From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Chris Zankel Subject: Re: [Linux-Xtensa] Re: xtensa port maintenance Date: Wed, 08 Aug 2012 01:08:26 -0700 Message-ID: <50221E7A.70003@zankel.net> References: <50205592.1030205@gmail.com> <5020AA5B.4080407@zankel.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Return-path: Received: from mail-pb0-f46.google.com ([209.85.160.46]:39896 "EHLO mail-pb0-f46.google.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S932351Ab2HHII3 (ORCPT ); Wed, 8 Aug 2012 04:08:29 -0400 Received: by pbbrr13 with SMTP id rr13so1080626pbb.19 for ; Wed, 08 Aug 2012 01:08:28 -0700 (PDT) In-Reply-To: Sender: linux-next-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: To: Vadim Malenboim Cc: Max Filippov , linux-xtensa@linux-xtensa.org, Kirill Krinkin , Stephen Rothwell , Greg KH , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, linux-next@vger.kernel.org, Andrew Morton , Linus Torvalds Hi Vadim, On 08/06/2012 11:00 PM, Vadim Malenboim wrote: > Hi All, > > I've beed dealing with the xtensa port for couple of months and I'd > like to contribute / help as much as possible. > > I have an ML605 Xilinx Evaluation Board and already succeeded running > the clean-stable version from xtensa-linux on it. > > I propose doing the testing on this board and any other tasks / issues > you think I can help, I'd be glad to. Excellent!! I'm looking forward to your help. -Chris > > Vadim. > > On Tue, Aug 7, 2012 at 8:40 AM, Chris Zankel > wrote: > > Hi Max, > > > On 08/06/2012 04:38 PM, Max Filippov wrote: > > AFAIK xtensa linux port is currently in bad shape: it doesn't > work in the > mainline, it fails to build in the linux-next. The latest > working kernels for > xtensa are 2.6.29...31 trees hosted at the > git.linux-xtensa.org . > > I wouldn't say it's in bad shape, I just built an vmlinux image > from the latest tree (3.6.0-rc1), but it might not be very stable. > One of the major issues is not really the kernel but there's > actually no way to build a fairly recent version of the toolchain. > I have been using a somewhat more recent buildroot version than > what is on xtensa-linux.org , but even > that version of buildroot is rather old now and needed a few patches. > > The tree on linux-xtensa.org has quite > diverted from mainline now. Pete has done a great job maintaining > those kernel versions, fixing a lot of bugs, and adding a ton of > new additional features, but it will take quite some effort to > merge them with the latest kernel. > > > I have a goal to make xtensa arch in the linux mainline usable. > > Awesome!! Every help is very much appreciated. > > > Currently I have a number of patches on top of Linus' tree > that allow to build > working allnoconfig, defconfig and allmodconfig kernels for > ISS machine with > dc232b and fsf core variants [1]. For the next several weeks > I'm planning to > > You might expect that I'm more than curious to see those changes :-) > > > > forward-port patches accumulated in linux-xtensa.org > git trees and make the > resulting kernels rock-solid. I'd like to restore xtensa > participation in the > linux-next. Further (currently undetailed) plans are to bring > modern Linux > features to the xtensa port, e.g. device trees. > > That would be great. Might I also add that we'd need to have a > working toolchain and bootable image. For me, buildroot seems to > be the quickest route here. That would also require possibly > adding patches to the toolchain and uClibc that are currently > missing. There's also the bootloader, etc. > > > I have a couple of questions regarding the path of > xtensa-specific patches > upstream: > - which git tree should they be targeted for? Should I > set up a tree for > pull requests, or will patches be picked up into some > existing tree? > (Looks like Linus' tree is the right target. AFAIK > previously xtensa > patches went mostly through akpm tree). > > Yes, Andrew has been very helpful stepping in and adding those > patches. Most if not all of those patches were fixes because of > generic kernel changes and not major fixes or changes to the core > of the Xtensa port. > > Ideally, it would be great if you could create a git tree (I saw > you already have a version on github already?) that would allow us > to look over those patches. The goal should be to have a system to > build toolchain, bootable image, and kernel, so we can run some > regression tests on either the simulator (qemu) or an actual > board. Once we have a regression test system in place, we can then > add more features and funnel those patches either through me or > more directly.. > > What do you think? > > If you already have such a system in place, it would be great if > you could send me some instructions to recreate it locally. We can > give you also access to the wiki to add any information there. > > > - which mailing lists should they go to? > (I guess that besides linux-xtensa@linux-xtensa.org > list they should go > to linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org > for general review. > Anything else?) > > For now, I would really appreciate if you could hold off sending > any major patch to the linux-kernel mailing list until we had a > chance to look over them unless it's some generic patch (fixing an > issue because of an API change to the kernel, etc.) > > Andrew is currently adding all Xtensa patches sent to that list, > and I would hate having to irritate him having to ask to remove or > change patches, etc. > > > Should you wonder what I am: > I am a member of St.Petersburg Open Source and Linux Lab [2]. > My previous contributions to Linux are related to p54spi > wireless driver. > I'm also a developer and maintainer of the target-xtensa QEMU > port [3]. > > That's so great!! I didn't know there was a QEMU port for Xtensa. > > Bottom line, I hope you agree with me that the kernel, although > the most fun part, is only one piece of the puzzle, and we also > need a running system. If you already have that in place, we can > jump to the kernel fairly quickly. > > Thanks, > -Chris > > > _______________________________________________ > linux-xtensa mailing list > linux-xtensa@linux-xtensa.org > http://lists.linux-xtensa.org/mailman/listinfo/linux-xtensa > > > > > -- > *Vadim Malenboim.* > Low Level Software Engineer. > > Cellular : +972(544)925862 > E-Mail : vadim@tangotec.com > WEB : www.tangotec.com > >