[ELDK] How to build kernel and apps

[Detlev Zundel]

Hi Joe,

> Can someone kindly tell me how to build the kernel and applications
> from the sources?

Usually we consider the kernel to be such a fast moving target that ELDK
users regularly use a current kernel for serious work - not the one
included in the (slower moving) ELDK distribution.  This kernel is
usually only used for quick evaluations.

So in your case I would suggets using a plain vanilla upstream kernel to
get a good picture of the status of support of makalu in mainline Linux:

[PATH and CROSS_COMPILE ned to be setup correctly for ELDK]

$ git clone git://git.denx.de/linux-2.6-denx
$ cd linux-2.6-denx
$ git checkout -b v2.6.29.y v2.6.29.4

[note that this is an upstream tag]

$ export ARCH=powerpc
$ make 40x/makalu_defconfig
$ make -s -j4 uImage
$ make makalu.dtb

This will yield an uImage and a .dtb for the latest upstream stable
linux (well not quite, but git.kernel.org is overloaded today, so I'm
not using 2.6.30 yet).

> I am new here with DENX ELDK.  I am currently learning to compile the
> kernel and applications for AMCC Makalu Board (using PPC405EX).  I
> have gone through the DENX web site but I am uable to figure out how
> to do it.

For building applications you have multiple choices:

1. Compile regular programs natively inside the ELDK Root NFS.

This should always work like a charm - even with the legendary notorious
autotools.

2. Use the cross-compiler on your x86 host.

For complex applications this usually needs more knowledge to get over
the (well-known) cross compilation quirks.

3. Use the ELDK provided applications and built them through RPM

This is well documented in the DULG[1].

> FYI, I have installed ELDK 4.2 in my Fedora Linux box, and previously
> I successfully built uClinux kernel and apps with other architectures,
> and I feel comfortable working with Linux systems.

Excellent - then I wish you a pleasant ride with the ELDK ;)

One word of advice - our ELDK should be considered a toolbox to solve
all classes of problems in embedded GNU/Linux development rather than
having pre-canned solutions only for a small selection.  This design
decision has proved to be not easily understood by newcomers.

Cheers
  Detlev

-- 
#!/usr/bin/perl
$c="print\"\#\!\/usr\/bin\/perl\
\\\$c\=\\\"\"\.quotemeta\(\$c\)\.\"\\\"\;\\n\$c;\"";
print"#!/usr/bin/perl\n\$c=\"".quotemeta($c)."\";\n$c;";
--
DENX Software Engineering GmbH,      MD: Wolfgang Denk & Detlev Zundel
HRB 165235 Munich,  Office: Kirchenstr.5, D-82194 Groebenzell, Germany
Phone: (+49)-8142-66989-40 Fax: (+49)-8142-66989-80 Email: dzu at denx.de