono, and Java.
- Tools for speeding up the process of recreating the base after changes have been made.
- Easy customization.
It was adopted as the build system for the Yocto Project in March 2011, so much of the material you find while searching will be Yocto-flavored. That overlap is expected, not a sign you are on the wrong page.
Where to get help
When the documentation does not answer a question, the site lists several community channels:
| Channel | Use it for |
|---|---|
| Mailing lists | Longer questions and patch discussion |
| IRC chat | Quick questions and real-time help |
| Calendar | Upcoming events |
| Bug tracking | Reporting and following defects |
| Happy Hours | Informal community sessions |
There is also a Community section and a Discussion website linked from the main page. Before posting, check the FAQ — it exists precisely to absorb the most repeated beginner questions.
Events worth watching
The news section shows the project runs in-person and online gatherings, which are a fast way to get oriented:
- 2025-02-02: OpenEmbedded hosted a workshop after FOSDEM.
- 2025-08-24: OpenEmbedded hosted a developer meeting in Amsterdam before the Linux Foundation OSSEU.
- 2024-12-02: Yocto Project Summit 2025.12.
An older News Archive holds earlier items. Workshops and developer meetings are useful even for beginners because you can see how experienced users approach a build.
Two more sections to bookmark
Once you have a working build, the main page's Distributions and Devices area becomes relevant — it lists Devices and Distributions you can target or compare against. Until then, it is reference material rather than a starting point.
The site content is available under Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, and the main page itself was last edited on 3 May 2017 — so treat the wiki as a stable index and expect the linked documentation and mailing list archives to carry the current detail.