Mender with 64 bit arm?

[David Bensoussan]

Hello,

I am working with a rpi3 64 bits. The reason is I have software that just doesn't work in 32.

I tested mender in 32 bits using Yocto and could use the update without problems.

The issue I'm encountering is that, from what I read, there's no uImage support for arm64 and as it is i the documentation,

uImage is not a valid target for aarch64/arm64 in the kernel (like it is
for arm). This is because "uImage" is actually shorthand for u-boot wrapped
zImage. And arm64 does not have support for zImage, thus also does not have a uImage target.

 (Credit to Nathan Rossi)

So my question is, is possible at all to use Mender? If yes, how?

Would it be possible to generate the OS normally with Yocto and as postbuild steps to manually generate a uImage with mkimage?

Regards,

David Bensoussan

Synapticon GmbH

[Mirza Krak]

On Thu, Jul 26, 2018 at 2:51 PM, David Bensoussan <dbens...@synapticon.com> wrote:

Hello,

I am working with a rpi3 64 bits. The reason is I have software that just doesn't work in 32.

I tested mender in 32 bits using Yocto and could use the update without problems.

The issue I'm encountering is that, from what I read, there's no uImage support for arm64 and as it is i the documentation,

uImage is not a valid target for aarch64/arm64 in the kernel (like it is
for arm). This is because "uImage" is actually shorthand for u-boot wrapped
zImage. And arm64 does not have support for zImage, thus also does not have a uImage target.

 (Credit to Nathan Rossi)

So my question is, is possible at all to use Mender? If yes, how?

It should be possible, Mender does not require the kernel to be uImage, and the correct format for arm64 is "Image", without the "u". This is already supported by meta-raspberrypi.

And I see the error in meta-mender-raspberrypi, we create a new "boot.scr" in meta-mender-raspberrypi which "hard-codes" the uImage format. The template[1] should be changed from:

    load ${mender_uboot_root} ${kernel_addr_r} /boot/uImage

to

load ${mender_uboot_root} ${kernel_addr_r} /boot/@@KERNEL_IMAGETYPE@@

 

To align how it is done in meta-raspberrypi. If you are able to test this out, please feel free to send a pull-request fixing this.

[1]. https://github.com/mendersoftware/meta-mender/blob/master/meta-mender-raspberrypi/recipes-bsp/rpi-u-boot-scr/files/boot.cmd.in

-- 

Mirza Krak | Embedded Solutions Architect | https://mender.io

 Northern.tech AS | @northerntechHQ

[David Bensoussan]

I tested generating an image for the rpi3-64. Somehow the sdimg is not built and IMAGE_FSTYPES doesn't include sdimg. I am using the same environment and configuration than the rpi3, with upstream meta-raspberrypi layer

[Mirza Krak]

On Fri, Jul 27, 2018 at 10:47 AM, David Bensoussan <dbens...@synapticon.com> wrote:

I tested generating an image for the rpi3-64. Somehow the sdimg is not built and IMAGE_FSTYPES doesn't include sdimg. I am using the same environment and configuration than the rpi3, with upstream meta-raspberrypi layer

Can you please post your local.conf, and also which Yocto versions are you using?

-- 

[David Bensoussan]

Thanks for the answer. I have many include files and nothing in the local.conf. That would have been long to copy. I'm using sumo by the way.

I actually found out it was in the meta-mender layer. In mender-full.bbclass

This was needed:

MENDER_FEATURES_ENABLE_append_aarch64 = " mender-image-sd mender-uboot"

I am still testing and will do a PR in the next days once I am sure everything is working

[Mirza Krak]

On Fri, Jul 27, 2018 at 11:38 AM, David Bensoussan <dbens...@synapticon.com> wrote:

Thanks for the answer. I have many include files and nothing in the local.conf. That would have been long to copy. I'm using sumo by the way.

I actually found out it was in the meta-mender layer. In mender-full.bbclass

This was needed:

MENDER_FEATURES_ENABLE_append_aarch64 = " mender-image-sd mender-uboot"

Yeah that one, I have actually also seen this problem on another board. Normally there is only a append_arm which is not applicable when building aarch64 boards.

I am still testing and will do a PR in the next days once I am sure everything is working

Highly appreciated if you can do that. Thanks.