[maemo-developers] Community Kernels garage project created

[From: Jason Edgecombe]

Graham Cobb wrote:
> On Tuesday 15 July 2008 09:25:36 Frantisek Dufka wrote:
>   
>> Primary goal is to accumulate kernel patches so they do not get lost,
>> secondary goal is to build kernel images for all devices and latest
>> versions of all IT200x releases. Patches should primarily apply to
>> kernel sources release in Maemo SDK (i.e not current linux-omap).
>>     
>
> Do you see this also addressing the related issue of building and distributing 
> kernel modules?
>
> I have a package (sisusbvga) which contains a kernel module (to drive an 
> external VGA adapter).  At the moment, I have built the kernel module using 
> the instructions on the wiki and then I package it up as a binary blob -- in 
> other words the debian package does NOT build the module from source.  If 
> possible, I would like to change that so that the debian package builds the 
> module, in the autobuilder.
>
> Actually in my case the situation may be reasonably straightforward: the 
> sisusbvga driver is actually part of the standard Linux kernel, although a 
> patch is required to get it to build for the Internet Tablet (I ought to 
> submit the patch to LKML one day).  So, I guess it falls within the scope of 
> this project anyway, assuming you are addressing the problem of kernel 
> modules as well as the kernel image itself.
>
> There are another couple of issues -- are they part of this project?
>
> Firstly, as it stands today, I can't find a way to install the module such 
> that it can be found and loaded automatically when the hardware is seen on 
> boot: /lib/modules is only in the initfs.
>
> The other problem is how to deal with kernel versions.  I believe the plan for 
> Maemo going forward is that even kernel upgrades may occur.  What package do 
> I specify as a dependency so that my package only installs on the correct 
> kernel version?  How do I get the autobuilder to build the various versions 
> of my module needed for the different kernel versions?  What magic do I need 
> to put in my debian/control to get the installer to install the correct 
> version of my module for the kernel version?
>   
I have a similar issue where I have to maintain the openafs kernel
modules, but I am trying to get them to automatically build in the
autobuilder. my module lives in a odd folder and is loaded by the init.d
script so loading is taken care of. I will continue to maint the openafs
kernel module along with the openafs package.

Jason