Re: [OE-core] [PATCH v2 0/6] Use the kernel from sstate when building fitImages

Adrian Freihofer
2024-07-18T08:00:19Z

Hi Martin

Thank you for looking at my patches.

On Mon, 2024-07-15 at 16:32 +0200, Martin Jansa wrote:
> Doesn't it still rebuild from scratch when IMAGE_VERSION_SUFFIX
> changes?

I wonder why this happens in WebOS. I think that this line
kernel_do_deploy[vardepsexclude] = "DATETIME"
prevents such unnecessary rebuilds.

So far we haven't had any problems with rebuilding kernels. The trouble
started when we started using fitImages with initramfs for some
devices. It is also worth noting that we build from sstate, but with an
empty TMPDIR.

In such a scenario bitbake does:

* The initramfs gets assembled. This is expected because images are
not sstate cached. This runs quickly because all the packages which
are required to build the initramfs come from sstate-cache.
* Since the initramfs changes, the fitImage which includes it must be
re-assembled as well.
* Now the hassle starts: The do_assemble_fitimage_initramfs needs the
kernel binaries (linux.bin, DTBs...) which are not available from
sttate. Bitbake has to start with kernel do_fetch in case of an
empty TMPDIR just to get the fitImage assembled.

With my patches the kernel binaries used for the fitImage come from
sstate (if the initramfs is not bundled).

I tested this like that:

cat build/conf/local.conf

KERNEL_IMAGETYPE = "Image"
KERNEL_IMAGETYPES += " fitImage "
KERNEL_CLASSES = " kernel-fitimage "and RAM disk
IMAGE_FSTYPES += "cpio.gz"
INITRAMFS_IMAGE = "core-image-minimal"
IMAGE_NAME_SUFFIX:pn-core-image-minimal = ""
UBOOT_RD_LOADADDRESS = "0x88000000"
UBOOT_RD_ENTRYPOINT = "0x88000000"
UBOOT_LOADADDRESS = "0x80080000"
UBOOT_ENTRYPOINT = "0x80080000"
FIT_DESC = "A model description"

# Allow to change the initramfs
FOO_VAR = "1"
INHERIT += "image-buildinfo"
IMAGE_BUILDINFO_VARS:append = " FOO_VAR"

bitbake virtual/kernel

mv build/tmp build/tmp-old-1

bitbake virtual/kernel
-> bitbake does:
- setscene tasks
- core-image-minimal do_rootfs ...
- kernel do_deploy (from sstate)
- kernel do_deploy_fitimage_unbundled

bitbake virtual/kernel
-> bitbake does: nothing

# Enforce a re-build of the initramfs
mv build/tmp build/tmp-old-2
echo 'FOO_VAR = "1"' >> build/conf/local.conf

bitbake virtual/kernel
-> bitbake does:
- setscene tasks
- core-image-minimal do_rootfs ...
- kernel do_deploy (from sstate)
- kernel do_deploy_fitimage_unbundled

bitbake virtual/kernel
-> bitbake does: nothing

diff \
<(ls build/tmp-old-2/deploy/images/qemux86-64 -1) \
<(ls build/tmp/deploy/images/qemux86-64/ -1)
4,10c4,10
< core-image-minimal-qemux86-64-20240718065105.cpio.gz
< core-image-minimal-qemux86-64-20240718065105.ext4
< core-image-minimal-qemux86-64-20240718065105.manifest
< core-image-minimal-qemux86-64-20240718065105.qemuboot.conf
< core-image-minimal-qemux86-64-20240718065105.spdx.tar.zst
< core-image-minimal-qemux86-64-20240718065105.tar.bz2
< core-image-minimal-qemux86-64-20240718065105.testdata.json
---
> core-image-minimal-qemux86-64-20240718073341.cpio.gz
> core-image-minimal-qemux86-64-20240718073341.ext4
> core-image-minimal-qemux86-64-20240718073341.manifest
> core-image-minimal-qemux86-64-20240718073341.qemuboot.conf
> core-image-minimal-qemux86-64-20240718073341.spdx.tar.zst
> core-image-minimal-qemux86-64-20240718073341.tar.bz2
> core-image-minimal-qemux86-64-20240718073341.testdata.json
20c20
< fitImage-core-image-minimal-qemux86-64--6.6.35+git-r0-qemux86-64-
20240718065105.bin
---
> fitImage-core-image-minimal-qemux86-64--6.6.35+git-r0-qemux86-64-
20240718073341.bin
22c22
< fitImage-its-core-image-minimal-qemux86-64--6.6.35+git-r0-qemux86-64-
20240718065105.its
---
> fitImage-its-core-image-minimal-qemux86-64--6.6.35+git-r0-qemux86-64-
20240718073341.its

The answer is then: No it does not re-build. At least not in the
scenario which I would like to fix it, it does not rebuild from
scratch.

Does that make sense?

Regards,
Adrian

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