The release tag kernel compilation of StarFive v3.1.5 source tree in Debian-202306-image produces a completely broken kernel

[ThomasKorimort]

Following the instructions on https://rvspace.org/en/project/VisionFive2_Debian_User_Guide for compiling and updating the VisionFive 2 kernel one ends up with a completely broken kernel uncapable of booting the system. From the instruction it was not clear, which kernel tag to check out, thus i compiled the one set by default.

[coderamen666]

What error does it give? Is it a U Boot error, a kernel panic, or what?

[ThomasKorimort]

What error does it give? Is it a U Boot error, a kernel panic, or what?

Following the above instructions (https://rvspace.org/en/project/VisionFive2_Debian_User_Guide), it compiles with a lot of warnings and when the kernel deb package is installed and the kernel made to boot from U-Boot by setting its label the default boot label in boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf, kernel messages show a lot of failed tasks till the point, that the network is switched off and one is left with not even as much as a recovery console.

[coderamen666]

What is your build environment?

[ThomasKorimort]

Following the instructions in https://rvspace.org/en/project/VisionFive2_Debian_User_Guide, section 4.6 i installed

apt-get install build-essential linux-source bc kmod cpio flex libncurses5-dev libelf-dev libssl-dev dwarves bison git on Debian-202306 nvme image

git clone https://github.com/starfive-tech/linux

git checkout <tag version>

for "tag version" i tried v3.1.5 and 5.15.0 without it working. Then i simply started the compile from the branch that was checked out from https://github.com/starfive-tech/linux by default:

cd linux/ cp arch/riscv/configs/starfive_visionfive2_defconfig .config make ARCH=riscv olddefconfig make ARCH=riscv -j$(nproc) bindeb-pkg

and it compiled with a lot of warnings leading to a kernel deb package, which i used to install. The resulting kernel being activated for boot in /boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf failed in many tasks up to the point of shutting down the network and leaving a bricked system without even as much as a working console. In order to recover the system, i switched the boot switches to SD boot and used a Debian-202306 SD image, which i had used to get NVMe booting working by installing Debian-202306 nvme image from the SD-booted system, to reset the boot labels in /boot/extlinux/extlinux.conf to the standard starfive 5.15.0 binary kernel.

[coderamen666]

What Linux distro did you use? What version is it?

[ThomasKorimort]

The Debian-202306 image provided by StarFive. It has Debian 12 sid, but something is wrong with the starfive-5.15.0 kernel as the nftables firewall fails to start up. That is not keeping up to the promise of the announcement of the Vision Five 2 platform in in an official YouTube video now gone, where it was announced that the Vision Five 2 would be useable as gateway and router, which it is definitley not without working nftables firewall and also without USB subsystem module support for adding a third Ethernet interface e.g. for a DMZ configuration.

[coderamen666]

What warnings did the compilation give?

[ThomasKorimort]

I don't know. It produced tons of warnings, yet it produced a deb package containing the compiled kernel. Just when the kernel was booting almost everything failed to start and at the end even networking was shut down leaving the boot procedure bricked.

[coderamen666]

I can't help right now because I don't have my board yet.