Building mkfs.jffs2

Building mkfs.jffs2

[Darren Freeman]

Dear list,

I am trying to build the latest version of mkfs.jffs2 on either of two
PCs running RedHat 7.2 and Mandrake 9.0 respectively.

The problem with the binary mkfs.jffs2 that I have right now is that I
upgraded from a really really old kernel on the target (around 2.4.2) up
to 2.4.20-rmk1 and according to the kernel at boot time, JFFS2 has
changed enough to cause problems.

The symptoms are that I can flash an image and use it for a little
while, but after a small amount of writing (change text files etc.) the
filesystem just screws up and becomes 100% full. From that point onwards
the target is screwed, and only NFS has saved me. Unfortunately with a
broken root filesystem I can't get too much done =)

The RedHat host is running the stock kernel, 2.4.2, and I've configured
the kernel for JFFS2 but not recompiled it. The Mandrake box is running
2.4.20 recompiled to my liking.

The target is an EPXA10 development board, with cpu=ARM922T,
kernel=2.4.19-rmk1 patched for the board.

I simply can't get mtd/utils to build on either host. I don't want a
cross-compiled binary, just something to use on the host. I have tried
using ./configure --with-kernel= pointing to the host kernel or target
but no success. I guess the target kernel is the correct one to use
here.

My latest problem is that mkfs.jffs2.c uses jint16_t which is not found
when grepping through my kernel source but is in mtd. So I have to do
--with-kernel=/path/mtd but finally I get the error:

compr_zlib.c:15:2: #error "The userspace support got too messy and was
removed. Update your mkfs.jffs2"

Followed by tons of garbage.

Any ideas? Or somebody willing to give me a binary of mkfs.jffs2 for
i386 -> ARM9 ? I would greatly appreciate it!

Have fun,
Darren Freeman

Re: Building mkfs.jffs2

[Darren Freeman]

I have an update to the previous posting...

On Wed, 2002-11-06 at 08:20, Darren Freeman wrote:
> Dear list,
> 
> I am trying to build the latest version of mkfs.jffs2 on either of two
> PCs running RedHat 7.2 and Mandrake 9.0 respectively.
> 
> The problem with the binary mkfs.jffs2 that I have right now is that I
> upgraded from a really really old kernel on the target (around 2.4.2) up
> to 2.4.20-rmk1 and according to the kernel at boot time, JFFS2 has
> changed enough to cause problems.

OK I found the source of my problem here. Yes, the old mkfs.jffs2 was
doing that but the new binary I grabbed (I think) off RedHat's site
actually works. But the symptoms were lots of errors and a screwed
filesystem as before so I thought it was the same problem.

The actual problem is that somehow the system, booted by RedBoot, is
locking the flash over the partition of interest. I have to do a "fis
unlock" command to unlock the partition before booting Linux, then the
filesystem recovers and is read/write. Which is a relief but
*really*weird* =)

Oh and the target kernel is 2.4.19-rmk1 (woops)

> The symptoms are that I can flash an image and use it for a little
> while, but after a small amount of writing (change text files etc.) the
> filesystem just screws up and becomes 100% full. From that point onwards
> the target is screwed, and only NFS has saved me. Unfortunately with a
> broken root filesystem I can't get too much done =)
> 
> The RedHat host is running the stock kernel, 2.4.2, and I've configured
> the kernel for JFFS2 but not recompiled it. The Mandrake box is running
> 2.4.20 recompiled to my liking.
> 
> The target is an EPXA10 development board, with cpu=ARM922T,
> kernel=2.4.19-rmk1 patched for the board.
> 
> I simply can't get mtd/utils to build on either host. I don't want a
> cross-compiled binary, just something to use on the host. I have tried
> using ./configure --with-kernel= pointing to the host kernel or target
> but no success. I guess the target kernel is the correct one to use
> here.

Yeah I tried and tried and tried some more. Still gave up.

> My latest problem is that mkfs.jffs2.c uses jint16_t which is not found
> when grepping through my kernel source but is in mtd. So I have to do
> --with-kernel=/path/mtd but finally I get the error:
> 
> compr_zlib.c:15:2: #error "The userspace support got too messy and was
> removed. Update your mkfs.jffs2"
> 
> Followed by tons of garbage.
> 
> Any ideas? Or somebody willing to give me a binary of mkfs.jffs2 for
> i386 -> ARM9 ? I would greatly appreciate it!

Well I don't need it anymore but some ideas would still be appreciated
=)

> Have fun,
> Darren Freeman

What he said =)

Re: Building mkfs.jffs2

[Darren Freeman]

Jorn, 

On Thu, 2002-11-07 at 15:38, Jörn Engel wrote: 
> On Thu, 7 November 2002 22:49:15 +0000, Darren Freeman wrote:
> > 
> > > I simply can't get mtd/utils to build on either host. I don't want a
> > > cross-compiled binary, just something to use on the host. I have tried
> > > using ./configure --with-kernel= pointing to the host kernel or target
> > > but no success. I guess the target kernel is the correct one to use
> > > here.
> > 
> > Yeah I tried and tried and tried some more. Still gave up.
> 
> Dunno. I've never had any problems, compiling for x86 or
> crosscompiling for ppc. Provide ssh login and I will have a look. If
> company policy forbids this, let the company pay your time. :-)
University policy forbids it from even being networked to anything other
than the RedHat box next to it. Let me tell you, it's a real *pain* =) 

Imagine the suffering I go through just to get the kernel source on that
box =) 

> Jörn
Thanks anyway =) 

Have fun, 
Darren