Re: [Buildroot] Adding USB support to existing device on 2.6.39.3 kernel - possible?

From: Andreas Ziegler <br015@umbiko.net>
To: Dan Jackson <dan@thejacksons.uk>
Cc: Buildroot <buildroot@buildroot.org>
Subject: Re: [Buildroot] Adding USB support to existing device on 2.6.39.3 kernel - possible?
Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2022 09:40:26 +0000	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <2854f91f1188e166bf02e3a6ab6249a4@umbiko.net> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <mailman.22068.1648533484.192135.buildroot@buildroot.org>

Hi Dan,

On 2022-03-29 05:58, Dan Jackson <dan@thejacksons.uk> wrote:

> Hello,
> 
> Sorry once again if this is a silly/noob question.
> 
> If I have an existing router device running a 2.6.39.3 kernel, which
> has a USB port and is capable of supporting USB devices, but the
> manufacturer has removed/not installed the necessary kernel modules,
> can I use Buildroot to recreate the missing modules and thus re-enable
> the missing USB support?

It might work: the driver is contained in the USB module, so building 
and loading that module could do the trick.

> If so, how would I do it?

Supposing the Linux kernel source contained in [1] is the one that is 
running on your device, you need to configure Buildroot to build a Linux 
kernel (BR2_LINUX_KERNEL). The manual [2] has some information about how 
to do this for a Kernel source tree (see chapter 8.14.6).

You then need to enable USB support in the kernel (Device Drivers -> USB 
support), probably

   CONFIG_USB=m
   CONFIG_USB_EHCI_HCD=y
   CONFIG_USB_OHCI_HCD=y

is enough, otherwise try some of the hardware specific (driver) options.

Copy usbcore.ko from Buildroot target/lib/modules/{kernel-version}/ to 
the corresponding location on your device and load the driver with 
modprobe.

Depending on which functionality (e.g. USB_STORAGE) you want on your USB 
port, additional configurations changes may be necessary.

Kind regards,
Andreas

> This time I successfully managed to build other binaries (e.g.
> dropbear, busybox) which run OK on the device.
> 
> Thanks,
> Dan Jackson.
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[1] 
https://sourceforge.net/projects/dg3270.arris/files/DG3270_9.1.103FB/
[2] https://buildroot.org/downloads/manual/manual.html#_advanced_usage,
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