[Arm-dev] Centos support for Marvell Armada 7k/8k

Thu Oct 5 00:25:53 UTC 2017
Marcin Wojtas <mw at semihalf.com>

Hi Jim,

2017-10-02 23:45 GMT+02:00 Jim Perrin <jperrin at centos.org>:
>
>
>
> On 09/29/2017 05:35 AM, Marcin Wojtas wrote:
> > Hi,
> >
> > As for the news, unmodified CentOS-7-aarch64 downloaded from
> > http://mirror.centos.org/altarch/7/isos/aarch64/
> > works great on Marvell Armada 8040 MacchiatoBin (http://macchiatobin.net/).
> >
> > You can see vmlinuz-4.11.0-22.el7a.aarch64 bootlog here:
> > https://pastebin.com/kuDQRzDV
> >
>
> Oh very nice!
>
> > All interfaces that are supported in the mainline linux kernel (with
> > ACPI) work fine with Centos image as well. However as there's an
> > effort to add ACPI support to remaining interfaces (e.g. network or
> > sd/mmc controllers), we would like backport upstream patches to your
> > tree. Hence I have a couple of questions in addition to what can be
> > found in https://wiki.centos.org/SpecialInterestGroup/AltArch/AArch64/Contributions:
> >
> > 1. Are the Centos kernel sources accessible in some kind of public repository?
> >
>
> Yes. You can find the repository details at
> https://git.centos.org/summary/?r=sig-altarch/kernel in the
> sig-altarch7-aarch64 branch.
>
> We don't store the larger tarballs in git though, so it may help for you
> to look at https://wiki.centos.org/Sources/ to see how to interact with
> our look-aside repository.
>
> > 2. When sending patches to arm-dev, do you require original commit log
> > and URL to adequate patch in the kernel.org?
> >
>
> Yes.
>
> > 3. Is patch existence in linux-next sufficient for you to accept it?
> >
>
> Yes.
>
> > 4. I imagine proceeding in two steps - align drivers between v4.11 and
> > mainline first and later add (still being developed) ACPI support
> > patches once they are ready and merged upstream. Would it be ok for
> > you?
> >
>
> As long as you're not disabling existing support in the kernel patches
> (You can't turn acpi off, for example) and the patches are specific to
> your hardware, that sounds fine.
>
>
>
> > 5. Do you have some kind of merge windows/release cycles to follow,
> > when upstreaming patches?
> >
>
> No, only when building updated install media.
>

Thank you for all your answers.

> > Given current quality of Centos support for new family of ARM64 SoCs,
> > how about mentioning Armada 7k/8k family in 'Supported Hardware'
> > section on https://wiki.centos.org/SpecialInterestGroup/AltArch/AArch64
>
>
> I can add it as developmental support while we get the network pieces
> and acpi sorted out. Will that work for you?
>

Yes, it would be great, if you could add it - please let know once that happens.

Just to make it clear, Centos on MacchiatoBin works with the normal
installer and AltArch image without any setup quirks - we just need to
compliment the ACPI support for remaining interfaces in the Linux
mainline first (Network and SD/MMC controller). FYI, it is likely that
we add ACPI-support information to the mainline Linux support matrix
for Marvell SoCs:
https://elinux.org/Marvell_EBU:Mainline_Linux

Best regards,
Marcin