[Gta04-owner] Debian packages for (hw-validation) kernel and U-Boot available

[Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller]

Am 14.12.2011 um 12:38 schrieb Neil Jerram:

> On 13.12.2011 17:04, Dr. H. Nikolaus Schaller wrote:
>> Hi all,
>> we have packed the latest kernel and U-Boot
>> in a debian repository:
>> 
>> 	http://download.goldelico.com/gta04/debian/
> 
> That's nice, thanks.
> 
> What do you see now as your kernel roadmap, though?
> 
> Given Neil Brown's great work with the mainline kernel, doesn't it make sense for you to devote all your kernel-related resources to helping (= fixing + upstreaming) with that, instead of continuing to work with the older hw-validation kernel?

Well, the hw-validation should do what the name
says. It is working and intended to be used to develop
and validate hw.

Therefore this kernel implements all features needed
to test GTA04 boards when they come out of production.

Since the plan is that the first new boards come next week, we
simply have no time to bring Neil's kernel to the same state
in time and be sure that the tester finds hardware bugs and
is not irritated by software bugs.

There are a handful areas where it is simpler to tweak and hack
the 2.6.32-kernel again. Just to demonstrate that and how the
HW interfaces are working as intended: e.g. camera, torch
controller.

This is sometimes much simpler than writing a patch that
gets a chance to be accepted by the kernel maintainers.

But most likely this will be only for some more weeks and
then the hw-validation kernel can be completely replaced.

Therefore we have choosen to not include any version
number in the debian kernel packages so that you don't
have to explicitly switch from one line to the other.

To summarize: the hw-validation kernel is only a temporary
solution. In the long run there should be only one kernel.
Ideally your should be able to directly get sources from
kernel.org. And the binary from the above mentioned Debian
compatible repository.

Nikolaus