[yocto] meta-cedartrail - serial console

[jfabernathy]

On 06/01/2012 01:44 PM, Darren Hart wrote:
>
> On 06/01/2012 10:39 AM, jfabernathy wrote:
>> On 06/01/2012 01:01 PM, Darren Hart wrote:
>>> On 06/01/2012 08:45 AM, jfabernathy wrote:
>>>> On 05/31/2012 03:41 PM, Darren Hart wrote:
>>>>> On 05/31/2012 11:54 AM, jfabernathy wrote:
>>>>>> On 05/31/2012 02:13 PM, Darren Hart wrote:
>>>>>>> On 05/31/2012 09:11 AM, jfabernathy wrote:
>>>>>>>> Using a DN2800MT (Marshalltown) Intel board, I'm testing the
>>>>>>>> meta-cedartrail using edison branch and noticed an issues with the
>>>>>>>> serial console.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> The cedartrail.conf in the machine directory has the following statements:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> SYSLINUX_OPTS = "serial 0 115200"
>>>>>>>> SERIAL_CONSOLE = "115200 ttyS0"
>>>>>>>> APPEND += "console=ttyS0,115200 console=tty0"
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> However, when the image booted, I had no serial console on ttyS0.  I
>>>>>>>> checked /etc/inittab and noticed that the following line existed:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> S:2345:respawn:/sbin/getty 115200 ttyS3
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> I changed the ttyS3 to ttyS0 and then I have a serial console on the
>>>>>>>> next reboot.  So it appears the override in the .conf file is not
>>>>>>>> working.  Also I only have the console from getty, and not the kernel
>>>>>>>> logging console.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Anyone have a solution??
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> If this is considered a bug I can put it on bugzilla.
>>>>>>> Lets make sure your environment is what we expect. Please provide the
>>>>>>> output of:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> $ bitbake core-image-minimal -e | grep SERIAL_CONSOLE=
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> If it is not "115200 ttyS0" then it is getting overwritten somewhere
>>>>>>> either in your config, or possibly by an inappropriate selection of an
>>>>>>> assignment operator (=, ?=, etc.) in edison.
>>>>>> okay now I'm confused.  while the cedartrail.conf file has the following:
>>>>>> SYSLINUX_OPTS = "serial 3 115200"
>>>>>> SERIAL_CONSOLE = "115200 ttyS3"
>>>>>> APPEND += "console=ttyS3,115200 console=tty3"
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> The output of the bitbake command you suggested above gives:
>>>>>> jim at ubuntu-x64:~/poky/build$ bitbake core-image-minimal -e | grep
>>>>>> SERIAL_CONSOLE=
>>>>>>
>>>>>> # SERIAL_CONSOLE=115200 ttyS0
>>>>>> SERIAL_CONSOLE="115200 ttyS0"
>>>>>> jim at ubuntu-x64:~/poky/build$
>>>>>>
>>>>>> So is the bitbake command showing the results before the cedartrail.conf
>>>>>> options take affect??
>>>>> variable assignments can be tricky, and are not the easiest things to
>>>>> track down. I suggest looking through your configured layers and looking
>>>>> for all the SERIAL_CONSOLE assignments using ttyS3 and ttyS0 and see if
>>>>> you can determine what is overriding your cedartrail.conf setting.
>>>>>
>>>> What I found out is the only variable that matters for login console in
>>>> my situation is SERIAL_CONSOLE because I have to use grub and the boot
>>>> from hard drive method because my image can't be put on a USB Flash for
>>>> some reason.  So I manually have to edit the grub.cfg file as documented
>>>> on the wiki "How Do I" section of putting Yocto on a hard drive.  Adding
>>>> console=ttyS0,115200 on the linux statement takes care of the boot console.
>>> I believe this is a manual process currently. Please open an enhancement
>>> in bugzilla for your specific situation and I'll incporporate into the
>>> larger boot process and image revamp we're doing for 1.3.
>>>
>> I'll make the entry.
>>>> So the question is has there been any thought about automating the
>>>> choice of boot loader and the parameters that are needed or optional?
>>>> In the case of meta-cedartrail, the cedartrail.conf assumes syslinux is
>>>> the boot loader. When I could use a USB Flash key, creating a boot
>>>> device was a trivial dd statement.  Because I have to use a hard drive
>>>> now, I have to do a number of manual steps.  Or is there a way to create
>>>> a boot-able hard drive with syslinux so the cedartrail.conf parameters
>>>> are all that is needed to adjust?
>>> This is all good feedback to consider as we work through making more
>>> universally bootable images. This is becoming a hot topic as people are
>>> using Yocto in more and more situations and as things like EFI become
>>> more commonplace.
>>>
>>> There is no reason you can't just dd (have a look at
>>> scripts/contrib/ddimage) the image to a hard disk instead of a usb
>>> stick. You may need a USB to SATA adapter for your host (this is what I
>>> use). If you have a USB port, you could just use the install option.
>> This script does not eliminate the boot error I get with syslinux on USB
>> flash keys.  I noticed the script is not in edison but is in denzil, so
>> I got it there and tried to run it against an image created with
>> edison.  I still get the same boot error I get with dd, which is
>> understandable since that's what the script uses.  Not sure if this is a
>> size issue because my image is over a 1GB.  I'm guessing this this will
>> still fail on a hard drive with the dd'ing of the .hddimg, but I'll test
>> it anyway.
> Sorry, ddimage wasn't meant to fix the issue, just as a slightly more
> convenient/safe wrapper around dd.
>
> I'm not familiar with the error you are seeing with the live image. Can
> you point me to the thread or the bug?
Well this boot error issue seems to be USB Key related because I just 
did the ddimage script on a edison core-image-sato image using the 
.hddimg file and it worked correctly on a hard drive.  This was a 1.2GB 
image.  Now I'll have to add in the parameters that give you more free 
disk space now that I'm testing with a real hard drive.

The readme in most of the x86 BSP directory in meta-intel talk about if 
you get boot errors to:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdf bs=1M count=512

I have not found this to work.  Maybe it's a count size issue.  I always 
use 512, but maybe it should be 4096 for a 4GB USB key.

Jim A

> --
> Darren
>
>>> The integration between the boot loader options is something that needs
>>> work. At some point I hope to replace GRUB with syslinux in all possible
>>> situations in order simplify the option handling and present a
>>> consistent boot interface between live images, iso limages, and disk images.
>>>