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3. Building your own

This chapter describes how a kernel is built from source on the NetWinder. The process is almost the same as the usual Linux kernel, with two notable exceptions. (For the impatient, the two differences are: the default configuration file must be copied from arch/arm/def-configs/netwinder to .config before you begin, and to build the kernel you must use make Image or zImage and not bzImage).

3.1 ARM-linux who's who

The mainsteam linux kernel includes some support for the ARM architecture (which the NetWinder belongs to), but it is far from complete. Russell King is the primary developer of the ARM-linux port (see http://www.arm.linux.org.uk) which includes many other ARM-based systems. Russell distributes patches that can be applied to the mainstream linux kernel, and these can be used as-is on the NetWinder.

The NetWinder-specific port was done by Pat Beirne, San Mehat, Woody Suwalski, and is being maintained now by Phil Blundel, Woody and myself. Our changes are filtered back to Russell and from there back up to the mainstream kernel. While it is not presently the case, the NetWinder specific code will eventally be merged in completely with Russell's code which in turn be merged in to the mainstream linux kernel.

For now, the best place to get NetWinder-specific kernels is from netwinder.org (either via FTP or CVS). Russell's kernel (patches applied against mainline) also work but are not tested as widely, and may lack some drivers. Work is in progress to merge the sources together so that in the future there will be only one arm-linux source.

3.2 Getting the source

The source code for the NetWinder kernel can be obtained by anonymous FTP from ftp://ftp.netwinder.org/pub/netwinder/kernel/. The filenames are in the form linux-YYMMDD.tar.gz (consult the README file in the same directory for more information).

Alternatively, you may also download a binary RPM containing the source code (kernel-source-YYYYMMDD.armv4l.rpm). If you chose that route, you'll also need the corresponding kernel-headers package from the binaries directory. (There is also a kernel-YYMMDD.src package; this is only of use if you need to rebuild the kernel in RPM format and redistribute the results. Ignore it).

The kernel source normally lives in /usr/src but can really be installed wherever you wish. You should ensure that the symbolic link /usr/src/linux points at the place where your kernel source is located. The appropriate commands to unpack the source from tar.gz form and to make the symlink are shown below.

        tar zxvf linux-YYMMDD.tar.gz
        ln -sf /path/to/linux-YYMMDD /usr/src/linux
        cd linux-YYMMDD

If you install the kernel-source and kernel-headers RPM packages, the source will be placed in /usr/src/linux-YYYMMMDD and the symbolic link will be set appropriately.

3.3 Configuring the kernel

As there are many ARM platforms, of which NetWinder is but one, the usual default configuration (arch/arm/defconfig) is not optimal for the NetWinder. In fact it might not even work. Instead, the default configuration can be found at arch/arm/def-configs/netwinder. If you're building a kernel tree for the first time, you should always copy the proper config file to the toplevel first:

        cd <your-kernel-tree>
        cp arch/arm/def-configs/netwinder .config

Alternatively, you can use the `Load alternate configuration file' provided by make menuconfig or make xconfig, instead of copying the default configuration file as shown above.

The kernel must then be configured in one of the usual ways. The recommended way is via make menuconfig, but you can also use make xconfig, make config or make oldconfig (the latter is useful if you don't want to change any settings). Note that the xconfig option was broken prior to the 19990121 release.

For the first build, you must run one of the config tools (menuconfig, xconfig, etc) and answer "Yes" when it asks if you wish to save your configuration changes - even if you didn't change anything. Otherwise certain files will not be remade and the compile will fail later on.

The default configuration includes a minimum number of devices `built in', and virtually everything that could be needed built as a module. For most cases, this should be sufficent. Of course, you can signficantly reduce the compile time by turning off options you won't need (for example, the whole SCSI subsystem, which is normally built as a module).

The bare-bones config for a NetWinder would normally include support for the '553 disk controller (unless you have no disk), have an ext2 filesystem, and ethernet support for the ne2k (for eth0) or tulip (for eth1). There is a config called netwinder-tc intended for use on diskless NetWinders, which is pretty well stripped down.

The char driver for ds1620 (thermometer) should always be included, since it operates the speed control for the NetWinder's fan. Otherwise, the fan might never turn on, and the NetWinder might overheat!

3.4 Building the kernel

Kernel compilation takes about 10-15 minutes on a stock NetWinder.

For kernel 2.0.x

For the 2.0.x kernels, the following commands should be executed.

        make dep
        make clean
        make
        make modules

Subsequent builds from the same source directory can (and should) omit the make dep and make clean stages.

The end result of this should be a kernel called vmlinux and a series of loadable modules in the modules directory, all within the build tree.

For kernel 2.2.x

For the 2.2.x and beyond kernels, the following commands should be executed.

        make dep
        make clean
        make Image
        make modules

Subsequent builds from the same source directory can (and should) omit the make dep and make clean stages.

The end result of this should be a kernel called arch/arm/boot/Image and a series of loadable modules in the modules directory, all within the build tree.

Compressed kernels also work (I forget exactly when, sometime around Dec 1999). Substitute make zImage instead of make Image if you wish it. The kernels are smaller, but take longer to decompress, so it is really only worth it if you are booting via tftp or similar. The output appears as arch/arm/boot/zImage.

Note that bzImage is not supported nor will it ever be! Contrary to the popular belief, bzImage does not mean a kernel compressed with bzip. It means `big zImage', which has repercussions on how LILO loads the kernel on an x86 (with it's archaic 640k memory limit). The Netwinder doesn't have such a limitation, so we don't need bzImage.

3.5 Installing the kernel

To install the kernel, you must be logged in as root. It is a good idea to back up your existing kernel and modules so that you can revert to them later on, in case your new kernel doesn't work. To make the backups, use the following commands, substituting for 2.X.Y with the actual version of your kernel.

        cp /boot/vmlinux /boot/vmlinux.old
        mv /lib/modules/2.X.Y /lib/modules/2.X.Y-old

Now the new kernel and modules can be installed. Note that the file /boot/vmlinux is usually a symbolic link. We recommend you give each kernel a unique name, and use the symbolic link to select which kernel to boot. Supposing you select the extension `test' to identify your kernel, the following commands could be used.

        cp arch/arm/boot/Image /boot/vmlinux-test
        ln -sf vmlinux-test /boot/vmlinux
        cp System.map /boot/System.map-test
        ln -sf System.map /boot/System.map-test
        make modules_install

The example above renames the kernel file from Image to vmlinux-test. This is not strictly necessary, all that counts is that the symlink points to the real kernel. You could theoretically point it into your build tree, but that would not be wise since a make clean would wipe it out (and then you'd be in trouble when you tried to reboot...).

3.6 Booting the new kernel

To test out the new kernel, you must reboot your machine. If you followed the instructions as described previously, your new kernel will (most likely) be booted automatically. This is because the default settings in the firmware are to load the kernel from a file called /boot/vmlinux, and you created a symbolic link to the actual kernel above.

If you used a different name for your kernel, or if your firmware settings have been changed from their default values, then you'll have to check and possibly modify the firmware settings. See the Firmware-HOWTO for more details about the firmware. In brief, you press a key when prompted while your machine boots. Then you issue the following commands at the firmware command prompt.

        setenv kernfile /boot/YOUR-KERNEL-FILE
        save-all
        boot

Only specify the save-all command if you wish to make the setting permanent. Otherwise kernfile will default back to whatever it was before the setenv command. See the Firmware-HOWTO for more details.

3.7 If it won't boot

If your new kernel won't boot, then you probably forgot some important hardware support when you built it. To get back to a working system, you simply have to set the kernfile parameter in the firmware menu back to the old kernel /boot/vmlinux.old. What if you didn't make a backup? Well luckily the kind creators of the NetWinder have anticipated this need and provide a /boot/vmlinux.rescue kernel for this purpose. At least on the recent disk images.

If you can't determine why your new kernel won't boot, try using the default configuration (stored in arch/arm/def-configs/netwinder) when building the kernel. If that doesn't work, you're either doing something wrong, or using the wrong tools (compiler, binutils). All of the official NetWinder kernels to 20000121 were natively built using gcc-2.8.1 on an unmodified DM-13. (Future kernels will be built on dm-3.1-15 using gcc-2.95.1).


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