LINUX KERNEL MODULES INSTALL
LINUX KERNEL MODULES 64 BIT
LINUX KERNEL MODULES 32 BIT

It is often not clear from where the kernel comes from. Download the kernelĭownloading the right kernel can be a little bit tricky.

LINUX KERNEL MODULES INSTALL

# 64 sudo apt-get install gcc-aarch64-linux-gnu On the build machine we do: # 32 sudo apt-get install gcc-arm-linux-gnueabihf

LINUX KERNEL MODULES 32 BIT

We can figure out the architecture by doing uname -m on the target: # 32 Bit $ uname -mįor the armv7l kernel we need to install the armhf version of gcc and for aarch64 the aarch64 version.

LINUX KERNEL MODULES 64 BIT

If we have a Raspberry Pi it might run on a 64 bit or 32 bit kernel.

We need to know for which architecture we want to compile.

If we use a recent version of the kernel we can normally just use the latest toolchain provided by the distribution.

On the build machine we need to install a cross compilation toolchain. Setupįirst we need to setup the build machine and download the kernel. On the Raspberry Pi I enabled ssh so that I can transfer files with scp. As an embedded device I use a Raspberry Pi 4 but the same concept works for TI AM335x, NXP iMX6/iMX8, etc. Just use the right package manager for your distro. This article provides a summary of the steps which have to be taken to compile the module.įor this article I use Ubuntu 20.10 on the build machine but it should work with other distributions too. That file can be loaded into the kernel on the target system for testing.Sometimes we want to compile a kernel module for an embedded device without replacing the kernel. The Linux build system should build the new kernel module and generate a ‘.ko’ file for it. To configure, run ‘make menuconfig’, find the new option and enable it (select ‘M’ to generate a kernel module). Once all of these changes are in place, the kernel can be configured and built with the new module. In these examples, ‘cmod’ is the folder containing the new module and CONFIG_MOD is an existing kernel option that the new custom module depends on. New lines must be added that refer to the new files, as in the following example: This is done by modifying the corresponding menu config file and make file in the parent folder. It contains one source file, ‘source_code.c’.Īfter the folder and files are in place, the Linux kernel needs a way to find them. The make file defines a kernel module called ‘custom-module.ko’. If it’s M it will be built as a kernel module. If it’s on, it will be built into the main kernel image. The menu config file defines a new menu option that can be set to either off, on or M. Obj- $(CONFIG_CUSTOM_MODULE) + = custom-module.o Tristate “Support for a Custom Linux Module” The new folder must contain a menu config file (Kconfig) and a make file (Makefile). The best parent folder depends on what the new modules does and what existing kernel features it builds on. Usually, the new module will have its own folder under an existing folder.

Setting up Linux to build a new kernel module requires creating and modifying a few files in the kernel source code. Linux development using kernel modules can be more convenient than developing built-in code because the kernel modules are usually smaller than the entire kernel image, and they can usually be tested without re-booting the target system. A Linux kernel module contains code that can be added or removed from the kernel at runtime using command line utilities (insmod, rmmod).

Linux kernel modules