[Armbian newsletter] - Github Highlights

This week's work centers on kernel and board enablement, CI infrastructure and caching, and user-facing tooling improvements across the imager and configuration utilities.

On the kernel and board front, Rockchip edge moved to 7.1 and mainline was bumped to 7.1-rc7, while the Raspberry Pi 4B legacy target was re-enabled after a brief revert of the BCM2711 kernel bumps. New board support landed for BeagleBadge and TMDS64EVM (AM64x) on the TI platform, the Anbernic RG DS RK3568 handheld as CSC, and the Youyeetoo YY3588 received a mainline DTS rework with ES8388 audio routing. Several long-standing fixes were merged, including a meson64 GPIO can_sleep regression breaking 1-Wire, JMicron JMB582/JMB585 32-bit DMA forcing, and QRB2210 U-Boot load address corrections.

A substantial CI and caching effort introduces a new git_cdn module providing a GitHub caching git+http proxy, an apt-cacher-ng configng module, and multi-arch Docker images for both. GitHub Actions runners now export per-runner apt, ghcr, ccache, and proxy environments from the NetBox registry, with added retry guards, SSH/rsync timeouts, and workspace ownership reconciliation between jobs. The rootfs builder now routes mmdebstrap through APT_PROXY_ADDR when configured.

User-facing changes focus on the Armbian Imager and first-run experience. The imager gained marquee scrolling for long board names, a "Create new profile" shortcut, accurate progress-phase reporting, and surfaced flash write failures in place of blank error screens. The first-login flow now runs automatically on freshly-flashed boards, and armbian-firstrun uses atomic writes for armbianEnv.txt MAC randomization to prevent corruption.

#Armbian #EmbeddedLinux #Rockchip #CICD #SBC

Changes

• Add images for new board and missing images for existing boards. by @jonaswood01 in armbian/armbian.github.io#329
• Add module_aptcacherng: apt-cacher-ng caching proxy. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#935
• add multi-arch git_cdn image build. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/docker-armbian-build#29
• Add new target boards for uefi arm64/x86 edge branch. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#327
• add usbip support to missing current 6.18.y configs. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9971
• add usbip to more kernels. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9973
• arm64: dts: rockchip: yy3588: bind ES8388 codec via es8328 driver. by @SuperKali in armbian/linux-rockchip#499
• armbian-firstrun: use atomic write for armbianEnv.txt MAC randomization. by @mingzhangqun in armbian/build#9937
• ata: ahci: force 32-bit DMA for JMicron JMB582/JMB585. by @HeyMeco in armbian/linux-rockchip#504
• Auto-run first-login on freshly-flashed boards. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/autotests#6
• ayn-thor: fix fused kernel args in LinuxLoader.cfg cmdline, add rw rootwait. by @eldandaman in armbian/build#9969
• bcm2711: bump kernels — legacy 6.18, current 7.0, edge 7.1. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9964
• board: add Anbernic RG DS (RK3568 dual 4" 640x480 handheld) as CSC. by @crackerjacques in armbian/build#9934
• bootscript: rk35xx: simplify armbianEnv.txt corruption detection. by @mingzhangqun in armbian/build#9953
• bump mainline to 7.1-rc7. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9950
• ci: build current apt-cacher-ng image (trixie/3.7.x). by @igorpecovnik in armbian/docker-armbian-build#28
• ci: cache GitHub runners from NetBox to github-runners.jq. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#328
• docs(git_cdn): add GCDN001 help header/footer markdown. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#939
• docs: document gitproxy GITHUB_MIRROR and GITPROXY_ADDRESS. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/documentation#925
• feat(boards): scroll long board names with marquee. by @SuperKali in armbian/imager#146
• feat(flash): show only the progress phases that will actually run. by @SuperKali in armbian/imager#148
• feat(profiles): add "Create new profile" shortcut to the flash picker. by @SuperKali in armbian/imager#147
• Fix auto-firstlogin in CI: ssh-dut 1234 fallback + reconcile trigger. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/autotests#7
• fix(extensions/lvm): Fix support for non-ext filesystems. by @ojafuenf in armbian/build#9889
• fix(interactive): parse case alternatives in get_kernel_info_for_branch. by @iav in armbian/build#9798
• fix(mvebu-6.18): drop SysRq-via-BREAK patch, fixed upstream in 6.18.35. by @iav in armbian/build#9958
• fix(rockchip64-7.0): drop SysRq-via-BREAK patch, fixed upstream in 7.0.12. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9956
• fix(rootfs/qemu-static): use direct armhf exec probe instead of broken arch-test gate. by @iav in armbian/build#9820
• fix(ui): keep marquee text aligned while scrolling. by @SuperKali in armbian/imager#149
• Fix: EasePi-A2 Boot & Ethernet on Vendor Kernel. by @ifroncy01 in armbian/build#9946
• gha/chunks: export per-runner apt/ghcr/ccache env from runner registry. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/os#471
• gha/chunks: export per-runner caches in images job. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/os#472
• gha: add retry and empty-result guard to NetBox server list step. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/os#469
• gha: add ssh/rsync timeouts to image upload so dead servers fail fast. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/os#473
• image/compress-checksum: cap compression threads (default 32). by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9949
• meson64: fix GPIO can_sleep regression that breaks w1-gpio (1-Wire). by @adeepn in armbian/build#9959
• module_aptcacherng: use current ghcr.io/armbian image. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#937
• orangepi4pro: Add Orange Pi 4 Pro board photo. by @shkolnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#330
• qrb2210: fix U-Boot load addresses and root partition for 2GB variant. by @govindsi in armbian/build#9925
• README: document full image catalog (framework, automation, caching proxies). by @igorpecovnik in armbian/docker-armbian-build#31
• Revert "bcm2711: bump kernels — legacy 6.18, current 7.0, edge 7.1". by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9965
• rk35: add rk3568 DDR 1056MHz v1.23 and BL31 v1.45. by @crackerjacques in armbian/rkbin#45
• rockchip: bump edge kernel to 7.1. by @paolosabatino in armbian/build#9955
• rootfs: route mmdebstrap through APT_PROXY_ADDR when set. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/build#9961
• rpi4b: re-enable legacy target. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9968
• rtl8192eu: fix -Wmissing-prototypes for 121 functions. by @iav in armbian/build#9963
• runner-clean: export per-runner proxy env and route git via git_cdn. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/actions#20
• runner-clean: export per-runner xz memory cap (IMAGE_XZ_MEMLIMIT). by @igorpecovnik in armbian/actions#22
• runner-clean: normalize git_proxy to one trailing slash. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/actions#21
• runner-clean: selectively chown root-owned workspace files before checkout. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/actions#23
• runner-cleanup: chown workspace after each job via JOB_COMPLETED hook. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#944
• runner-cleanup: give job-completed hook a .sh extension. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#945
• runner-cleanup: keep Armbian build images, stop wiping build cache hourly. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#943
• runners: derive host from github_label custom field. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/armbian.github.io#331
• runners: make remove work via --api with named params and a range. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#942
• software: add git_cdn module (GitHub caching git+http proxy). by @igorpecovnik in armbian/configng#938
• sunxi: patch maint. by @EvilOlaf in armbian/build#9957
• Surface flash write failures instead of a blank error screen. by @SuperKali in armbian/imager#150
• ti: configs: boards: Add initial BeagleBadge board support. by @jonaswood01 in armbian/build#9935
• ti: configs: boards: Add TMDS64EVM (AM64x SoC) board support. by @jonaswood01 in armbian/build#9962
• uwe5622: fix -Wmissing-prototypes warnings (155 -> 2). by @iav in armbian/build#9970
• Wifi: enable, connect every board, and record interfaces + IPs in NetBox. by @igorpecovnik in armbian/autotests#9
• youyeetoo-yy3588: rework DTS for mainline and switch audio to ES8388. by @SuperKali in armbian/build#9960

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