Handy Codeworks

Android Build Same Kernel

Posted by Frank January - 1 - 2012 - Sunday ADD COMMENTS

Here some tips on how to get the source for a given Linux kernel that you would like to tweak. I needed to do this to play with the Android emulator. So when the kernel boots after decompression you’ll see a line like this:

Linux version 2.6.29-00177-g24ee4d2 (veenstra@jackv.mtv.corp.google.com) (gcc version 4.4.0 (GCC) ) #21 Thu Aug 6 20:39:45 PDT 2009

I’ve highlighted in bold the bits we need. The first tells us the kernel version so we know what branch to look for, but really all we need is the second bit which is the SHA1 git hash for the tree containing the kernel. So if we go to the right kernel repository (See my previous entry about that) all we have to do is checkout that tree:

git checkout 24ee4d2

Lastly, we need the configuration for the kernel. Luckily the Android kernel usually has a copy in the /proc directory called /proc/config.gz. All we have to do is copy that to the kernel directory, gunzip it, rename it .config and run:

make oldconfig

This command will prompt for any new options that are not defined in the .config file so if we found the right kernel tree and config file, there will be no prompts. If there are prompts, keep searching because you haven’t found it yet. I’m not sure exactly what happens when you patch the kernel, build it, and don’t commit it in because there wouldn’t be a SHA1 generated. Let’s just hope the Android developers don’t do that… seriously, that’s bad…

Linux, Tips and Tricks

Adding Android kernel to manifest

Posted by Frank December - 25 - 2011 - Sunday 1 COMMENT

So say you want to grab the Android linux kernel along with the rest of the project. By default the kernels are not included in the manifest to save bandwidth for the vast majority of developers that don’t need it. I like to add them back for convience and to track new code dumps automatically. There are a few kernel projects listed at the bottom of the AOSP page based on the SoC used. I’ve made a short list for reference:

common – Collects changes from each the platform variants
goldfish – Emulator
msm – Qualcomm
omap – Texas Instruments
samsung – Samsung
tegra – NVidia

So once you know which kernel(s) you want to add to your repo manifest. Here’s how you can do it (Note: $AOSP is the top directory of your Android tree):

$ cd $AOSP/.repo/manifests # Goto manifests directory $ git checkout -b with_kernel # Make a new branch to add kernel(s)

Then you need to edit the default.xml manifest to add your kernel(s) between the tags:

By default you’ll get the master branch, which is empty. To find the one you really want, sync with repo then list all the branches available:
$ repo sync $ cd $AOSP/kernel/$KERNEL_NAME $ git branch -la

Then you need to edit the default.xml manifest again with the correct branch (called revision in manifest):

Now when you sync you’ll get the kernel tree. Since you just did a sync remotely, you can just a do a local sync to avoid going out to the internet to check for changes and speed it up:
$ repo sync -l


If all this works, then you should commit the changes to your default.xml and repo will merge them into new versions for you:



$ git commit -a -m "Added kernels to manifest"




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Linux Module Examples
Posted by Frank    December - 21 - 2011 - Wednesday ADD COMMENTS   	





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I’ve been working through the book from the Linux kernel training course I took last week, thanks to my scholarship from the Linux foundation. All my work is posted on github in the form of small modules, enjoy:
https://github.com/fmaker/module_examples
	
	
			





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Accessing Virtual Terminal from VMware
Posted by Frank    December - 15 - 2011 - Thursday ADD COMMENTS   	





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This is too useful to be so hard to find:
If you have linux running in VMware Workstation and want to access one of the virtual terminals, you need to hit CTRL-ALT-SPACE and then let go of the SPACE (while continuing to hold the CTRL-ATL) and hit the virtual terminal you want to access (one of the function keys (F1-F12).
From: http://jim-zimmerman.com/?p=321
	
	
			





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Save time navigating directories using bash bookmarks
Posted by Frank    November - 14 - 2011 - Monday ADD COMMENTS   	





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Do you always find yourself going to the same directories in bash? Are you sick of hitting tab complete all the time to get there? Use bash bookmarks, it will save you so much time!
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/10585
	
	
			





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Learning Android Systems Development
Posted by Frank    September - 16 - 2011 - Friday ADD COMMENTS   	





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Getting started in systems development is tough. There are as many developers or nearly as many books, blogs, etc. to learn from. But if you make it up the curve the rewards are great. Not to mention you don’t have to worry about looks, just get it done. So here’s some tips I have for up-and-comers on getting going with Android systems development. If any readers have more tips, I’d love to add them to this post, please email me
So unfortunately there isn’t too much out there in the way of proper overviews. Systems developers generally have to consult the code, which once you get used to it is actually not as hard as it sounds. A few things to check out:

The linux kernel has a Documentation directory
Android is a superset of embedded Linux so the book  is quite helpful
The Android Internals talk by Karim Yaghmour, author of the previously mentioned book, from this year’s Android Builder’s Summit is good: http://free-electrons.com/blog/abs-2011-videos/
The Android Open Source Project (AOSP) website has a little info, but the mailing lists are even more helpful: 
The Embedded Linux wiki is great, but can often be outdated

	
	
			





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Offline AOSP tips
Posted by Frank    September - 10 - 2011 - Saturday ADD COMMENTS   	





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So android.git.kernel.org is still down which has forced me to learn a few tricks on building AOSP:
If you only want to synchronize your working tree and NOT download the latest sources from the server (or in my case you can’t), just do a “local” sync:
$ repo sync -l
Update 9/25/11:
Seems to work much better to switch branches if you just use repo init to update your manifest (inside $AOSP/.repo) and then sync:

$ repo init -b <BRANCH_NAME>

$ repo sync -j16
If you want to build a specific version of Android without having to do new repo init (Thanks JBQ!). For example, say you want to build gingerbread which is API level 6.

$ repo forall -c git checkout korg/gingerbread

$ repo forall external/qemu sdk -c git checkout korg/tools_r6
Update: You also need this patch for $AOSP/external/jsilver:


diff --git Android.mk Android.mk

index ce1ab5c..2f0f83b 100644

--- Android.mk

+++ Android.mk

@@ -24,4 +24,6 @@ LOCAL_MODULE := jsilver

 LOCAL_JAVA_LIBRARIES := guavalib

 LOCAL_JAVA_RESOURCE_DIRS := src
+LOCAL_MODULE_TAGS := optional

+

 include $(BUILD_HOST_JAVA_LIBRARY)


	
	
			





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O’Reilly Radar Blog Post
Posted by Frank    August - 28 - 2011 - Sunday ADD COMMENTS   	





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I recently did an interview with O’Reilly’s radar blog about reducing power consumption on Android applications. If this is of interest to you, it is definitely worth a read.

	
	
			





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Linux Training Scholarship
Posted by Frank    August - 8 - 2011 - Monday ADD COMMENTS   	





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Good news, I won a training scholarship from the Linux foundation! The scholarship pays for one Linux training class. I’m definately going with Linux Kernel and Internals. It will be super helpful getting up to speed. The kernel is difficult to get acquainted with and often requires a lot of experience to comfortable. Thank you so much Linux foundation!
	
	
			





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Accessing Samsung Galaxy tablet storage on Ubuntu 10.04
Posted by Frank    August - 2 - 2011 - Tuesday ADD COMMENTS   	





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Got a fancy new Samsung Galaxy tablet, but had to figure out how to access it with Ubuntu. This article at XDA developers has all the information needed.
How to configure for gMTP and other Media Sync tools


	
	
			





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