Linux/WILINK-SW: WiLink R8.7 SP2: Is it already available in a version of the ti-processor-sdk-linux-am335x-evm, or is it only available as a patch?

Do I need to build and install R8.7_SP1 before building and installing R8.7_SP2, or does R8.7_SP2 contain all the changes from the R8,7_SP1 and previous wl8 releases?

I am looking to use any ti-processor-sdk-linux-am335x-evm-<SDK Version>. (ideally from the past 12 months) So, I would be using the kernel versions included with those SDKs.

For example:
* for ti-processor-sdk-linux-am335x-evm-03.02.00.05, I'm using linux-4.4.32+gitAUTOINC+adde2ca9f8-gadde2ca9f8
* for ti-processor-sdk-linux-am335x-evm-04.01.00.06, I'm using linux-4.9.41+gitAUTOINC+e3a80a1c5c-ge3a80a1c5c

Is there a preferred processor-sdk / linux kernel that I should apply R8.7_SP2. I ran into some build problems using SDK 04.01.00.06 (I think that's the latest SDK). I'm going to retry with earlier SDKs, but I'd appreciate your insight as to which SDK / Linux kernel would be the best choice (particularly an SDK for which you have verified a successful R8.7_SP build).

Thanks!

- Marc

Thanks for the helpful responses,

One more question: If I specify a KERNEL_PATH that points to my SDK's kernel, is it true that the WL18xx system build scripts won't download kernel source and compile a new (zImage) kernel? I should be able to continue using my existing (zImage) kernel from my SDK, and just install the updated rootfs files are archived in fs_skeleton.tbz2.

Is that the case?

- thanks

Marc

I've run the build script as follows:

./build_wl18xx.sh init
./build_wl18xx.sh update R8.7_SP2

It seems to run fine, and I do get a populated fs directory and an outputs/fs_skeleton.tbz2 file.

The generated lib/modules/4.1.13-g8dc6617/ directory only contains drivers for the ti wireless drivers (plus cfg802.11 and mac802.11).
That's fine.

The problem is that the modules.* files only reference these drivers.

When I extract fs_skeleton.tbz2 to the device, the modules.* from the tarball OVERWRITE the existing modules.* files. As a result, I lose all the references to my other non wireless drivers.

Am I doing something wrong in the build process? It seems that these modules.* files should preserve the non-wireless references while updating the references to the R8.7SP2 drivers.

Thanks,

Marc

Note: I should mention that I made small modifications to build_wl18xx.sh.

The original script was not evaluating DEFAULT_KERNEL and DEFAULT_TOOLCHAIN correctly (ie. I specified TOOLCHAIN_PATH and KERNEL_PATH in setup_env.

The following are the changes I made:

178a179,180
> else
> DEFAULT_TOOLCHAIN=0
190a193
> DEFAULT_KERNEL=0
271,272c274,277
< wget ${toolchain[0]} -O `path downloads`/arm-toolchain.tar.bz2
< tar -xjf `path downloads`/arm-toolchain.tar.bz2 -C `path toolchain`
---
> # wget ${toolchain[0]} -O `path downloads`/arm-toolchain.tar.bz2
> # tar -xjf `path downloads`/arm-toolchain.tar.bz2 -C `path toolchain`
> wget ${toolchain[0]} -O `path downloads`/arm-toolchain.tar.xz
> tar -xJf `path downloads`/arm-toolchain.tar.xz -C `path toolchain`
864c869
< [ DEFAULT_TOOLCHAIN ] && setup_toolchain
---
> [ "$DEFAULT_TOOLCHAIN" -eq 1 ] && setup_toolchain
872c877
< [ -z $INTREE ] && [ $DEFAULT_KERNEL ] && build_uimage
---
> [ -z $INTREE ] && [ $DEFAULT_KERNEL -eq 1 ] && build_uimage

(For now, ignore the wget modification. The URL and tarball format for the default toolchain seems to have recently changed. I updated the URL in configuration.sh. But that's irrelevant for this discussion)

I'm guessing anyone who uses the build_wl18xx script as-is, without paying close attention, ends up downloading and building the default kernel, and building with the default toolchain, regardless of what they specified in setup_env.

In that case (although I haven't tried it yet), I suspect that this may result in a complete /lib/modules/ directory. (And not the limited /lib/modules directory I mentioned in the previous post)

If this is the case, I'd like to achieve the same results, but using my locally built kernel and toolchain from ti-processor-sdk-linux-am335x-evm-02.00.01.07.

Thanks !

- Marc

Hi Marc,
build-utilities should not download/build kernel unless KERNEL_PATH is set to DEFAULT. Can you please share your setup-env ?

Saurabh

Hi Saurabh,

When I specify my KERNEL_PATH, the build_wl18xx.sh finds my SDK's Makefile and verifies the correct kernel version.

Let me re-focus my question.

After I run ./build_wl18xx.sh init and ./build_wl18xx.sh update R8.7_SP2, what should the directory fs/lib/modules/4.1.13-g8dc6617/ contain?

For me, the above directory contains a) an update/ subdirectory with WiLink8 drivers and b) modules.* files that only reference these WiLink8 drivers.

The contents of fs get packaged into outputs/fs_skeleton.tbz2.

The problem is that when I extract fs_skeleton on to my device, all the modules.* files get overwritten with the fs_skeleton version that only references WiLink8 drivers. I lose all my references to all the other non-WiLink drivers that are already installed on my device.

As a result, when I boot up my device, it complains that many drivers cannot be loaded. And when I run lsmod, the only drivers shown as loaded are the WiLink8 drivers (including mac80211 and cfg80211).

This can't be how R8.7_SP2 is supposed to be installed. But I can't figure out how to do it correctly with the build_wl18xx.sh script and fairly clear install instructions from the TI website.

Again, please let me know what the contents of fs/lib/modules/4.1.13-g8dc6617/ contain?

And, if I do have the proper contents, how do I install the updated WiLink without losing the information about my device's non-WiLink drivers (i.e. the information contained in the device's original modules.* files)

I'm puzzled that nobody else has experienced this issue.

Marc, Yes depmod will fix the module dependencies . Thanks for updating the post.

Saurabh