Re: Kernel module build error with system image cross-build

[Frank Terbeck <ft@bewatermyfriend.org>]

pelzflorian@pelzflorian.de wrote:
> Hello Frank, sorry for the late reply.

Hey Florian,  no worries!  I'm only  working on  this when  time permits
anyway. It  is cool when  things aren't complete monologues,  though. So
thanks for chiming in. :)

It's interesting to see how Guix does these things.


> HDMI stays black, but I can’t
> find the cables for my UART adapter, so I cannot properly test.  I think

Ah, so you tried, nice! I couldn't yet… Maybe this weekend.


> you are doing it right, but if what used to work does not, perhaps an
> easier way would be to copy the rock64.scm image, and adapt that to use
> the Beaglebone Black’s u-boot and the kernel linux-libre-arm-generic
> instead of linux-libre-arm64-generic, then pass this file to guix system
> image.

Certainly. I didn't even know gnu/system/images was a place to look. :)

I'm  still finding  out about  Guix's structure  and API.  Apart from  a
couple of  package definitions, I  didn't do a  lot yet. Things  in this
field do  feel a little  all over to  place, though. There's  these tem-
plates, then  there's gnu/system/install.scm  (which also has  a rock64-
installation-os definition) and also this  images place. Maybe there's a
point to it, that I'm not seeing.  Or maybe it's just a lack of manpower
to keep stuff up  to date when the rest of the project  moves along at a
swift pace.


> But perhaps this still is the wrong kernel and you need an older
> kernel, either as an old linux-libre-arm-generic-4.19 kernel or an old
> kernel via a Guix inferior.

I think the interface into the kernel  data is lacking. It might be use-
ful to have an interface to the kernel's ‘.config’, as well as meta data
files such at the mentioned ‘modules.builtin’.

The fact that the beaglebone  specs reference "omap_hsmmc" is correct on
its face, because that driver is  indeed required. If it's builtin, then
not finding the file is to be expected and not an issue.

With better  introspection to  the kernel's  build configuration,  an OS
specification could easier react to upstream changes, I think.

Not sure if that sort of discussion isn't more appropriate for -devel.


Regards, Frank
-- 
In protocol design, perfection has been reached not when there is
nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.
                                                  -- RFC 1925