Modify, rebuild and reload the Linux® kernel

STM32MP157C-EV1.png
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Step category in.png Install the SDK Step.png Create a simple hello-world application Step.png Modify, rebuild and reload the Linux® kernel Step category out.png


1. Overview[edit source]

This stage explains how modify, rebuild and reload the Linux® kernel.
You will first be guided to install the Linux® kernel source code in the Developer Package directory. Then step by step you will execute procedures to modify, rebuild and reload the Linux® kernel.

2. Download the the Linux® kernel source code[edit source]

The software package is provided AS IS, and by downloading it, you agree to be bound to the terms of the software license agreement (SLA). The detailed content licenses can be found here.

Warning white.png Warning
To download a package, it is recommended to be logged in to your "myst" account [1]. If, trying to download, you encounter a “403 error”, you could try to empty your browser cache to workaround the problem. We are working on the resolution of this problem.
We apologize for this inconvenience
For ecosystem release v2.1.0 More info.png[edit source]
  • Download the STM32MP15-Ecosystem-v2.1.0 Developer Package Sources to the following directory:
    $HOME/STM32MPU_workspace/STM32MP15-Ecosystem-v2.1.0/Developer-Package
  • Uncompress the tarball file to get the Linux® kernel tarball, the ST patches and the ST configuration fragments
 cd $HOME/STM32MPU_workspace/STM32MP15-Ecosystem-v2.1.0/Developer-Package
 tar xvf en.SOURCES-kernel-stm32mp1-openstlinux-5-4-dunfell-mp1-20-11-12.tar.xz
For ecosystem release v2.0.0 More info.png[edit source]
  • Download the STM32MP15-Ecosystem-v2.0.0 Developer Package Sources to the following directory:
    $HOME/STM32MPU_workspace/STM32MP15-Ecosystem-v2.0.0/Developer-Package
  • Uncompress the tarball file to get the Linux® kernel tarball, the ST patches and the ST configuration fragments
 cd $HOME/STM32MPU_workspace/STM32MP15-Ecosystem-v2.0.0/Developer-Package
 tar xvf en.SOURCES-kernel-stm32mp1-openstlinux-5-4-dunfell-mp1-20-06-24.tar.xz

3. Prepare the Linux® kernel source code[edit source]

  • Extract the Linux® kernel source
For ecosystem release  v2.1.0 More info.png 
 cd stm32mp1-openstlinux-5-4-dunfell-mp1-20-11-12/sources/arm-ostl-linux-gnueabi/linux-stm32mp-5.4.56-r0
 tar xvf linux-5.4.56.tar.xz
For ecosystem release  v2.0.0 More info.png 
 cd stm32mp1-openstlinux-5.4-dunfell-mp1-20-06-24/sources/arm-ostl-linux-gnueabi/linux-stm32mp-5.4.31-r0
 tar xvf linux-5.4.31.tar.xz

  • Apply the ST patches
 cd linux-5.4.56 /* For ecosystem release  v2.1.0 More info.png  */ 
 cd linux-5.4.31 /* For ecosystem release  v2.0.0 More info.png  */
 for p in `ls -1 ../*.patch`; do patch -p1 < $p; done
  • Apply fragments
 make ARCH=arm multi_v7_defconfig "fragment*.config"
 for f in `ls -1 ../fragment*.config`; do scripts/kconfig/merge_config.sh -m -r .config $f; done
 yes '' | make ARCH=arm oldconfig

4. Build the Linux® kernel source code for the first time[edit source]

Info white.png Information
The first time the kernel is build it could take several minutes.
  • Build kernel images (uImage and vmlinux) and device tree (dtbs)
 make ARCH=arm uImage vmlinux dtbs LOADADDR=0xC2000040
  • Build kernel module
 make ARCH=arm modules
  • Generate output build artifacts
 mkdir -p $PWD/install_artifact/
 make ARCH=arm INSTALL_MOD_PATH="$PWD/install_artifact" modules_install

5. Deploy the Linux® kernel on the board[edit source]

5.1. Push the Linux® kernel into the board[edit source]

 scp arch/arm/boot/uImage root@<board ip address>:/boot

5.2. Push the devicetree into the board[edit source]

 scp arch/arm/boot/dts/stm32mp157*.dtb root@<board ip address>:/boot

5.3. Push the kernel modules into the board[edit source]

  • Remove the link created inside the install_artifact/lib/modules/<kernel version> directory
For ecosystem release  v2.1.0 More info.png :
 rm install_artifact/lib/modules/5.4.56/build install_artifact/lib/modules/5.4.56/source 
For ecosystem release  v2.0.0 More info.png :
 rm install_artifact/lib/modules/5.4.31/build install_artifact/lib/modules/5.4.31/source
  • Optionally, strip kernel modules (to reduce the size of each kernel modules)
 find install_artifact/ -name "*.ko" | xargs $STRIP --strip-debug --remove-section=.comment --remove-section=.note --preserve-dates
  • Copy Kernel modules
 scp -r install_artifact/lib/modules/* root@<ip of board>:/lib/modules
  • Using the Linux console, re-generate the list of module dependencies (modules.dep) and the list of symbols provided by modules (modules.symbols)
 /sbin/depmod -a
  • Synchronize data on disk with memory
 sync

5.4. Reboot the board[edit source]

 reboot

6. Modifying a built-in Linux kernel device driver[edit source]

This simple example adds unconditional log information when the display driver is probed.

  • Using the Linux console, check that there is no log information when the display driver is probed
 dmesg | grep -i stm_drm_platform_probe

  • Go to the Linux® kernel source directory
For ecosystem release  v2.1.0 More info.png :
 cd $HOME/STM32MPU_workspace/STM32MP15-Ecosystem-v2.1.0/Developer-Package/stm32mp1-openstlinux-5-4-dunfell-mp1-20-11-12/sources/arm-ostl-linux-gnueabi/linux-stm32mp-5.4.56-r0/linux-5.4.56
For ecosystem release  v2.0.0 More info.png :
 cd $HOME/STM32MPU_workspace/STM32MP15-Ecosystem-v2.0.0/Developer-Package/stm32mp1-openstlinux-5.4-dunfell-mp1-20-06-24/sources/arm-ostl-linux-gnueabi/linux-stm32mp-5.4.31-r0/linux-5.4.31

  • Edit the ./drivers/gpu/drm/stm/drv.c source file
  • Add a log information in the stm_drm_platform_probe function as follow
static int stm_drm_platform_probe(struct platform_device *pdev)
{
	struct device *dev = &pdev->dev;
	struct drm_device *ddev;
	int ret;
	[...]

	DRM_INFO("Simple example - %s\n", __func__);

	return 0;
	[...]
}
  • Save the file
  • Rebuitd the Linux® kernel
 make uImage LOADADDR=0xC2000040
  • Update the Linux kernel image into board
 scp arch/arm/boot/uImage root@<board ip address>:/boot
  • Reboot the board
 reboot
  • Check that there is now log information when the display driver is probed
 dmesg | grep -i stm_drm_platform_probe
[    2.764080] [drm] Simple example - stm_drm_platform_probe



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