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Utility Snaps

Utility snaps are used to manage the system or update other platform/application snaps.  In some cases they can be used to package boot collateral so that it is compatible with the Certified Ubuntu on Xilinx Devices boot process. An example of this type of snap is xlnx-config. Other utility snaps could be created to perform other system housekeeping tasks.

Platform Snaps

A platform snap includes all or a subset of the boot artifacts needed to create a valid boot image (i.e., BOOT.BIN).  Optionally, a platform snap can also include applications or scripts that are designed to work with the included hardware platform.  Platform snaps include the relevant meta-data that allows them to be managed by the xlnx-config utility snap.  Platform snaps also includes a bootgen.bif file used by the BootGen utility to create the BOOT.BIN file. The syntax of a .bif file is detailed in the BootGen User Guide (UG1283).

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For more information about creating and packaging a platform snap, please visit the xlnx-config developer page.

Application Snaps

Application snaps are the most traditional snap type defined by Xilinx. These snaps provide applications that run on top of the hardware configuration present in the currently active platform. Application snaps do not provide any boot or hardware assets on their own. Application snaps may or may not have dependencies on a particular platform snap.  Some application snaps may be generally applicable to all hardware configurations (ex: a simple hello_world application). Others may have direct dependencies on the activated hardware configuration, such as the xlnx-vai-lib-samples snap.

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