iMX8M-Plus: Which one to use, upstream or downstream?

Technical Support
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Hi,

I have just realised that there is an upstream version of the minimal image comes with Linux v6.1 for iMX8M-Plus. I flashed a SOM for a quick testing and seems all good to me.

Software summary
------------------------------------------------------------
Bootloader:               U-Boot
Kernel version:           6.1.71-6.5.0+git.38fb82ecd144 #1 SMP PREEMPT Fri Jan  5 14:18:41 UTC 2024
Kernel command line:      root=PARTUUID=2b4965db-02 ro rootwait console=tty1 console=ttymxc2,115200 consoleblank=0 earlycon
Distro name:              NAME="TDX Wayland with XWayland Upstream"
Distro version:           VERSION_ID=6.5.0-build.9
Distro variant:           -
Hostname:                 verdin-imx8mp-14706939
------------------------------------------------------------

Hardware info
------------------------------------------------------------
HW model:                 Toradex Verdin iMX8M Plus WB on Verdin Development Board
Toradex version:          0058 V1.1A
Serial number:            14706939
Processor arch:           aarch64
------------------------------------------------------------

Here it shows that all libraries and peripherals tested with downstream (Linux v5.15).

image
image1485×1084 66.1 KB

What is the status of upstream, all peripherals and libraries are verified also with upstream?
We are considering to upgrade and want to know exact status before that.

Thank you.

2

Hello @fide

The difference between the upstream and downstream builds that Toradex provides for the iMX8’s is the upstream builds don’t go through the same level of validation as the downstream builds. The upstream builds go through our continuous integration pipelines and go through the automated tests, but some tests simply fail because some features are still not present upstream.
One example of this would be HDMI. A patch series has been posted to add HDMI support on the iMX8MP, but it’s not fully merged yet.

As you saw, the iMX8MP boots without problems but we still don’t have a public map of what’s working.

Doing any kind of image update requires validation of your application. I suggest you validate this build against your build and see if it fulfills your requirements. If it does, go ahead and use it! The kernel itself is a stable release with LTS support.

Best regards,
Rafael

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