To migrate from one VLP version to a newer one, the best method would be to rebase your custom patches on top of the latest VLP version.
For example, let's refer to the CIP kernel included in the Renesas VLP BSP. While the Renesas BSP is based off the CIP kernel, additional patches are added for each VLP release. This causes the update path to be a little complex.
o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o remotes/origin/linux-4.19.y-cip \ \ \ o--o--o vlp64_v104 o--o--o--o vlp64_v105 o--o--o--o--o vlp64_v106
We will assume that users have probably started working on one version, and have created their own branch to applied their own modifications:
o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o remotes/origin/linux-4.19.y-cip \ \ \ o--o--o vlp64_v104 o--o--o--o vlp64_v105 o--o--o--o--o vlp64_v106 \ A--B--C release_v1 \ D release_v2
Now, at certain point in time, if the user wants to move to a new VLP version, for example 1.0.5, then the solution for them is to do a "rebase" which is basically a sort of "move" of their modifications to the newer VLP. When the move, the can also combine old branches into a single branch.
o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o remotes/origin/linux-4.19.y-cip \ \ \ o--o--o vlp64_v104 o--o--o--o vlp64_v105 o--o--o--o--o vlp64_v106 \ \ A--B--C release_v1 A--B--C--D release_v3 \ \ D release_v2 E release_v4
And so on, for the following versions:
o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o remotes/origin/linux-4.19.y-cip \ \ \ o--o--o vlp64_v104 o--o--o--o vlp64_v105 o--o--o--o--o vlp64_v10n \ \ \ A--B--C release_v1 A--B--C--D release_v3 A--B--C--D--E release_v5 \ \ \ D release_v2 E releaser_v4 F release_v6
Once rebased, the old branches can sweetly die and new development shall continue on the new branch only.
Let us go thru an example using Chris' script that is meant to assist in checking out the relevant CIP kernel code from the repository and apply VLP patches on top. Obviously the script is not strictly required but if not used the user should identify the right mainline CIP kernel version to checkout, and then collect all the patches from the VLP version, and then apply those patches. This all needs to be done before the kernel can be build in the exact same way Yocto does in the VLP release.
To do that we just have to run the vlp64_util script:
./vlp64_util.sh create k . my_vlp_kernel_repo What VLP64 BSP version do you want? 0. BSP-1.0.4 1. BSP-1.0.5 2. BSP-1.0.5-RT 3. BSP-1.0.5-RT-update1 4. BSP-1.0.6-update1 choice: 0
The script will then clone the CIP Linux repository and apply the correct Renesas BSP patches, also creating a branch called vlp64_v104.
o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o remotes/origin/linux-4.19.y-cip \ o--o--o vlp64_v104
In your git repository, you should already be on branch "vlp64_v104"
git branch master * vlp64_v104
Let us implement some changes to the VLP 1.0.4 release. For example we modify the init/calibrate.c:
void calibrate_delay(void) { unsigned long lpj; static bool printed; int this_cpu = smp_processor_id(); printk("*************************************\n"); printk("* *\n"); printk("* HELLO WORLD KERNEL *\n"); printk("* *\n"); printk("*************************************\n"); if (per_cpu(cpu_loops_per_jiffy, this_cpu)) { lpj = per_cpu(cpu_loops_per_jiffy, this_cpu); if (!printed) [...]
Then we will stage our changes and commit them to the repository. But first, you should really make a new branch for your development work, and change to it ("checkout"). Note that your edited source file "calibrate.c" will not be touched.
git status git branch vlp64_v104_dev git checkout vlp64_v104_dev git status
HINT: You can combine the steps "git branch vlp64_v104_dev" and "git checkout vlp64_v104_dev" to a single step "git checkout -b vlp64_v104_dev"
Now our repository looks like this:
o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o remotes/origin/linux-4.19.y-cip \ o--o--o vlp64_v104, vlp64_v104_dev
HINT: Use the command "gitk --all " to view this graphically.
Now we will add in our change to the repository.
git add calibrate.c git commit -m "calibrate.c - Added some printk statements"
Now our repository will look like this (where "A" is the commit we just added)
o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o remotes/origin/linux-4.19.y-cip \ o--o--o vlp64_v104 \ A vlp64_v104_dev
Now we will update the repository with a newer VLP.
$ ./vlp64_util.sh update my_vlp_kernel_repo Detected kernel These branches already exits in your repo: - vlp64_v104 What VLP64 BSP version do you want? 0. BSP-1.0.4 1. BSP-1.0.5 2. BSP-1.0.5-RT 3. BSP-1.0.5-RT-update1 4. BSP-1.0.6-update1 choice: 1
The script detects that "my_vlp_kernel_repo" already contains a VLP kernel. We select VLP 1.0.5. Then the script will fetch/checkout the appropriate CIP kernel version and apply the patches on top of it:
$ git branch master vlp64_v104 * vlp64_v105
o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o remotes/origin/linux-4.19.y-cip \ \ o--o--o vlp64_v104 o--o--o--o vlp64_v105 \ A vlp64_v104_dev
Let's have a look at the tags:
git tag 4.4.201-cip39-rt26 4.4.201-cip39-rt26-rebase BSP-1.0.4 BSP-1.0.5 u2.6.24 .. ..
Now let the magic begin. First we want to create a copy of the current (old) development branch. The 'checkout -b vlp_v105_dev' option will create a new branch for us with the name "vlp_v105_dev". This new branch will be at the same location as the "vlp64_v104" branch. We give this new branch a "v105" name is because we plan to move it on top of the BSP v1.0.5 release.
git checkout vlp64_v104_dev <<< change to the branch we added our change in git checkout -b vlp64_v105_dev <<< make a new branch at the same location
Now we should have this. You can view with "gitk vlp64_v105_dev".
o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o remotes/origin/linux-4.19.y-cip \ \ o--o--o vlp64_v104 o--o--o--o vlp64_v105 \ A vlp64_v104_dev, vlp64_v105_dev
Then we can move our patch (A = "Added some printk statements") to the latest version:
git rebase --onto BSP-1.0.5 BSP-1.0.4 vlp64_105_dev
This powerful git command needs a bit of explanation: it allows us to transplant the vlp64_105_dev branch based on the vlp64_v104 (= BSP-1.0.4) branch, to pretend that we forked the vlp64_105_dev branch from the vlp64_v105 (=BSP-1.0.5) branch. Please also have a look at the official git documentation here.
The result should look like this:
o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o remotes/origin/linux-4.19.y-cip \ \ o--o--o vlp64_v104 o--o--o--o vlp64_v105 \ \ A vlp64_v104_dev A vlp64_v105_dev
Now you are working on the BSP v1.0.5 kernel and you were able to keep your changes that you made in v1.0.4
There is also another possibility: instead of using git rebase we can use git cherry-pick. This command allows up to copy a single commit or a range of commits from one branch to another. In our example we have to first check the hash of the commit we want to cherry pick:
git checkout vlp64_v104 git log --oneline f4d5d8172b76 (HEAD -> vlp64_v104) Added some printk message [..]
Then checkout the destination branch:
git checkout vlp64_v105
Then make a new branch
git checkout -b vlp64_v105_dev
which will give you this:
o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o remotes/origin/linux-4.19.y-cip \ \ o--o--o vlp64_v104 o--o--o--o vlp64_v105, vlp64_v105_dev \ A vlp64_v104_dev
And then [1]:
git cherry-pick f4d5d8172b76
We can also cherry pick a range of commits. In the example below, "BSP-1.0.4" is a tag that shows the end of the Renesas BSP, and "vlp64_v104_dev" is the branch that has has our changes. So basically we are asking it to copy all the changes we made on top of the Renesas BSP.
git cherry-pick BSP-1.0.4..vlp64_v104_dev
You could also use this command (using branch name instead of tag name)
git cherry-pick vlp64_v104..vlp64_v104_dev
In our example this is exactly the same as [1] because we have only one commit between vlp64_v104 and BSP-1.0.4. So again, graphically, it will end up like this
o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o--o remotes/origin/linux-4.19.y-cip \ \ o--o--o vlp64_v104 o--o--o--o vlp64_v105 \ \ A vlp64_v104_dev A vlp64_v105_dev
Note: When selecting a range of patches, both cherry-pick and rebase "skip" the first patch. If you want to include it, you have to explicitly specify it by adding a ^. For example, let's assume:
o--o--o vlp64_v104 o--o--o--o vlp64_v105 \ A-B-C-D-E
Now if we want to cherry pick the patches A-B-C-D-E and apply them to vlp64_v105, we can use the command:
git cherry-pick A^..E
o--o--o vlp64_v104 o--o--o--o vlp64_v105 \ \ A-B-C-D-E A-B-C-D-E
If instead we do not use "^":
git cherry-pick A..E
we will end up in having:
o--o--o vlp64_v104 o--o--o--o vlp64_v105 \ \ A-B-C-D-E B-C-D-E