[meta-freescale] Notes about meta-fsl-ppc and QorIQ development for BSP Community meeting....

[zhenhua.luo at freescale.com]

Hello Bob, 

Thanks for your comments of QorIQ SDK. 

Actually we are working on the SDK release improvement for development process and user experience now.

Please see my comments. 
* Regarding the source publish of QorIQ SDK modules, currently the source of some modules are maintained within FSL, that's why the recipe of such modules are maintained in meta-fsl-networking rather than meta-fsl-ppc. You might be aware that more and more modules are published via FSL external git along with new SDK release(e.g. the source of ceetm, ipc, l2switch, apptrk, etc become public in SDK 1.6), our goal is to make all modules public in future. Currently the full function SDK can be downloaded from http://www.freescale.com/webapp/sps/site/prod_summary.jsp?code=SDKLINUX

* The integration of QorIQ SDK into FSL community BSP(http://freescale.github.io/#main-section) is on-going and plan to be done for Yocto 1.7, more useful information will be documented in this webpage, e.g. release note, user guide, and so on. To facilitate the SDK usage, the QorIQ SDK will also be integrated into the manifest project(https://github.com/Freescale/fsl-community-bsp-platform), and the recipes of demo images will be available in https://github.com/Freescale/meta-fsl-demos. 

* Currently the module source of new release is pushed in tag rather than branch, so the recent source can be got by corresponding tag.  

* We will do enhancement for below aspects as well. 
  * Public bug report system for better track of FSL SDK issues 
  * The patch management system for receiving and reviewing patches from community 
  * Public maillist for FSL SDK discussion 
  * The commit message for better patch search 
  * The SDK and patches publish frequency for timely usage of new features and bug fixes 
  * Response time of questions from community 

We can have further discussion in the monthly FSL community BSP meeting today. 

More comments are welcome and appreciated. 


Best Regards,

Zhenhua


> -----Original Message-----
> From: meta-freescale-bounces at yoctoproject.org [mailto:meta-freescale-
> bounces at yoctoproject.org] On Behalf Of Bob Cochran
> Sent: Thursday, July 03, 2014 3:11 AM
> To: meta-freescale at yoctoproject.org
> Subject: Re: [meta-freescale] Notes about meta-fsl-ppc and QorIQ
> development for BSP Community meeting....
> 
> On 07/02/2014 11:45 AM, Bob Cochran wrote:
> > Dear FSL Community BSP Members:
> >
> > Below are some notes & thoughts on improving the software development
> > experience for FSL QorIQ customers:
> >
> > Please keep in mind that I am working with a QorIQ Power(pc) device.
> > I realize that the overall process is complicated by the fact that
> > there is FSL intellectual property involved.
> >
> >
> > Some Background (to the best of my knowledge):
> >
> > FSL issues a single QorIQ SDK approximately every 6 months that
> > addresses basically all QorIQ devices.  The SDK is integrated with
> > Yocto and uses bitbake / poky to generate the SDK image, which
> > includes uImage, a dtb file, and a rootfs.
> >
> > Up until recently, QorIQ devices were Power only.  Now they include
> > ARM cores, too.
> >
> > FSL maintains a meta-fsl-ppc repo on the Yocto project and has
> > recently submitted patches to it to bring it in sync with SDK1.6.
> > However, as noted by Otavio in a reply email to Ting Liu on 7/2, the
> > patches were submitted without documentation.
> >
> > The meta-fsl-ppc repo along with other public meta layers on Yocto and
> > OE is not sufficient for reproducing a complete build since there is
> > an additional required layer: meta-fsl-networking.
> >
> > A meta-fsl-networking repo can be found in the FSL public git site
> > (http://git.freescale.com/git/cgit.cgi/ppc/sdk/meta-fsl-networking.git
> > /), but this is stale.
> >
> > The Linux kernel in the SDK is customized / heavily patched.  There is
> > an FSL Linux repo on the FSL public GIT site
> > (http://git.freescale.com/git/cgit.cgi/ppc/sdk/linux.git/), but it's
> > not clear to me what process is used when patching it (most source
> > files are stale, but there is an sdk1.6 zip file present in the tree).
> >
> > There is no mailing list associated with the FSL public GIT site.
> > There is also no bug reporting system associated with the FSL public
> GIT site.
> >
> > As far as I know, if I find a bug in the SDK, the process to report it
> > to FSL developers is to submit a service request (SR)
> > (https://www.freescale.com/webapp/servicerequest.create_SR.framework).
> > This is a private one-to-one system, so others don't benefit directly
> > when an SR is submitted and / or resolved.
> >
> >
> > ***** end of background ******
> >
> >
> > I believe there is room for improvement in this process.
> >
> > Perhaps most importantly today is that I am not aware of a statement
> > by Freescale on how their QorIQ customers should make use of the Yocto
> > project (repos, mail list, bugzilla, etc.) and FSL public GIT trees
> > during development.   In some ways, they are more of a hindrance than
> > help because they only seem to cause confusion (for me).
> 
> 
> Since Freescale developers monitor the meta-freescale mailing list,  is
> it acceptable to post any question or issue about FSL SDK SW
> (considering it's built with poky / bitbake)?   If there are
> intellectual property issues with this, then what are the guidelines to
> using the meta-freescale list?
> 
> I have noticed in the past some non-trivial QorIQ DPAA questions being
> asked on this board, but I have not seen a response by Freescale
> developers.  I have wondered whether the questions were ignored or
> answered privately.
> 
> 
> >
> > For example, as future patches appear in the meta-fsl-ppc repo, will
> > they be for setting the stage for SDK1.7 or to fix an SDK1.6 bug?  And
> > even if I knew this, what other patches might be required in repos
> > that aren't part of the Yocto project?
> >
> > I look forward to working together to create / document a system that
> > enables Freescale (QorIQ) developers to work as a community to bring
> > robust FSL-based networking products to market faster.
> >
> > Thank you,
> >
> > Bob
> 
> --
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