I am a beginner learning linux kernel module development. I am following a tutorial that says to recompile my kernel so as to enable various debugging features like forced module unloading e.t.c. Is is okay if I do that? Does it effects my pre-built kernel. In what cases that I am forced to insert a module into a running kernel and the kernel won't allow me to do so?
It is perfectly okay to compile and install a kernel to do kernel module development. If you are in ubuntu, you can follow the following steps to make sure that you are using the same kernel sources as your booted machine.
Step 1. Find out the linux being used in your booting from /boot/grub/grub.cfg file. Look for the entry agains 'linux ' in the boot option entries that you select while booting up.
Example excerpt : linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.13.0-24-generic root=UUID=e377a464-92db-4c07-86a9-b151800630c0 ro quiet splash $vt_handoff
Step 2. Look for the name of the package with the same version using the following command.
dpkg -l | grep linux | grep 3.13.0-24-generic
Example output:
$ dpkg -l | grep linux | grep 3.13.0-24-generic
ii linux-headers-3.13.0-24-generic 3.13.0-24.46 amd64 Linux kernel headers for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-3.13.0-24-generic 3.13.0-24.46 amd64 Linux kernel image for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
ii linux-image-extra-3.13.0-24-generic 3.13.0-24.46 amd64 Linux kernel extra modules for version 3.13.0 on 64 bit x86 SMP
Step 3. Download sources of the package "linux-headers-3.13.0-24-generic" to get the same kernel that was used in your PC.
$ apt-get source linux-headers-3.13.0-24-generic
Step 4. Use the config file that is available at /boot/ folder as the config file to compile this kernel source
Example :
$ ls /boot/config-3.13.0-24-generic (Notice the same version used in this file)
Step 5. Turn on your debugging symbols on this config to do your testing.
Recompiling kernel help us to learn how kernel work.
latest kernel patches can be applied through kernel compile and install.
We can enable debug flag through compilation.
We can remove the not needed code.
Helps to add your own kernel code and test your code.
It is easy to recompile and install the linux kernel but it takes more time if we compile using low speed computer or VM.
Related
I need to know the version of a kernel file without running it. Therefore, the following questions arise in this realm:
Is it possible to get the kernel version in the u-boot environment? I mean before running the kernel I want to get the version of my kernel file.
Suppose I am running ubuntu on my amd64 processor and I have a zImage file which is cross compiled for ARM processor. Therefore I can not run this zImage file on amd64. Then how can I get version of this zImage file without running it on an ARM processor? I checked out uname manual but it does not accept a file as argument. I also issued readelf -V on a vmlinux kernel file, but it was an unsuccessful attempt.
I am trying to create an u-boot supported image using mkimage, when I try using:
mkimage -A arm64
I get the error:
Invalid CPU Type - valid names are: alpha, arm, x86, ia64, m68k, microblaze,
mips, mips64, nios2, powerpc, ppc, s390, sh, sparc, sparc64,
blackfin, avr32, nds32, or1k, sandbox
So I see there is no support for arm64.
I tried compiling a new version of u-boot, but the mkimage in u-boot is also not supporting arm64.
I tried installing u-boot-tools on my ubuntu pc with:
sudo apt-get install u-boot-tools
But this mkimage also is giving me the same problem.
Any help is highly appreciated.
Thank You!
As a valid architecture for mkimage, arm64 has been valid since roughly v2014.01-rc2 (and v2014.04 was the first full release with aarch64 support). That said, for most cases you either want to use booti which will boot the 'Image' format that the Linux Kernel generates for arm64 (similar to using bootz on arm32) or to generate a FIT image instead.
Following the Linux from Scratch book I have managed to build a toolchain for an ARM on
an ARM. This is till chapter 6 of the book, and on the ARM board itself I could go on further with no problems.
My question is if I can use the prepared environment to continue building the soft from chapter 6 on my x86_64 Fedora 16 laptop?
I thought that while I have all the binaries set up I could just copy them to laptop, chroot inside and feel myself as on the ARM board, but using the command from the book gives no result:
`# chroot "$LFS" /tools/bin/env -i HOME=/root TERM="$TERM" PS1='\u:\w\$
PATH=/bin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/usr/sbin:/tools/bin /tools/bin/bash --login +h
chroot: failed to run command `/tools/bin/env': No such file or directory`
The binary is there, but it doesn't belong to this system:
`# ldd /tools/bin/env
not a dynamic executable`
The binary is compiled as per the book:
# readelf -l /tools/bin/env | grep interpreter
[Requesting program interpreter: /tools/lib/ld-linux.so.3]
So I wonder if there is a way, like using proper environment variables for CC LD READELF, to continue building for ARM using these tools on x86_64 host.
Thank you.
Yes, you certainly can chroot into an ARM rootfs on an x86 box.
Basically, like this:
$ sudo chroot /path/to/arm/rootfs /bin/sh
sh-4.3# ls --version 2>&1 | head
/bin/ls: unrecognized option '--version'
BusyBox v1.22.1 (2017-03-02 15:41:43 CST) multi-call binary.
Usage: ls [-1AaCxdLHRFplinsehrSXvctu] [-w WIDTH] [FILE]...
List directory contents
-1 One column output
-a Include entries which start with .
-A Like -a, but exclude . and ..
sh-4.3# ls
bin css dev home media proc sbin usr wav
boot data etc lib mnt qemu-arm sys var
My rootfs is for a small embedded device, so everything is BusyBox-based.
How is this working? Firstly, I have the binfmt-misc support running in the kernel. I didn't have to do anything; it came with Ubuntu 18. When the kernel sees an ARM binary, it hands it off to the registered interpreter /usr/bin/qemu-arm-static.
A static executable by that name is found inside my rootfs:
sh-4.3# ls /usr/bin/q*
/usr/bin/qemu-arm-static
I got it from a Ubuntu package. I installed:
$ apt-get install qemu-user-static
and then copied /usr/bin/qemu-arm-static into the usr/bin subdirectory of the rootfs tree.
That's it; now I can chroot into that rootfs without even mentioning QEMU on the chroot command line.
Nope. You can't run ARM binaries on x86, so you can't enter its chroot. No amount of environment variables will change that.
You might be able to continue the process by creating a filesystem image for the target and running it under an emulator (e.g, qemu-system-arm), but that's quite a different thing.
No you cannot, at least not using chroot. What you have in your hands is a toolchain with an ARM target for an ARM host. Binaries are directly executable only on architectures compatible with their host architecture - and x86_64 is not ARM-compatible.
That said, you might be able to use an emulated environment. qemu, for example, offers two emulation modes for ARM: qemu-system-arm that emulates a whole ARM-based system and qemu-arm that uses ARM-native libraries to provide a thinner emulation layer for running ARM Linux executables on non-ARM hosts.
I am trying to compile the linux kernel (3.0.0-13) with the Xen dom0 config flags which are not exposed via menuconfig. (Yes, I know that ubuntu provides a 'virtual' flavoured kernel that supports Xen paravirtualization, but that kernel does not seem to boot on my hardware. So, I am trying to compile the 'generic' flavoured ubuntu kernel with the extra Xen config flags since I know that the 'generic' flavour runs on my hardware). Every time that I try to compile my config flags are ignored based on the .config file that is generated and packaged with my kernel binary.
I have tried the following the following:
Downloaded the kernel source using apt-get source linux-image
I have then followed all of the steps from this guide: How to compile a new Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric) kernel and performed the following extra steps:
put my own config flags in the config.flavour.xxx file then compiled the linux-image package
Paused the 'debian/rules editconfigs' command immediately after the it runs 'menuconfig' and replaced the build/.config file with my custom .config file then compiled the linux-image package
I have also used the following howto How To Compile A Kernel - The Ubuntu Way and run the following commands on kernel source code that I already had:
edit the .config file to have my config flags
run 'make oldconfig'
run 'make-kpkg clean && fakeroot make-kpkg --initrd --append-to-version=-custom kernel_image kernel_headers'
After every time I have compiled the kernel I have installed the newly compiled linux-image package and have discovered that my config flags are not in the /boot/config-xxx file as I expect.
What am I doing wrong to cause my config flags to be ignored?
What can I do to make sure that my kernel config flags are used when compiling?
Is there some other option than recompiling the kernel to get a Xen dom0 kernel that work for my hardware?
For question 3: Is there another way to get a xen dom0 kernel for my hardware?
Yes.
Although all of the xen documentation says that all stock kernel support xen dom0, what they mean is that the source for all stock kernels now support xen dom0 but that support is turned off in their precompiled binaries.
On debian there is the following package which is a prebuilt linux kernel with the xen dom0 support turned on. Package: linux-image-xen-686
For anyone else who is really looking to compile their own xen dom0 kernel the following site has a good guide: Compiling a Xen Dom0 Kernel for Ubuntu Jaunty
What am I doing wrong to cause my config flags to be ignored?
The root of the issue lies in the first portion of your problem; the Xen dom0 config flags are not exposed via menuconfig
Simply setting them in the .config doesn't mean they'll be activated. You have to consider the dependencies for the config options.
From the linux 3.0 tag at github: https://github.com/torvalds/linux/blob/02f8c6aee8df3cdc935e9bdd4f2d020306035dbe/arch/x86/xen/Kconfig
config XEN_DOM0
def_bool y
depends on XEN && PCI_XEN && SWIOTLB_XEN
depends on X86_LOCAL_APIC && X86_IO_APIC && ACPI && PCI
Are all these depends flags met?
What can I do to make sure that my kernel config flags are used when compiling?
In the beginning stages of the kernel compile process, the .config file is re-written if there are any discrepancies. A good test to make sure your edits will persist is checking if they still exist in your .config file after doing a make menuconfig and saving changes. If after that your flags are still there, you can be sure that your flags are being used.
Is there some other option than recompiling the kernel to get a Xen dom0 kernel that work for my hardware?
Not unless another distribution ships with XEN_DOM0 enabled.
I 've cross compiled a Linux Kernel (for ARM on i686 - using Cross-LFS).
Now I'm trying to boot this Kernel using QEMU.
$ qemu-system-arm -m 128 -kernel /mnt/clfs-dec4/boot/clfskernel-2.6.38.2 --nographic -M versatilepb
Then, it shows this line and waits for infinite time !!
Uncompressing Linux... done, booting the kernel.
So, I want to debug the kernel, so that I can study what exactly is happening.
I'm new to these kernel builds, Can someone please help me to debug my custom built kernel as it is not even showing anything after that statement. Is there any possibility of the kernel being broken? ( I dont think so, b'se it didnot give any error while compiling )
And my aim is to generate a custom build very minimal Linux OS. Any suggestions regarding any tool-chains etc which would be easy & flexible depending on my requirements like drivers etc.,
ThankYou
You can use GDB to debug your kernel with QEMU you can use -s -S options. If you want a simple and reliable toolchain, you can use ELDK from DENX (http://www.denx.de/wiki/DULG/ELDK).
You can install it like this (It's not the last version, but you got the idea):
wget http://ftp.denx.de/pub/eldk/4.2/arm-linux-x86/iso/arm-2008-11-24.iso
sudo mkdir -p /mnt/cdrom (if necessary)
sudo mount -o loop arm-2008-11-24.iso /mnt/cdrom
/mnt/cdrom/install -d $HOME/EMBEDDED_TOOLS/ELDK/
The command above should install the toolchain under $HOLE/EMBEDDED_TOOLS/ELDK (modify it if you need)
echo "export PATH=$PATH:$HOME/EMBEDDED_TOOLS/ELDK/ELDK42/usr/bin" >> $HOME/.bashrc
You can then see the version of your ARM toolchain like this:
arm-linux-gcc -v
You can test a hello_world.c program like this:
arm-linux-gcc hello_world.c -o hello_world
And you type: file hello_wrold to see the target architecture of the binary, it should be something like this:
hello_wrold: ELF 32-bit LSB executable, ARM, version 1 (SYSV)
Now if you want to compile a production kernel, you need to optimize it (i suggest using busybox) and if you want just one for testing now, try this steps:
Create a script to set your chain tool set_toolchain.sh:
#! /usr/bin/sh
PATH=$PATH:$HOME/EMBEDDED_TOOLS/ELDK/ELDK42/usr/bin
ARCH=arm
CROSS_COMPILE=arm-linux-gnueabi-
export PATH ARCH CROSS_COMPILE
And run your script (source ./set_toolchain.sh)
Download a linux kernel and unzip it (Let's assume 2.6.x, it's an old kernel, but there are a lot of chances that it work without compilation errors).
Inside your unzipped kernel:
cd ~/linux-2.6.29/arch/arm/configs
make versatile_defconfig
Here we use versatile chip, you may need to use make menuconfig to modify the option OABI and set it to ARM EABI, this option is under Kernel features menu
After all this steps, you can compile you kernel:
make
if you want verbose compilation make v=1
After this you got your kernel under arch/arm/boot/zImage.
Hope this help.
Regards.
I would suggest to build your kernel by activating the option in the section Kernel hacking of your configuration file.
Then you may use kdb or kgdb which is easier to use but requires another machine running gdb.
`
You can also connect Qemu and GDB. Qemu has the -s and -S options that run a GDB server and allow you to connect to it via TCP to localhost:1234. Then you can load your kernel image (the unzipped one) in GDB and see how far your kernel boots.