Raspberry Pi kernel repository aggregating patches for Linux mainline

Since several months I’m trying to find my way to embedded Linux programming. My hardware set was very limited I had only one board that can be called “embedded” and it was Raspberry Pi. Because I am more interested in firmware/OS level then hardware I tried to figure out what is going on with RPi kernel. After taking brief review of raspberrypi/linux GitHub repository I realized that close to my heart is upstreaming effort. So with noob attitude I contacted RPi Upstreaming wiki page author (notro) and we started to create some foundation.

Disclaimer: These are for testing purposes and considered unstable. Use at your own risk. Edit: 20/10/2014: minor typo, clone instructions moved to “How to use it ?” section

What we have now ?

We created set of repositories to handle upstreaming process.

First there is rpi-dt-linux it is Linux kernel based on linux-stable with patches on top of every branch. This repository aims to aggregate all patches required for Raspberry Pi support in upstream kernel. rpi-dt-linux use bcm2835_defconfig with device tree support. We want to introduce every driver that supports device tree. Right now a lot of stuff is missing, but I will dive into it later.

After consulting with popcornmix we decide to rebase all patches to keep them on top of every branch. This of course mean that repository will be broken, but patches will be more visible in history.

Second rpi-dt-firmware is ready to use firmware files for Raspberry Pi with already built modules and kernel. If you are familiar with Hexxeh rpi-update and his repository rpi-firmware this should not be anything new for you.

Third rpi-bcm2835 which simplifies build and release process of rpi-dt-linux.

How to use it ?

User

If you simply want to try new kernel on your RPi then install rpi-update, by:

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sudo apt-get install rpi-update

on Raspbian or follow instruction from Readme.md for other distributions.

To install latest release of rpi-dt-firmware use rpi-update on RPi:

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sudo REPO_URI=https://github.com/pietrushnic/rpi-dt-firmware rpi-update

After update simply reboot your Pi and enjoy our upstream kernel :).

Developer

If you want to play with the code I have few hints that can help.

First please clone rpi-dt-linux and rpi-bcm2835 mentioned above.

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git clone https://github.com/pietrushnic/rpi-dt-linux.git
git clone https://github.com/notro/rpi-bcm2835.git

Then install rpi-build following instructions on wiki. Then you can do few things:

Build rpi-dt-linux locally. This will download latest snapshot of rpi-dt-linux and other dependencies like u-boot and cross-compiler.

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cd path/to/rpi-bcm2835
rpi-build rpi-dt-linux clean build

You can install already built kernel on your machine over ssh (replace <RPI_IP> with your Pi IP address):

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rpi-build rpi-dt-linux install SSHIP=<RPI_IP>

If you want to use your own kernel repository just use rpi-bcm2835 with local path:

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RPI_DT_LINUX_LOCAL=../../rpi-dt-linux rpi-build rpi-dt-linux clean build

NOTE: that additional level of ../ was added because rpi-build creates workdir which is reference directory for it.

It is also possible to release your own firmware repository. To help with process there are two commands:

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FW_REPO=/home/pietrushnic/src/rpi-dt-firmware FW_BRANCH=master rpi-build rpi-dt-linux commit
FW_REPO=/home/pietrushnic/src/rpi-dt-firmware FW_BRANCH=master rpi-build rpi-dt-linux push

Obviously FW_REPO is a directory with firmware git repository.

Changelog

At the point of writing this post there were 3 releases of rpi-dt-firmware. We applied v10 of mailbox API and Lubomir Rintel bcm2835-mbox, bcm2835-cpufreq and bcm2835-thermal drivers from his repository. All updates are published in README.md with every release.

Summary

Of course we are happy with every contribution small and big, critique and process improvement hints. Let us know what you think about this effort.


Piotr Król
Founder of 3mdeb, a passionate advocate for open-source firmware solutions, driven by a belief in transparency, innovation, and trustworthiness. Every day is a new opportunity to embody the company's vision, emphasizing user liberty, simplicity, and privacy. Beyond business, a casual chess and bridge player, finding peace in nature and nourishment in theology, philosophy, and psychology. A person striving to foster a healthy community, grounded in collaboration and shared growth, while nurturing a lifelong curiosity and a desire to deeply understand the world.