[GUIDE] Newbie-Proof Tutorial Howto Compile Kernel For Galaxy Ace incl. Screenshot - Galaxy Ace S5830 General

Hi guys. U might not know me but in the past i've compiled my own custom kernel for galaxy ace. So in this tutorial i'll provide tutorial step by step howto compile kernel for anyone who wish to try. i'll try to make this as simple as possible for anyone to understand. But do excuse my poor english tho, its not my spoken language nor my native language
1- Most important of all is that u need to have linux installed in your pc. In this tutorial i use Fedora 17 gnome 64bit freshly installed, so i'll be providing indepth tutorial using fedora. But it really doesnt matter which distro i use; ubuntu, fedora, opensuse, debian, arch etc, in theory u can compile kernel in all linux distro u can think of, as long its linux. Sorry windows guys, no kernel compiling for u
Please note that i said installed. U need to have a linux distro installed, by dualbooting or by virtualisation using vmware or virtualbox, as long as its intalled. Livecd or liveusb enviroment wont work, mandatory need installed enviroment. But dont ask me howto install linux, google is always your friend, ask him/her
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2- We need to setup our linux with suitable enviroment to build the kernel, by installing dev package etc. First we need to make sure that our system is uptodate. Old package combined with newer one can result in error when compiling. Open linux terminal and type
Code:
sudo yum upgrade
next is to install needed dev package for kernel compiling
Code:
sudo yum install gcc libstdc++ ncurses-devel java-1.7.0-openjdk java-1.7.0-openjdk-devel
Because i'm using 64bit fedora, i also need to install 32bit libs. Ignore this if you're using fedora 32bit.
Code:
sudo yum install glibc-devel.i686 gtk2-devel.i686 gtk-nodoka-engine.i686 libcanberra.i686 libcanberra-gtk2.i686 PackageKit-gtk-module.i686 GConf2.i686 ncurses-libs.i686 xulrunner.i686
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3- Next is to download and install arm crosscompile toolchain. In this tutorial i use latest toolchain from Codesourcery
Choose to download the EABI release, for ARM processor
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Download the linux installer as its easier to setup.
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4- Now we can install the toolchain, but first we need to make it executable. Open terminal and do
Code:
chmod +x /path/to/file/arm-2011.09-69-arm-none-eabi.bin
or just right click on the file and tick to allow executing in permission tab
then just install it. Still in terminal, do
Code:
sh /path/to/file/arm-2011.09-69-arm-none-eabi.bin
and gui installer will appear. Just accept the default choice and continue with the installation until finish.
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5- For extracting archive, i use this nice bash profile script as universal extract command. Edit bashrc profile file
Code:
gedit ~/.bashrc
and add this on the bottom of the file
Code:
extract () {
if [ -f $1 ] ; then
case $1 in
*.tar.bz2) tar xvjf $1 ;;
*.tar.gz) tar xvzf $1 ;;
*.bz2) bunzip2 $1 ;;
*.rar) rar x $1 ;;
*.gz) gunzip $1 ;;
*.tar) tar xvf $1 ;;
*.tbz2) tar xvjf $1 ;;
*.tgz) tar xvzf $1 ;;
*.zip) unzip $1 ;;
*.Z) uncompress $1 ;;
*.7z) 7z x $1 ;;
*) echo "don't know how to extract '$1'..." ;;
esac
else
echo "'$1' is not a valid file!"
fi
}
and save the file. U need to logout and relogin for this script to take effect.
Now create working dir for later use
Code:
mkdir ~/android && mkdir ~/android/kernel_compiling && mkdir ~/android/ramdisk_extract
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6- Next, download ace's kernel source. U can grab stock kernel source from here. In this tutorial i download the GT-S5570-S5670-S5830_Opensource_GB.zip.
and extract it
Code:
extract ~/GT-S5570-S5670-S5830_Opensource_GB.zip
u'll get two file, GT-S5830_kernel.tar.gz and GT-S5830_platform.tar.gz. The GT-S5830_kernel.tar.gz is what we need, now extract and copy it into earlier working folder we created (the ~/android/kernel_compiling)
Code:
extract ~/GT-S5830_kernel.tar.gz && cp -R ~/kernel/* ~/android/kernel_compiling
Now that folder should have a bunch of folder and files in it. Thats our kernel source tree.
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7- Grab boot.img from any stock rom and also wifi module (ar6000.ko) that came with the rom for that kernel. We will need that ar6000.ko later.
Now copy the boot.img into our earlier working folder (~/android/ramdisk_extract)
Code:
cp ~/boot.img ~/android/ramdisk_extract
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8- Download this tool to extract ramdisk from the boot.img, and extract it into the same folder that we put our boot.img earlier
Code:
cd ~/android/ramdisk_extract && extract ~/Bootimgutils.zip
Now make those three file that we extracted executable
Code:
chmod +x ~/android/ramdisk_extract/mkbootimg && chmod +x ~/android/ramdisk_extract/repack_bootimg.pl && chmod +x ~/android/ramdisk_extract/repack_bootimg.pl
or just use the right click like step 4 above.
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9- Time to extract ramdisk from the boot.img. Still in terminal do
Code:
cd ~/android/ramdisk_extract && BASE="0x$(od -A n -h -j 34 -N 2 boot.img|sed 's/ //g')0000" && echo $BASE
Note the output, eg
Code:
0x13600000
So thats our kernel base parameter
Now to extract ramdisk
Code:
cd ~/android/ramdisk_extract && ./split_bootimg.pl boot.img && mkdir ramdisk && cd ramdisk && gzip -dc ../boot.img-ramdisk.gz | cpio -i
Note the output, eg
Code:
Page size: 4096 (0x00001000)
Kernel size: 3137536 (0x002fe000)
Ramdisk size: 3153892 (0x00301fe4)
Second size: 0 (0x00000000)
What we need is the pagesize. Now we know that its 4096.
Now after we look into the ramdisk_extract folder theres a bunch of files produced, and in the folder itself contain another folder, ramdisk. In the ramdisk folder contains our actual extracted ramdisk including bootlogo, modules, scipts etc. In case u were wondering, this is where the famous cfroot autoroot script works its magic.
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Still excited after all this terminal thingy? Good.. keep up the spirit
Now we continue.
10- From previous step we know that ace's kernel base parameter is 0x13600000 and pagesize is 4096. We now look into kernel repack script to make sure its right
Code:
gedit ~/android/ramdisk_extract/repack_bootimg.pl
and look for predefined base parameter and pagesize. It should look like this in line 19
Code:
system ("./mkbootimg --kernel $ARGV[0] --ramdisk ramdisk-repack.cpio.gz --base 0x13600000 --pagesize 4096 -o $ARGV[2]");
Good. The predefined kernel base parameter and pagesize is same with out earlier test result, so no need to alter the file.
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11- We now need to find localversion of samsung's proprietary module in the extracted ramdisk. In terminal do
Code:
cd ~/android/ramdisk_extract/ramdisk/lib/modules && strings fsr.ko | grep vermagic
and it should produce output like this
Code:
vermagic=2.6.35.7-perf-CL382966 preempt mod_unload ARMv6
what needed is the -CL382966, thats the module localversion.
It depends on which stock boot.img we use. Different boot.img might have different output, what i've shown is what i got from boot.img that i'm using, yours might be different. Do note of the parameter, we need that later.
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12- Now we look into our kernel source tree folder (~/android/kernel_compiling). There should be a file named make_kernel_GT-S5830.sh. We open that file
Code:
gedit ~/android/kernel_compiling/make_kernel_GT-S5830.sh
or
Code:
head ~/android/kernel_compiling/make_kernel_GT-S5830.sh
it contain something like this
Code:
make cooper_rev03_defconfig
make
edit that file abit to be
Code:
make clean
make cooper_rev03_defconfig
make
and save. Now we know that ace's defconfig (kernel config file) is cooper_rev03_defconfig.
it should be in ~/android/kernel_compiling/arch/arm/configs
now we edit the defconfig
Code:
gedit ~/android/kernel_compiling/arch/arm/configs/cooper_rev03_defconfig
and look for this line
Code:
CONFIG_LOCALVERSION="-perf"
and edit it to include our localversion we got from step 11 above. In my case its -CL382966 so i edited it to be
Code:
CONFIG_LOCALVERSION="-perf-CL382966"
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13- Next we need to modify kernel makefile to include crosscompile toolchain path and define build for arm architecture
Code:
gedit ~/android/kernel_compiling/Makefile
and look for this section
Code:
#ARCH ?= $(SUBARCH)
#CROSS_COMPILE ?=
#CROSS_COMPILE ?= $(CONFIG_CROSS_COMPILE:"%"=%)
ARCH =arm
CROSS_COMPILE =../../toolchain/arm-eabi-4.4.3/bin/arm-eabi-
edit it to be
Code:
#ARCH ?= $(SUBARCH)
#CROSS_COMPILE ?=
#CROSS_COMPILE ?= $(CONFIG_CROSS_COMPILE:"%"=%)
ARCH =arm
CROSS_COMPILE =/home/anonymous/CodeSourcery/Sourcery_CodeBench_Lite_for_ARM_EABI/bin/arm-none-eabi-
Do note that the path to crosscompile toolchain is not the same as that for u. Lets say that your linux account username is johndoe, the correct path should be
Code:
CROSS_COMPILE =/home/johndoe/CodeSourcery/Sourcery_CodeBench_Lite_for_ARM_EABI/bin/arm-none-eabi-
so just change it accordingly.
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14- Still editing the makefile from step 13 above, look for this section
Code:
KBUILD_CFLAGS := -Wall -Wundef -Wstrict-prototypes -Wno-trigraphs \
-fno-strict-aliasing -fno-common \
-Werror-implicit-function-declaration \
-Wno-format-security \
-fno-delete-null-pointer-checks
and modify it to be
Code:
KBUILD_CFLAGS := -Wall -Wundef -Wstrict-prototypes -Wno-trigraphs \
-w \
-fno-strict-aliasing -fno-common \
-Werror-implicit-function-declaration \
-Wno-error=unused-but-set-variable \
-Wno-format-security \
-fno-delete-null-pointer-checks
and save the file.
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15- Moment of truth, now we compile the kernel!!
But do make sure that the script from step 12 above is executable
Code:
chmod +x ~/android/kernel_compiling/make_kernel_GT-S5830.sh
then, we compile!!
Code:
cd ~/android/kernel_compiling && ./make_kernel_GT-S5830.sh
if everything working according to plan, there should be a nice bunch of output tailing in terminal, dont close it!! Make yourself a nice hot cup of coffee and wait... wait... wait...
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Look who's still reading
16- And wait untill it finish. On my dualcore asus laptop with 2gb ram it took a good 20 minutes to finish compiling. If nothing goes wrong, last output will be something like
Code:
OBJCOPY arch/arm/boot/zImage
Kernel: arch/arm/boot/zImage is ready
Building modules, stage 2.
MODPOST 7 modules
CC arch/arm/common/cpaccess.mod.o
LD [M] arch/arm/common/cpaccess.ko
CC arch/arm/mach-msm/dma_test.mod.o
LD [M] arch/arm/mach-msm/dma_test.ko
CC arch/arm/mach-msm/reset_modem.mod.o
LD [M] arch/arm/mach-msm/reset_modem.ko
CC arch/arm/oprofile/oprofile.mod.o
LD [M] arch/arm/oprofile/oprofile.ko
CC drivers/input/evbug.mod.o
LD [M] drivers/input/evbug.ko
CC drivers/net/wireless/libra/librasdioif.mod.o
LD [M] drivers/net/wireless/libra/librasdioif.ko
CC drivers/scsi/scsi_wait_scan.mod.o
LD [M] drivers/scsi/scsi_wait_scan.ko
Congratulations!! u just compile your own kernel
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17- Next is to repack our newly compiled kernel with the extracted ramdisk from step 9 earlier. Our compiled kernel will be in form of zImage file, located in ~/android/kernel_compiling/arch/arm/boot.
So in terminal do
Code:
mv ~/android/ramdisk_extract/boot.img-kernel ~/android/ramdisk_extract/boot.img-kernel.bak && cp ~/android/kernel_compiling/arch/arm/boot/zImage ~/android/ramdisk_extract/boot.img-kernel && cd ~/android/ramdisk_extract && ./repack_bootimg.pl boot.img-kernel ramdisk bootnew.img
At last we did it. Our kernel is ready, look in ~/android/ramdisk_extract, theres a new file named bootnew.img. Thats what we accomplish this far. Now the bootnew.img can be flash using cwm or such. Remember the ar6000.ko in step 7 earlier? Thats the wifi module. If this compiled kernel flashed and boot fine, just replace phone default wifi module in /system/lib/modules with our own wifi module from step 7 and wifi will work
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So thats it for now. I'll continue again with advanced steps like pulling patch from github to add cpu governor and disk io scheduler, compressing kernel with better lzma compression for smaller filesize and more stuff later
For now, kernel compiled using this guide should boot on original galaxy ace (not the "i" variant, because we using original ace source, not the "i" variant source. both using different hadware) running stock rom or rom based on stock (because we using stock ramdisk extracted from stock boot.img, will not work on cm because it uses its own ramdisk).
And credit also goes to ketut.kumajaya and madman for some info i got from them that i included in this guide.

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another placeholder

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No offence bro , nice guide and all , but if I remember all guides should be in General
This was sent from a Galaxy Ace. Problem?

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Its development guide
Btw nice one
Gonna try it again on my pc
Hopefully this time my pc get the kernel to compile and dont stuck at some parts
Sent from my i9070 using xda premium

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Great guide! I'm going to try it since its holiday now! Thanks!
Respecting others never hurt, let's build a better XDA community.

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Nice guide

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an0nym0us_ nice, I hope you will add to this guide how to make boot.img.

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btw fedora is nice UI
going to install it instead of Linux mint

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CoolCatGetHome said:
btw fedora is nice UI
going to install it instead of Linux mint
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thats pure gnome 3.x where as mint comes with themed one / you installed different shell
@anonymous_ in ubuntu i don't think you can directly do sh packagename
you need to do
Code:
dpkg-reconfigure -plow dash
and select No and then run /bin/sh packagename

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dragonnn said:
an0nym0us_ nice, I hope you will add to this guide how to make boot.img.
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yes, thats what i intended with this tuts. until succesful creating boot.img, or maybe even further until creating cwm flashable zip.
madman said:
thats pure gnome 3.x where as mint comes with themed one / you installed different shell
@anonymous_ in ubuntu i don't think you can directly do sh packagename
you need to do
Code:
dpkg-reconfigure -plow dash
and select No and then run /bin/sh packagename
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you. yes thats true for ubuntu, to change from using bash to sh.
but since this tuts is using fedora so i'm writing what relevant with fedora. fedora stil uses sh by default

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Nice guide. Moved to General.

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You have great english for a non-native speaker
And how universal is this? If I had the kernel source for any phone this might apply?
Sent from my Nexus S using xda premium

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scoffyburito said:
You have great english for a non-native speaker
And how universal is this? If I had the kernel source for any phone this might apply?
Sent from my Nexus S using xda premium
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pretty much universal.
got kernel source+boot.img for the ramdisk+correct base parameter+correct pagesize+correct defconfig and u can compile for any device.

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an0nym0us_ said:
Hi guys. U might not know me but in the past i've compiled my own custom kernel for galaxy ace. So in this tutorial i'll provide tutorial step by step howto compile kernel for anyone who wish to try. i'll try to make this as simple as possible for anyone to understand. But do excuse my poor english tho, its not my spoken language nor my native language
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A little late... lol... great work
Also to compile faster make -j[number of cores+1]
example
Dual core
make -j3
Sent from my GT-S5830 using XDA

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scoffyburito said:
You have great english for a non-native speaker
And how universal is this? If I had the kernel source for any phone this might apply?
Sent from my Nexus S using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just that module local version will not be applicable as only samsung kept fsr modules proprietory closed... Newer Samsung devices don't have it as i observed
Sent from Galaxy Ace which just landed on "MOON"

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i get yum not found

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SonyXperiaAce said:
i get yum not found
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you should read that guide uses fedora as compiling system and you are probably new to linux as well as package managers and using ubuntu so steps are somewhat different

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We can just guess that he use ubuntu, if so its apt-get.
But please dont tell u try that on windows cmd
Btw difference only for yum and apt-get, and package name. Anything else is the same. And ubuntu needs more dev package to be installed than fedora. Thats why I love fedora