b1eb322d7b
Remove the 16K page override from the kernel patch, preserving upstream Talos's default 4K pages. RPi5 hardware works correctly with 4K pages — the RPi Foundation's 16K default is a TLB performance optimization (~5%), not a hardware requirement. Benefits: - Correct memory accounting (4x less overhead per page) - Full software compatibility (jemalloc, Longhorn, F2FS, etc.) - No OOM surprises on control-plane nodes - Aligned with upstream Talos kernel config Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
116 lines
6.0 KiB
Markdown
116 lines
6.0 KiB
Markdown
# Talos CM5 Builder
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Custom Talos Linux images for Raspberry Pi 5 / CM5 on Compute Blade hardware.
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<a href="https://hub.docker.com/r/svrnty/talos-rpi5" target="_blank"><img src="https://img.shields.io/docker/v/svrnty/talos-rpi5?sort=semver&label=talos-rpi5&logo=docker&arch=arm64" alt="Docker Hub"></a>
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<a href="https://hub.docker.com/r/svrnty/talos-rpi5" target="_blank"><img src="https://img.shields.io/docker/pulls/svrnty/talos-rpi5?logo=docker" alt="Docker Pulls"></a>
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<a href="https://hub.docker.com/r/svrnty/talos-rpi5" target="_blank"><img src="https://img.shields.io/docker/image-size/svrnty/talos-rpi5?sort=semver&logo=docker&arch=arm64" alt="Docker Image Size"></a>
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The official Talos Image Factory does not support CM5 — the mainline kernel lacks CM5 device trees and RP1 driver support. This builder uses the RPi downstream kernel (via [talos-rpi5/talos-builder](https://github.com/talos-rpi5/talos-builder) patches) to produce working CM5 images with our extensions and overclock config.
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## Current versions
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| Component | Version |
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|-----------|---------|
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| Talos Linux | <a href="https://github.com/siderolabs/talos" target="_blank"><img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/talos-v1.12.3-blue?logo=kubernetes&logoColor=white" alt="Talos version"></a> |
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| RPi Kernel | <a href="https://github.com/raspberrypi/linux" target="_blank"><img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/kernel-6.12.47-blue?logo=linux&logoColor=white" alt="Kernel version"></a> |
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| iscsi-tools | <a href="https://github.com/siderolabs/extensions" target="_blank"><img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/iscsi--tools-v0.1.6-blue?logo=docker" alt="iscsi-tools version"></a> |
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| util-linux-tools | <a href="https://github.com/siderolabs/extensions" target="_blank"><img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/util--linux--tools-2.40.4-blue?logo=docker" alt="util-linux-tools version"></a> |
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## Image tags
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Release images are published to <a href="https://hub.docker.com/r/svrnty/talos-rpi5" target="_blank"><code>docker.io/svrnty/talos-rpi5</code></a> with the format:
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```
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v<talos>-k<kernel>-<revision>
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```
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For example: `v1.12.3-k6.12.47-2`
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| Segment | Meaning |
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|---------|---------|
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| `v1.12.3` | Upstream Talos Linux version |
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| `k6.12.47` | RPi downstream kernel version |
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| `2` | Build revision (bumped for config/patch changes on the same upstream versions) |
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## Usage
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### Install from raw disk image
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Download `metal-arm64.raw.zst` from the [latest release](../../releases/latest) and flash to eMMC:
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```bash
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zstd -d metal-arm64.raw.zst -o metal-arm64.raw
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# Flash to eMMC/SD via your preferred tool (dd, balenaEtcher, etc.)
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```
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### Upgrade an existing node
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> **Warning:** In-place upgrades via `talosctl upgrade` may fail on RPi5/CM5 hardware with a `SetVariableRT` EFI firmware error. See [Known issues](#known-issues) below. For now, the recommended upgrade path is to re-flash the disk image.
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```bash
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# Re-flash method (reliable)
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zstd -d metal-arm64.raw.zst -o metal-arm64.raw
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# Flash to eMMC/SD via your preferred tool
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# In-place method (experimental — may fail, see known issues)
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talosctl upgrade --image docker.io/svrnty/talos-rpi5:v1.12.3-k6.12.47-2
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```
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### What's included
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- RPi downstream kernel with CM5/RP1 support (4K page size, aligned with upstream Talos)
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- Overclock: 2.6GHz (`arm_freq=2600`, `over_voltage_delta=50000`, `arm_boost=1`)
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- Extensions: `iscsi-tools`, `util-linux-tools`
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## Known issues
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### In-place upgrade fails (SetVariableRT)
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`talosctl upgrade` may fail during the bootloader installation step with:
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```
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Firmware does not support SetVariableRT. Can not remount with rw
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```
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The RPi5/CM5 EFI firmware does not support runtime EFI variable writes, which the Talos bootloader update requires. **Re-flashing the disk image is the reliable upgrade path for now.** We are investigating GRUB-based boot as a fix (see [Roadmap](#roadmap)).
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*Upstream: <a href="https://github.com/talos-rpi5/talos-builder/issues/21" target="_blank">talos-builder#21</a>*
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### No serial console output after boot
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Serial output goes silent after the EFI stub decompresses the kernel and exits boot services. This affects headless debugging on CM5 boards where serial is the primary console.
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*Upstream: <a href="https://github.com/talos-rpi5/talos-builder/issues/4" target="_blank">talos-builder#4</a>*
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### Install disk config ignored on SBCs
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Talos ignores the `machine.install.disk` config field on SBC platforms. You **must flash the disk image directly** to your target disk (eMMC, SD, NVMe). Booting from USB or NVMe also requires flashing directly to that disk — the image targets SD (`mmcblk0`) by default.
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*Upstream: <a href="https://github.com/talos-rpi5/talos-builder/issues/22" target="_blank">talos-builder#22</a>*
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## Roadmap
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This project targets production-ready Talos clusters on RPi5/CM5 hardware. Key milestones:
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- [x] **Switch to 4K page size** — Aligned with upstream Talos kernel config. Reduces memory overhead and improves workload compatibility (Longhorn, jemalloc, F2FS, etc.).
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- [ ] **Reliable in-place upgrades** — Investigate GRUB-based boot or alternative bootloader strategies to work around the `SetVariableRT` firmware limitation, enabling `talosctl upgrade` on RPi5/CM5.
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- [ ] **Serial console fix** — Debug U-Boot/kernel handoff to restore serial output after EFI stub exit.
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- [ ] **NVMe boot support** — Produce images that target NVMe directly, or document a supported NVMe boot flow.
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## Building
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For local builds, CI/CD setup, runner configuration, and project structure, see [TECHNICAL.md](TECHNICAL.md).
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## License
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This project is licensed under the [Mozilla Public License 2.0](LICENSE).
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It builds upon the following MPL 2.0 licensed upstream projects:
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- [siderolabs/talos](https://github.com/siderolabs/talos) — Talos Linux OS
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- [siderolabs/pkgs](https://github.com/siderolabs/pkgs) — Talos package definitions
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- [talos-rpi5/sbc-raspberrypi5](https://github.com/talos-rpi5/sbc-raspberrypi5) — Raspberry Pi 5 SBC overlay
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Our patches to these projects are in the `patches/` directory and are distributed under the same MPL 2.0 terms.
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