Rock5b how to run custom kernel build

#1

Hi,

I’m currently diagnosing a kernel issue for this reason I’m repeatedly building the kernel myself according to this guide:
https://wiki.radxa.com/Rock5/guide/build-kernel-on-5b

There are three sections (building, packaging, installing packages). Unfortunately, the build/pack-kernel.sh script appears to run make distclean in the kernel directory and rebuild everything from scratch. Afterwards, it compresses everything into a .deb package, and then I can install it and boot into my new kernel. All in all, this takes around an hour, which is too long.

Is there a simpler, quicker way to do an incremental rebuild, skip the packaging step and just boot into the new image? I’m currently using Ubuntu 20.04.

#2

The simplest way to use your own compiled kernel is to put it (and DTB/DTBO if required) in /boot directory, create additional section in /boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf and make this section to be a default one. If you kernel version is the same as currently running, then you can use the same DTB, DTBO and modules.

I have several kernels and sections in extlinux.conf and switch the default one by editing this file. Make sure you have a rescue bootable SD card to restore old settings if board doesn’t boot with new settings :slight_smile:

Also check is your /boot directory is the real “boot” directory :slight_smile:. On my board depending on boot type (from SD-card, eMMC, NVMe) in some cases wrong “boot” directory is mounted to /boot.

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