Workstation setup

I have set up a clean install of Ubuntu 12.04 LTS with 150gb in the home directory and 50gb for /

I was thinking I might need a better setup to browse the kernel sources.

Tried to set up the latest LXR (linux cross reference) but got stuck in weird scripts and bugs.

Set up the old version using http://thangamaniarun.wordpress.com/2010/07/09/howto-setup-lxr-on-linux-ubuntu-10-04/

Realized LXR can't be the main tool. Just sometimes to browse the original kernel tree and trace data structures and functions.

Trying to work using LXR for anything else would get messy. LXR is a great tool. But my current work is focused on the ADC drivers. I don't need to browse everything all the time. And the online lxr is pretty great as well.. http://lxr.free-electrons.com/

Set up open embedded using http://www.angstrom-distribution.org/building-angstrom. I should really ask koen to write a line there to install a dozen relevant packages (required for bitbake) before those instructions can be followed.

I think this covers it all but I'm not sure. Taken from https://pixhawk.ethz.ch/tutorials/omap/openembedded_bitbake_installation

sudo apt-get install subversion cvs git-core \
build-essential help2man diffstat texi2html texinfo \
libncurses5-dev gawk python-dev python-psyco python-pysqlite2 \
 gnome-doc-utils gettext automake flex bitbake

Realized working on the kernel under OE will be a significant pain. Googled around. Found these

http://www.linuxtogo.org/gowiki/CompilingYourOwnCode

http://ao2.it/en/blog/2010/05/27/neat-compilerun-cycle-git-and-openembedded

http://bec-systems.com/site/521/best-practices-for-kernel-development-with-openembedded

I'll use the toolchain from OE. And set up a separate kernel tree to work with. 

To my current knowledge, work in the OE tree would be adding a line or two for a few additional patches later on. But right now. I have no use of OE. I need a base stable kernel tree with the patches for the beagleboard kernel that I can branch of using git and work on the ADC driver..

"Edit update: Found http://www.slimlogic.co.uk/2011/05/openembeddedangstrom-kernel-workflow/

Which illustrates a very useful work-flow.. I'll look into it."

What next?

Learn git. The more time I spend on git now, the better I'll be able to work later on..

I'll be following tutorials online like https://github.com/gregkh/kernel-tutorial . And setting up a kernel tree now.

Cheers

Zubair