Custom Linux Kernel Development

TODO: {{#todo:Write this|Travis Stratman|oe 5,TS,NotStarted}}

The ability to easily customize and expand any portion of the kernel is a feature of Linux that makes it very well suited for embedded systems development. In the embedded environment, specialized hardware, protocols, and systems may require a look into the kernel internals, custom configuration, feature additions, or driver development. This article aims to provide information on the most common kernel development tasks for EMAC OE Linux systems. In addition, the reader is pointed to sources for kernel development resources.

Prerequisites

This article assumes some basic familiarity with Linux and C programming competency. Before continuing, make sure that git is installed on your development machine, and review the Building the Linux Kernel document.

Background

Maybe some more here about the technical design of the kernel and very brief history... monolithic kernel, loadable modules, etc. For now just see wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_kernel

The Kernel Source

Source code for EMAC kernels is provided through our Git server. Refer to the documentation for your system to determine the correct source to use.

Clone the Git Repository

To clone the git repository over anonymous HTTP, run the following commands:

developer@ldc:~$ git clone http://git.emacinc.com/public/source/linux-2.6.30-at91.git

Once the command has completed, the entire source should be contained in the linux-2.6.30-at91 directory. The master branch will be checked out automatically. Because EMAC uses the master branch for all releases, this is the correct branch to use, but other branches or tags may be checked out if directed or required.

Kernel Source Structure

Within the kernel source tree that was downloaded, you will see several directories. Table 1 gives a brief description of each of these directories.

Directory name	Description
arch	Architecture-specific kernel code with subdirectories for each architecture
block	Block device driver code
crypto	Encryption support algorithms
Documentation	Text documentation files on the kernel and APIs
drivers	Device driver code, with a subdirectory structure for each device type
firmware	Code for building firmware required to communicate with devices
fs	File systems code
include	Include (header) files required to build the kernel code
init	Kernel initialization code
ipc	Interprocess communications code
kernel	Main internal kernel code
lib	Library code
mm	Memory management code
net	Kernel networking code
samples	Code examples and drivers that have not been fully developed
scripts	Various scripts used for the configuration and build process as well as standalone utility scripts
security	Kernel security support
sound	Sound and audio driver code
usr	Code used during kernel image creation
virt	Virtualization support code

These directories will be referred to as needed in this document.

Configuration

The kernel uses a configuration system that specifies how every aspect of the kernel is built.

Configuration Structure

The kernel configuration is generated based on selections by the user combined with dependency information built into the Kconfig structure. You will find a file named Kconfig in most source directories within the kernel. These files follow the language described in Documentation/kbuild/kconfig-language.txt and control the structure and operation of the kernel configuration utility.

The current kernel configuration is stored in a file named .config in the top level of the kernel source tree. This file is read and updated by the configuration utility and is used by the make system during the build process. The first step in configuring the kernel often involves initializing this file with a default configuration set up with sane values for the target platform. These default configuration files are stored under the arch directory. For example, arch/arm/configs/.

In this example, copy the arch/arm/configs/som9g45-som210_defconfig file to the top level of the kernel source as .config:

developer@ldc:~$ cp arch/arm/configs/som9g45-som210_defconfig .config

This is the default configuration file for the EMAC SoM-9G45 module using an SoM-210ES carrier board.

The configuration file defines all CONFIG values that are set, either y (yes), m (module), a numeric value, or a string value. Options not configured are entered into the file as a comment with the option followed by the words "is not set." An example of each of these formats is shown below:

#
# Automatically generated make config: don't edit
# Linux kernel version: 2.6.30
# Tue Jan 10 17:42:58 2012
#
CONFIG_ARM=y
CONFIG_SYS_SUPPORTS_APM_EMULATION=y
CONFIG_GENERIC_GPIO=y
CONFIG_GENERIC_TIME=y
CONFIG_GENERIC_CLOCKEVENTS=y
CONFIG_MMU=y
# CONFIG_NO_IOPORT is not set
...
CONFIG_DEFCONFIG_LIST="/lib/modules/$UNAME_RELEASE/.config"
...
CONFIG_INIT_ENV_ARG_LIMIT=32
...
CONFIG_SDIO_UART=m

Configuring the Kernel

The kernel supports several methods of generating configuration values including command line utilities, a menu-based utility, a Qt-based utility, and a GTK+-based utility. These utilities are instantiated as make targets. The menu-based utility, invoked by the menuconfig command is the only option supported by the EMAC Linux kernel build script. See here for more information on how to initiate the configuration process using the EMAC Linux kernel build script.

Menuconfig

The top-level interface to the kernel menuconfig utility is shown in Figure 1. The navigation keys and legend are shown at the top of the page:

Arrow keys navigate the menu.  <Enter> selects submenus --->.  Highlighted letters are hotkeys.  Pressing <Y> includes, <N> excludes, <M> modularizes features.  Press <Esc><Esc> to exit, <?> for Help, </> for Search.  Legend: [*] built-in  [ ] excluded  <M> module  < > module capable.

Figure 1: Linux Kernel Menuconfig Main Page

Refer to configuration section in the kernel building document. Show how to add / remove options in the config.

Adding Support for a new Carrier Board

Show how to add a carrier board in the 2.6.30 "emac-carrier" structure.

Driver Development

Basic info on driver structure here.

Where to go for Additional Information

LDD3, mailing list, EMAC support.