arch/powerpc, Xilinx, and mainline kernel support

[Koss, Mike (Mission Systems)]

-----Original Message-----
From: Stephen Neuendorffer [mailto:stephen.neuendorffer at xilinx.com] 
Sent: Friday, May 16, 2008 6:34 PM
To: Grant Likely; Koss, Mike (Mission Systems)
Cc: linuxppc-embedded at ozlabs.org
Subject: RE: arch/powerpc, Xilinx, and mainline kernel support



> -----Original Message-----
> From: linuxppc-embedded-bounces+stephen=neuendorffer.name at ozlabs.org
[mailto:linuxppc-embedded-
> bounces+stephen=neuendorffer.name at ozlabs.org] On Behalf Of Grant
Likely
> Sent: Friday, May 16, 2008 3:27 PM
> To: Koss, Mike (Mission Systems)
> Cc: linuxppc-embedded at ozlabs.org
> Subject: Re: arch/powerpc, Xilinx, and mainline kernel support
> 
> On Fri, May 16, 2008 at 4:06 PM, Koss, Mike (Mission Systems) 
> <mike.koss at ngc.com> wrote:
> > Is there any reason why the mainline 2.6.25.3 (and from what I could
see .4)
> > is missing the files to build for the Xilinx Virtex platform?
> >
> > Or in other words, I tried to build from 2.6.25.3 for the Xilinx
Virtex
> > under arch/powerpc (because arch/ppc actually crashes when once apps
start
> > to run) and it failed when trying to actually create the zImage. I
hopped
> > over to Xilinx's git server and noticed a bunch of missing entries
in the
> > boot/Makefile and source code to actually support the complete image
build
> > for a Xilinx Virtex PPC405.
> >
> > When is the Xilinx Virtex support going to be mainline official? I
need to
> > be able to grab a stable kernel and work from there rather than
using the
> > latest -rc that Xilinx is hosting on their git server.
> 
> Working on it.  Biggest problem is getting the device drivers in 
> shape.  However, other than Ethernet support, current arch/powerpc 
> (head of Linus' tree, not 2.6.25) should work for building virtex 
> kernels.

> Mike,
> 
> What is your objection to using what is in the git tree, because it is
based on 
> 24-rc8 and not 25, or something more fundamental?
> Steve

For the work I'm performing, just like any big distro, I need to be able
to grab a 'stable' kernel version and work on only patches for it
instead of just grabbing the next release. Especially with some of the
rc's of late, there have been some simple headaches introduced. So yes,
it is because its partially based on a -rc.

In simplest terms, I'm getting ready to point-release my product and
will have a branch for only maintaining that version of the kernel. It's
to avoid things like what happened with the arch/ppc since I started on
this ~1 year ago. I needed to rev the kernel from a -rc to a full
point-release and then the kernel would boot but crash with real apps
running.

-- Mike