Developing And Remote Debugging Python App On Yocto Linux Build

This tutorial uses PyCharm as the IDE.

Adding Python, SSH and sudo To The Linux Image

First, you will need to make sure all the right stuff is installed on the Linux image you build using Yocto. We wiTo do this, add the following line to your build/conf/local.conf file:

IMAGE_INSTALL_append = " python-modules"
IMAGE_INSTALL_append = " sudo"
EXTRA_IMAGE_FEATURES += " ssh-server-openssh "

Then use the bitbake ... command to re-build your image, load it up on your embedded device, and make sure than python is installed by running the command:

python -version

Add Password To Root User

While you are still logged into the embedded device, set up a password for root. PyCharm requires a password, otherwise it gets a little buggy further down the track. To do this, use the command:

passwd root

Enter a password in at the prompt.

Setup Deployment In PyCharm

In PyCharm, click Tools->Deployment->Configuration. Click the + to create a new deployment entry.

Set the type to SFTP. Set the SFTP host to the IP address of your embedded device (you can use ifconfig on the embedded device to find out what it’s IP address is). Enter in the embedded device’s username and password (username is typically root, password is whatever you set above).

Click “Autodetect” to find out what the root path should be. On my embedded device, the root path was /home/root.

Add Remote Interpreter To PyCharm

Now we need to setup PyCharm. Create a new project called helloworld for testing purposes. Click File->Settings->Project: helloworld->Project Interpreter.

Since we setup the deployment first, PyCharm should recognize that Python is installed on the embedded device and provide it’s interpreter as an option.