How to build kernel for BBB?

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How to build kernel for BBB?

Postby tboy32 » Fri Sep 05, 2014 12:49 pm

I apologize in advance if this has been covered elsewhere. If so, pointing me in the right direction would be very helpful.

I have a Beaglebone Black and want to build the kernel for ALARM. I'd like to change the splash screen to something custom and I've been told a recompilation would be required. I see packages like Plymouth exist on Arch Linux but I haven't seen it for ARM. It looks like Plymouth can do "animated" images/themes, is that right? I don't necessarily need that but it would be a nice option to have.

I have recompiled the kernel for the original Beaglebone White (when it was first released) using Angstrom. I have a bit of experience with Linux in general, but I'm pretty new to recompiling kernels. As such, it took me a while to get it right when I first did it.

I am a bit worried about following guides for Linux when I come across them online. Linux moves so fast that the guides become 'outdated' relatively quickly. On multiple occasions I've followed a guide and wound up getting stuck because it was written months in the past and things have changed too much. Unfortunately I don't have enough experience to figure it out myself.

This time around I'd like to begin by politely asking if anyone here has any experience with building the kernel for a Beaglebone Black (the newest Rev 'C', if that matters). I hate to ask for a step-by-step guide or spoonfed information and I feel that is the last resort after I've failed to do it myself.

I have done some Googling over the last few days and have found some older guides, and I notice that this forum mentions a "How to compile a kernel" guide, but unfortunately it's now a dead link (http://archlinuxarm.org/developers/building-kernels).

I have a BBB, a serial debug cable, the BBB is plugged into my network, 2GB and 4GB uSD cards, and I have a Virtual Machine setup that I've been using for various work (it's Ubuntu 14.04.1 but I can easily obtain other versions if needed). Last time I had to build the kernel I cross-compiled it and loaded it onto a uSD card. I have been seeing people use a "Live load over network" method for testing which I can do if you think that is easier.

Part of my confusion is not knowing how 'general' a kernel is. Can I, for instance, build it using a guide for the Raspberry Pi and it would work? For reference, my BBB reports using "Arch Linux 3.8.13-29-ARCH".

Sorry for the long post for a 'simple' question. I would be very grateful for any guidance anyone could provide. Thanks!

-Seth
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Re: How to build kernel for BBB?

Postby moonman » Fri Sep 05, 2014 11:02 pm

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/plymouth

To build a kernel, checkout this repository:
https://github.com/archlinuxarm/PKGBUILDs

make sure you have base-debel

use 'makepkg" to build.
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