Risc-v Debian Linux Build for LicheeRV dock

 I am a long way from being able to build my own linux system.  A lot of the discussion on the techie telegram forum for Nezha/Allwinner RISC-V has centred on the tasks and software required to get to the stage where linux can boot.  A great article by Andreas entitled Building boot software an Debian from sources for a RISC-V board (Sipeed Lichee RV with D1 processor) does exactly what it say it will.  Even better it contains both detailed instructions for every step and a copy of the final build.  The final product is a good working Linux system (apart from an HDMI issue) with a recent kernel which can be used normally and is updatable.

Initially I followed instructions to create an SD card from software binaries / kernel and a rootfs.  It starts up cleanly.

 A lot of informational messages from the various boot stages are displayed which sheds some light on what is being done during the various boot stages.

"The Long Story" is a detailed list of commands used to build the system, clearly explaining how to do it and showing specific software repositories from which to obtain the components.

  I believe my build environment didn't quite match the author's.  He suggested Debian Bullseye (11) as a starting point with 2GB RAM and 20GB disk.  I tried an RPI, WSL and Debian/AMD64.  I believe I had all the steps working but could not get them all to work on the same machine.  In the end I stopped.  I have the software, I know what was built and and I know how it was built.  So it is a very satisfying achievement.