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https://github.com/jc2k/flash-kernel

A fork of flash-kernel that handles Raspberry Pi (for running upstream Debian on them)
https://github.com/jc2k/flash-kernel

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A fork of flash-kernel that handles Raspberry Pi (for running upstream Debian on them)

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README 

        
flash-kernel

------------



flash-kernel is a script which will put the kernel and initramfs in

the boot location of embedded devices that don't load the kernel and

initramfs directly from /boot.  flash-kernel supports devices that

boot from flash memory (hence the name) as well as some devices that

require a special boot image on the disk.



Supported systems

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The following systems are supported:



 - APM X-Gene Mustang board

 - Buffalo Linkstation Live

 - Buffalo Linkstation Live, version 3 (LS-CHL)

 - Buffalo Linkstation Live with BitTorrent (LS-CHLv2)

 - Buffalo Linkstation LS-QVL

 - Buffalo Linkstation LS-VL

 - Buffalo Linkstation LS-WSXL

 - Buffalo Linkstation LS-WTGL

 - Buffalo Linkstation LS-WVL

 - Buffalo Linkstation LS-WXL

 - Buffalo Linkstation Mini (LS-WSGL)

 - Buffalo Linkstation Pro (LS-GL)

 - Buffalo Linkstation Pro (LS-XHL)

 - Buffalo/Revogear Kurobox Pro

 - D-Link DNS-323

 - Genesi Efika Nettop

 - Genesi Efika Smartbook

 - GLAN Tank

 - GuruPlug

 - HP t5325 Thin Client

 - HP Media Vault mv2120

 - Intel SS4000-E

 - LaCie 2Big Network v2

 - LaCie 5Big Network v2

 - LaCie Internet Space v2

 - LaCie Network Space v2

 - LaCie Network Space Max v2

 - LaCie d2 Network v2

 - Linksys NSLU2

 - Marvell DB-78x00-BP Development Board

 - Marvell OpenRD-Base

 - Marvell OpenRD-Client

 - Marvell OpenRD-Ultimate

 - Neo FreeRunner (GTA02)

 - PlatHome OpenBlocks AX3-4 board

 - Plat'Home OpenBlocks A6

 - QNAP TS-109

 - QNAP TS-110 Turbo NAS

 - QNAP TS-119 Turbo NAS

 - QNAP TS-209

 - QNAP TS-210 Turbo NAS

 - QNAP TS-219 and TS-219P Turbo NAS

 - QNAP TS-409

 - QNAP TS-410 and TS-410U Turbo NAS

 - QNAP TS-419P and TS-419U Turbo NAS

 - Raspberry Pi Model B

 - Raspberry Pi Model B Rev 1

 - Raspberry Pi Model B Rev 2

 - Raspberry Pi Model B Plus

 - Raspberry Pi Model B Plus Rev 1.0

 - Raspberry Pi Model B Plus Rev 1.1

 - Raspberry Pi Model B Plus Rev 1.2

 - Raspberry Pi 2 Model B

 - Raspberry Pi 2 Model B Rev 1.0

 - Raspberry Pi 2 Model B Rev 1.1

 - Raspberry Pi 3 Model B Rev 1.2

 - Seagate FreeAgent DockStar

 - Seagate NAS (2 and 4 bay)

 - Seagate Personal Cloud (1 and 2 bay)

 - SheevaPlug

 - SheevaPlug eSATA

 - Thecus N2100

 - Toshiba AC100



If you would like to see support for another device, please file a bug

report in the Debian Bug Tracking System and include all information

related to the boot process of your device.  Instructions can be found

at http://bugs.debian.org/



Testsuite

- - - - -



Run the testsuite with:

    FK_CHECKOUT=. ./test_db

    FK_CHECKOUT=. ./test_flash-kernel

    FK_CHECKOUT=. ./test_functions



You need the devscripts package for the checkbashisms test.



Database format

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To accomodate the differences between machines, db/*.db files contain

information on supported machines.  The files look somewhat like

RFC 2822 data or Debian control data, i.e. header: value pairs,

with definitions separated by an empty line.  Comments starting with a

pound are ignored.



/etc/flash-kernel/db is parsed first and allows for local override of

any field. Note that you must include the "Machine" field (including

multiple instances if necessary) here as well as the field(s) to be

overridden.



The supported fields are:



* Machine: (required) value of the "Hardware:" line in /proc/cpuinfo

  or content of /proc/device-tree/model. Used as a unique

  identifier. Must be the first field in each stanza. There can be

  multiple instances of this field (to support system which have both

  cpuinfo:Hardware and device-tree based identifiers depending on the

  current kernel) but all instances of the Machine: field must come

  before any other field in the stanza.



* Kernel-Flavors: (optional) allowed flavors (suffixes) for the to be

  installed kernel; if the vmlinuz file doesn't end with a listed

  suffix, installation is aborted



* Machine-Id: (optional) linux mach-type to set before starting vmlinuz;

  will be set by a small piece of ARM code prepended to the kernel image.

  This option is ignored if a DTB is to be appended, via either DTB-Append or

  DTB-Append-From.



* DTB-Id: (optional) specifies the name of the DTB file for this device. If

  the value begins with a `!' then the field is a script which should be run.

  The script must produce the DTB filename (and nothing else) on stdout.



* DTB-Append: (optional) when yes the DTB specified by DTB-Id will be appended

  to the kernel image.



* DTB-Append-From: (optional): Can be used instead of DTB-Append. The argument

  is a kernel version, if the kernel to be installed is at least this version

  then the DTB specified named by DTB-Id will be appended to the kernel image.

  When adding or updating this field remember to consider whether the kernel

  will require an update to its versioned Breaks: on flash-kernel.



* U-Boot-Kernel-Address, U-Boot-Kernel-Entry-Point, U-Boot-Initrd-Address:

  (optional) address where to load in (physical) RAM the kernel, entry point

  and initrd, respectively; this also indicates that U-Boot images should be

  generated with mkimage



* U-Boot-Script-Address: (optional) like U-Boot-Kernel-Address and

  U-Boot-Initrd-Address but for an U-Boot boot script; see also

  U-Boot-Script-Name



* U-Boot-Script-Name: (optional) name of U-Boot boot script to install

  from the flash-kernel files. @@KERNEL_VERSION@@ will be substituted for the

  actual kernel version



* Boot-Kernel-Path, Boot-Initrd-Path: (optional) where to put the

  generated kernel and initrd files on the filesystem; see also

  Boot-Device



* Boot-Script-Path: (optional) like Boot-Kernel-Path and

  Boot-Initrd-Path but for an U-Boot boot script; see also

  U-Boot-Script-Name and Boot-Device



* Boot-DTB-Path: (optional) like Boot-Kernel-Path and Boot-Initrd-Path

  but for a DTB file. The DTB file named by DTB-Id will be copied

  here; see also DTB-Id



* Mtd-Kernel, Mtd-Initrd: (optional) Specifies the raw MTD partition

  name (per /proc/mtd) to use for the kernel and initrd respectively.



* Required-Packages: (optional) list of packages which must be added

  during installer phase for flash-kernel to work properly; failure to

  add these packages aborts the installation



* Optional-Packages: (optional) list of packages which should be

  added during installer pharse for flash-kernel to offer full

  functionality; failure to add these packages just triggers a warning



* Bootloader-Sets-Incorrect-Root: (optional) when "yes" indicates that

  the bootloader passes a root= value to the kernel and that this

  should be overriden in the initrd; when "no", flash-kernel only sets

  a default value for the root device, which allows end-users to pass

  root= to the kernel.



* Method: (optional) indicates how to support this particular machine;

  the default is "generic"; other available methods are: android, multi,

  redboot, slug, symlink



* Boot-Device: (optional) block device to mount before installing

  kernel,  initrd and U-Boot script; Boot-Kernel-Path, Boot-Initrd-Path and

  Boot-Script-Path are then taken relative to this boot device



Configuration

- - - - - - -



Configuration files currently supported:

* /etc/flash-kernel/machine allows skipping the machine auto-detection from

  /proc/cpuinfo or /proc/dtmodel and forcing a specific Machine.



* /etc/flash-kernel/db allows overriding / adding fields from the Machine

  database (but it doesn't allow removing fields or entries).



* /etc/flash-kernel/dtbs (directory). If a DTB matching DTB-Id is

  found here then it will be used in preference to the one shipped by

  the kernel being installed.



* /etc/flash-kernels/bootscript (directory). The files referenced via

  the Boot-Script-Name field are installed here.



* /etc/flash-kernel/ubootenv.d can be used to add or override u-boot

  script snippets. See "Adding U-Boot Commands for Pre-Boot Execution"

  below for more details.



* /etc/default/flash-kernel currently contains the following variables:

    - LINUX_KERNEL_CMDLINE, which should be used by bootscripts to set kernel

      options, overriding the firmwares defaults (e.g. u-boot's ${bootargs}).

    - LINUX_KERNEL_CMDLINE_DEFAULTS, which should be used by bootscripts to set

      kernel options which should be overrideable by the firmware's defaults

      (e.g. u-boot's ${bootargs}).

    - NO_CREATE_DOT_BAK_FILES, which if set to "true" or "yes" will

      prevent flash-kernel from creating backup ".bak" versions of

      kernel, initrd, and dtb files when installing a new version. The

      default is to create such backups to aid in recovery from

      failed updates. If this option is enabled then more complex

      methods or specialised hardware (e.g. JTAG) may be required to

      recover.

    - MTD_BACKUP_DIR, which if set, names a directory to which

      flash-kernel will write copies of files which would not normally

      be accessible in the regular filesystem (either written to a

      rawflash partition or to a firmware partition which is not

      normally mounted). If unset defaults to

      /var/backups/flash-kernel. Set to "none" to disable.



Adding U-Boot Commands for Pre-Boot Execution

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -



Packages can drop in files containing U-Boot commands to be executed by a

platform's bootscript before starting the OS. These files should be

dropped in /usr/share/flash-kernel/ubootenv.d. Users can add additional

stubs, or override stubs provided by packages, by adding files to

/etc/flash-kernel/ubootenv.d. Files in the /etc path that have the same

name as files in the /usr path will override the /usr counterparts.



Platform bootscripts must contain the @@UBOOT_ENV_EXTRA@@ macro for the

contents of these stubs to be incorporated.