OTA and Firmware Releases

Where to Find the Version

Location	Value	Description
Board configuration RK_OTA_VERSION	V1.0.10	Written to /etc/ota_version in the rootfs during packaging
Archive name	recamera-pro-sdk-v1.0.10	Distribution package name
Device /etc/ota_version	Same as above	Version reported at runtime
Device /bin/sdkinfo	Build Time / SDK Version / BoardConfig	Generated by build.sh during packaging
project/cfg/BoardConfig_Recamera2/RECAMERA2-IPC-RELEASE-NOTES.md	Change log	Currently contains only v0.0.1 - init; keep it up to date

Check the version on the device:

# cat /etc/ota_version
# /bin/sdkinfo

/bin/sdkinfo output looks like this:

#!/bin/sh
echo Build Time:  2026-08-28-09:28:00
echo SDK Version: NONE
echo SDK BoardConfig: BoardConfig-EMMC-RK801-RV1126B_V1-IPC_64BIT.mk

The current source snapshot does not include .repo/, so SDK Version in sdkinfo may show NONE. See Source Review and Known Issues for the source-based explanation. Verify the device version using both /etc/ota_version and the build record.

For each release, update both RK_OTA_VERSION in the board configuration and RECAMERA2-IPC-RELEASE-NOTES.md.

OTA Mechanism

Related Configuration

export RK_ENABLE_RECOVERY=y
export RK_MISC=recovery-misc.img
export RK_OTA_RESOURCE="boot.img rootfs.img"
export RK_ENABLE_OTA=y          # Comment: Used for set/get factory reset flag

OTA therefore updates only the boot and rootfs partitions. It does not update U-Boot, idblock, env, or userdata. This is intentional: bootloader and partition-table updates carry more risk, and user data must be preserved.

Create an OTA Package

./build.sh all        # First create boot.img and rootfs.img under output/image/
./build.sh ota
ls -lh output/image/update_ota.tar

Package Contents and Update Script

build_ota() generates RK_OTA_update.sh and packs it with the images into update_ota.tar using tar -cvhf (note that -h follows symbolic links). The eMMC branch of the script is:

#!/bin/sh
set -e
COMMON_DIR=`dirname $(realpath $0)`
TOP_DIR=$(realpath $COMMON_DIR/../..)
cd $TOP_DIR
echo "Start to write partitions"
for image in $(ls /dev/block/by-name)
do
    if [ -f $COMMON_DIR/${image}.img ]; then
        echo "Writing $image..."
        dd if=$COMMON_DIR/${image}.img of=/dev/block/by-name/$image || exit 1
    fi
done
echo "Erase misc partition"
dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/block/by-name/misc bs=32 count=1 seek=512 || exit 2

Key points:

• The script iterates over every partition under /dev/block/by-name/ and writes a partition if the archive contains an image with the same name. Add an image to RK_OTA_RESOURCE to include it in the OTA package; the script itself does not need to change.
• It clears the flag in the misc partition at the end (offset 512 blocks of 32 bytes), so the next boot does not enter recovery again.
• With RK_ENABLE_RECOVERY=y, the script is packaged using -C $OTA_SCRIPT_PATH RK_OTA_update.sh.
• NAND media use a different branch with flash_eraseall + nandwrite -p. This board uses eMMC, so that branch does not apply.

OTA Flow (Conceptual)

Application downloads update_ota.tar → extracts it to a directory
        ↓
Write the recovery flag to the misc partition (RK_ENABLE_OTA provides set/get factory-reset flag interfaces)
        ↓
Reboot → U-Boot reads misc → enters recovery
        ↓
Recovery runs RK_OTA_update.sh → writes boot/rootfs with dd → clears the misc flag
        ↓
Reboot into the new system → verify with cat /etc/ota_version

Build the recovery image separately with ./build.sh recovery (RK_KERNEL_RECOVERY_DEFCONFIG=rv1126b_ipc_defconfig plus the rv1126b-recovery.config fragment); the ramdisk content is under output/out/ramdisk/.

The upper-layer application code that triggers recovery and OTA is in recamera_ipc / recamera_services (the Web UI's “Firmware Update” and “Factory Reset” actions). This page covers only SDK-side packaging. The specific API calls still need to be verified on a device.

Factory Reset

The comment for RK_ENABLE_OTA=y says that it provides set/get factory reset flag functions. In practice, a factory reset writes a flag to misc and clears or recreates userdata. User data resides under /userdata, including /userdata/config/rkipc.ini, /userdata/config/system/login_lock.json, and eth0_dns_mode; a factory reset resets these settings.

Full Firmware Image

./build.sh updateimg     # Package all partition images as output/image/update.img
./build.sh unpackimg     # Extract update.img

Use update.img with:

sudo tools/linux/Linux_Upgrade_Tool/upgrade_tool uf output/image/update.img

./rkflash.sh update does not work because that branch is commented out in the script. Use upgrade_tool uf directly.

Factory Image

./build.sh factory
ls output/image/factory/

This internally invokes tools/linux/SocToolKit/bin/linux/programmer_image_tool -i output/image/update.img -o output/image/factory/ -t emmc. The image type is determined by RK_BOOT_MEDIUM. NAND media use -b <blockKB> -p <pageKB> [-s <oobB>]; override the defaults (0x20000 / 2048 / 128) with RK_NAND_BLOCK_SIZE, RK_NAND_PAGE_SIZE, and RK_NAND_OOB_SIZE.

Release Archives: save / allsave

./build.sh save          # Create an archive
./build.sh save xml      # Generate only the repo manifest XML, then exit
./build.sh allsave       # all + save; default when ./build.sh is run without arguments

build_save() constructs the archive path and converts it to uppercase:

IMAGE/<application-scenario>_<boot-medium>_<power-scheme>_<hardware-version>_<YYYYMMDD.HHMM>_RELEASE_TEST/

For this board configuration, the path looks like:

IMAGE/IPC_64BIT_EMMC_RK801_RV1126B_V1_20260828.0928_RELEASE_TEST/
├── IMAGES/                        # All contents of output/image/
├── PATCHES/                       # Patches and repo information (__GET_REPO_INFO)
├── DEBUG_FILES/
│   ├── kernel/vmlinux.tar.bz2     # Unstripped kernel for crash analysis
│   ├── media_out.tar.bz2          # Complete media outputs
│   ├── app_out.tar                # Complete application outputs
│   └── uboot/uboot.debug.tar.bz2
└── build_info.txt                 # BUILD-ID: <hostname>:<user> + build_info output

build_save() uppercases the archive path, so the directory is named IMAGE/, as shown in the SDK quick-start guide.

The suffix is always _RELEASE_TEST, even for an actual production release. To distinguish production and test builds, rename the archive or record the status in build_info.txt.

DEBUG_FILES are essential for investigating field issues. Keep the archive for every external release, especially vmlinux, which is required to decode kernel panic call stacks.

Record Build Information and Configuration

./build.sh info prints:

• The real path of the current BOARD_CONFIG
• All non-empty RK_* environment variables, sorted
• make info output from the sysdrv, media, and app component SDKs
• Power-domain check results (build_check_power_domain)

Attach this output to the release record to avoid later guesswork about how the firmware was built.

./build.sh info > release_info_$(date +%Y%m%d).txt 2>&1

build_info() also tries to link or copy project/cfg/BoardConfig_Recamera2/RK-RELEASE-NOTES-Recamera2.txt to the SDK root if that file exists. The current file is named RECAMERA2-IPC-RELEASE-NOTES.md, which does not match the RK-RELEASE-NOTES-<board-name>.txt pattern the script searches for, so it will not be promoted automatically. The root-level RECAMERA2-IPC-RELEASE-NOTES.md is a symbolic link to it.

Release Checklist

Before the Build

• Sync git / internal repositories to the target tag and confirm the working tree is clean.
• Update RK_OTA_VERSION in the board configuration.
• Update RECAMERA2-IPC-RELEASE-NOTES.md with this release's changes (it currently contains only v0.0.1 - init; keep it maintained).
• Run ./build.sh lunch and select BoardConfig_Recamera2/BoardConfig-EMMC-RK801-RV1126B_V1-IPC_64BIT.mk.
• Run ./setup_build_env.sh --check; confirm that no tools are missing.

Build

• Run ./build.sh clean when switching versions or board configurations.
• Run ./build.sh allsave and keep the build log.
• Verify that boot.img is smaller than 11 M and rootfs.img is smaller than 3 G under output/image/.
• Confirm that IMAGE/.../build_info.txt was generated.

Verify

• Flash a clean board with sudo ./rkflash.sh all and confirm that it boots to the banner.
• Confirm the BoardConfig name in /bin/sdkinfo and verify that cat /etc/ota_version matches the new version.
• Video: confirm that the Web UI displays video and go2rtc WebRTC on :8555 can receive a stream.
• AI inference: confirm that the NPU model loads and recamera_notify receives and forwards events.
• Audio: verify that ai_debug can record four channels and the speaker outputs audio.
• OTA: upgrade from the previous release using update_ota.tar and confirm that /userdata configuration is preserved.
• Factory reset: confirm that the device returns to its default configuration.
• Stability: run relevant stress tests under media/samples/example/test/ and recamera_utils/stress_test/.
• Watchdog: confirm that a long-running test does not trigger a reset (S15watchdog, 30-second timeout).

Archive

• Upload the entire IMAGE/ directory, including DEBUG_FILES/, to the internal artifact repository.
• Record update.img, update_ota.tar, the version, and SHA-256 together.
• Attach the output of ./build.sh info to the release record.

Command Quick Reference

Command	Output
./build.sh firmware	Partition images under output/image/
./build.sh updateimg	output/image/update.img
./build.sh ota	output/image/update_ota.tar
./build.sh factory	output/image/factory/
./build.sh recovery	output/image/recovery.img
./build.sh save	IMAGE/<...>_RELEASE_TEST/
./build.sh info	Print current configuration; does not write a file
./build.sh unpackimg	Extract update.img

Related Documents

• docs/en/Rockchip_User_Guide_SDK_Application_And_Synchronization_EN.pdf: SDK application and synchronization (request SDK updates from Rockchip)
• docs/en/Rockchip_User_Guide_Bug_System_EN.pdf: file issues with Rockchip
• docs/zh/ipc/Rockchip_RV1126B_Linux_IPC_SDK_Release_V1.0.0_20250620_CN.pdf: upstream SDK release notes
• project/cfg/BoardConfig_IPC/RK-RELEASE-NOTES-IPC.txt: release-note format for the Rockchip IPC reference board; use it as a template for maintaining RECAMERA2-IPC-RELEASE-NOTES.md

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