Re: building armv6 bootable media

On 2024-Apr-22, at 13:29, Lexi Winter <[email protected]> wrote:

> after running 'make -C release NO_ROOT=yes release' for arm.armv6 i have
> the following files:
> 
> % ls /src/obj/src/freebsd/src/minimal-deadlkres/arm.armv6/release/dist
> METALOG			base.debug.meta		kernel/			kernel.premeta		tests.meta
> base/			base.meta		kernel.meta		tests/			usr/
> 
> none of these appear to be bootable media, unlike arm64.aarch64,
> riscv.riscv64, or amd64.amd64 which build memstick.img and disc1.iso:
> 
> % ls /src/obj/src/freebsd/src/minimal-deadlkres/arm64.aarch64/release
> MANIFEST		bootonly-memstick/	disc1-disc1/		disc1.meta		kernel.txz.meta		mini-memstick.img.meta	src.txz.meta
> base-dbg.txz		bootonly-memstick.meta	disc1-disc1.meta	dist/			lib32-dbg.txz		packagesystem		tests.txz
> base.txz		bootonly.iso		disc1-memstick/		ftp/			lib32.txz		packagesystem.meta
> bootonly/		bootonly.iso.meta	disc1-memstick.meta	ftp.meta		memstick.img		release
> bootonly-bootonly/	bootonly.meta		disc1.iso		kernel-dbg.txz		memstick.img.meta	release-done.meta
> bootonly-bootonly.meta	disc1/			disc1.iso.meta		kernel.txz		mini-memstick.img	src.txz
> 
> do i need to do something special to build bootable media for armv6?
> 
> this is with main 793745fad866.
> 

Bootable media for armv6 exists for 13.* but not for 14.* or later. Also, the media are images for microsd cards and such, never iso images or such: only the Raspberry Pi is intended. ( armv7 is also just for microsd card and such but has 14.* and main materials still being produced. ) Also armv6 support depends on Raspberry Pi firmware and on U-Boot being involved, not just on FreeBSD. ( armv7 depends on U-Boot too --and on more for RPi*'s. )


Snapshot armv6 example:

http://ftp3.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/snapshots/ISO-IMAGES/13.3/FreeBSD-13.3-STABLE-arm-armv6-RPI-B-20240418-4bb54e8ec3d0-257717.img.xz

Release armv6 example:

http://ftp3.freebsd.org/pub/FreeBSD/releases/ISO-IMAGES/13.3/FreeBSD-13.3-RELEASE-arm-armv6-RPI-B.img.xz


Technically, https://www.freebsd.org/platforms/ lists armv6 as having the status:

Platform Name:     32-bit ARMv6
TARGET_ARCH:       armv6
13.x Support Tier: Tier 2
14.x Support Tier: Tier 3
Projected 15.x Support Tier: Unsupported


Also the package builds available are all old:

https://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:13:armv6/quarterly/ dates back to 2023-Sep for its content.
(14.* and later have no quarterly.)

https://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:14:armv6/latest/ dates back to 2023-Jan for its content.
https://pkg.freebsd.org/FreeBSD:13:armv6/latest/ dates back to 2021-Jan for its content.
( main [so: 15] has nothing for armv6. )

( armv7 gets package builds still --other than a current problem with the builders hanging up. )


===
Mark Millard
marklmi at yahoo.com