Building firmware on Windows 10

[MrQuade]

The new Windows services for Linux subsystem has gone mainstream now and can be downloaded straight from the Microsoft store.
You have the option of downloading any or all of Ubuntu, OpenSUSE Lead (42), or SUSE Linux Enterprise Server, and apparently Fedora will be coming soon.

I uninstalled my old Ubuntu installation and installed the Store version instead.

This time around I was able to simply install Ubuntu and update.
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Then installed some of the build utilities
sudo apt-get install nano gcc make build-essential

From there I was able to download the latest Beyonwiz SDK and followed the instructions in the Beyonwiz bitbucket repository for installation and configuration of the source code.

EDIT:
Also need to install swig:
sudo apt-get install swig

EDIT:
Also need to install gettext and gcc-mipsel-linux-gnu
sudo apt-get install gettext gcc-mipsel-linux-gnu


Following information is for when swig has not been installed:
I can get as far as successfully configuring the build, but I am stuck at the make stage (again?).
I had a previous Windows build thread, and I know that I was missing one package which was causing make to fail with a non-intuitive error. The thread was accidentally deleted, so I don't have a record of it now.

Can someone remind me what I am missing if the build fails with the following error (my google-fu is sadly lacking):

Code: Select all

make[5]: Nothing to be done for 'all-am'.
make[5]: Leaving directory '/home/wade/easy-ui-4/build/lib/python'
make[4]: Leaving directory '/home/wade/easy-ui-4/build/lib/python'
make[4]: Entering directory '/home/wade/easy-ui-4/build/lib'
  GEN      python/enigma_python.cpp
/bin/bash: -c++: command not found
Makefile:2873: recipe for target 'python/enigma_python.cpp' failed
make[4]: *** [python/enigma_python.cpp] Error 127
make[4]: Leaving directory '/home/wade/easy-ui-4/build/lib'
Makefile:2517: recipe for target 'all-recursive' failed
make[3]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[3]: Leaving directory '/home/wade/easy-ui-4/build/lib'
Makefile:1066: recipe for target 'all' failed
make[2]: *** [all] Error 2
make[2]: Leaving directory '/home/wade/easy-ui-4/build/lib'
Makefile:597: recipe for target 'all-recursive' failed
make[1]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory '/home/wade/easy-ui-4/build'
Makefile:435: recipe for target 'all' failed
make: *** [all] Error 2

[prl]

...
Can someone remind me what I am missing if the build fails with the following error (my google-fu is sadly lacking):

Code: Select all

...
make[4]: Entering directory '/home/wade/easy-ui-4/build/lib'
  GEN      python/enigma_python.cpp
/bin/bash: -c++: command not found
...

That's very strange - it looks like make has tried to run a compiler called "-c++". I'd have expected it to try to run a compiler called something like "mipsel-oe-linux-g++", and it looks a bit like some of the config variables used to build the compiler name may not have been set.

Did you follow the config procedure in easy-ui-4/README in your new environment? You probably need to delete your old build directory and start the config and build from scratch.

The thing it's trying to build there is the glue that holds the C++ and Python parts of enigma2 together.

[adoxa]

Code: Select all

make[4]: Entering directory '/home/wade/easy-ui-4/build/lib'
  GEN      python/enigma_python.cpp
/bin/bash: -c++: command not found

IIRC you need to install SWIG.

[prl]

That, too, probably

[MrQuade]

IIRC you need to install SWIG.

That's the one
Make is working now after installing swig and re-configuring.

[MrQuade]

Damn, spoke too soon.

Now make fails as follows:

Code: Select all

/bin/bash: no-wrap: command not found
Makefile:514: recipe for target 'enigma2-py.pot' failed
make[2]: [enigma2-py.pot] Error 127 (ignored)
sed --in-place enigma2-py.pot --expression=s/CHARSET/UTF-8/
sed: can't read enigma2-py.pot: No such file or directory
Makefile:520: recipe for target 'enigma2.pot' failed
make[2]: *** [enigma2.pot] Error 2
make[2]: Leaving directory '/home/wade/easy-ui-4/build/po'
Makefile:597: recipe for target 'all-recursive' failed
make[1]: *** [all-recursive] Error 1
make[1]: Leaving directory '/home/wade/easy-ui-4/build'
Makefile:435: recipe for target 'all' failed
make: *** [all] Error 2

I am not sure what no-wrap is. There appears to be no reference to this command anywhere in the Ubunu repository that I can find.

[prl]

What comes just before the "no-wrap" error?

[peteru]

Once you install missing tools, you should remove the build directory and start all over from the autoreconf step.

If it's still broken, you'll need to look through the entire log. You want to find where things started going wrong, not where it finally died. It could be that the clues are somewhere near the start of the log.

[MrQuade]

Once you install missing tools, you should remove the build directory and start all over from the autoreconf step.

Yep, I definitely did that bit, since it wouldn't progress any further than it did before I installed swig.
I deleted everything in build and started again from autoreconf -i.

I logged the output of make this time, and cast an eye over it. I can see a bunch or warnings, but I don't know if any are significant, though the ones starting on line 626 look a bit more serious than the others. (log attached)

I am guessing that no-wrap is something that gets built along the way, and in my case was missed for some reason?

Also as a note, when I installed the SDK, I just ran the installer, and didn't perform any additional file copy steps as-per prl's published procedure from the 4.4 and 16.1 series SDKs. I recalled that this step was no longer necessary.

[peteru]

It's the configure log that will tell you what's going on. In this case, you don't seem to have all the tools required for internationalisation, such as gettext and friends.

[MrQuade]

It's the configure log that will tell you what's going on. In this case, you don't seem to have all the tools required for internationalisation, such as gettext and friends.

Ahh excellent.
Installed gettext and also gcc-mipsel-linux-gnu for good measure, and the make appears to have worked this time.

[MrQuade]

And just something to horrify you all a little further, I just stumbled across this today.

https://code.visualstudio.com/

Visual Studio Code from Microsoft. Open source code editor for Linux with integration into Git n' all!

Might be a good option for IanSav if you are still looking at doing any development on your main PC without the hassle of a VM.

[IanSav]

Hi MrQuade,

Thanks for this information. I will check it out when I get some time. (Working on the new remote control app at the moment.)

I use SourceTree as my current development app. It is okay but my Internet connection is very broken so syncing things remotely is a real pain. I am not expecting to see this fixed until the middle of next year.

Regards,
Ian.

[MrQuade]

I use SourceTree as my current development app.

You may find that the VS Code editor may work nicely for you in the "Bash for Windows" environment. Since the VS Code application runs in the Linux space, it can freely edit the files on the Linux filesystem, whereas if you tried to use a Windows text editor for this, you'd end up messing up file permissions (they don't recommend manipulating the Linux files with Windows applications).

The only thing you will need on top of that is an X Windows server for Windows. The VS Code application is a GUI app, and thus needs X. I use XMing on Windows and it works well with the "Windows Services for Linux" feature.

I haven't tried out the VS Code app yet myself, but plan to give it a shot tonight. The one thing I hear from developers about Visual Studio is that it is a fantastic development environment, but "it's a shame it is for Windows".

[MrQuade]

Hmm, sadly I couldn't get VS Code to work under the "Windows Services for Linux" running Ubuntu.

Installing the package worked fine, and all the dependencies were downloaded, though I still needed to manually install a few other bits and pieces to get rid of errors. I think gtk2, and some audio libraries were needed of all things.

After those were installed, attempting to launch "code" just results in a silent failure.

Oh well, I can try SUSE too I guess.

In any case, it may still be a valuable tool for those who are running full-blown Linux either on metal or a VM. The software does seem to have a lot of very valuable tools.

I know the software has been around for some time, but I only just discovered it myself, and I was tickled that MS continues to try stepping outside of its usual comfort zone.

[IanSav]

Hi MrQuade,

If I remember correctly the Services for Unix is not intended to support GUI environments. You may be hitting some of the hinted at limitations.

Regards,
Ian.

[MrQuade]

If I remember correctly the Services for Unix is not intended to support GUI environments. You may be hitting some of the hinted at limitations.

Not sure if it is "supported" as such, but I can definitely use Linux GUI apps under Services for Linux using XMing as a native Windows X server.

VS Code may be using some more advanced features though. I may try installing it on one of my native Linux environments and then seeing if I can display it using XMing via a tunneled SSH session.

[peteru]

Not being at all familiar with this whole Windows mess... Why not run VS Code natively under Windows?

[MrQuade]

Not being at all familiar with this whole Windows mess... Why not run VS Code natively under Windows?

Windows applications can't edit files stored in the Linux filesystem address without the risk of corrupting the Linux file attributes unfortunately.

[peteru]

Why do you even bother?

[MrQuade]

It's not really something I am seriously pursuing. I just find it fascinating that Microsoft are working on this, and find it amazing that it actually works as well as it does.

I think that it may eventually be of use to some developers, particularly those who prefer a Windows environment for non dev tasks, and don't want the overhead of multiple PCs, multi-boot OSs, or VMs.

I am honestly not seeing myself as having the spare time to invest in getting deep into coding at this point, but am happy to play around the edges

[MrQuade]

FYI in case anyone is interested in the cack handed Linux environment under Windows, I did get Visual Studio Code running eventually, and the problem was pretty stupid.

Once I installed VS Studio and all its dependencies, I ran XMing on my Windows PC to provide an X server for the graphical elements of VS code, but it still wouldn't work.

All I need to do was export the display variable to make the Linux component realise where my X Server was.

Code: Select all

export DISPLAY=:0

VS Code for linux running under Windows, so I can use the whole linux build toolchain for the Beyonwiz firmware "natively" on my primary PC. VS Code seems to have some nice extra features to make change tracking much easier.

Still might be worth investigating for IanSav

[IanSav]

Hi MrQuade,

Still might be worth investigating for IanSav

I am still interested in getting this going but I am way to busy working with OpenViX and OpenPLi on various fixes and developments. I don't make any C++ level changes and both OpenViX and OpenPLi have been providing me with fully built images.

Regards,
Ian.