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RDK7 Layer Release Introduction

RDK > Raspberry Pi 4 RDK7 Release Notes > image-2025-6-18_14-44-26.png

RDK-7 is based on the new RDK-E layered architecture which can be independently built, tested and delivered.

The different layers in RDKE are Vendor, Middleware and Application. All opensource packages are built separately as part of OSS layer. Each layer can be built separately to provide versioned binaries. Each of these layers contain components necessary to build that layer.

Image Assembler serves as the final build which will consume the binary deliverables from other stack layers - vendor, middleware and application.

The following slides show how components, meta layers and layer manifests are managed in a RDK-E Layer Architecture.

They demonstrate how each of the layers are constructed and how the RDK7 release is TAGGED from the layer manifest repositories.

RDK > Raspberry Pi 4 RDK7 Release Notes > ComponentMetaLayerOverview.png

RDK > Raspberry Pi 4 RDK7 Release Notes > RDK7-ManifestReleaseStructure.png

RDK7 Branch, Tags and Changelog Info

This section provides links to the layer manifests repos and meta layers presented in the previous section.

It also documents TAG and CHANGELOG info for each of the repositories that make up the layer builds.

Layer Manifest and Meta Layers

Manifest Layer Repository	support/rdk7-main Initial TAG	RDK7-1.0.0 TAG	CHANGELOG	Meta Layer Repository	support/rdk7-main Initial TAG	RDK7-1.0.0 TAG	CHANGELOG
vendor-manifest-raspberrypi	4.4.3	RDK7-1.0.0	CHANGELOG.md	meta-vendor-raspberrypi-release	4.4.3	RDK7-1.0.0	CHANGELOG.md
middleware-manifest-rdke	1.1.1	RDK7-1.0.0	CHANGELOG.md	meta-middleware-release-rdke	1.1.1	RDK7-1.0.0	CHANGELOG.md
application-manifest-rdke	4.0.7	RDK7-1.0.0	CHANGELOG.md	meta-application-rdke-release	4.0.7	RDK7-1.0.0	CHANGELOG.md
image-assembler-manifest-rdke	4.1.0	RDK7-1.0.0	CHANGELOG.md	meta-image-assembler-rdke	4.1.0	4.1.2	CHANGELOG.md

Common Meta Layers

The following meta layers are common to all RDKM platforms

Meta Layer	Branch	Initial TAG	RDK7-1.0.0	CHANGELOG
meta-middleware-release-rdke	support/rdk7-main	1.1.1	RDK7-1.0.0	CHANGELOG.md
meta-application-rdke-release	support/rdk7-main	4.0.7	RDK7-1.0.0	CHANGELOG.md
meta-image-assembler-rdke	main	4.1.0	4.1.2	CHANGELOG.md

OSS Layer

The OSS Layer is common across all RDK-M platforms

Meta Layer	RDK7-1.0.0 TAG	CHANGELOG
rdke-oss-manifest	4.6.2-community	CHANGELOG.md

Middleware Layers

The following are the meta and manifest layers that constitute the RDK-E middleware

Repo	Type	Branch	Created From	RDK7-1.0.0 TAG	CHANGELOG
meta-rdk-video	meta-layer	support/1.1.0-community	1.1.0	1.1.2-community	CHANGELOG.md
meta-rdk	meta-layer	support/1.1.0-community	1.1.0	1.1.2-community	CHANGELOG.md
meta-middleware-generic-support	meta-layer	support/1.1.0-community	1.1.0	1.1.2-community	CHANGELOG.md
rdke-middleware-generic-manifest	sub manifest layer	support/1.1.0-community	1.1.0	1.1.3-community	CHANGELOG.md

Application Layers

The Application Dev Layer is common across all RDK-M platforms

Meta Layer	Branch	RDK7-1.0.0 TAG	CHANGELOG
meta-application-rdke-dev	main	4.1.6	CHANGELOG.md

RPI Manifest Layer Breakdown

The following lists the repositories and their versions that are included in each of the RPI Layer Manifests for the RDK7 Release

Repo	Vendor Manifest refs/tags/RDK7-1.0.0	Middleware Manifest refs/tags/RDK7-1.0.0	Application Manifest refs/tags/RDK7-1.0.0	Image Assembler Manifest refs/tags/RDK7-1.0.0
buildscripts	refs/tags/1.0.1	refs/tags/1.0.1	refs/tags/1.0.1	refs/tags/1.0.1
meta-application-rdke-dev			refs/tags/4.1.6
meta-application-rdke-release				refs/tags/RDK7-1.0.0
meta-image-assembler-rdke				refs/tags/4.1.2
meta-middleware-release-rdke			refs/tags/RDK7-1.0.0	refs/tags/RDK7-1.0.0
meta-openembedded	refs/tags/rdk-4.0.0	refs/tags/rdk-4.0.0	refs/tags/rdk-4.0.0	refs/tags/rdk-4.0.0
meta-oss-common-config	refs/tags/1.1.0	refs/tags/1.1.0	refs/tags/1.1.0	refs/tags/1.1.0
meta-oss-reference-release	refs/tags/4.6.2-community	refs/tags/4.6.2-community	refs/tags/4.6.2-community	refs/tags/4.6.2-community
meta-oss-vendor-raspberrypi	refs/tags/4.0.4
meta-product-raspberrypi	refs/tags/4.0.9	refs/tags/4.0.9	refs/tags/4.0.9	refs/tags/4.0.9
meta-python2		refs/tags/rdk-4.0.0
meta-raspberrypi	ab5815a2ca0a460398878f77a7e39bc1a6dfe0bf" upstream="kirkstone
meta-rdk-auxiliary	refs/tags/1.2.0	refs/tags/1.2.0	refs/tags/1.2.0	refs/tags/1.2.0
meta-rdk-halif-headers	refs/tags/1.0.3	refs/tags/1.0.3
meta-rdk-oss-reference	refs/tags/1.2.0	refs/tags/1.2.0	refs/tags/1.2.0	refs/tags/1.2.0
meta-stack-layering-support	refs/tags/1.2.1	refs/tags/1.2.1	refs/tags/1.2.1	refs/tags/1.2.1
meta-vendor-raspberrypi-dev	refs/tags/4.4.6-RDK7
meta-vendor-raspberrypi-release		refs/tags/RDK7-1.0.0	refs/tags/RDK7-1.0.0	refs/tags/RDK7-1.0.0
poky	refs/tags/rdk-4.2.0	refs/tags/rdk-4.2.0	refs/tags/rdk-4.2.0	refs/tags/rdk-4.2.0
rdke-common-config	refs/tags/1.0.4	refs/tags/1.0.4	refs/tags/1.0.4	refs/tags/1.0.4
rdke-middleware-generic-manifest		refs/tags/1.1.3-community
rdke-stb-config	refs/tags/1.0.0	refs/tags/1.0.0	refs/tags/1.0.0	refs/tags/1.0.0

The following tabs demonstrate what is in each of the RPI LAYER manifests:

RDK > Raspberry Pi 4 RDK7 Release Notes > RPI-Vendor-Manifest.png

RDK > Raspberry Pi 4 RDK7 Release Notes > RPI-MW-Manifest.png

RDK > Raspberry Pi 4 RDK7 Release Notes > RPI-App-Manifest.png

RDK > Raspberry Pi 4 RDK7 Release Notes > RPI-IA-Manifest.png

Host Setup & Build Instructions

This slide provides an example of how your build setup might look, the IPK's generated by the Layer Builds need to be stored somewhere where the other layer builds can access them, this may be a local file system, remote mounted filesystem or an artifactory instance. The build instructions explain how to set the IPK paths required for the build.

RDK > Raspberry Pi 4 RDK7 Release Notes > BuildSetup.png

The following tabs document how to setup your host and then build each of the required layers and finally generate a full stack image by building the image assembler layer.

Note each layer depends on the IPK's generated by the previous layer.

For host setup please refer to the following page:

RDK-E Build Environment Host Setup

Note as the RPI is an opensource platform you do not need to create Personal Access Tokens (PAT) or configure your .netrc

Step 1. Building the OSS (open-source) Layer

$ repo init -u https://github.com/rdkcentral/rdke-oss-manifest/ -b refs/tags/4.6.2-community -m rdk-arm.xml
$ repo sync

$ MACHINE=rdk-arm64 source ./scripts/setup-environment

$ bitbake lib32-packagegroup-oss-layer

This produces IPK objects that can be packaged into the OSS IPK feed:

The OSS IPK feed is located in `build-rdk-arm64/tmp/deploy/ipk/rdk-arm64-oss/`
1, Locate the `opkg-make-index` utility that is part of the native built components.

   For OSS layer, this should be located in `build-rdk-arm64/tmp/work/x86_64-linux/opkg-utils-native/0.5.0-r0/git/opkg-make-index`

2, Run the opkg-make-index utility to create the IPK Package index
   ->
   $ ./build-rdk-arm64/tmp/work/x86_64-linux/opkg-utils-native/0.5.0-r0/git/opkg-make-index ./build-rdk-arm64/tmp/deploy/ipk/rdk-arm64-oss/ > ./build-rdk-arm64/tmp/deploy/ipk/rdk-arm64-oss/Packages

3, Compress the package index
   ->
   $ cd build-rdk-arm64/tmp/deploy/ipk/rdk-arm64-oss/
   $ gzip -c9 Packages > Packages.gz
   
4, Copy or rsync the IPK feed into a location in the local file system, e.g.
   ->
   Rsyncing from ./build-rdk-arm64/tmp/deploy/ipk/rdk-arm64-oss/* to ${HOME}/community_shared/rdk-arm64-oss/4.6.2-community/ipk/

OSS layer is a common layer and not platform specific. The above-mentioned configuration is building OSS for arm64 machine and can be reused for any platforms with the same configuration.

Step 2. Building the Vendor Layer

$ repo init -u https://github.com/rdkcentral/vendor-manifest-raspberrypi/ -b refs/tags/RDK7-1.0.0 -m rdke-raspberrypi.xml
$ repo sync

Setup the IPK feed(s)
Please note for local IPK feed in local file system, the "file:/" prefix and the "/" suffix are important.

1, OSS IPK feed

   Modify this file:
   rdke/common/meta-oss-reference-release/conf/machine/include/oss.inc

   and set `OSS_IPK_SERVER_PATH` to the IPK feed location in the local file system, 
   e.g:
   OSS_IPK_SERVER_PATH = "file:/${HOME}/community_shared/rdk-arm64-oss/4.6.2-community/ipk/"

$ MACHINE=raspberrypi4-64-rdke source ./scripts/setup-environment

$ echo 'DEPLOY_IPK_FEED = "1"' >> conf/local.conf

$ bitbake lib32-packagegroup-vendor-layer (to build vendor layer IPK feed for other layers to consume)
OR
$ bitbake lib32-vendor-test-image (wrapper over packagegroup-vendor-layer to compile a bootable vendor layer test image)

At least either one of packagegroup or test-image is required to be successful to produce the IPK feed for the next layer. Ideally both should succeed.

The produced IPK objects that can be found here: ./build-raspberrypi4-64-rdke/tmp/deploy/ipk/raspberrypi4-64-rdke-vendor/

1, Copy or rsync the IPK feed into a location in the local file system, e.g.
   ->
   Rsyncing from ./build-raspberrypi4-64-rdke/tmp/deploy/ipk/raspberrypi4-64-rdke-vendor/* to ${HOME}/community_shared/raspberrypi4-64-rdke-vendor/RDK7-1.0.0/ipk/

Step 3. Building the Middleware Layer

$ repo init -u https://github.com/rdkcentral/middleware-manifest-rdke/ -b refs/tags/RDK7-1.0.0 -m raspberrypi4-64.xml
$ repo sync

Setup the IPK feed(s)
Please note for local IPK feed in local file system, the "file:/" prefix and the "/" suffix are important.

1, OSS IPK feed

   Modify this file:
   rdke/common/meta-oss-reference-release/conf/machine/include/oss.inc

   and set `OSS_IPK_SERVER_PATH` to the IPK feed location in the local file system, 
   e.g. 
   OSS_IPK_SERVER_PATH = "file:/${HOME}/community_shared/rdk-arm64-oss/4.6.2-community/ipk/"

2, Vendor IPK feed

   Modify this file:
   rdke/vendor/meta-vendor-release/conf/machine/include/vendor.inc

   and set `VENDOR_IPK_SERVER_PATH` to the IPK feed location in the local file system, 
   e.g.
   VENDOR_IPK_SERVER_PATH = "file:/${HOME}/community_shared/raspberrypi4-64-rdke-vendor/RDK7-1.0.0/ipk/"

$ MACHINE=raspberrypi4-64-rdke source ./scripts/setup-environment

$ echo 'DEPLOY_IPK_FEED = "1"' >> conf/local.conf

$ bitbake lib32-packagegroup-middleware-layer (to build middleware layer IPK feed for other layers to consume)
OR
$ bitbake lib32-middleware-test-image (wrapper over packagegroup-middleware-layer to compile a bootable middleware layer test image)

At least either one of packagegroup or test-image is required to be successful to produce the IPK feed for the next layer. Ideally both should succeed.

The produced IPK objects that can be packaged into the Middleware IPK feed can be found here: ./build-raspberrypi4-64-rdke/tmp/deploy/ipk/raspberrypi4-64-rdke-middleware/

1, Copy or rsync the IPK feed into a location in the local file system, e.g.
   ->
   Rsyncing from ./build-raspberrypi4-64-rdke/tmp/deploy/ipk/raspberrypi4-64-rdke-middleware/* to ${HOME}/community_shared/raspberrypi4-64-rdke-middleware/RDK7-1.0.0/ipk/

Step 4. Building the Application Layer

$ repo init -u https://github.com/rdkcentral/application-manifest-rdke/ -b refs/tags/RDK7-1.0.0 -m raspberrypi4-64.xml
$ repo sync

Setup the IPK feed(s)
Please note for local IPK feed in local file system, the "file:/" prefix and the "/" suffix are important.

 1, OSS IPK feed

   Modify this file:
   rdke/common/meta-oss-reference-release/conf/machine/include/oss.inc

   and set `OSS_IPK_SERVER_PATH` to the IPK feed location in the local file system, 
   e.g.
   OSS_IPK_SERVER_PATH = "file:/${HOME}/community_shared/rdk-arm64-oss/4.6.2-community/ipk/" 

2, Vendor IPK feed

   Modify this file:
   rdke/vendor/meta-vendor-release/conf/machine/include/vendor.inc

   and set `VENDOR_IPK_SERVER_PATH` to the IPK feed location in the local file system, 
   e.g. 
   VENDOR_IPK_SERVER_PATH = "file:/${HOME}/community_shared/raspberrypi4-64-rdke-vendor/RDK7-1.0.0/ipk/"

3, Middleware IPK feed

   Modify this file:
   rdke/middleware/meta-middleware-release/conf/machine/include/middleware.inc

   and set `MW_IPK_SERVER_PATH` to the IPK feed location in the local file system, 
   e.g. 
   MW_IPK_SERVER_PATH = "file:/${HOME}/community_shared/raspberrypi4-64-rdke-middleware/RDK7-1.0.0/ipk/"

$ MACHINE=raspberrypi4-64-rdke source ./scripts/setup-environment

$ echo 'DEPLOY_IPK_FEED = "1"' >> conf/local.conf

$ bitbake lib32-packagegroup-application-layer (to build application layer IPK feed for other layers to consume)
OR
$ bitbake lib32-application-test-image (wrapper over packagegroup-application-layer to compile a bootable application layer test image)

At least either one of packagegroup or test-image is required to be successful to produce the IPK feed for the next layer. Ideally both should succeed.

The produced IPK objects that can be packaged into the Application IPK feed can be found here: ./build-raspberrypi4-64-rdke/tmp/deploy/ipk/raspberrypi4-64-rdke-application/ 

1, Copy or rsync the IPK feed into a location in the local file system, e.g.
   ->
   Rsyncing from ./build-raspberrypi4-64-rdke/tmp/deploy/ipk/raspberrypi4-64-rdke-application/* to ${HOME}/community_shared/raspberrypi4-64-rdke-application/RDK7-1.0.0/ipk/

Step 5. Building the Image Assembler or Full Stack Image Layer

$ repo init -u https://github.com/rdkcentral/image-assembler-manifest-rdke/ -b refs/tags/RDK7-1.0.0 -m raspberrypi4-64.xml
$ repo sync

Setup the IPK feed(s)
Please note for local IPK feed in local file system, the "file:/" prefix and the "/" suffix are important.

1, OSS IPK feed

   Modify this file:
   rdke/common/meta-oss-reference-release/conf/machine/include/oss.inc

   and set `OSS_IPK_SERVER_PATH` to the IPK feed location in the local file system,
   e.g.
   OSS_IPK_SERVER_PATH = "file:/${HOME}/community_shared/rdk-arm64-oss/4.6.2-community/ipk/" 

2, Vendor IPK feed

   Modify this file:
   rdke/vendor/meta-vendor-release/conf/machine/include/vendor.inc

   and set `VENDOR_IPK_SERVER_PATH` to the IPK feed location in the local file system,
   e.g. 
   VENDOR_IPK_SERVER_PATH = "file:/${HOME}/community_shared/raspberrypi4-64-rdke-vendor/RDK7-1.0.0/ipk/" 

3, Middleware IPK feed

   Modify this file:
   rdke/middleware/meta-middleware-release/conf/machine/include/middleware.inc

   and set `MW_IPK_SERVER_PATH` to the IPK feed location in the local file system,
   e.g. 
   MW_IPK_SERVER_PATH = "file:/${HOME}/community_shared/raspberrypi4-64-rdke-middleware/RDK7-1.0.0/ipk/" 

4, Application IPK feed

   Modify this file:
   rdke/application/meta-application-release/conf/machine/include/application.inc

   and set `APPLICATION_IPK_SERVER_PATH` to the IPK feed location in the local file system, 
   e.g.
   APPLICATION_IPK_SERVER_PATH = "file:/${HOME}/community_shared/raspberrypi4-64-rdke-application/RDK7-1.0.0/ipk/"

$ MACHINE=raspberrypi4-64-rdke source ./scripts/setup-environment

$ bitbake lib32-rdk-fullstack-image (for full stack image)

(Final flash'able image will be present in ./build-raspberrypi4-64-rdke/tmp/deploy/images/raspberrypi4-64-rdke/<imagename>.wic.bz2

Flashing Instructions

The micro SD card should be formatted before writing the RPI image to it.

The minimum SD card size recommended is 8GB. It is preferred to use more (16 or 32 GB) considering the downloadable apps support in RDK. After flashing, remove the SD card and insert it to the Raspberry Pi 4 device' SD card slot.

Option1: Using Linux

Using dd on linux/macOS:

bzcat <IMAGE_NAME>.wic.bz2 | sudo dd of=/dev/sdb bs=4M iflag=fullblock oflag=direct conv=fsync

Option 2: Using Windows

Using balenaEtcher:

To flash the image on an SD card, you will need to download the balenaEtcher application - https://www.balena.io/etcher/

Open the application → Select the image from your download folder → Select the drive containing your SD card → Click “Flash” to copy the image onto the SD card.

RDK > Raspberry Pi 4 RDK7 Release Notes > flash-1.PNG

In some cases, we have seen an error where latest versions of BalenaEtcher gets stuck at 7% flashing:

RDK > Raspberry Pi 4 RDK7 Release Notes > image (4).png

In this case, try downgrading Balena Ether version to 1.18.11

Power on the Raspberry Pi:

TV screen will display the default RDK UI as shown below.

RDK > Raspberry Pi 4 RDK7 Release Notes > RDK_UI.png

To view the Raspberry Pi's IP address(referred as machineIP from now), Go to 'Settings → Network Configuration → Network Info → check for 'IP Address''.

For ssh, we can use ssh root@<ip-address>
For verifying the image details, we can use cat /version.txt command.

License Manifest:

For details of various components and their associated license, please refer to the link below

Test coverage and test reports:

RPI RDK7 test results are available at the following location: Raspberry Pi 4 RDK7 Test Reports

TDK Version used for RDK7 certification is M139 TDK-V Release M139

Known Issues:

Please login with your RDK Wiki credentials to see the JIRA Issues

All the known issues that are part of this release for this platform is available in RDK JIRA at