Can someone with serial console access try NixOS kernel on Librem 5?

Hardware Librem 5
8

You just don’t see the humor in it.

9

I do, and I recoil :stuck_out_tongue:

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10

I was trying to picture an L5 with the old 25 pins parallel printer connector. :laughing:

To be serious: there are USB to serial adapters, I used to use them when configuring switches at the console port. They where a pain in the a## . When they worked all was fine, but to get them going was always a nightmare.

11

You not say :slightly_smiling_face:

On the subject of connecting All The Things™ to a phone:

12

On this picture, it’s the phone that’s attached to the thing…

13

So downloaded kernel source linux-6.2-rc2, copied contents of Librem 5 /proc/config.gz to .config, edited to enable KEXEC and compiled the kernel on an rpi4 just to be sure arch-wise.

Much to my surprise the resulting kernel does not boot. The led even switches off.

Do the kernels need to be signed for some kind of secure boot or something?

14

I would say “no”, both because that totally gets away from Purism’s approach and because I was able to build Jumpdrive from sources and boot it on my Librem 5 (which wouldn’t work if anyone other than I was needed to sign the resulting kernel).

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15

To test the kernel, I recommend to start with uuu.

This script will boot a given kernel: https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/librem5-devkit-tools/-/blob/pureos/byzantium/uuu_scripts/boot_librem5.lst

16

I appreciate you take the time to reply, but from my original message it should be quite obvious that I am using uuu.

In the mean time I’ve discovered that the Linux kernel source from https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/linux does produce a booting kernel so some essential code seems not available in upstream.

I’m trying to build a module-less variant to boot NixOS with.

17

With “build Jumpdrive”, you also mean the kernel? If yes, I assume you we not using upstream kernel as your source?

18

Oh, sorry. I only looked at the most recent message. Anyway, I think you know as much as I do now.

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19

Yes

Correct. git cloned from something on source.puri.sm

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20

I’ve managed to get NixOS running on the Librem 5 with a kernel build from https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/linux.git

Biggest issue atm is that I do not have sound in calls due to callaudiod segfaulting.

One of the minor issues that I have to run mkimage by hand to update /boot/boot.scr on configuration changes, to to boot into a new NixOS environment. It seems Purism u-boot does not support u-boot’s Generic Distro Configuration Concept which supports /boot/extlinux/ extlinux.conf: https://u-boot.readthedocs.io/en/latest/develop/distro.html

The part in /etc/nixos/configuration.nix that builds the Purism kernel is:

boot = {
    initrd = {
        kernelModules                       = [ "bq25891_charger" "dwc3" "imx_dcss" "imx_sdma" "mtdblock" "ofpart" "phy_fsl_imx8mq_usb" "snvs_pwrkey" "spi_nor" "tps6598x" "xhci_hcd" "usbcore" "usb_storage" "uas" "xhci_plat_hcd" ];
    };
    kernelParams                            = [ "console=tty0" "earlyprintk=vga" "ignore_loglevel" "rootwait" ];
    loader = {
        generic-extlinux-compatible.enable  =  true;
        grub.enable                         =  false;
    };
    kernelPackages = let
        linux_librem5_pkg = { fetchgit, buildLinux, ... } @ args:
            buildLinux (args // rec {
                defconfig = "librem5_defconfig";
                version = "6.1.6-librem5";
                modDirVersion = version;
                src = fetchgit {
                    url = "https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/linux.git";
                    hash = "sha256-EE6WHqgBmoRuZnbCPO3NrydOHPxG8G7lZXxDNm/2Kq4=";
                };
                kernelPatches = [];
            } // (args.argsOverride or {}));
            linux_librem5 = pkgs.callPackage linux_librem5_pkg{};
        in
            pkgs.recurseIntoAttrs (pkgs.linuxPackagesFor linux_librem5);
};
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21

Perhaps this merge request may be of interest to you:

If it is we can share here how to install it.

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22

Also do you have the mandatory screenshot of it running NixOS :slight_smile:

23

:scream:
That seems exactly what is needed! Please share :blush:

24

Will create :yum:

25

Well…

On a debian based system…

You would download the .deb package from here;

  1. https://source.puri.sm/a-wai/uboot-imx/-/jobs/405334/artifacts/raw/debian/output/u-boot-librem5_2022.10-librem5.1_arm64.deb

install it with:

sudo apt install ./u-boot-librem5_2022.10-librem5.1_arm64.deb

then run sudo u-boot-install-librem5 /dev/mmcblk0

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26

But maybe @angus.ainslie can assist with how to do this on a non PureOS system ^^.

27

$ curl -LOC - https://source.puri.sm/a-wai/uboot-imx/-/jobs/405334/artifacts/raw/debian/output/u-boot-librem5_2022.10-librem5.1_arm64.deb
$ ar -x u-boot-librem5_2022.10-librem5.1_arm64.deb
$ tar xf data.tar.xz
$ cat usr/bin/u-boot-install-librem5
$ sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/mmcblk0 bs=1024 count=1055 seek=2
$ sudo dd if=usr/lib/u-boot/librem5/u-boot.imx conv=notrunc of=/dev/mmcblk0 bs=1024 seek=33

I’ll need to verify and execute this.

edit: this works, thanks! :partying_face:

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