Community build: VyOS Rolling for ARM SBC

Development
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Happy to share that a VyOS Rolling release image is now also available for the Orange Pi 5 Plus.

See my new VyARM Community organization:

With every new VyOS Rolling release, a new build is automatically generated via GitHub Actions for each supported ARM SBC:

  • Radxa ROCK 5B

  • Radxa E52C

  • Raspberry Pi 5

  • Orange Pi 5 Plus

An update channel is also integrated, so future releases can be installed directly from a running VyOS system without having to manually download and reflash complete images.

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Is it still armbian as base or more custom?

Also does the overlayfs stuff (squashfs + persistent directory for each version installed) works the same way with the arm builds as with the x86 builds?

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Not anymore. My current ARM64 board builder has moved away from combining an Armbian kernel and boot chain with VyOS ARM64 userspace and now follows the original VyOS build and image-management model much more closely.

For all four supported boards, I build the kernel from the official Linux stable sources on kernel.org, using the version selected by the corresponding VyOS Rolling source. I apply the VyOS kernel patches, then add the board-specific configuration and hardware patches, along with the required drivers and firmware. The result is a hardware-adapted VyOS kernel, rather than a prebuilt Armbian kernel.

The main differences between boards are their hardware configuration and boot paths:

  • ROCK 5B and Orange Pi 5 Plus: EDK II UEFI and VyOS EFI/GRUB.

  • Raspberry Pi 5: native Raspberry Pi firmware and boot integration.

  • Radxa E52C: board-specific U-Boot/extlinux integration.

Board-support components come from several sources. Some hardware configuration and boot files are Armbian-derived, while additional kernel patches come from upstream Linux development, Linux mailing lists, hardware vendors and my own integration work. For example, the Raspberry Pi 5 firmware provider uses an Armbian-derived image for board-support files; this does not make Armbian the kernel base. The final kernel is built through the common process described above, and the running root filesystem, userspace and configuration system are VyOS.

Regarding OverlayFS: yes, the current images retain the native VyOS SquashFS + OverlayFS model, including separate writable directories for each installed version. Board-specific update ISOs are installed using add system image, alongside the existing image, which remains available as a boot fallback. Configuration can be copied during installation.

I am currently working on optional extensions such as Tailscale/subnet-router integration, KVM over IP, a Chromium kiosk, and display receivers for Miracast, AirPlay, Moonlight and Steam Link. All of these extensions are integrated into the VyOS CLI. Tailscale and KVM over IP run as host services, while the kiosk and receiver applications run in Podman containers, using the host’s hardware drivers. During this work, I identified a few regressions in recent builds, including issues with kernel-dependent packages and profile integration, which I am currently correcting.

I’m not sure whether these additional features would be of interest to you. The standard community images remain focused on routing and networking.

To keep the discussion in one place, I suggest closing the older ROCK 5B thread and Raspberry Pi 4 / 5 thread, with a final message directing readers to the general Community build: VyOS Rolling for ARM SBC thread, which I have just renamed. Further questions, feedback and build discussions for all supported boards could then continue there.

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