Running TimeSlave on QNX#

This manual explains how to configure, build, and run the TimeSlave process on QNX (SDP 8.0.4, x86_64).

Prerequisites#

  • QNX Software Center installed on the build host, with QNX SDP 8.0 deployed.

  • A valid QNX license, placed under /var/tmp/.qnx/license/licenses (the QNX tools hard-code QNX_CONFIGURATION_EXCLUSIVE=/var/tmp/.qnx).

  • Bazel 8.6.0 or later. On first QNX build the toolchain is downloaded automatically (authenticated via the qnx.com credentials above); no additional toolchain setup script is needed.

  • QEMU with KVM support for running the reference integration test (optional, but required for the QEMU-based integration test).

  • Bazel user credentials for qnx.com (used by tools/qnx_credential_helper.py) — set via ~/.netrc or the SCORE_QNX_USER / SCORE_QNX_PASSWORD environment variables.

Configuration#

For general TimeSlave configuration (config file lookup order, JSON schema reference, command-line arguments, PHC configuration, and QNX-specific fields), see the TimeSlave Configuration section.

Build steps#

Build for QNX x86_64#

# Build TimeSlave for QNX x86_64.
# The QNX toolchain is downloaded automatically on first build
# (requires the qnx.com credentials configured above).
bazel build --config=x86_64-qnx //score/time_slave:time_slave

The resulting binary appears under bazel-bin/score/time_slave/src/application/time_slave.

Packaging for deployment#

To produce a deployable layout (/opt/time_slave/bin/ + /opt/time_slave/etc/) use the pkg_application macro defined in score/time_slave/pkg_application.bzl. A typical BUILD snippet:

load("//score/time_slave:pkg_application.bzl", "pkg_application")

pkg_application(
    name = "time_slave-pkg",
    app_name = "time_slave",
    bin = ["//score/time_slave:time_slave"],
    etc = ["//score/time_slave/config/qnx:time_slave_qnx_config.json"],
)

The resulting pkg_filegroup can be fed to pkg_tar (for archive-based deployment), oci_image (for Docker), or qnx_ifs (for inclusion in a QNX IFS image).

Running on QNX#

On a QNX target (or in the QEMU reference integration), copy the binary and config to the conventional locations and run:

# On the QNX target shell:
mkdir -p /opt/time_slave/etc
cp time_slave /opt/time_slave/bin/
cp time_slave_qnx_config.json /opt/time_slave/etc/time_slave_config.json
cd /opt/time_slave
./bin/time_slave --config etc/time_slave_config.json

To use a non-default interface without a config file:

GPTP_IFACE=emac1 ./bin/time_slave

Reference integration test#

A reference integration test is provided at score/time_slave/tests/reference_integration/. It boots a minimal QNX QEMU image containing the TimeSlave binary and a QNX configuration file, starts the process, and verifies that it configures itself correctly, opens the shared-memory channel, and begins publishing gPTP snapshots.

Run it with:

bazel test --config=x86_64-qnx \
    //score/time_slave/tests/reference_integration:time_slave_qnx_ref_integ