Method of updating root file system under open-sourced operating system

Abstract

A root file system update method, applied to an electronic device with an OS, includes: receiving an image file when updating the root file system of the OS, wherein the root file system is a read-only file created with Squashfs, and the image file records the updated root file system; replacing the root file system of the electronic device with the updated root file system; reading synchronization settings, wherein the OS mounts Overlayfs to stack the root file system and a read-write disk partition, the disk partition having packages installed, and the synchronization settings recording the status of the packages; synchronizing or reinstalling the packages in the disk partition according to the synchronization settings; remounting Overlayfs by the operating system to stack the updated root file system and the synchronized disk partition; and generating a union layer by Overlayfs based on the stacking result and displaying it on the OS.

Claims

1. A root file system update method under an open-source operating system, applied to an electronic device having an operating system (OS) that uses a file system (FS) having a root file system (rootfs), and the root file system update method comprising: Step a) During the update, the electronic device receives a firmware image file, wherein the root file system is a read-only file created in Squashfs format. The firmware image file includes at least one Squashfs image file containing the updated root file system. The electronic device compares the differences between the original root file system and the updated root file system and generates an update mapping table. Step b) The electronic device directly replaces its own root file system with the updated root file system from the Squashfs image file. Step c) The electronic device reads synchronization settings, wherein the operating system mounts Overlayfs to stack the read-only root file system and a writable disk partition. The disk partition has at least one package installed via OPKG Package Manager. The synchronization settings record the status of the at least one package and the update mapping table. Step d) The electronic device, referring to the status in the synchronization settings and the update correspondence table, synchronizes or reinstalls the at least one component in the disk partition to adjust the at least one component to eliminate the conflict between the at least one component and the updated root file system; step e) the operating system remounts the Overlayfs to stack the updated root file system and the synchronized disk partition; and step f) the Overlayfs generates a union layer based on the stacking result and displays it on the operating system.

2. The root file system update method under the open source operating system as described in claim 1, wherein when the electronic device installs the at least one package through the OPKG package manager, the installation directory of the at least one package is directed to a specific subdirectory of the disk partition.

3. The root file system update method under the open source operating system as described in claim 2, wherein when the electronic device installs the at least one package in the OPKG package manager, it stores an installation history and a file snapshot of the at least one package as the state of the at least one package.

4. The root file system update method under the open source operating system as described in claim 3, wherein the state of the at least one suite includes at least one of a suite list, a suite version, and a hash value generated based on the data of the suite.

5. The root file system update method under the open-source operating system as described in claim 1, wherein step b) further includes synchronizing at least one file in the disk partition by the electronic device according to the synchronization settings, wherein the synchronization settings include a patch file of the at least one file.

6. The root file system update method under the open source operating system as described in claim 1, wherein step a) further includes a step a0): initiating an over-the-air (OTA) procedure on the electronic device.

7. The root file system update method under the open-source operating system described in Request 1, wherein the operating system is a Linux operating system.

8. The root file system update method under the open-source operating system as described in claim 1, wherein the electronic device is an edge device, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, or a router.

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