Yocto Build Linux

Build Linux from source code

It is recommended to build the kernel image using Yocto (see the Customizing the Linux kernel page) instead of using the direct method described in this page.
This is because some of the Yocto packages may depend on the kernel, like the WiFi module that is built from outside of the kernel source tree on some of the Yocto releases.

Toolchain installation for out of Yocto builds

To install the toolchain, follow the Yocto Toolchain installation guide.

Setup the environment:

Setup a working directory

$ export WORKDIR=~/imx8mm-var-dart-linux
$ mkdir ${WORKDIR}

Build Linux out of Yocto tree

Fetch linux-imx source code:

$ cd $WORKDIR
$ git clone https://github.com/varigit/linux-imx.git -b lf-6.6.y_6.6.52-2.2.0_var01 linux-imx
$ cd linux-imx && \
  git checkout lf-6.6.y_6.6.52-2.2.0_var01 && \
  cd ../

Build Kernel, Modules, and DTBs:

Setup the environment:

$ source /opt/fsl-imx-xwayland/6.6-scarthgap/environment-setup-armv8a-poky-linux
$ unset LDFLAGS

Clean and prepare the kernel:

$ cd ${WORKDIR}/linux-imx
$ make mrproper
$ make imx8_var_defconfig

Customize the kernel configuration (optional step):
$ make menuconfig

Build kernel parts:

Build everything:
$ make -j$(nproc)

Build Image.gz only:
$ make -j$(nproc)  Image.gz

Build modules only:
$ make -j$(nproc)  modules

Build device trees only:
$ make -j$(nproc) dtbs

Build only the device tree for DART-MX8M-MINI V1.x and above on DT8MCustomBoard:
$ make -j4 freescale/imx8mm-var-dart-1.x-dt8mcustomboard.dtb

Build only the device tree for DART-MX8M-MINI V1.x and above with Cortex-M4 on DT8MCustomBoard:
$ make -j4 freescale/imx8mm-var-dart-1.x-dt8mcustomboard-m4.dtb

Build only the device tree for DART-MX8M-MINI V2.x and above on DT8MCustomBoard:
$ make -j4 freescale/imx8mm-var-dart-dt8mcustomboard.dtb

Build only the device tree for DART-MX8M-MINI V2.x and above with Cortex-M4 on DT8MCustomBoard:
$ make -j4 freescale/imx8mm-var-dart-dt8mcustomboard-m4.dtb

Build only the device tree for DART-MX8M-MINI V2.x with WBE support on DT8MCustomBoard:
$ make -j4 freescale/imx8mm-var-dart-wbe-dt8mcustomboard.dtb

Build only the device tree for DART-MX8M-MINI V2.x with Cortex-M4 and with WBE support on DT8MCustomBoard:
$ make -j4 freescale/imx8mm-var-dart-wbe-dt8mcustomboard-m4.dtb

Build only the device tree for VAR-SOM-MX8M-MINI V1.x on Symphony-Board:
$ make -j4 freescale/imx8mm-var-som-1.x-symphony.dtb

Build only the device tree for VAR-SOM-MX8M-MINI V1.x with Cortex-M4 on Symphony-Board:
$ make -j4 freescale/imx8mm-var-som-1.x-symphony-m4.dtb

Build only the device tree for VAR-SOM-MX8M-MINI V2.x on Symphony-Board:
$ make -j4 freescale/imx8mm-var-som-symphony.dtb

Build only the device tree for VAR-SOM-MX8M-MINI V2.x with Cortex-M4 on Symphony-Board:
$ make -j4 freescale/imx8mm-var-som-symphony-m4.dtb

Build only the device tree for VAR-SOM-MX8M-MINI V2.x with WBE on Symphony-Board:
$ make -j4 freescale/imx8mm-var-som-wbe-symphony.dtb

Build only the device tree for VAR-SOM-MX8M-MINI V2.x with WBE and Cortex-M4 on Symphony-Board:
$ make -j4 freescale/imx8mm-var-som-wbe-symphony-m4.dtb

Install kernel modules to temporary directory

Create a temporary directory to install the modules:

Optional: delete any old installation from previous builds:
$ rm -rf $WORKDIR/rootfs

Create new directory:
$ mkdir -p $WORKDIR/rootfs

Install the modules to the temporary rootfs:

$ cd ${WORKDIR}/linux-imx && \
  make ARCH=arm64 \
    INSTALL_MOD_STRIP=1 \
    INSTALL_MOD_PATH=$WORKDIR/rootfs \
    modules_install

Build external modules

Build and install iw61x wifi driver support to temporary rootfs

External kernel modules must be compiled against the exact kernel version (commit ID) that is deployed on the target. Follow the steps below to compile and install the mandatory external drivers for the imx8mm-var-dart.

NXP Wi-Fi linux Driver

Follow the steps below to compile and install the driver for the NXP iw61x chipset.

Fetch the driver:

$ cd $WORKDIR
$ git clone https://github.com/nxp-imx/mwifiex -b lf-6.6.52_2.2.0 mwifiex
$ cd mwifiex && \
  git checkout 5ad19e194f49ed9447bee7864eb562618ccaf9b1 && \
  cd ../

Build the driver:

$ cd ${WORKDIR}/mwifiex && 
  make -j$(nproc) KERNELDIR=$WORKDIR/linux-imx

Install the driver to the temporary modules directory:

$ make -j$(nproc) \
    KERNELDIR=${WORKDIR}/linux-imx \
    -C ${WORKDIR}/linux-imx \
    M=${WORKDIR}/mwifiex \
    INSTALL_MOD_PATH=${WORKDIR}/rootfs \
    INSTALL_MOD_STRIP=1 \
    modules_install

Notes:

If you replace the kernel image (Image.gz) on your system, you also need to reinstall the kernel modules, and vice versa.

If you just want to make a change in the device tree, you can compile and replace it without replacing the kernel image and modules.

Install the built kernel images, modules, and device trees on an SD card

Copy the Image.gz and device trees to the SD card boot partition, and install the modules in the SD card rootfs partition.
Assuming the rootfs partition is mounted on /media/user/root:

Install the kernel image and modules:
$ cd ${WORKDIR}/linux-imx
$ kver=$(strings arch/arm64/boot/Image | grep -i "Linux version" | awk 'NR==1 {print $3}')
$ sudo cp arch/arm64/boot/Image.gz /media/user/root/boot/Image.gz-${kver}
$ sudo ln -fs Image.gz-${kver} /media/user/root/boot/Image.gz
$ sudo rsync -Kra $WORKDIR/rootfs/* /media/user/root

Install the device trees:
$ sudo cp arch/arm64/boot/dts/freescale/*imx*var*.dtb /media/user/root/boot/

Install the built kernel images, modules, and device trees using SSH on a running target

The example below uses ssh to install the kernel on a running device.

First, export a variable with the ip address of your target device:

$ export TARGET_IP=192.168.0.205

Then, copy the kernel image and device trees to the temporary directory, send them to the target using ssh, and install them with the correct user permissions:

$ mkdir -p $WORKDIR/rootfs/boot && \
  cp ${WORKDIR}/linux-imx/arch/arm64/boot/dts/freescale/*imx*var*.dtb $WORKDIR/rootfs/boot && \
  cp ${WORKDIR}/linux-imx/arch/arm64/boot/Image.gz $WORKDIR/rootfs/boot/ && \
  ssh root@${TARGET_IP} 'mkdir /tmp/rootfs' && \
  tar czf - -C $WORKDIR/rootfs . | ssh root@${TARGET_IP} 'tar xzf - -C /tmp/rootfs && \
  chown -R root:root /tmp/rootfs && cp -a /tmp/rootfs/boot/* /boot/ && cp -a /tmp/rootfs/lib/* /lib/ && \
  rm -r /tmp/rootfs'