By an image, we refer to an OS image here, which is a file that contains the OS, your executables, and any data files that might be related to your programs, for use in an embedded system.
You can think of the image as a small “filesystem”; it has a directory structure and some files in it.
The image contains a small directory structure that tells procnto the names and positions of the files contained within it; the image also contains the files themselves. When the embedded system is running, the image can be accessed just like any other read-only filesystem:
# cd /proc/boot # ls .script cat data1 data2 devc-ser8250 esh ls procnto # cat data1 This is a data file, called data1, contained in the image. Note that this is a convenient way of associating data files with your programs.
The above example actually demonstrates two aspects of having the OS image function as a filesystem. When we issue the ls command, the OS loads ls from the image filesystem (pathname /proc/boot/ls). Then, when we issue the cat command, the OS loads cat from the image filesystem as well, and opens the file data1.
You can create an OS image by using mkifs (MaKe Image FileSystem). For more information, see Building Embedded Systems, and mkifs in the Utilities Reference.