[poky] History and intentions of linux.inc ?

[Gary Thomas]

On 02/08/2011 02:41 PM, Darren Hart wrote:
> I've stumbled over a couple of interesting bits in the existing
> recipes-kernel/linux/linux.inc, for example (but not limited to):
>
>> do_install_prepend() {
>>          if test -e arch/${ARCH}/boot/Image ; then
>>               ln -f arch/${ARCH}/boot/Image arch/${ARCH}/boot/uImage
>>          fi
>
> On a recent kernel, the above will overwrite a valid uImage with Image,
> resulting in a non-bootable set of files in deploy/images.
>
>>
>>          if test -e arch/${ARCH}/boot/images/uImage ; then
>>               ln -f arch/${ARCH}/boot/images/uImage arch/${ARCH}/boot/uImage
>>          fi
>
> The arch/arm/boot/images directory does not exist on a current kernel
> (2.6.35-linaro anyway).
>
>
> Does anyone know the historical significance and/or intent of this code?
> Are there architectures for which this does something sane? After
> reading through linux.inc, I'm inclined to avoid using it for the
> meta-linaro kernel, and then going after it with chainsaw.
>
> Anyone have anything to add before I start cutting?
>

I also found the same odd behaviour.  My [simple] solution was
to use my own linux.inc, much like there is a linux-yocto.inc,
which totally removes do_install_prepend()

I'm sure this is safe to do in the mainline meta/recipes-kernel;
as I said the yocto kernel already has done away with the whole
file.

-- 
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Gary Thomas                 |  Consulting for the
MLB Associates              |    Embedded world
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