Should BusyBox and uClibc also make a "flag version" like Embedded Linux?

Baruch Siach baruch at tkos.co.il
Thu Nov 11 07:28:44 UTC 2010


Hi Stuart,

On Thu, Nov 11, 2010 at 05:06:35PM +1000, Stuart Longland wrote:
> > For projects I'm involved in I do my best to influence hardware decisions 
> > based on the current (or near term projected) Linux kernel support.
> 
> Indeed... this is where it's often hard to determine what the true
> status is.  Keeping so much behind closed doors, it's hard to get a look
> in.

When I said "current Linux kernel support" I meant mainline kernel. Outside 
code coming from the vendor does not count. It's more often the not buggy like 
hell, and not suitable for production.

> > > - The SoM used a customised kernel based on Linux 2.6.28... it is only
> > >   made available to those who have purchased the modules.  Latest
> > >   mainline kernel was 2.6.34 at the time.
> > > - The chosen audio CODEC used I2S for audio transfer.  2.6.28 did not
> > >   support I2S on the i.MX27... but 2.6.34 did.
> > > 
> > > The decision to make then was a choice between:
> > > - Backport the SSI driver to 2.6.28
> > > - Forward port the custom patchset to 2.6.34
> > > 
> > > We also didn't have a CODEC driver... but TI were happy to supply us
> > > with one... with a catch... their license prohibited the execution of
> > > that code on non-TI processors.  So it was useless to us... we had to
> > > spend time developing that too.
> > 
> > Wow. I was under the impression that TI are good Linux community members. At 
> > least judging from the volume of company sponsored activity around their SoCs 
> > (OMAP, DaVinci). Maybe the CODEC devision is different in this regard. I see 
> > the same distinction between the Freescale ARM (i.MX) and PowerPC departments.
> 
> Well, I knew TI did like to keep their privates private... I saw that
> with MSP430 (anyone tried to code for one of those on non-x86 Linux?)
> ...but I digress...

Well, I use mspgcc4 (http://mspgcc4.sourceforge.net/) and mspdebug 
(http://mspdebug.sourceforge.net/) to program a MSP430F2370, and I'm quite 
happy with these.

> What's more, the driver they were offering was for kernel 2.6.22... so I
> would have had to forward-port that to 2.6.34, then backport to 2.6.28.
> It would have been an even bigger mess.
> 
> They need to somehow get the message that these silly games are *not
> helping*.  Having had this experience, I now very carefully check for
> this kind of nonsense, and I'll be voting with my wallet.

They are slowly getting the message. It takes time.

baruch

-- 
                                                     ~. .~   Tk Open Systems
=}------------------------------------------------ooO--U--Ooo------------{=
   - baruch at tkos.co.il - tel: +972.2.679.5364, http://www.tkos.co.il -


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