Menuconfig or how to configure kernel
目录
Linux configuration genericity
The process of building a kernel has two parts: configuring the kernel options and building the source with those options.
The Linux® kernel configuration is found in the generated file: .config.
.config is the result of configuring task which is processing platform defconfig and fragment files if any.
For OpenSTLinux distribution the defconfig is located into the kernel source code and fragments into stm32mp BSP layer :
- - arch/arm/configs/multi_v7_defconfig
Every new kernel version brings a bunch of new options, we do not want to back port them into a specific defconfig file each time the kernel releases, so we use the same defconfig file based on ARM SoC v7 architecture.
STM32MP1 specificities are managed with fragments config files.
- - meta-st/meta-st-stm32mp/recipes-kernel/linux/linux-stm32mp/<kernel version>/fragment-*.config
.config result is located in the build folder:
- - build-openstlinuxweston-stm32mp1/tmp-glibc/work/stm32mp1-openstlinux_weston-linux-gnueabi/linux-stm32mp/4.14-48/linux-stm32mp1-standard-build/.config
To modify the kernel options, it is not recommended to edit this file directly.
- A user runs either a text-mode :
PC $> make config starts a character based question and answer session (Figure 1)
PC $> make menuconfig starts a terminal-oriented configuration tool (using ncurses) (Figure 2) The ncurses text version is more popular and is run with the make menuconfig option. Wikipedia Menuconfig[1] also explains how to "navigate" within the configuration menu, and highlights main key strokes.
- or a graphical kernel configurator :
PC $> make xconfig starts a X based configuration tool (Figure 3)
Ultimately these configuration tools edit the .config file.
An option indicates either some driver is built into the kernel ("=y") or will be built as a module ("=m") or is not selected.
The unselected state can either be indicated by a line starting with "#" (e.g. "# CONFIG_SCSI is not set") or by the absence of the relevant line from the .config file.
The 3 states of the main selection option for the SCSI subsystem (which actually selects the SCSI mid level driver) follow. Only one of these should appear in an actual .config file:
CONFIG_SCSI=y CONFIG_SCSI=m # CONFIG_SCSI is not set
Menuconfig and Developer Package
For this use case, the prerequesite is that OpenSTLinux SDK has been installed and configured.
To verify if your cross-compilation environment has been put in place correctly, run the following command:
PC $> set | grep CROSS CROSS_COMPILE=arm-openstlinux_weston-linux-gnueabi-
For more details, refer to <Linux kernel installation directory>/README.HOW_TO.txt helper file (the latest version of this helper file is also available in GitHub: Unsupported domain!).
- Go to the <Linux kernel build directory>
PC $> cd <Linux kernel build directory>
- Save initial configuration (to identify later configuration updates)
PC $> make arch=ARM savedefconfig Result is stored in defconfig file PC $> cp defconfig defconfig.old
- Start the Linux kernel configuration menu
PC $> make arch=ARM menuconfig
- Navigate forwards or backwards directly between feature
- un/select, modify feature(s) you want
- When the configuration is OK : exit and save the new configuration
useful keys to know: enter: enter in config subdirectory space: hit several times to either select [*], select in module [m] or unselect [ ] /: to search for a keyword, this is usefull to navigate in tree ?: to have more information on selected line
- Compare the old and new config files after operating modifications with menuconfig
PC $> make arch=ARM savedefconfig
Retrieve configuration updates by comparing the new defconfig and the old one
PC $> meld defconfig defconfig.old
- Cross-compile the Linux kernel (please check the load address in the README.HOW_TO.txt helper file)
PC $> make arch=ARM uImage LOADADDR=<loadaddr of kernel> PC $> cp arch/arm/boot/uImage install_artifact/boot/
- Update the Linux kernel image on board
PC $> scp install_artifact/boot/uImage root@<board ip address>:/boot/
 |
If the /boot mounting point doesn't exist yet, please see how to create a mounting point |
- Reboot the board
Board $> cd /boot; sync; systemctl reboot
Note that this use case modifies the configuration file in the Linux kernel build directory, not in the Linux kernel source directory: this is a temporary modification useful for a prototyping.
- To make this temporary modification permanent, the delta between defconfig and defconfig.old must be saved in a configuration fragment file (fragment-*.config) based on fragment.cfg file, and the Linux kernel configuration/compilation steps must be re-executed (as explained in the README.HOW_TO.txt helper file).
Menuconfig and Distribution Package
- Start the Linux kernel configuration menu
PC $> bitbake virtual/kernel -c menuconfig
- Navigate forwards or backwards directly between feature
- un/select, modify feature(s) you want
- When the configuration is OK : exit and save the new configuration
useful keys to know: enter: enter in config subdirectory space: hit several times to either select [*], select in module [m] or unselect [ ] /: to search for a keyword, this is usefull to navigate in tree ?: to have more information on selected line
- Cross-compile the Linux kernel
PC $> bitbake virtual/kernel
- Update the Linux kernel image on board
PC $> scp <build dir>/tmp-glibc/deploy/images/<machine name>/uImage root@<board ip address>:/boot
|
If the /boot mounting point does not exist yet, please see how to create a mounting point |
- Reboot the board
Board $> cd /boot; sync; systemctl reboot
Note that this use case modifies the configuration file in the Linux kernel build directory, not in the Linux kernel source directory: this is a temporary modification useful for a prototyping.
- To make this temporary modification permanent, it must be saved in a configuration fragment file (fragment-*.config) based on fragment.cfg file, and the Linux kernel configuration/compilation steps must be re-executed: bitbake <name of kernel recipe>.
