i.MX Linux kernel 4.9 for Nitrogen platforms

We’re glad to release a new i.MX Linux kernel 4.9.x based on imx_4.9.11_1.0.0_ga branch for all our platforms:

• https://github.com/boundarydevices/linux-imx6/tree/boundary-imx_4.9.x_1.0.0_ga

What’s new?

This Linux kernel 4.9.x contains the same features as the previous 4.1.15 kernel, the rest of the new features can be found on NXP Release Notes:

• GPU driver upgraded to Vivante v6.2.2.p0
• Updated drivers (connectivity + multimedia)

Each kernel update implies that it takes advantage of the latest drivers, frameworks and security updates listed here:

• LinuxVersions

Most importantly, following the lead of the community-base linux-fslc, we will now merge all the stable security updates to the tree.

Why? Well it is the best way to provide the most secure and safe kernel to customers.

For those unfamiliar with the kernel stable releases, we strongly recommend looking at this presentation:

• Linux Kernel release model – Greg KH

That is why our branch is called 4.9.x, as of this writing the branch includes the security patches from kernel 4.9.74.

Finally, this release has gone under a lot of testing in order to make sure all our patches from 4.1.15_2.0.0 branch have been ported successfully.

Build instructions

Here is a summary of the commands to build the kernel and its modules:

~/$ git clone https://github.com/boundarydevices/linux-imx6.git
~/$ cd linux-imx6
~/linux-imx6$ export ARCH=arm
~/linux-imx6$ export CROSS_COMPILE=arm-linux-gnueabihf-
~/linux-imx6$ git checkout boundary-imx_4.9.x_1.0.0_ga
~/linux-imx6$ make boundary_defconfig
~/linux-imx6$ make zImage modules dtbs -j8

• Customizing Ubuntu/Debian kernels on i.MX6/7 boards

OS releases

Yocto

The meta-freescale-3rdparty layer master and rocko branches will be updated soon.

Our patch to add the support can be found here if you are impatient to try it out:

• linux-boundary: Bump kernel version to 4.9.x_1.0.0

New rocko images will be created when the patch is merged upstream.

Debian

Latest Stretch release has new images that includes this new kernel and all the latest NXP packages:

• https://boundarydevices.com/debian-stretch-9-0/

Ubuntu

Only next release of Ubuntu (18.04, next spring) will include this 4.9 kernel. 

Buildroot

Our Nitrogen configurations have been updated on Buildroot and will be included in the 2018.02 release.

• configs: nitrogen*: bump kernel version to 4.9.x_1.0.0_ga

Also note that our Buildroot external layer is also ready to build 4.9 images with latest graphics:

• configs/nitrogen*: bump imx kernel to 4.9 and uboot to 2017.07

New pre-built images will be created when 2018.02 version is officially released.

As always, let us know your experiences (both good and bad) when you test out this kernel.

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