Arm-dev January 2021

arm-dev@lists.centos.org

5 participants
7 discussions

AArch64 Pi4 and CentOS 8
by Brent Kolasinski 31 Oct '25

31 Oct '25

Hi everyone, I've been looking into things I can do to help with getting CentOS 8 AArch64 to run on the Pi4. It appears that the upstream kernel now has the proper stuff merged in to support the NIC and eMMC controller. So far 2 approaches are being made: The U-Boot mechanism (looks like this is what Ubuntu 20.04 is doing) and the SBBR (ACPI + UEFI) way. It looks like a few folks may be loading the SBBR firmware with luck on the standard CentOS 8 aarch64 image. Could one potentially recompile the SRPM for kernel 5.6 from elrepo and drop it in? I found the CentOS8 pi4 aarch64 userland image here: https://people.centos.org/pgreco. Has anyone tried getting the SBBR firmware to load the stock aarch64 CentOS 8 image without support for the eMMC / NIC, to basically bootstrap and compile the SRPM for the 5.6 kernel? And finally does anyone know if CentOS will be backporting the Pi4 changes to 4.18, or will they be releasing a custom kernel? Could I help out with that?

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rng-tools missing and /dev/hwrng without driver
by SW＠EU 31 Oct '25

31 Oct '25

Hi, today I will report a problem that is released to ipa-server. This server contains a certificate authority and such service need many entropy. The default on CentOS 7 on a Banana PI is not enough, i.e. $(cat /proc/sys/kernel/random/entropy_avail) is less than 1000. I have solved this in meantime by installing and enabling of haveged from the EPEL repository. Normally it would be done by installing the rng-tools. But there are two problems: 1. The rng-tools was not in the repositories, so I have downloaded rng-tools-5-8.fc24.armv7hl.rpm because this are the same version which is included in CentOS 7.3 for x86_64. 2. This rng-tools are usable but the daemon starts and stops immediately with the following error message: # rngd -v /dev/hwrng: No such device /dev/tpm0: No such file or directory No entropy sources found, exiting This is not the problem of this binary it is a problem of the Kernel. /dev/hwrng exists and if I remove it then it reappears after reboot, but # ls -l /dev/hwrng crw-------. 1 root root 10, 183 1. Jan 1970 /dev/hwrng # udevadm info -a -n /dev/hwrng Udevadm info starts with the device specified by the devpath and then walks up the chain of parent devices. It prints for every device found, all possible attributes in the udev rules key format. A rule to match, can be composed by the attributes of the device and the attributes from one single parent device. looking at device '/devices/virtual/misc/hw_random': KERNEL=="hw_random" SUBSYSTEM=="misc" DRIVER=="" ATTR{rng_current}=="none" ATTR{rng_available}=="" there is no driver for this device. I have searched and found this link http://forum.lemaker.org/thread-23618-1-1.html which includes a link to the full story. If I read all right then on bananian /dev/hwrng appears only if the adapted or a more actual sun4i-ss.ko module is loaded (there is written: "module author has indicated this will be going into the mainline kernel shortly“). This module is also loaded on a Banana PI with current CentOS 7. So does the kernel of CentOS 7.3 for ARM32 include this patch and if yes why it does not work or otherwise why this device appears but has no driver? TIA, Silvio Sent with [ProtonMail](https://protonmail.com) Secure Email.

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EPEL repo not available?
by Boyd Ako 31 Oct '25

31 Oct '25

Can anybody verify that the EPEL repo for ARMHFP isn’t available? I keep getting an error saying the REPOMD file isn’t there when running yum. It works if I use —disablerepo=epel\* when using yum. But, there might be some stuff in the EPEL that I’m looking for. Running it on a Raspberry Pi 3 and trying to get Nagios installed for home use. Domo, Boyd H. Ako boyd.hanalei.ako(a)gmail.com (424) 244-9653 https://www.boydhanaleiako.me “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.” -Henry Ford PGP/GPG Public Key: https://sks-keyservers.net/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0xC58073B21618F134

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Gigabyte MP30-AR0
by Gordan Bobic 31 Oct '25

31 Oct '25

Hi, I am toying with the idea of getting a Gigabyte MP30-AR0 board (despite the insanely exorbitant price tag). Has anyone got the aarch64 CentOS working on one of those? Any special instructions? Also, if I get the ISO, is it bootable on aarch64? Does the installer work? Or does the image have to be used like on 32-bit ARM? Thanks. Gordan

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Software collection rh-php73 amv7
by mark 29 Jan '21

29 Jan '21

Hello, Over the past time received an increasing amount of request for the rh-php73 Software Collection on armv7. Mainly to be able to run nextcloud but also zabbix 5.0 requires php7x. For full disclosure: the request come from the Nethserver community, which provides a all-in-one smb server based on CentOS x86_64. And the arm port of this is a small scale community effort. This being out of the way, I have rebuild the bare minimum rh-hph73 packages to install nextcloud without issues.(1) Just pushed the source packages through mock to rebuild them for armv7, first tests are encouraging. So far so good, problem is my build system is me and my keyboard. Which is not a very sustainable way to maintain rh-php73 for armv7. See a lot of nice hardware posted to the list, to be frank a bit above the budget I'm willing to put in this community effort. Are there other people on this list who want to join the effort to provide an unofficial community driven armv7 port of rh-hph7x? Or is this even on the white-board at the CentOS altarch sig? Until now did not find a public build-system for armv7 el7 does this exist? Any suggestions are welcome. 1) development repository with first results: __Note__ this is development do not use it in a real life application! https://vps01.havak.nl/nethserver/7/devel/

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Desktop Boards
by Gordan Bobic 28 Jan '21

28 Jan '21

Hi, Most unfortunately, my MP30-AR1 board seems to have expired today. It gets stuck in an infinite boot loop: Boot from SPI-NOR American Megatrends Boot firmware (Project MP30-AR1, BIOS Ver F01; built at 15:11:23 on Sep 5 2016) Slimpro FW Ver: 2.4 iPP Ver: 01.15.01.00 Checkpoint 2D Checkpoint 2D Checkpoint 2D Checkpoint 2D So I'm looking for a replacement. Unfortunately, everything I can get in *TX form factor seems to be nowhere nearly as good, despite 6-7 years of advancement, and I can't seem to find a replacement MP30-AR1 board listed anywhere. I am aware of these: https://www.chip1stop.com/USA/en/product/detail?partId=SOCI-0000003&mpn=SC0… Pros: - Can just buy one Cons: - Poor performance despite lots of cores, especially single-thread performance compared to the old MP30-AR1 - Only half the RAM capacity at 64GB https://e.huawei.com/en/products/servers/kunpeng/kunpeng-desktop-board Pros: - Might have half decent single thread performance matching or exceeding the old MP30-AR1 Cons: - Questionable availability, unknown pricing - Only half the RAM capacity at 64GB Is there another offering that I'm missing? I know Gigabyte do a server system, but I need something reasonably quiet and compact rather than something rack mounted making data centre grade noise. Any suggestions gratefully received. Gordan

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Re: [Arm-dev] unable to configure zram-swap on RPI 4 8G model (32bit)
by mark 24 Jan '21

24 Jan '21

-----Original message----- > From: mark <mark(a)havak.nl> > Sent: Thursday December 17th, 2020 22:10 > To: Pablo Sebastián Greco <pablo(a)fliagreco.com.ar>; Conversations around CentOS on ARM hardware <arm-dev(a)centos.org> > Subject: RE: [Arm-dev] unable to configure zram-swap on RPI 4 8G model (32bit) > > -----Original message----- > > From: Pablo Sebastián Greco <pablo(a)fliagreco.com.ar> > > Sent: Thursday, December 17, 2020 9:39 PM > > To: mark <mark(a)havak.nl>; Conversations around CentOS on ARM hardware <arm-dev(a)centos.org> > > Subject: Re: [Arm-dev] unable to configure zram-swap on RPI 4 8G model (32bit) > > > > > > On 17/12/20 14:09, mark wrote: > > > -----Original message----- > > >> From: mark <mark(a)havak.nl> > > >> Sent: Monday, December 14, 2020 6:15 PM > > >> To: Pablo Sebastián Greco <pablo(a)fliagreco.com.ar>; Conversations around > > CentOS on ARM hardware <arm-dev(a)centos.org> > > >> Subject: RE: [Arm-dev] unable to configure zram-swap on RPI 4 8G model > > (32bit) > > >> > > >> > > >> > > >> -----Original message----- > > >>> From: Pablo Sebastián Greco <pablo(a)fliagreco.com.ar> > > >>> Sent: Monday, December 14, 2020 6:00 PM > > >>> To: Conversations around CentOS on ARM hardware <arm-dev(a)centos.org>; > > mark > > >> <mark(a)havak.nl> > > >>> Subject: Re: [Arm-dev] unable to configure zram-swap on RPI 4 8G model > > (32bit) > > >>> > > >>> > > >>> On 14/12/20 13:43, mark wrote: > > >>>> -----Original Message----- > > >>>> From: Pablo Sebastián Greco <pablo(a)fliagreco.com.ar> > > >>>> Sent: maandag 14 december 2020 17:20 > > >>>> To: Conversations around CentOS on ARM hardware <arm-dev(a)centos.org>; > > >> mark > > >>> <mark(a)havak.nl> > > >>>> Subject: Re: [Arm-dev] unable to configure zram-swap on RPI 4 8G model > > >> (32bit) > > >>>> > > >>>> On 14/12/20 11:42, mark wrote: > > >>>>> Being aware using zram-swap is not a default feature on the CentOS > > >>>>> Userland for armv7hl, Still want to share the problem I ran in to. > > >>>>> > > >>>>> I turns out the arm 32bit kernel with large memory support OOPS if > zram-swap > > >>> is deployed if the system has more than 4GB ram. > > >>>> I'm a heavy user of zram-swap, even not being default, but I have only > > >> used > > >>> with devices that have 2G max, this is interesting. Does it still happen > > >> if > > >>> you limit the size? > > >>>> Did not test limiting the ram to 4GB myself jet, it does according > to > > >> : > > >>>> https://github.com/raspberrypi/linux/issues/3839#issuecomment-723027652 > > >>> I meant limiting the size of the zram-swap > > >> No the size of the swap does not seem matter: I tried 512, 1024 and 4096MB > > >> > > >> On a RPI4 4GB model it works just fine, > > >> on a 8GB model I get a "Internal error: Oops: 207" > > >> > > >> BTW running a fresh homebrew image of CentOS 7.9.2009 without a swap-partition > > >> and kernel: > > >> 5.4.72-v7l.1.el7 #1 SMP Wed Oct 21 17:20:56 UTC 2020 armv7l armv7l armv7l > > >> GNU/Linux > > >> > > >> > > >>>> > > >>>>> This issue seems to be addressed (very recently) in kernel 5.4.81 > (1) > > >>>>> > > >>>>> As mentioned this is very recently, version 5.4.81 is just 12 day's > > >> old.. > > >>>>> However if there is a testbuild of this rpi2-kernel4: I'm eager to > test > > >>> it  > > > Just a heads-up, > > > > > > I could not figure out how to make a test build of a kernel => 5.4.81 > based > > on the current raspberrypi2-kernel4-5.4.72 kernel. > > > Not knowledgeable enough to update the rpi-5.4.x.patch... My Bad > > > > > > However was able to rebuild the current kernel with the patch mentioned > > in the commit (1); > > > needed to include an other, quite harmless looking, patch in order to > get > > it applied clean > > > > That's even better actually, because we can confirm that it actually > > that patch that fixes it, thanks!!! > > > > Just curious, how long did it take to rebuild the kernel? > > About 01:45; (mock) state.log building on an odroid hc1: > > 2020-12-17 15:46:56,190 - Mock Version: 2.7 > 2020-12-17 15:46:58,637 - Start: yum update > 2020-12-17 15:47:11,414 - Finish: yum update > 2020-12-17 15:47:11,458 - Finish: chroot init > 2020-12-17 15:47:11,470 - Start: build phase for raspberrypi2-5.4.72-v7.1.1.ns7.src.rpm > 2020-12-17 15:47:11,488 - Start: build setup for raspberrypi2-5.4.72-v7.1.1.ns7.src.rpm > 2020-12-17 15:48:41,143 - Finish: build setup for raspberrypi2-5.4.72-v7.1.1.ns7.src.rpm > 2020-12-17 15:48:41,147 - Start: Outputting list of installed packages > 2020-12-17 15:48:41,842 - Finish: Outputting list of installed packages > 2020-12-17 15:48:41,843 - Start: rpmbuild raspberrypi2-5.4.72-v7.1.1.ns7.src.rpm > 2020-12-17 17:28:49,731 - Finish: rpmbuild raspberrypi2-5.4.72-v7.1.1.ns7.src.rpm > 2020-12-17 17:28:51,856 - Finish: build phase for raspberrypi2-5.4.72-v7.1.1.ns7.src.rpm > 2020-12-17 17:28:51,884 - Start: clean chroot > 2020-12-17 17:30:32,678 - Finish: clean chroot > 2020-12-17 17:30:32,683 - Finish: run > > probably going to move to a (faster) platform in the future; > it is hard to just say goodbye to a device that served you well :) > > > > > > Long story short, zram-swap works on my RPI4 8G model: > > > > > > # swapon --show > > > NAME TYPE SIZE USED PRIO > > > /dev/zram0 partition 3.7G 0B -2 > > > > > > # uname -a > > > Linux localhost 5.4.72-v7l.1.1.el7 #1 SMP Thu Dec 17 16:13:03 CET 2020 > armv7l > > armv7l armv7l GNU/Linux > > > > > > # free -m > > > total used free shared buff/cache > available > > > Mem: 7876 94 7469 16 312 > > 7691 > > > Swap: 3755 0 3755 > > > > > > > > > In my (probably short lived) git repo the changes I made: > > > https://github.com/markVnl/Centos-raspberrypi2-kernel/tree/zram-swap-oops > > > > > > > > >>>> There's no test build yet, I'm still adjusting to what happened last > > >>>> week, but hopefully we'll have a new kernel soon Hi, is there a status update on this? Did run your test build (5.4.84-v8.1.el7.armhfp) from buildlogs it solved the issue and just saw (as in now) a build of 5.4.88-v8.1.el7.armhfp, wil test that one too > > >>>>> 1) https://github.com/raspberrypi/linux/commit/1bef5f25a69234613b92a0e2456870f… > > >>>>> > > >>>>> > > >>>> Pablo. > > >>>> > > >>>> _______________________________________________ > > >>>> Arm-dev mailing list > > >>>> Arm-dev(a)centos.org > > >>>> https://lists.centos.org/mailman/listinfo/arm-dev > > Pablo. > > >

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Arm-dev January 2021