Rootfs did not boot on old Dockstar and findings

Hi, Bodhi:
Long time on contact. How are you doing?
Recently, I tried to update of my Dockstars that are still running Debian 9, Kernel 4.18 and with 2017 uboot, (maybe because of the boredom in my retirement :-)) I downloaded your latest rootfs, flashed it into a USB drive and plugged it into one of my Dockstars. However, it didn't boot (or it booted but I cannot SSH into it). Then I upgraded the Debian in another Dockstar to Buster (Debian 10) and upgraded the kernel to your kernel 5.10.7. It was booted fine. After that I did an experiment. I flashed another USB drive with your latest rootfs. Then I deleted the /uboot directory in the flash drive and replaced it with the 5.10.7 /uboot from the upgraded USB drive into it. It booted fine. I then did the same thing by replacing the /uboot directory of your rootfs by the kernel 6.2.6 from another upgraded Debian installation. It also works. I am glad my problem is solved but do you know why? Is there any difference between the kernel in in the rootfs that you provided and the kernels I copied from my upgraded Debian USB drives? Just curious.
With Best Regards!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/06/2025 06:31PM by twinclouds.

Hi twinclouds,

> Long time on contact. How are you doing?

I'm doing great, thanks! hope you are too.

> Recently, I tried to update of my Dockstars that
> are still running Debian 9, Kernel 4.18 and with
> 2017 uboot, (maybe because of the boredom in my
> retirement :-))

I'm quite near that time when I'll stop doing consulting works completely and retire full-time :-)

> I downloaded your latest rootfs,
> flashed it into a USB drive and plugged it into
> one of my Dockstars. However, it didn't boot (or
> it booted but I cannot SSH into it). Then I
> upgraded the Debian in another Dockstar to Buster
> (Debian 10) and upgraded the kernel to your kernel
> 5.10.7. It was booted fine. After that I did an
> experiment. I flashed another USB drive with your
> latest rootfs. Then I deleted the /uboot
> directory in the flash drive and replaced it with
> the 5.10.7 /uboot from the upgraded USB drive into
> it. It booted fine. I then did the same thing by
> replacing the /uboot directory of your rootfs by
> the kernel 6.2.6 from another upgraded Debian
> installation. It also works. I am glad my
> problem is solved but do you know why? Is there
> any difference between the kernel in in the rootfs
> that you provided and the kernels I copied from my
> upgraded Debian USB drives? Just curious.
> With Best Regards!

I think if you look at the size of /boot/uImage and /boot/uInitrd, you will see the possible cause. And also see the load adresses. I've recommend changing the load address a bit since 5.10.7.

fw_printenv

The uInitrd size increased quite a bit. So the better load address for large uInitrd and the DTB should be like these to avoid the collision between uInitrd and the DTB

load_dtb_addr=0x2c00000
load_initrd_addr=0x1100000
load_uimage_addr=0x800000

But since kernel 6.11.6, I've compressed the modules while building the kernel. So Initrd size is a lot smaller, without users having to shrink it manually or changing u-boot envs.

Quote

Kernel linux-6.11.6-kirkwood-tld-1 package has been uploaded. The following features were added/updated:

- Loadable modules are now compressed with xz

I think that was the reason when you use the 6.2.6 kernel version and it booted OK. You don't need to change the envs if it booted.

Good to see you're posting again!

-bodhi
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Hi, bodhi:
Thanks for your reply.
I was retired in 2012 but did some consulting work afterwards. In 2021, I stopped doing any consulting work and entered "full retirement". Even though I passed my 80 years birthday last year, my mind seems still fine. That is one reason I doing something technical as hobby to keep it this way!
I noticed 6.11.6 and 6.12.6's Initrd sizes are getting much smaller.
Hope you can generate a new rootfs with the new kernel in the future and publish it then. I will be happy to test it out on my Dockstars and let you know the results.
Please take care yourself.

twinclouds,

> Even though I passed my 80 years birthday last
> year, my mind seems still fine. That is one
> reason I doing something technical as hobby to
> keep it this way!

Cool! wish I will be active and clear mind like you when I get to that milestone :)

> I noticed 6.11.6 and 6.12.6's Initrd sizes are
> getting much smaller.
> Hope you can generate a new rootfs with the new
> kernel in the future and publish it then. I will
> be happy to test it out on my Dockstars and let
> you know the results.

Sure.

> Please take care yourself.

Please do the same.

-bodhi
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