Re: Kernel and u-boot version selection in meta-rockchip

Re: Kernel and u-boot version selection in meta-rockchip

[Trevor Woerner]

Hi Taoran,

On Mon 2025-03-10 @ 11:10:31 AM, 刘陶然 wrote:
> Hi Trevor,
> I'm trying to build the scarthgap branch for meta-rockchip and got errors
> in kernel and u-boot.
> I noticed it is because of the receipts in the branch. Just like
> https://git.yoctoproject.org/meta-rockchip/tree/recipes-kernel/linux/linux-torvalds-next_git.bb?h=scarthgap
> 
> it's using next-20240904 from linux-torvalds-next
> <https://git.yoctoproject.org/meta-rockchip/tree/recipes-kernel/linux/linux-torvalds-next_git.bb?h=scarthgap>,
> but the branches in this repository are expired very frequently.
> 
> For the LTS version like scarthgap, when the version is frozen, it should
> be set to stable(better to be LTS) versions of kernel and u-boot, isn't it?

Yes it should, and it does... when it can.

Yocto scarthgap is based on linux-6.6.y. All of the machines in
meta-rockchip's scarthgap branch use oe-core's linux-yocto_6.6, except the
radxa zero 3 machines and the orangepi-5-plus. The reason for this is because
linux-6.6.y does not support these devices.

oe-core scarthgap also provides a linux-yocto-dev kernel based on linux-6.9.y.
This supports the orangepi-5-plus machine (so this machine uses that kernel in
scarthgap) but linux-6.9.y still does not have support for the radxa zero 3
devices.

Yocto master currently supports linux-6.12.y with linux-yocto and linux-6.14.y
with linux-yocto-dev. linux-6.12.y supports both the radxa zero 3 devices and
the orangepi-5-plus (which reminds me, I should update those machines since
they're still using linux-yocto-dev).

So I assume you're probably using scarthgap to build for a radxa zero 3
device since your comments are only true for that device. During the
time-frame of scarthgap I was eager to be able to build for the radxa zero 3
since I had one and wanted to use it for a project. So I had to pull in what
was (at that time) very experimental code to get it to work.

I could back-port oe-core master's linux-yocto to scarthgap in order to
support the radxa zero 3 in a more stable way. But perhaps a better solution
would be to remove radxa zero 3 support from scarthgap and simply ask that
master be used for this device.

Thoughts?

Best regards,
	Trevor

Re: [yocto-patches] Kernel and u-boot version selection in meta-rockchip

[Khem Raj]

On Mon, Mar 10, 2025 at 8:47 AM Trevor Woerner via
lists.yoctoproject.org <twoerner=gmail.com@lists.yoctoproject.org>
wrote:
>
> Hi Taoran,
>
> On Mon 2025-03-10 @ 11:10:31 AM, 刘陶然 wrote:
> > Hi Trevor,
> > I'm trying to build the scarthgap branch for meta-rockchip and got errors
> > in kernel and u-boot.
> > I noticed it is because of the receipts in the branch. Just like
> > https://git.yoctoproject.org/meta-rockchip/tree/recipes-kernel/linux/linux-torvalds-next_git.bb?h=scarthgap
> >
> > it's using next-20240904 from linux-torvalds-next
> > <https://git.yoctoproject.org/meta-rockchip/tree/recipes-kernel/linux/linux-torvalds-next_git.bb?h=scarthgap>,
> > but the branches in this repository are expired very frequently.
> >
> > For the LTS version like scarthgap, when the version is frozen, it should
> > be set to stable(better to be LTS) versions of kernel and u-boot, isn't it?
>
> Yes it should, and it does... when it can.
>
> Yocto scarthgap is based on linux-6.6.y. All of the machines in
> meta-rockchip's scarthgap branch use oe-core's linux-yocto_6.6, except the
> radxa zero 3 machines and the orangepi-5-plus. The reason for this is because
> linux-6.6.y does not support these devices.
>
> oe-core scarthgap also provides a linux-yocto-dev kernel based on linux-6.9.y.
> This supports the orangepi-5-plus machine (so this machine uses that kernel in
> scarthgap) but linux-6.9.y still does not have support for the radxa zero 3
> devices.
>
> Yocto master currently supports linux-6.12.y with linux-yocto and linux-6.14.y
> with linux-yocto-dev. linux-6.12.y supports both the radxa zero 3 devices and
> the orangepi-5-plus (which reminds me, I should update those machines since
> they're still using linux-yocto-dev).
>
> So I assume you're probably using scarthgap to build for a radxa zero 3
> device since your comments are only true for that device. During the
> time-frame of scarthgap I was eager to be able to build for the radxa zero 3
> since I had one and wanted to use it for a project. So I had to pull in what
> was (at that time) very experimental code to get it to work.

I think it would be nice to mark which machines are stable/mature vs
experimental
at the time this could convey the message, as the releases are frozen
in time this
problem is bound to happen.

>
> I could back-port oe-core master's linux-yocto to scarthgap in order to
> support the radxa zero 3 in a more stable way. But perhaps a better solution
> would be to remove radxa zero 3 support from scarthgap and simply ask that
> master be used for this device.
>
> Thoughts?

If you want to stay close to stable policies then yes, but BSP layers have taken
kernel roadmap as it fits the given family of SOCs so I would not discourage you
from considering backport if there is a need for it in the given BSP
layer community.

>
> Best regards,
>         Trevor
>
>
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Re: [yocto-patches] Kernel and u-boot version selection in meta-rockchip

[Quentin Schulz]

Hi Trevor, Khem,

On 3/10/25 11:07 PM, Khem Raj via lists.yoctoproject.org wrote:
> On Mon, Mar 10, 2025 at 8:47 AM Trevor Woerner via
> lists.yoctoproject.org <twoerner=gmail.com@lists.yoctoproject.org>
> wrote:
>>
>> Hi Taoran,
>>
>> On Mon 2025-03-10 @ 11:10:31 AM, 刘陶然 wrote:
>>> Hi Trevor,
>>> I'm trying to build the scarthgap branch for meta-rockchip and got errors
>>> in kernel and u-boot.
>>> I noticed it is because of the receipts in the branch. Just like
>>> https://git.yoctoproject.org/meta-rockchip/tree/recipes-kernel/linux/linux-torvalds-next_git.bb?h=scarthgap
>>>
>>> it's using next-20240904 from linux-torvalds-next
>>> <https://git.yoctoproject.org/meta-rockchip/tree/recipes-kernel/linux/linux-torvalds-next_git.bb?h=scarthgap>,
>>> but the branches in this repository are expired very frequently.
>>>
>>> For the LTS version like scarthgap, when the version is frozen, it should
>>> be set to stable(better to be LTS) versions of kernel and u-boot, isn't it?
>>
>> Yes it should, and it does... when it can.
>>
>> Yocto scarthgap is based on linux-6.6.y. All of the machines in
>> meta-rockchip's scarthgap branch use oe-core's linux-yocto_6.6, except the
>> radxa zero 3 machines and the orangepi-5-plus. The reason for this is because
>> linux-6.6.y does not support these devices.
>>
>> oe-core scarthgap also provides a linux-yocto-dev kernel based on linux-6.9.y.
>> This supports the orangepi-5-plus machine (so this machine uses that kernel in
>> scarthgap) but linux-6.9.y still does not have support for the radxa zero 3
>> devices.
>>
>> Yocto master currently supports linux-6.12.y with linux-yocto and linux-6.14.y
>> with linux-yocto-dev. linux-6.12.y supports both the radxa zero 3 devices and
>> the orangepi-5-plus (which reminds me, I should update those machines since
>> they're still using linux-yocto-dev).
>>
>> So I assume you're probably using scarthgap to build for a radxa zero 3
>> device since your comments are only true for that device. During the
>> time-frame of scarthgap I was eager to be able to build for the radxa zero 3
>> since I had one and wanted to use it for a project. So I had to pull in what
>> was (at that time) very experimental code to get it to work.
> 
> I think it would be nice to mark which machines are stable/mature vs
> experimental
> at the time this could convey the message, as the releases are frozen
> in time this
> problem is bound to happen.
> 
>>
>> I could back-port oe-core master's linux-yocto to scarthgap in order to
>> support the radxa zero 3 in a more stable way. But perhaps a better solution
>> would be to remove radxa zero 3 support from scarthgap and simply ask that
>> master be used for this device.
>>
>> Thoughts?
> 
> If you want to stay close to stable policies then yes, but BSP layers have taken
> kernel roadmap as it fits the given family of SOCs so I would not discourage you
> from considering backport if there is a need for it in the given BSP
> layer community.
> 

Considering we also have a very custom U-Boot for that board, I would 
simply recommend dropping support for it entirely from the scarthgap 
branch? Haven't checked styhead, but maybe from that one as well?

Support for that board was added before we could use fully upstream 
recipes, so I guess it's bound to happen again for other boards (e.g. 
RK3576-based). Therefore I guess Khem's suggestion of listing the state 
of support for boards would be nice indeed. Essentially, anything that 
cannot use the upstream recipes (kernel, u-boot, ...) with the upstream 
source code with a couple of patches should be deemed 
"early/alpha/unstable support" and once upstream OE-Core has recipes 
that can be used with the aforementioned limitation, list it in the 
"supported" section or something like that. It'd probably be nice to say 
what we mean by "supported", I don't know exactly what and how you are 
testing so keeping people's expectations in check with the meta-rockchip 
layer would be nice.

Cheers,
Quentin