Driver for NXP PCF8523 (used by Raspy-Juice) ex 3.8 roadmap?

[catmaker]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pepedog', 'I') rebuilt again, I need to know if not built into kernel is ok, ie a regular module
http://myplugbox.com/linux-raspberrypi-withPCF8523.tar.gz
It has 0001 and 0002 patches

[pepedog]

I got queries on hctosys.c messages from users without rtc hardware, 2 more appeared with pcf8523 builtin
I think this will enable on boot for systemd, can you test please
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', 'echo "w /sys/class/i2c-adapter/i2c-0/new_device - - - - pcf8523 0x68" > /etc/tmpfiles.d/pcf8523.conf
echo "# Load i2c stuff and peripherals at boot." > /etc/modules-load.d/raspberry-i2c.conf
echo "i2c_bcm2708" >> /etc/modules-load.d/raspberry-i2c.conf
echo "i2c_dev" >> /etc/modules-load.d/raspberry-i2c.conf
echo "rtc_pcf8523" >> /etc/modules-load.d/raspberry-i2c.conf')
Although I get and error with
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '# echo "pcf8523 0x68" > /sys/class/i2c-adapter/i2c-0/new_device
-bash: echo: write error: Invalid argument')
and dmesg
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '[ 65.554419] i2c i2c-0: Failed to register i2c client pcf8523 at 0x68 (-16)
[ 79.227528] i2c i2c-0: Failed to register i2c client pcf8523 at 0x68 (-16)')
Is that because of lack of hardware?

The kernel is in the repo as you last tested, if on pi with that tarball kernel you will have to-
$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', 'rm -r /usr/lib/modules/3.6.11-5-ARCH+/extramodules/
pacman -Sf linux-raspberrypi')

[more10]

Thanks pepedog for your effort. This kind of accomodation is far beyond what I had expected. I am so impressed with the alarm distribution.

If you can compile the driver into the kernel I would be very grateful. If not I will have to do a systemd service to set the RTC up. This is why I proposed using mkinitcpio, the module could be loaded early.

The raspberry is not connected to the internet, there is no NTP. I need the RTC for dating log files so that I can delete old log files with a cron job. If any log file is dated 1970 it will be deleted by my cron job.

PS. Changing the title of the thread so that it better describes the content. DS.

[catmaker]

Hi pepedog,

After removing the tar-balled kernel, I've pacman upgraded with the distribution's kernel, and included the /etc/modules-load.d/raspberry-i2c.conf stuff. I have tested the Raspberry Pi Rev.1 without the Raspy Juice (and its PCF8523 RTC) and I get the same error results you observed.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '
reporoot@hagar:~# dmesg | grep 'i2c\|rtc'
[ 2.318292] drivers/rtc/hctosys.c: unable to open rtc device (rtc0)
[ 3.632550] bcm2708_i2c bcm2708_i2c.0: BSC0 Controller at 0x20205000 (irq 79) (baudrate 100k)
[ 3.694028] bcm2708_i2c bcm2708_i2c.1: BSC1 Controller at 0x20804000 (irq 79) (baudrate 100k)
[ 3.735314] i2c /dev entries driver
[ 3.781900] systemd-modules-load[57]: Inserted module 'rtc_pcf8523'
[ 6.054938] rtc-pcf8523: probe of 0-0068 failed with error -5
[ 6.054993] i2c i2c-0: new_device: Instantiated device pcf8523 at 0x68
root@hagar:~# echo "pcf8523 0x68" > /sys/class/i2c-adapter/i2c-0/new_device
-bash: echo: write error: Invalid argument
root@hagar:~# echo "pcf8523 0x68" > /sys/class/i2c-adapter/i2c-1/new_device
root@hagar:~# dmesg | grep 'i2c\|rtc'
[ 2.318292] drivers/rtc/hctosys.c: unable to open rtc device (rtc0)
[ 3.632550] bcm2708_i2c bcm2708_i2c.0: BSC0 Controller at 0x20205000 (irq 79) (baudrate 100k)
[ 3.694028] bcm2708_i2c bcm2708_i2c.1: BSC1 Controller at 0x20804000 (irq 79) (baudrate 100k)
[ 3.735314] i2c /dev entries driver
[ 3.781900] systemd-modules-load[57]: Inserted module 'rtc_pcf8523'
[ 6.054938] rtc-pcf8523: probe of 0-0068 failed with error -5
[ 6.054993] i2c i2c-0: new_device: Instantiated device pcf8523 at 0x68
[ 142.668040] i2c i2c-0: Failed to register i2c client pcf8523 at 0x68 (-16)
[ 146.654099] rtc-pcf8523: probe of 1-0068 failed with error -5
[ 146.654153] i2c i2c-1: new_device: Instantiated device pcf8523 at 0x68
root@hagar:~#
')

Yes, it is caused by the lack of the RTC chip during the probe. In the above log, I also tried to 'new_device' on the other i2c bus, again without the RTC HW, and then dmesg complained of the second module's probe failure. I think this confirms your message observations of missing RTC HW during module loads.

PS: @more10, for my alarmpi units, I think I will try your suggestion of using a systemd call to set the sytem time in userspace.

[more10]

My RTC is now up and running!

The boot warning about rtc is always displayed, so compiling the driver into the kernel will not make it any worse I believe. But if including in the kernel, other rtc solutions must also be supported.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', 'jan 01 01:00:03 alarmpi kernel: drivers/rtc/hctosys.c: unable to open rtc device (rtc0)')

[pepedog]

more10,
I look at your date (obviously from everything.log) and see jan 01 01:00:03
I got a fakeclock which examines everything.log, if latest entries are not 1970 then clock is set to that. Then syslog-ng comes up, writes dmesg to it (not with 1970 date). No 1970 dates will be in it at all
Not a package btw http://myplugbox.com/fakeclock.tar.xz

[more10]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', ' ')(obviously from everything.log)

[more10]

My systemd.service file:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '
[root@alarmpi ~]# cd /etc/systemd/system
[root@alarmpi system]# cat hwclock.service
[Unit]
Description=Raspy-Juice rtc control

[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=/sbin/hwclock -s
Requires=systemd-timedated.service
After=systemd-timedated.service

[Install]
WantedBy=basic.target

[root@alarmpi system]#
')

Im not too shure about the basic.target, maybe it is possible to start it even earlier, but systemd documentation is a bit lacking

After reboot:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_code('', '[root@alarmpi ~]# journalctl -b | grep rtc
jan 01 01:00:03 alarmpi kernel: drivers/rtc/hctosys.c: unable to open rtc device (rtc0)
jan 01 01:00:03 alarmpi systemd-modules-load[48]: Module 'rtc_pcf8523' is builtin
jan 01 01:00:05 alarmpi kernel: rtc-pcf8523 0-0068: chip found, driver version 1.0
jan 01 01:00:05 alarmpi kernel: rtc-pcf8523 0-0068: rtc core: registered rtc-pcf8523 as rtc0
jan 01 01:00:05 alarmpi systemd[1]: Starting Raspy-Juice rtc control...
feb 06 13:49:35 alarmpi systemd[1]: Started Raspy-Juice rtc control.
')

It seems to work!

[catmaker]

Hi pepedog,

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('more10', '
')My systemd.service file:
...
After reboot:
...
It seems to work!

[pepedog]

I am about to follow this
https://github.com/raspberrypi/linux/commit/f7aef7a72c32631b8300af33c44ba3a3421b3c0c
According to their note-
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'R')emove RTC_HCTOSYS as it produces a kernel boot error, and doesn't do anything with RTC kernel modules