LTIB for M54455EVB - "linux-wlan" fails to build

[dmarks_ls]

So, I'm having a go at getting wireless working on the M54455EVB.  I intend to use an Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG card in a mini-PCI to PCI adapter; it looks like the 2200BG is properly supported in kernel 2.6.29.

However, I'm trying to build the package "linux-wlan", and it's failing even after following the special instructions given.  Upon first attempt, it fails checks for locating the kernel and "pcmcia-cs" source, and gives the following instructions:

"This package requires kernel and pcmcis-cs source. For the kernel, run './ltib -m config' and enable the option 'Leave the sources after building' and for pcmcia-cs, build the package and leave the source with: './ltib -p pcmcia-cs -l'."

OK, so I do that; I was a bit concerned that pcmcia-cs wasn't one of the offered packages in LTIB, but it retrieved it from the repository just fine.  However, the build still failed in the same manner.  I inspected the rpm/BUILD directory, and apparently the current version of pcmcia-cs is 3.2.8, whereas the linux-wlan package is expecting to find 3.2.4:

+ KERNEL_SRC_DIR=/fs/ltib-cflinux-20100919/rpm/BUILD/linux
+ PCMCIA_SRC_DIR=/fs/ltib-cflinux-20100919/rpm/BUILD/pcmcia-cs-3.2.4

I thought about editing the linux-wlan package to change PCMCIA_SRC_DIR, but figured it would just be easier to symlink pcmcia-cs-3.2.4 to pcmcia-cs-3.2.8.  So I did that, rebuilt, and what I got while building was a whole bunch of these errors:

../include/wlan/wlan_compat.h:178:4: error: #error "No CPU identified!"

Inspecting wlan_compat.h, I find that it's trying to figure out what CPU it's being built for, and when building for Linux userspace, knows only how to detect x86, PowerPC, and ARM -- no ColdFire.

So, two questions I guess:

1. If I'm doing Wi-Fi on kernel 2.6.29 with the Sep-2010 LTIB, do I actually need this package, or is this optional?
2. Assuming I do, how did this package even work in the first place?

[TomE]

I'm using a "buildroot" linux distribution (for MPC5200, but distributions are distributions) dated from about 2006. We're stuck with it and Linux Kernel 2.4 for various reasons.

it builds with specific versions of packages, and usually only with those packages.

The packages and the distribution are an interlinked "moving target". Sometimes you can jump forwards a few versions in a package, but often not. There are sometimes *PATCHES* in the distribution that need to be applied to specific versions of the packages to get them to run on your specific CPU/hardware/whatever, and they won't apply to newer versions it doesn't know about. The new version may already have those patches, but it may not. Getting the complete repository for that package and checking its logs may tell you - or may not. Getting the complete repository for your build system will get you the past and future (beyond the version you're using) log messages, and reading them may help you mix-and-match.

You really don't want to have to "mix and match" different versions unless you have to. I'm working with one of these, with some parts of the system anchored in the past to particular versions, and other packages not working at that version, so they have to be "cherry-picked" forward, and then patched to work with the older parts of the system.

More fun happens when they change the default COMPILER used (from gcc3 to gcc4), and then someone decides to change the entire packaging system's configuration method. These mark boundaries of the distribution that you can't cherry-pick over.

Tom

[dmarks_ls]

I appreciate your insights regarding the difficulties of maintaining multiple versions of things.  However, I don't see the relevance to the question I asked.

I'm trying to build the linux-wlan package as provided by Freescale in the LTIB, with the kernel as provided.  But the package does not appear that it is compatible with ColdFire at all, despite being listed among the available packages.  So again, I ask:

1. If I'm doing Wi-Fi on kernel 2.6.29 with the Sep-2010 LTIB, do I actually need this package, or is this optional?
2. Assuming I do, how did this package even work in the first place?

[TomE]

Sorry for rambling off about my problems instead of yours, but I thought this was relevant:

> pcmcia-cs wasn't one of the offered packages in LTIB, but it retrieved it from the

> repository just fine.  However, the build still failed in the same manner.  I inspected

> the rpm/BUILD directory, and apparently the current version of pcmcia-cs is 3.2.8,

> whereas the linux-wlan package is expecting to find 3.2.4:

That seemed to me like you were "mixing and matching" things that weren't "as distributed". So I'd suggest you find a 3.2.4 version of pcmcia-cs and see if that makes any difference.

> how did this package even work in the first place?

Maybe it didn't. Anyone else using it successfully? that's what dridgers would really like to know.

Another thing to watch out for is that the makefile dependencies aren't always perfect in these build systems. We have to build out system TWICE because it works differently the second time. Also, if we change anything in the kernel or many of the other systems it doesn't pcik up the changes so we have to manually "touch whatever/.configured" to get it to rebuild that part. This is with "buildroot" and "ltib" may be perfect...

Tom

[dmarks_ls]

I'll grant you, there might be minor incompatibilities between pcmcia-cs-3.2.4 and 3.2.8, but the biggest build error came directly from one of the header files in the linux-wlan package:

../include/wlan/wlan_compat.h:178:4: error: #error "No CPU identified!"

Looking inside that header file, there doesn't appear to be anything ColdFire/M68K-specific in there.  So that's why I'm wondering whether that package has ever been successfully build for a ColdFire platform.  We're going to do Wi-Fi on the MCF54455 one way or another; I'd just prefer it be the easy way, rather than the hard way.