Kernel error when disabling ethernet

Technical Support
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1

Hi,

I’m trying to make the kernel image file size smaller by disabling unneeded stuff, one of them being the ethernet drivers. Disabling the ethernet device by device tree causes a kernel error. Please see attached file

All I did was this in the device tree imx6ull-colibri.dtsi:

phy-mode = "rmii";
phy-handle = <&ethphy1>;
phy-supply = <&reg_eth_phy>;
status = "disabled";

Disabling network drivers in the kernel seems to produce the same effect as well. Is there a proper way to disable the ethernet driver and hardware?

Leo

2

Hi @lsionzon and Welcome to the Toradex Community!

Why are you trying to make the kernel image file size smaller?
What is the your application?

Could you share the changes you have done done in the kernel folder ( git diff )? Thanks.

Best regards,
Jaski

3

Hi @jaski.tx , to put you in context, @lsionzon is from one of our distris in Japan and he is working with us for a customer looking to make a smaller and a faster booting Colibri iMX6ULL BSP. Together we could port poky-tiny to make it boot to around just 4-5 seconds, which is one of the customer requirements.

Now, in order to also make the kernel smaller, he is removing some kernel drivers that are not needed, in this case the Ethernet, but for some reason, disabling this through the kernel config and/or the device tree, gives a kernel panic, which seems to be related with the regulators.

He will be posting the git diff and .config (please, do so @lsionzon) but we were wondering if the BSP guys could check this as well as I believe this should not give a kernel panic.

Regards, Alvaro.

4

Hi @jaski.tx ,

I’m attaching my config file
diff file

Best Regards,
Leo

5

Hi, I tried you kernel config and this one is crashing. Could you tell us, the minimum system requirements (interfaces, …), so we can suggest, how you shrink down the kernel size and boot up your SoM faster.

Best regards,
Jaski

6

Hi,

Thanks for trying it out. For the minimum hardware requirements we are only going to use.

  • LCD Display (RGB)
  • Resistive Touch
  • USB (HOST/OTG)
  • Bluetooth
  • SD Card
  • I2C/SPI
  • UART
  • PWM
  • A/D Converter
  • CAN1/2
  • GPIO
  • Watchdog

Best Regards,
Leo

7

Hi @lsionzon

I created a new Question here. We will follow the discuss there.

Best regards,
Jaski

8

Hi @lsionzon

I checked just to disable the fec2 in the devicetree. There is no kernel crash/panic but only some warning messages. I will look further into this. If you want to speed up the start of the module, then you can disable the console if it is not needed.

I will also try out your kernel config and devicetree changes this afternoon.

Best regards,
Jaski

9

Hi @jaski.tx .

Thanks. I’m now following on the question

10

Perfect. Thanks.