Building Kernel modules that work with official distributions

[bcoggs]

Armbianmonitor:

https://paste.armbian.com/uhubovufeq

We are trying to compile a modified kernel module for this version of Armbian downloaded in October

 

When running it reports:

 

$cat /etc/armbian-release

# PLEASE DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
BOARD=orangepizero
BOARD_NAME="Orange Pi Zero"
BOARDFAMILY=sun8i
BUILD_REPOSITORY_URL=https://github.com/armbian/build
BUILD_REPOSITORY_COMMIT=ba704f4740
LINUXFAMILY=sunxi
ARCH=arm
IMAGE_TYPE=stable
BOARD_TYPE=csc
INITRD_ARCH=arm
KERNEL_IMAGE_TYPE=zImage
FORCE_BOOTSCRIPT_UPDATE=
VENDOR=Armbian
BOOTSCRIPT_FORCE_UPDATE="no"
BOOTSCRIPT_DST="boot.cmd"
VERSION=23.8.3
REVISION=23.8.3
BRANCH=current

 

uname -a

Linux orangepizero 6.1.53-current-sunxi #3 SMP Wed Sep 13 07:43:05 UTC 2023 armv7l GNU/Linux

 

cat /boot/config-6.1.53-current-sunxi  | grep -i MODULE_FORCE

# CONFIG_MODULE_FORCE_LOAD is not set

 

We assume that if CONFIG_MODULE_FORCE_LOAD is not set that modprobe --force will not work and we will have to compile with the exact headers. 

 

 

Note that we've also tried compiling on the target but :

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r)

Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
E: Unable to locate package linux-headers-6.1.53-current-sunxi
E: Couldn't find any package by glob 'linux-headers-6.1.53-current-sunxi'
E: Couldn't find any package by regex 'linux-headers-6.1.53-current-sunxi'

 

For cross-compiling, what branch/tag do we checkout from https://github.com/armbian/build that will result in the correct headers?

 

Alternately how do we modify the .ko from a near-similar build to overcome CONFIG_MODULE_FORCE_LOAD not set? 

 

Thank you in advance!

 

 

[Igor]

4 hours ago, bcoggs said:

Note that we've also tried compiling on the target but :

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r)

 

sudo armbian-config -> software -> headers install

[bcoggs]

Attempting to follow documentation on how to build kernel modules here fails https://docs.armbian.com/User-Guide_Advanced-Features/#how-to-build-a-wireless-driver 

 

armbian-config -> install kernel headers exit

cd /usr/src/linux-headers-$(uname -r) 
make scripts

cd
git clone https://github.com/pvaret/rtl8192cu-fixes.git
cd rtl8192cu-fixes
make ARCH=arm
make ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE= -C /lib/modules/6.1.53-current-sunxi/build M=/home/bartrack/tmp/rtl8192cu-fixes  modules
make[1]: Entering directory '/usr/lib/modules/6.1.53-current-sunxi/build'
make[1]: *** No rule to make target 'modules'.  Stop.
make[1]: Leaving directory '/usr/lib/modules/6.1.53-current-sunxi/build'
make: *** [Makefile:595: modules] Error 2

ls /usr/lib/modules/6.1.53-current-sunxi/build
./  ../

 

The problem appears to be that  /usr/lib/modules/6.1.53-current-sunxi/build is empty.

 

Where do I get the needed contents?

 

 

 

 

 

[Igor]

1 hour ago, bcoggs said:

The problem appears to be that

... those sources are not compatible with modern Linux anymore. This documentation was written 4-5 years ago, so this example worked with kernel v4, perhaps v5.

 

Mechanism wise, things works. https://paste.armbian.com/axeveqolex.bash