Kernel 3.2 for B2/B3

[MouettE]

Hello everyone,

After wheezy install image and u-boot update, I managed to patch and compile a 3.2.61 kernel package for the bubba3 and the bubba|two. I choose this version because it's the one debian uses in wheezy. It runs apparently fine on my b3 and on my b2, so I need some volunteers to test it.

up to date binary packages :

• bubba3-kernel_3.2.62-1_armel.deb
• bubba3-kernel-headers-armel_3.2.62-1_armel.deb
• bubba3-kernel_3.2.62-1_powerpc.deb
• bubba3-kernel-headers-powerpc_3.2.62-1_powerpc.deb

The source package is available on the excito github : community-b3-kernel

To install the kernel, download the bubba3-kernel_3.2.62-1_armel.deb or bubba3-kernel_3.2.62-1_powerpc.deb file and install it with :

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dpkg -i bubba3-kernel_3.2.62-1_[armel|powerpc].deb

Note : you can ignore the warning about modules.builtin. I will try to correct it in a future version.

The package structure is very similar to the previous official kernel package from Excito (2.6.39.4-13). I took the vanilla sources, carefully ported the patches and made minor changes in the debian files. The kernel configuration is also based on the previous one, I just added options to allow systemd to run and the XFS file system as a module.

Note that the B2 version works fine with the old version of u-boot shipped with the board (the u-boot bug is specific to the kirwood SoC of the B3)

[Binkem]

Hi MouettE,

Great job! Good to hear about the progress updating the B3 to a new Debian. I cannot help you testing, this would get me a lot of trouble at home , but I am very interested in the results.

Yours,

Martijn

[whollybastard]

I have a spare B3 wifi I'm not putting to much use that I can provide access to if its any help.

[misty soul]

It works!

Kudos to MouettE!

I installed your packages without a glitch. Just an ssh connection, switch to root, dpkg (ignoring the warnings) and reboot. One or two minutes waiting for the led and a great smile when it turned blue.

Then I ssh again and ran uname:

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luc@cavae:~$ uname -a
Linux cavae 3.2.61-1 #1 Wed Jul 30 02:11:57 CEST 2014 armv5tel GNU/Linux
luc@cavae:~$ 

The boot messages seem OK, the network works (both IPV4 and IPV6). I didn't find any errors in /var/log, the systems runs smoothly. The first few monitoring points provided by munin are consistent with what was monitored while the system was running 2.6.39.

As the kernel was recent enough, I removed the hold on rsyslog (previously, I was stuck with version 7.4.0) and upgraded the package. Installation of rsyslog 7.6.3 went smothly and it works well. I rebooted to make sure lots of logs were generated and everything looked good.

Many thanks to you, MouettE, you really did a great job.

[MichaelK]

Hi MouettE, great work!

I'd like to test that version because this is what I've been looking for a long time.

But I can't get it working. What is the base system I have to install this patch on? The original bubba distribution or your wheezy install Image? Do I have to do modifications to the u-boot?

I have installed your wheezy version as a fresh install. This works fine. Then I did an apt-get update/upgrade without any problems. I downloaded the kernel patch with wget and did an dpkg -i.

The next reboot fails. The led stays violet (even for hours )

May be you can help to get it working? I have a bubba without wireless.

Thanks in advance, regards,

Michael

[misty soul]

Do I have to do modifications to the u-boot?

Yes. The original u-boot cannot load recent kernels. Look at this message: http://forum.excito.net/viewtopic.php?f ... =45#p25541. You can also read the entire thread if you want to have more context.

You can either compile a compatible u-boot yourself (this is what I did), or you can use the one provided by MouettE in this message.

[MichaelK]

Hi, misty soul!

Thanks for your valuable hint. I read this thread before, but I did not understand everything

Now I found the option to update uboot with a usb stick. I did it and my bubba runs like a charm with the new(er) kernel.

Thanks again for this great work, MouettE.

[MouettE]

I've compiled the newest 3.2.62 version of the kernel. The links of the first post are updated. This version is the first to be compiled directly on a b3 device (FYI 3 hours compilation).

[misty soul]

I've compiled the newest 3.2.62 version of the kernel. The links of the first post are updated. This version is the first to be compiled directly on a b3 device (FYI 3 hours compilation).

I have installed your new 3.2.62 kernel on all my B3 devices, it seems to work well.
I wonder if for safety it would be possible to have packages dependencies set up just like Debian, where you can have several kernels installed in parallel. In case something goes wrong at an update, it would allow to go back to a previous version.

I have also setup systemd for these devices, it works with your kernel out of the box.

It seems the links you have updated on the original post are not complete. The links to the packages are OK, but the links to the sources are broken.

thansk a lot for your work!

[theWebalyst]

Would one of you be willing to provide a summary of **all** the steps needed for this in a single post (or a Wiki How To?), as well as saying why you'd want to do this and what it achieves for those of us watching with more excitement than understanding?

I'm hoping this might solve some issues with building MaidSafe, but am not sure if that would be achieved or not. I need the clang compiler (3.5 I think) - would this kernel upgrade help do you know? (FYI I've built MaidSafe on Odroid-U3 but I think that's ARMv7 whereas I think B3 is ARMv5).

Thanks,

Mark

[MouettE]

I wonder if for safety it would be possible to have packages dependencies set up just like Debian, where you can have several kernels installed in parallel. In case something goes wrong at an update, it would allow to go back to a previous version.

Short answer : no ; there are at least two reasons. First one, you need access to the bootloader to be able to choose which kernel to boot. You don't have access to the bootloader of the device without a serial console and U-Boot is not made for end-user multi-kernel boot. And in any case if you have a serial console, you should probably know how to manually save the previous kernel before upgrading and boot it if you need it. Second reason, I have no idea how to do that ; revert to the previous version is (for now) a simple dpkg -i <previous deb> and I believe it is sufficient for now.

I suggest you take a look on the official debian linux kernel source package and try to understand what it does . Personnaly I've given up and used the excito way.

It seems the links you have updated on the original post are not complete. The links to the packages are OK, but the links to the sources are broken.

The links are now ok

thansk a lot for your work!

You are very welcome !

[MouettE]

Would one of you be willing to provide a summary of **all** the steps needed for this in a single post (or a Wiki How To?), as well as saying why you'd want to do this and what it achieves for those of us watching with more excitement than understanding?

Well "this" is for now a work-in-progress. If you don't understand everything you should not experiment it. If you really want to try out this right now you need to do three things :

• Upgrade U-Boot on the B3 : Download u-boot.kwb from here and place it on a blank FAT32 formatted USB drive inside a directory named "install" (without the quotes). Then plug the power on the B3 while holding the power button. It will flash u-boot and boot your OS. You can check u-boot version from the shell with this command (the date may be different) :

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  root@bubba:~# strings /dev/mtd0 | grep "^U-Boot "
  U-Boot 2013.01-rc1 (Jul 31 2014 - 22:03:10)

• Install a minimal wheezy image using instructions from this post.
• Download the bubba3-kernel deb package from the first post of this thread, install it and reboot. YOu should now have a minimal wheezy OS with 3.2.x kernel.

Keep in mind that all this is temporary. My first goal is to build a vanilla wheezy install image for the B3 (from a debootstrap process and not from the excito image). I have still a little work to do but the biggest part is already done. I hope to finish that in a couple of weeks depending on my free time. Then if I find some people to help me, I think we should be able to port all the Excito packages from squeeze to wheezy. But that's a much bigger step.

I'm hoping this might solve some issues with building MaidSafe, but am not sure if that would be achieved or not. I need the clang compiler (3.5 I think) - would this kernel upgrade help do you know? (FYI I've built MaidSafe on Odroid-U3 but I think that's ARMv7 whereas I think B3 is ARMv5).

I've looked around about MaidSafe and find your discussion on the subject. I don't know if the B3 is powerful enough for this application, but upgrading to wheezy is a first necessary step to build the whole thing. I don't know wether the kernel upgrade is relevant. The build itself doesn't look very simple though. The project is interseting, I will take a look !

[theWebalyst]

@MouettE

Thanks for explaining which is very helpful. I guess if I just want to compile and run a MaidSafe vault, so long as I can SSH into B3 I won't need all the excito packages? I tried building earlier with gc++ but was hitting problems that were probably due to b3 lacking support for advanced C++ language features (such as futures). The maidsafe team were helping me with this and plan to come back to it, but are very busy with the core for the time being. I don't want to dilute this topic so will also PM you.

[MouettE]

I've updated the first post to include powerpc version for the B2 which works well and doesn't need a new u-boot. I also replaced the source links with link to the community-b3-kernel github repo Excito provided for the community-driven updated kernel for debian.

[sakaki]

Hi MouettE,

I have modified my GitHub project page for the 3.16.1 kernel, to reference your community-b3-kernel (and noted that users may wish to use your version to maintain compatibility with their Excito userland software, or if they are looking to upgrade to Wheezy).

Best,

sakaki