[Buildroot] Buildroot with a custom kernel

[Buildroot] Buildroot with a custom kernel

[Alex Rades]

Hi folks,
I'm using today's svn version and I'd like to build with a custom
2.6.15 tree which i have here. I don't understand if this is possible
or what do i have to modify in order to do it. The doc says basically
it isn't possible but seems not completely up to date for this topic.

Thank you

[Buildroot] Buildroot with a custom kernel

[Christopher Taylor]

Two options that I'm aware of:

1) start muckiung with the makefile's etc to get it to work
2) tarball up your custom kernel and place it in the dl dir.  Make
sure you name is according to what you have in your buildroot config
for the kernel version.  BR will then assume you've already dl'ed the
kernel and use your version.


HTH,
Chris

On Tue, Sep 23, 2008 at 11:56 AM, Alex Rades <alerades@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi folks,
> I'm using today's svn version and I'd like to build with a custom
> 2.6.15 tree which i have here. I don't understand if this is possible
> or what do i have to modify in order to do it. The doc says basically
> it isn't possible but seems not completely up to date for this topic.
>
> Thank you
> _______________________________________________
> buildroot mailing list
> buildroot at uclibc.org
> http://busybox.net/mailman/listinfo/buildroot
>

[Buildroot] Buildroot with a custom kernel

[Bussmann, Paul]

> 2) tarball up your custom kernel and place it in the dl dir.  Make
> sure you name is according to what you have in your buildroot config
> for the kernel version.  BR will then assume you've already dl'ed the
> kernel and use your version.

I already tried this with 2.6.17 on ARM. Resulting in everything _looked_ fine at first but my board instantly rebooted when I tried to use TCP stuff. It is indeed related to BR's toolchain, because if I use the manufacture's (Ka-Ro) toolchain to compile the kernel, it works.
So I asked on this mailing list about getting a 2.6.17-supporting Buildroot environment (2008-08-25) with the following answer (2008-08-26):

> 2.6.17 was released around Jun 18  2006. I'd ask those people for a
> vaguely recent kernel. 

So I'd be very interested if you have similar success.

See http://www.nabble.com/Linux-Kernel-2.6.17-support-in-Buildroot-tt19139626.html#a19139626

Best regards,
Paul
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[Buildroot] Buildroot with a custom kernel

[Alex Rades]

On Tue, Sep 23, 2008 at 7:57 PM, Bussmann, Paul
<Paul.Bussmann@technidata.com> wrote:
>> 2) tarball up your custom kernel and place it in the dl dir.  Make
>> sure you name is according to what you have in your buildroot config
>> for the kernel version.  BR will then assume you've already dl'ed the
>> kernel and use your version.
>
> I already tried this with 2.6.17 on ARM. Resulting in everything _looked_
> fine at first but my board instantly rebooted when I tried to use TCP stuff.
> It is indeed related to BR's toolchain, because if I use the manufacture's
> (Ka-Ro) toolchain to compile the kernel, it works.
> So I asked on this mailing list about getting a 2.6.17-supporting Buildroot
> environment (2008-08-25) with the following answer (2008-08-26):
>
>> 2.6.17 was released around Jun 18  2006. I'd ask those people for a
>> vaguely recent kernel.
>
> So I'd be very interested if you have similar success.

I've been the whole day fiddling with makefiles but i can't get it
working.. too intricate.

[Buildroot] Buildroot with a custom kernel

[Christopher Taylor]

Yes, I got BR to build a bastardized kernel 2.6.20/2.6.21 + other misc
patches.  It wasn't easy, so I understand your frustration.  Honestly,
the easiest way about it is exactly what you were told earlier: get a
newer kernel.

Baring that, another option it to do a diff of the kernel version you
do have against the vanilla kernel for that version, then try to apply
that to a newer kernel.  You'll need to know a bit about board support
packages.

I seem to remember having trouble using BR's "other krenel" options
and that why I went with a quick and ugly hack by just taring up my
own kernel, renaming it to one of the kernel's BR supports and copying
it into the dl dir ... then config BR to compile the kernel that
matches my kernel version.....  it's quick and ugly ... but it works
for me.

Which approach did ya'll try?

-Chris

On Wed, Sep 24, 2008 at 8:25 AM, Alex Rades <alerades@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Tue, Sep 23, 2008 at 7:57 PM, Bussmann, Paul
> <Paul.Bussmann@technidata.com> wrote:
>>> 2) tarball up your custom kernel and place it in the dl dir.  Make
>>> sure you name is according to what you have in your buildroot config
>>> for the kernel version.  BR will then assume you've already dl'ed the
>>> kernel and use your version.
>>
>> I already tried this with 2.6.17 on ARM. Resulting in everything _looked_
>> fine at first but my board instantly rebooted when I tried to use TCP stuff.
>> It is indeed related to BR's toolchain, because if I use the manufacture's
>> (Ka-Ro) toolchain to compile the kernel, it works.
>> So I asked on this mailing list about getting a 2.6.17-supporting Buildroot
>> environment (2008-08-25) with the following answer (2008-08-26):
>>
>>> 2.6.17 was released around Jun 18  2006. I'd ask those people for a
>>> vaguely recent kernel.
>>
>> So I'd be very interested if you have similar success.
>
> I've been the whole day fiddling with makefiles but i can't get it
> working.. too intricate.
>

[Buildroot] Buildroot with a custom kernel

[Hamish Moffatt]

On Tue, Sep 23, 2008 at 07:57:05PM +0200, Bussmann, Paul wrote:
> > 2) tarball up your custom kernel and place it in the dl dir.  Make
> > sure you name is according to what you have in your buildroot config
> > for the kernel version.  BR will then assume you've already dl'ed the
> > kernel and use your version.
> 
> I already tried this with 2.6.17 on ARM. Resulting in everything _looked_ fine at first but my board instantly rebooted when I tried to use TCP stuff. It is indeed related to BR's toolchain, because if I use the manufacture's (Ka-Ro) toolchain to compile the kernel, it works.
> So I asked on this mailing list about getting a 2.6.17-supporting Buildroot environment (2008-08-25) with the following answer (2008-08-26):
> 
> > 2.6.17 was released around Jun 18  2006. I'd ask those people for a
> > vaguely recent kernel. 
> 
> So I'd be very interested if you have similar success.
> 
> See http://www.nabble.com/Linux-Kernel-2.6.17-support-in-Buildroot-tt19139626.html#a19139626

I had 2.6.15 running with a buildroot-compiled gcc 4.1.2 without issue.

I have my own customised kernel with the whole source checked in (not a
tarball). I can probably share the makefiles later this week, or add
some support to buildroot for it. It's a bit messy as the kernel's
support for out-of-tree builds is a bit weird.

I'm now using a much more recent kernel, but we have various changes and I'd 
rather not just maintain them as a set of patches (too tedious).

Hamish
-- 
Hamish Moffatt VK3SB <hamish@debian.org> <hamish@cloud.net.au>