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+ ARM Linux 2.6
+ Please check <ftp://ftp.arm.linux.org.uk/pub/armlinux> for
+ updates.
+Compilation of kernel
+ In order to compile ARM Linux, you will need a compiler capable of
+ generating ARM ELF code with GNU extensions. GCC 2.95.1, EGCS
+ 1.1.2, and GCC 3.3 are known to be good compilers. Fortunately, you
+ needn't guess. The kernel will report an error if your compiler is
+ a recognized offender.
+ To build ARM Linux natively, you shouldn't have to alter the ARCH = line
+ in the top level Makefile. However, if you don't have the ARM Linux ELF
+ tools installed as default, then you should change the CROSS_COMPILE
+ line as detailed below.
+ If you wish to cross-compile, then alter the following lines in the top
+ level make file:
+ ARCH = <whatever>
+ with
+ ARCH = arm
+ and
+ to
+ CROSS_COMPILE=<your-path-to-your-compiler-without-gcc>
+ eg.
+ CROSS_COMPILE=arm-linux-
+ Do a 'make config', followed by 'make Image' to build the kernel
+ (arch/arm/boot/Image). A compressed image can be built by doing a
+ 'make zImage' instead of 'make Image'.
+Bug reports etc
+ Please send patches to the patch system. For more information, see
+ http://www.arm.linux.org.uk/patches/info.html Always include some
+ explanation as to what the patch does and why it is needed.
+ Bug reports should be sent to linux-arm-kernel@lists.arm.linux.org.uk,
+ or submitted through the web form at
+ http://www.arm.linux.org.uk/forms/solution.shtml
+ When sending bug reports, please ensure that they contain all relevant
+ information, eg. the kernel messages that were printed before/during
+ the problem, what you were doing, etc.
+Include files
+ Several new include directories have been created under include/asm-arm,
+ which are there to reduce the clutter in the top-level directory. These
+ directories, and their purpose is listed below:
+ arch-* machine/platform specific header files
+ hardware driver-internal ARM specific data structures/definitions
+ mach descriptions of generic ARM to specific machine interfaces
+ proc-* processor dependent header files (currently only two
+ categories)
+Machine/Platform support
+ The ARM tree contains support for a lot of different machine types. To
+ continue supporting these differences, it has become necessary to split
+ machine-specific parts by directory. For this, the machine category is
+ used to select which directories and files get included (we will use
+ $(MACHINE) to refer to the category)
+ To this end, we now have arch/arm/mach-$(MACHINE) directories which are
+ designed to house the non-driver files for a particular machine (eg, PCI,
+ memory management, architecture definitions etc). For all future
+ machines, there should be a corresponding include/asm-arm/arch-$(MACHINE)
+ directory.
+ Although modularisation is supported (and required for the FP emulator),
+ each module on an ARM2/ARM250/ARM3 machine when is loaded will take
+ memory up to the next 32k boundary due to the size of the pages.
+ Therefore, modularisation on these machines really worth it?
+ However, ARM6 and up machines allow modules to take multiples of 4k, and
+ as such Acorn RiscPCs and other architectures using these processors can
+ make good use of modularisation.
+ADFS Image files
+ You can access image files on your ADFS partitions by mounting the ADFS
+ partition, and then using the loopback device driver. You must have
+ losetup installed.
+ Please note that the PCEmulator DOS partitions have a partition table at
+ the start, and as such, you will have to give '-o offset' to losetup.
+Request to developers
+ When writing device drivers which include a separate assembler file, please
+ include it in with the C file, and not the arch/arm/lib directory. This
+ allows the driver to be compiled as a loadable module without requiring
+ half the code to be compiled into the kernel image.
+ In general, try to avoid using assembler unless it is really necessary. It
+ makes drivers far less easy to port to other hardware.
+ST506 hard drives
+ The ST506 hard drive controllers seem to be working fine (if a little
+ slowly). At the moment they will only work off the controllers on an
+ A4x0's motherboard, but for it to work off a Podule just requires
+ someone with a podule to add the addresses for the IRQ mask and the
+ HDC base to the source.
+ As of 31/3/96 it works with two drives (you should get the ADFS
+ *configure harddrive set to 2). I've got an internal 20MB and a great
+ big external 5.25" FH 64MB drive (who could ever want more :-) ).
+ I've just got 240K/s off it (a dd with bs=128k); thats about half of what
+ RiscOS gets; but it's a heck of a lot better than the 50K/s I was getting
+ last week :-)
+ Known bug: Drive data errors can cause a hang; including cases where
+ the controller has fixed the error using ECC. (Possibly ONLY
+ in that case...hmm).
+1772 Floppy
+ This also seems to work OK, but hasn't been stressed much lately. It
+ hasn't got any code for disc change detection in there at the moment which
+ could be a bit of a problem! Suggestions on the correct way to do this
+ are welcome.
+ A change was made in 2003 to the macro names for new machines.
+ Historically, CONFIG_ARCH_ was used for the bonafide architecture,
+ e.g. SA1100, as well as implementations of the architecture,
+ e.g. Assabet. It was decided to change the implementation macros
+ to read CONFIG_MACH_ for clarity. Moreover, a retroactive fixup has
+ not been made because it would complicate patching.
+ Previous registrations may be found online.
+ <http://www.arm.linux.org.uk/developer/machines/>
+Kernel entry (head.S)
+ The initial entry into the kernel is via head.S, which uses machine
+ independent code. The machine is selected by the value of 'r1' on
+ entry, which must be kept unique.
+ Due to the large number of machines which the ARM port of Linux provides
+ for, we have a method to manage this which ensures that we don't end up
+ duplicating large amounts of code.
+ We group machine (or platform) support code into machine classes. A
+ class typically based around one or more system on a chip devices, and
+ acts as a natural container around the actual implementations. These
+ classes are given directories - arch/arm/mach-<class> and
+ include/asm-arm/arch-<class> - which contain the source files to
+ support the machine class. This directories also contain any machine
+ specific supporting code.
+ For example, the SA1100 class is based upon the SA1100 and SA1110 SoC
+ devices, and contains the code to support the way the on-board and off-
+ board devices are used, or the device is setup, and provides that
+ machine specific "personality."
+ This fine-grained machine specific selection is controlled by the machine
+ type ID, which acts both as a run-time and a compile-time code selection
+ method.
+ You can register a new machine via the web site at:
+Russell King (15/03/2004)