[Buildroot] Advice on a board support

[Buildroot] Advice on a board support

[Angelo Compagnucci]

Hi all,

Recently I discovered the OLinuxIno nano board form Olimex and I
really loved every corner of that!

Now I really want to build a rootfs with buildroot, but unfortunately
I discovered the board is not supported.

I really would like to contribute to the buildroot project supporting
this board, but this will be my first contribution. I read several
docs and I have a last question open.

To make this board fully operative, several patches should be applied
to some specific versions of the linux kernel. Patches are ready
available[1] but how integrate them with boildroot?

So my question is: what is the recommended way to support this new platform?

Thank you!


[1] https://github.com/RobertCNelson/armv5_devel/tree/v3.11.x-imxv5/patches

-- 
Profile: http://it.linkedin.com/in/compagnucciangelo

[Buildroot] Advice on a board support

[Thomas Petazzoni]

Dear Angelo Compagnucci,

On Thu, 3 Oct 2013 14:39:14 +0200, Angelo Compagnucci wrote:

> Recently I discovered the OLinuxIno nano board form Olimex and I
> really loved every corner of that!
> 
> Now I really want to build a rootfs with buildroot, but unfortunately
> I discovered the board is not supported.
> 
> I really would like to contribute to the buildroot project supporting
> this board, but this will be my first contribution. I read several
> docs and I have a last question open.
> 
> To make this board fully operative, several patches should be applied
> to some specific versions of the linux kernel. Patches are ready
> available[1] but how integrate them with boildroot?
> 
> So my question is: what is the recommended way to support this new platform?

As explained in
http://buildroot.org/downloads/manual/manual.html#customize-store-board-support,
adding the support for a board in Buildroot is a matter of creating a
minimal working configuration. You can also look at the existing
configurations in Buildroot for other boards.

The Git tree you pointed at is unfortunately not a kernel Git tree
which you can directly point Buildroot at. It's a tree that contains
kernel patches, so Buildroot cannot do much with this. However, since
the number of patches is rather small, you can simply copy them in
Buildroot in board/olimex/<boardname>/, and point Buildroot to this
directory for the kernel patches.

Note that the patches in this tree look a bit weird: there are some
patches for AT91 SOCs, and some other patches for i.MX SOCs.

Another option is to find a real kernel Git tree that works for your
platform. Or even better, the mainline kernel!

Best regards,

Thomas
-- 
Thomas Petazzoni, Free Electrons
Embedded Linux, Kernel and Android engineering
http://free-electrons.com

[Buildroot] Advice on a board support

[Angelo Compagnucci]

Hi Thomas,

Thank you for the promptly reply.

> The Git tree you pointed at is unfortunately not a kernel Git tree
> which you can directly point Buildroot at. It's a tree that contains
> kernel patches, so Buildroot cannot do much with this. However, since
> the number of patches is rather small, you can simply copy them in
> Buildroot in board/olimex/<boardname>/, and point Buildroot to this
> directory for the kernel patches.

Yep. That was the problem. I'm aware of the kernel programming in
general (I have a driver in mainline tree), but cannot understand if
simply copying some spare patches was the way. Probably I should force
the kernel version in the configuration, is this correct?

> Note that the patches in this tree look a bit weird: there are some
> patches for AT91 SOCs, and some other patches for i.MX SOCs.

Yes, it's weird. Probably the best way is to make myself a git kernel
tree with these patches applied.

> Another option is to find a real kernel Git tree that works for your
> platform. Or even better, the mainline kernel!

I don't know why these patches are not in mainline kernel tree,
probably I will look at it better.

Thank you for your time!

Sincerly Angelo.

>
> Best regards,
>
> Thomas
> --
> Thomas Petazzoni, Free Electrons
> Embedded Linux, Kernel and Android engineering
> http://free-electrons.com



-- 
Profile: http://it.linkedin.com/in/compagnucciangelo

[Buildroot] Advice on a board support

[Thomas Petazzoni]

Dear Angelo Compagnucci,

On Thu, 3 Oct 2013 17:15:50 +0200, Angelo Compagnucci wrote:

> > The Git tree you pointed at is unfortunately not a kernel Git tree
> > which you can directly point Buildroot at. It's a tree that contains
> > kernel patches, so Buildroot cannot do much with this. However, since
> > the number of patches is rather small, you can simply copy them in
> > Buildroot in board/olimex/<boardname>/, and point Buildroot to this
> > directory for the kernel patches.
> 
> Yep. That was the problem. I'm aware of the kernel programming in
> general (I have a driver in mainline tree), but cannot understand if
> simply copying some spare patches was the way. Probably I should force
> the kernel version in the configuration, is this correct?

Correct.

> > Note that the patches in this tree look a bit weird: there are some
> > patches for AT91 SOCs, and some other patches for i.MX SOCs.
> 
> Yes, it's weird. Probably the best way is to make myself a git kernel
> tree with these patches applied.

Either that, or even the number of patches is quite small, add them to
board/olimex/<boardname>/ as I suggested above. I believe we don't like
much to have board support that depend on 'personal' Git trees, and
these trees are unlikely to be updated.

Thomas
-- 
Thomas Petazzoni, Free Electrons
Embedded Linux, Kernel and Android engineering
http://free-electrons.com

[Buildroot] Advice on a board support

[François Perrad]

2013/10/3 Angelo Compagnucci <angelo.compagnucci@gmail.com>:
> Hi all,
>
> Recently I discovered the OLinuxIno nano board form Olimex and I
> really loved every corner of that!
>
> Now I really want to build a rootfs with buildroot, but unfortunately
> I discovered the board is not supported.
>

Since BR-2013.08, imx233_olinuxino was added (see
http://git.buildroot.net/buildroot/tree/board/olimex/imx233_olinuxino)
I think that covers MAXI, MINI, MICRO, NANO variants (but not their
A13, A10S, A20 Allwinner based boards)

Fran?ois

> I really would like to contribute to the buildroot project supporting
> this board, but this will be my first contribution. I read several
> docs and I have a last question open.
>
> To make this board fully operative, several patches should be applied
> to some specific versions of the linux kernel. Patches are ready
> available[1] but how integrate them with boildroot?
>
> So my question is: what is the recommended way to support this new platform?
>
> Thank you!
>
>
> [1] https://github.com/RobertCNelson/armv5_devel/tree/v3.11.x-imxv5/patches
>
> --
> Profile: http://it.linkedin.com/in/compagnucciangelo
> _______________________________________________
> buildroot mailing list
> buildroot at busybox.net
> http://lists.busybox.net/mailman/listinfo/buildroot

[Buildroot] Advice on a board support

[Angelo Compagnucci]

Hi Fran?ois,

> Since BR-2013.08, imx233_olinuxino was added (see
> http://git.buildroot.net/buildroot/tree/board/olimex/imx233_olinuxino)
> I think that covers MAXI, MINI, MICRO, NANO variants (but not their
> A13, A10S, A20 Allwinner based boards)

I totally missed that! It's exactly what I'm looking for!

Thanks!