[Buildroot] initramfs compression and some other questions

[Valentine Barshak <gvaxon@gmail.com>]

On 10/03/2012 11:58 PM, Arnout Vandecappelle wrote:
> On 03/10/12 19:54, Valentine Barshak wrote:
>> Hi,
>> I've been using buildroot for a small (i586) Linux recovery image,
>> having both the kernel and initramfs root in a single
>> image.
>>
>> By default, buildroot (linux/linux.mk) sets GZIP compression for
>> initramfs, and there's no option to choose other
>> compression mode.
>>
>> My question is why is GZIP compression forced for initramfs?
>> IMHO, initramfs compression doesn't make much sense, since
>> the kernel is compressed altogether with initramfs, and we
>> have double compression, that adds more size to the resulting image
>> and time overhead when unpacking.
>>
>> Why not remove the following lines from linux.mk?
>> $(call
>> KCONFIG_DISABLE_OPT,CONFIG_INITRAMFS_COMPRESSION_NONE,$(@D)/.config)
>> $(call
>> KCONFIG_ENABLE_OPT,CONFIG_INITRAMFS_COMPRESSION_GZIP,$(@D)/.config))
>>
>> Or probably use KCONFIG_ENABLE_OPT,CONFIG_INITRAMFS_COMPRESSION_NONE
>> instead?
>>
>> Besides, there are other compression methods supported by linux kernel,
>> so why force GZIP?
>
>   Good idea.  Care to make a patch?

I'll try to play with it a bit more and maybe eventually come up with a 
patch.

>
>> BTW, I have submitted a number of patches to the list, that attempt
>> to fix some of the issues I've encountered while building my recovery
>> image. Is it the right place to share patches or
>> do I need to use bugz and file a bug for each change?
>
>   It's the right place.  We don't use bugzilla that much - basically
> only for
> bugs that aren't resolved (yet).
>
>
>> I have some more changes that I'd like to share.
>> It's been no ack/nack for the stuff I sent last week. So I'm kind of
>> wondering whether this stuff is needed upstream.
>
>   It just takes a while before patches get committed.  As long as you react
> to the comments you get (like you did), they should be included in the long
> run.  But it can take months...
>

Really hope it's gonna be faster than that. It's hard to keep track of 
things for months.

BTW, some of the patches have got in already, thanks to Peter.

>
>> And the last question is about adding new packages to buildroot.
>> For example, do you plan to add a pdf viewer?
>>
>> I've added epdfview, it seems to work fine. Is there any reason
>> to not include it in the mainstream buildroot?
>>
>> I've also added tigervnc for my small recovery image.
>> Seems to work fine as well.
>> Do you plan to include it as well or is it considered unneeded for the
>> majority of the buildroot users?
>
>   Well, firefox is on the way in, so a pdf viewer shouldn't be a problem
> :-)

hehe, OK, I'll prolly prepare some more patches if I have time.

Thanks Arnout.
>
>   Regards,
>   Arnout
>

Regards,
Val.