Hello all. I was hoping to get some information about how to get CentOS up and running on a board that is not yet on the supported list. I have a brand new Pine64 ( https://www.pine64.com/ ) that I'd love to have CentOS on if possible, so I figured I'd give a go at getting it up and running. And if I can help give back to a project that I've grown very fond of over the years, even better.
That's the good news. Now the bad: I have basically no idea where to start. I have zero experience with ARM besides taking existing SD card images and flashing them on devices like a Raspberry Pi. I'm also not a kernel developer or anything else wonderful like that (though I am a software developer by hobby and trade). I apologize for requiring so much hand-holding, but hopefully I can make something resembling progress with enough assistance. If anyone can point to some good resources to give me a basic understanding of what I need (which will tell me if I'm even in a position to do this in the first place), I'd really appreciate it. Thanks for the help and for all the great work you've all done already!
Mike
Am 24.06.2016 um 05:11 schrieb Mike Calderwood:
Hello all. I was hoping to get some information about how to get CentOS up and running on a board that is not yet on the supported list. I have a brand new Pine64 ( https://www.pine64.com/ ) that I'd love to have CentOS on if possible, so I figured I'd give a go at getting it up and running.
Hi Mike,
please try to follow these steps mentioned here [1]. You can conduct these steps on (almost) any Linux box (it does have to be the Pine64 itself). I've also written a small wiki page [2] explaining how to set up CentOS on ARM boards in general.
Cheers Uli
[1] https://github.com/umiddelb/z2d/tree/master/pine64#install-procedure [2] https://github.com/umiddelb/aarch64/wiki/Install-CentOS-7-on-your-favourite-...
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On 24/06/16 09:24, Uli Middelberg wrote:
Am 24.06.2016 um 05:11 schrieb Mike Calderwood:
Hello all. I was hoping to get some information about how to get CentOS up and running on a board that is not yet on the supported list. I have a brand new Pine64 ( https://www.pine64.com/ ) that I'd love to have CentOS on if possible, so I figured I'd give a go at getting it up and running.
Hi Mike,
please try to follow these steps mentioned here [1]. You can conduct these steps on (almost) any Linux box (it does have to be the Pine64 itself). I've also written a small wiki page [2] explaining how to set up CentOS on ARM boards in general.
Cheers Uli
[1] https://github.com/umiddelb/z2d/tree/master/pine64#install-procedure
[2]
https://github.com/umiddelb/aarch64/wiki/Install-CentOS-7-on-your-favo
urite-ARMv8-ARM64-AArch64-board
is there anyway we can perhaps get some of this content over to wiki.centos.org if you are willing to maintain it there ? that allows us to stamp it and promote it in a more formal fashion.
regards,
- -- Karanbir Singh, Project Lead, The CentOS Project +44-207-0999389 | http://www.centos.org/ | twitter.com/CentOS GnuPG Key : http://www.karan.org/publickey.asc
On Fri, Jun 24, 2016 at 6:40 AM, Karanbir Singh kbsingh@centos.org wrote:
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On 24/06/16 09:24, Uli Middelberg wrote:
Am 24.06.2016 um 05:11 schrieb Mike Calderwood:
Hello all. I was hoping to get some information about how to get CentOS up and running on a board that is not yet on the supported list. I have a brand new Pine64 ( https://www.pine64.com/ ) that I'd love to have CentOS on if possible, so I figured I'd give a go at getting it up and running.
Hi Mike,
please try to follow these steps mentioned here [1]. You can conduct these steps on (almost) any Linux box (it does have to be the Pine64 itself). I've also written a small wiki page [2] explaining how to set up CentOS on ARM boards in general.
is there anyway we can perhaps get some of this content over to wiki.centos.org if you are willing to maintain it there ? that allows us to stamp it and promote it in a more formal fashion.
+1.
I strongly prefer authentic deliverables and authoritative references. The only way I know is to use images and information using a domain context.
Using <some github> is as bad as using <some blog>.
Jeff
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On 24/06/16 09:24, Uli Middelberg wrote:
[1] https://github.com/umiddelb/z2d/tree/master/pine64#install-procedure
I
noticed the CentOS image is hosted at dropbox - Jim/Fabian: is there anything blocking us doing the image builds on our monthly cycle and hosting in centos.org space ?
regards
- -- Karanbir Singh, Project Lead, The CentOS Project +44-207-0999389 | http://www.centos.org/ | twitter.com/CentOS GnuPG Key : http://www.karan.org/publickey.asc
noticed the CentOS image is hosted at dropbox - Jim/Fabian: is there anything blocking us doing the image builds on our monthly cycle and hosting in centos.org space ?
It would be great to have an 'official' archive containing the rootfs contents, created/updated by the automated build chain. Other Linux distributions like Ubuntu or Arch offer this kind of service as well.
Cheers Uli
On 06/24/2016 10:41 AM, Uli Middelberg wrote:
It would be great to have an 'official' archive containing the rootfs contents, created/updated by the automated build chain. Other Linux distributions like Ubuntu or Arch offer this kind of service as well.
+1. CentOS 7 has been rock solid on my testing ODroid C2, even with some kernel upgrades from HardKernel. Note though that C7's gcc will not build the HardKernel sources successfully, as the Linaro 4.9.x gcc is the 'standard' gcc for them. So I keep a stock Ubuntu image around and boot it occasionally on my dev C2 to get the newest kernel items, and I have built up a process (not yet automated) for upgrading an SD card in my C7 laptop using the Ubuntu image along with the C7 rootfs as on the booting SD. It's dead-simple, really, and involves replacing the kernel files on the FAT boot partition and then the includes and modules from the Ubuntu rootfs.
I'd like to do a native build, but I just haven't had the time to build an aarch64 rpm of the linaro 4.9.x toolchain. (It's available for x86_64 as a cross-compiler).
So I keep a stock Ubuntu image around and boot it occasionally on my dev C2 to get the newest kernel items, and I have built up a process (not yet automated) for upgrading an SD card in my C7 laptop using the Ubuntu image along with the C7 rootfs as on the booting SD. It's dead-simple, really, and involves replacing the kernel files on the FAT boot partition and then the includes and modules from the Ubuntu rootfs.
You might consider to run Ubuntu/F24 inside of a Docker Container (C7 supports Docker out of the box), when you need GCC5 in order to compile the C2 kernel.
On 06/24/2016 05:43 AM, Karanbir Singh wrote:
On 24/06/16 09:24, Uli Middelberg wrote:
[1] https://github.com/umiddelb/z2d/tree/master/pine64#install-procedure
I
noticed the CentOS image is hosted at dropbox - Jim/Fabian: is there anything blocking us doing the image builds on our monthly cycle and hosting in centos.org space ?
This image uses the vendor kernel and our userspace. I was attempting to keep a bit of distance from it as it's not 'official' because of the kernel. We could certainly run Uli's script as part of the monthly image builds, but we'd need to make sure there's documentation about how much we can actually maintain for it.
Am 24.06.2016 um 21:03 schrieb Jim Perrin:
On 06/24/2016 05:43 AM, Karanbir Singh wrote:
On 24/06/16 09:24, Uli Middelberg wrote:
[1] https://github.com/umiddelb/z2d/tree/master/pine64#install-procedure
I
noticed the CentOS image is hosted at dropbox - Jim/Fabian: is there anything blocking us doing the image builds on our monthly cycle and hosting in centos.org space ?
This image uses the vendor kernel and our userspace. I was attempting to keep a bit of distance from it as it's not 'official' because of the kernel. We could certainly run Uli's script as part of the monthly image builds, but we'd need to make sure there's documentation about how much we can actually maintain for it.
Hi,
at this time, my script isn't just more than a proof of concept due to the well known deviations. Before integrating it as part of the image build, I'd like to discuss some considerations about the image and the way it could be built [1] (and I should get to know more about the CentOS/ARM build procedure).
[1] https://github.com/umiddelb/aarch64/wiki/CentOS-on-ARM-SBC-design-considerat...
On 07/05/2016 04:13 PM, Uli Middelberg wrote:
Hi,
at this time, my script isn't just more than a proof of concept due to the well known deviations. Before integrating it as part of the image build, I'd like to discuss some considerations about the image and the way it could be built [1] (and I should get to know more about the CentOS/ARM build procedure).
[1] https://github.com/umiddelb/aarch64/wiki/CentOS-on-ARM-SBC-design-considerat...
Are you familiar with kickstarts for centos installations? That's essentially how I generate the disk image. If you wanted to contribute a kickstart that created the disk layout you see as feasible I can incorporate that into the builds. It might help if I create project on github with the scripts used to generate the various aarch64 images.
The livemedia-creator tool also allows for the creation of a rootfs tarball, so would publishing a raw tarball of an installed system be beneficial to you for generating images for various boards?
As to the kernel pieces, I don't want to get into the business of tracking/shipping vendor kernels. I'd much rather either patch support into the kernel-aarch64 we already ship, or provide a simple means for the user to generate an image based on the vendor kernel (thus assuming the risk/liability).
Am 07.07.2016 um 15:12 schrieb Jim Perrin:
On 07/05/2016 04:13 PM, Uli Middelberg wrote:
Hi,
at this time, my script isn't just more than a proof of concept due to the well known deviations. Before integrating it as part of the image build, I'd like to discuss some considerations about the image and the way it could be built [1] (and I should get to know more about the CentOS/ARM build procedure).
[1] https://github.com/umiddelb/aarch64/wiki/CentOS-on-ARM-SBC-design-considerat...
Are you familiar with kickstarts for centos installations? That's essentially how I generate the disk image. If you wanted to contribute a kickstart that created the disk layout you see as feasible I can incorporate that into the builds. It might help if I create project on github with the scripts used to generate the various aarch64 images.
Unfortunately I haven't used them so far, but it would help a lot if you push your ks scripts to a github project.
The livemedia-creator tool also allows for the creation of a rootfs tarball, so would publishing a raw tarball of an installed system be beneficial to you for generating images for various boards?
This would be very beneficial indeed.
As to the kernel pieces, I don't want to get into the business of tracking/shipping vendor kernels. I'd much rather either patch support into the kernel-aarch64 we already ship, or provide a simple means for the user to generate an image based on the vendor kernel (thus assuming the risk/liability).
I totally agree. As long as there is no way to get the device supported by the official kernel-aarch64, these images should be considered as unofficial and/or unsupported. Many devices are still waiting for mainline support status, so there is the vendor kernel only (The Pine64 doesn't even have a 'vendor' kernel, only a community kernel based on the Allwiner BSP).
To make it easier to adapt CentOS to a vendor kernel, I'd really appreciate if someone could provide a list of mandatory kernel options to be enabled. (otherwise I need to review 1500+ deviations w.r.t. ODRIOD-C2 kernel). I'd try then to integrate this settings into the default vendor kernel configuration.
You may start a very similar discussion when you focus on the boot loader...
Cheers Uli
please try to follow these steps mentioned here [1]. You can conduct these steps on (almost) any Linux box (it does have to be the Pine64 itself). I've also written a small wiki page [2] explaining how to set up CentOS on ARM boards in general.
Indeed, it does *not* have to be the Pine64 itself. Sorry for confusing you.
-
Jeffrey Walton -
Jim Perrin -
Karanbir Singh -
Lamar Owen -
Mike Calderwood -
Uli Middelberg