Bug#767052: D-I : Sheevaplug : could not determine kernel flavour
On Thu, 2014-10-30 at 15:42 +0100, drEagle wrote:
> Hi Ian,
>
> On 28/10/2014 20:38, Ian Campbell wrote:
> > On Tue, 2014-10-28 at 04:08 +0100, drEagle wrote:
> >> The kernel flavour is not detected.
> >> Sheevaplug now use a dtb file and no kernel are installed into the target system.
> >
> > A dtb shouldn't be necessary for the Sheevaplug, I don't think. Did you
> > manually supply one or did something do that for you? I'm not that
> > familiar with how a Sheevaplug is set up to boot by default.
>
> The tests was done using a patched uboot.
Patched how? Just to enable the dtb commands?
I'm not sure what the factory firmware was like on a sheevaplug, nor how
brickable the thing is. If it's safe to update (or the factory one is
really broken) then we could recommend an update, ideally to a u-boot
shipped by Debian, in which case we should be able to rely on whichever
features it has, such as native fdt support instead of appending.
> > I think that if you install by booting without an fdt (in "board file"
> > mode) then everything should just work.
>
> This do not work with latest kernel (d-i for jessie), which require a
> fdt for sheeva and some others kirkwood as raidsonic or guruplug.
Oh, I hadn't realised that some kirkwood platforms had been fully
converted over to DTB already in 3.16. I knew it was an *option* for
some (e.g. qnap TS-*), but not that it was mandatory on others.
> > Alternatively if you want to boot in DTB mode (I don't think there is
> > any direct benefit to doing so right now) then you will need to figure
> > out an appropriate stanza for the flash-kernel database. Probably this
> > will be very similar to the existing non-DTB one, except the Machine
> > line should be the contents of /proc/device-tree/model instead
> > of /proc/cpuinfo:hardware and you will probably want a DTB-Id line
> > naming the correct DTB file. It's possible you might be able to combine
> > the DTB and boardfile entires into one (the "Marvell Armada XP GP Board"
> > does this) See flash-kernel's README for more information. You can
> > experiment with entries in /etc/flash-kernel/db instead of editing the
> > main DB.
>
> Theses tests was done for jessie support.
OK, seems like I've misunderstood/misremembered the transition plan for
some kirkwood devices. Please can you provide a suitable stanza for an
updated flash-kernel db then.
> Before jessie, sheevaplugs were support by the debian kernel and the debian installer.
AFAIK they are today as well, or are intended to be. But we do rely on
people who have such hardware to test and report issues (so thanks!) and
also to help us fix issues by filling in the blanks for that bit of
hardware (e.g. db entries).
> Debian installer had also a netconsole and a netboot image which give the choice of the method of installing by ssh.
I don't see a sheevaplug netconsole version in Wheezy or Squeeze either.
When did Debian used to supply one?
> Is sheevaplugs and derivatives support abandonned by debian ?
> I hope not.
I don't think so, you've just found a potential/probably bug exposed by
an upstream kernel change is all.
Ian.
Reply to: