From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Thomas Petazzoni Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2014 15:04:38 +0100 Subject: [Buildroot] building fbtft framebuffer drivers into buildroot. In-Reply-To: <20141226102028.GA3982@free.fr> References: <20141226102028.GA3982@free.fr> Message-ID: <20141226150438.08e429c2@free-electrons.com> List-Id: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit To: buildroot@busybox.net Dear Yann E. MORIN, On Fri, 26 Dec 2014 11:20:29 +0100, Yann E. MORIN wrote: > I've had a look at this package, and unfortunately, it will be hard to > get it packaged in Buildroot. > > The problem is that this kernel module does not compile as an > out-of-tree module, and their buildsystem is made so that it requires > the kernel be patched. > > This is not posible with Buildroot. Well, yes and no. Indeed it is much easier to package if the stuff can be built as an out-of-tree module. However, we have two examples of things packaged in Buildroot that require patching the kernel: Xenomai and RTAI. They use a loosely defined model that we could name "Linux extension", see linux/linux-ext-*.mk. They basically hook up into the Linux build process by adding some stuff to LINUX_PRE_PATCH_HOOKS. I recently had a look at the aufs stuff, and it has the same problem: not only it is made of modules that can be built out-of-tree, but it also needs to patch the kernel (some core VFS changes). So, I haven't looked at all the fbtft stuff. If it's a set of standalone drivers that don't require any modification to the core of the kernel, then indeed, turning them into out-of-tree modules can be a good idea. If not, then using the "linux-ext" model can be a solution. Best regards, Thomas -- Thomas Petazzoni, CTO, Free Electrons Embedded Linux, Kernel and Android engineering http://free-electrons.com