OpenWrt Forum Archive

Topic: Problem compiling a kernel

The content of this topic has been archived on 30 Apr 2018. There are no obvious gaps in this topic, but there may still be some posts missing at the end.

I'm trying to do the SD mod and am unable to compile a kernel for my WRT54GS. I downloaded OpenWrt-ImageBuilder-Linux-i686.tar.b2z and extracted it. I was unable to find the buildroot/build_mipsel/linux directory referenced in the documentation, there was no linux directory only a linux-2.4-brcm directory that had two files, kernel_2.4.30-brcm-2_mipsel.ipk  vmlinux.lzma. There did not appear to be any type of makemenuconfig script in the entire set of directories.

I know that I could download the modules seperately and install them, but I would like to compile. The main reason for this is I want to change the gpio numbers and therefore have to compile mmc.o myself anyway and therefore need everything set up.

Thanks in Advance.

Quick cheat sheet of what everything is -

ImageBuilder -
Designed to assemble precompiled packages into a firmware image. Incapable of performing any other task. Use - easily alter which packages are included within the firmware itself, useful if you're reflashing multiple devices and want to avoid manual package installation. This is also what produces the multiple variations of the firmware available for download (default, micro, pptp)

SDK -
Essentially a stripped down version of the actual sources; includes a prebuilt compiler and various headers and libraries; has the ability to compile most packages. Does not compile kernel or most kernel modules. Use - quickly compiling one or two applications without having to build the compiler first.

OpenWrt sources -
This is what's available via svn, developers refer to these sources as 'buildroot' indicating the original origins of the code. This is designed to be a fully automated system to download, patch and compile everything needed to produce a working firmware image from scratch. Having a copy of buildroot is essential for anything not covered by imagebuilder or the SDK.

Thanks, I downloaded the right thing, the buildroot, and after a lot of scripted downloads and compiles, got the images and the ability to cross-compile. I should be able to do everything I want now.

The discussion might have continued from here.