How to Port Linux Kernel

[Anuz Pratap Singh Tomar]

On Mon, Aug 19, 2013 at 2:13 PM, Robert Clove <cloverobert at gmail.com> wrote:

>
>
>
> On Mon, Aug 19, 2013 at 6:22 PM, Alexandru Juncu <alexj at rosedu.org> wrote:
>
>> On 19 August 2013 15:35, Robert Clove <cloverobert at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > Hello All,
>> >
>> > I am an software Guy have some knowledge about device drivers.
>> > I want to understand porting Linux kernel on new PCI board.
>> > I have no idea from where to start and how.
>> > Please guide me through some good books and tutorials.
>> >
>> > Please guide.
>>
>> Hello!
>>
>> I don't think you want to 'port' Linux on the board. You port the
>> kernel on a new CPU processor/architecture.
>> I think what you want is to make a device driver for your device (that
>> connects via PCI).
>>
>> What you should do is search for an existing device driver of a
>> similar board and take the code for that one and examine it. Then take
>> the technical specs of the new board and see the differences between
>> that and the old board and implement the differences in a new code
>> that will be the new device driver.
>>
>
>
> Sir,
>
> Actually what i want to do is suppose the hardware team give you a new
> board and now you want to run Linux kernel on it,
> What one should do to port Linux on the new board.
>
> That is a very open ended question.
You are talking about entire BSP(Board support package) here.
First thing to ask is whether or not do you have a bootloader available for
the board.
Depending on what kind of board it is, you might either want to get uboot
or grub or some other bootloader. For example on PPC board from ep, uboot
is very common.
You may need to compile the right bootloader and burn it to the flash using
a hardware debugger like JTAG BDI.
Once you have the bootloader in there, then only can you proceed with the
kernel. In most cases( if it is not a custom board) you should be able to
get the relevant config from the board manufacture's site or someone else
who provided development toolchain for the board.
You may require to setup the cross compile toolchain for the board.
I would highly recommend that you _BUY_ this book written by Karim Yaghmour
called as
Building embedded system(whichever is the latest edition), if you really
want to learn about this stuff.
Second place ofcourse is Free-electron website, they have a lot of stuff
about cross compiling and embedded stuff in general.

-- 
Thank you
Warm Regards
Anuz
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