Run an Application

The kernel’s built-in simulator is QEMU. It creates an environment where you can run and test an application virtually, before (or in lieu of) loading and running it on actual target hardware.

Procedures

Running an Application using QEMU

Run your application in QEMU for testing and demonstration purposes.

Prerequisites

  • You must have already generated a .elf image file for a QEMU-supported board configuration, such as qemu_cortex_m3 or qemu_x86.
  • The environment variable must be set for each console terminal using Common Procedures.

Steps

  1. Open a terminal console and navigate to the application directory ~/appDir.
  2. Enter the following command to build and run an application in QEMU:
$ make qemu

The application begins running in the terminal console.

  1. Press Ctrl A, X to stop the application from running in QEMU.
The application stops running and the terminal console prompt redisplays.

Loading and Running an Application on Target Hardware

An application image is loaded on the target based on functionality available on the hardware device. Loading instructions are often unique to the particular target board. For this reason, loading instructions reside with the board-specific documentation.

For more information see Supported Boards.