BCM963XX

Linux Software Build Guide

Version 3.0

16215 Alton Parkway • P.O. Box 57013 • Irvine, CA 92619-7013 USA • Phone: (949) 450-8700 • Fax: (949) 450-8710
„ BCM963xx Linux Software Build Guide

Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction......................................................................................................... 2

2.0 The architecture of build framework................................................................. 2

3.0 Platform build profile ......................................................................................... 4

3.1 Supported configuration items ............................................................................................. 4
3.2 Use GUI to create a build profile.......................................................................................... 4
4.0 Build images with profile ................................................................................. 11
4.1 Image build commands...................................................................................................... 11
4.2 Build image with default settings ....................................................................................... 12
4.3 Flash layout and image size report.................................................................................... 13
4.4 Other image build materials............................................................................................... 14
5.0 Add an application to the build framework .................................................... 14
5.1 Steps to add applications................................................................................................... 15

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REVISION HISTORY

Revision Number Date Change Description

V3.0 12/28/04 Updated source code tree according to 3.0 release with 2.6 Linux
kernel
V2.0 05/01/03 Changed screen captures in Section 3.2 and 4.2 for new applications in
Release 2.10
V1.0 11/18/02 Initial release.

®
This document contains information that is confidential and proprietary to Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom) and may not be
reproduced in any form without express written consent of Broadcom. No transfer or licensing of technology is implied by this
document. Broadcom reserves the right to make changes without further notice to any products or data herein to improve reliability,
function, or design. Information furnished by Broadcom is believed to be accurate and reliable. However, Broadcom does not
assume any liability arising out of the application or use of this information, nor the application or use of any product or circuit
described herein, neither does it convey any license under its patent rights nor the rights of others.
Copyright © 2002 by Broadcom Corporation. All rights reserved. Printed in the U.S.A.
®
Broadcom and the pulse logo are trademarks of Broadcom Corporation and/or its subsidiaries in the United States and certain
other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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1.0 INTRODUCTION
This document provides detailed information on the software build framework for the BCM963xx xDSL
router or IAD device reference design platforms. Developers may use the framework to build a software
image including both Linux kernel and user applications. Under the framework, developers have the
flexibility to choose a variety of configurations as well as software components for different platforms such
as the BCM96345R or BCM96345GW etc. tailored to their specific needs and feature set. For example, if
a developer does not need firewall or NAT, they can exclude it from the build configurations to obtain a
smaller image size. The file specifying build configurations for a hardware platform is called a platform
build profile. This framework is generic and designed with scalability, meaning future platforms can be
added with little effort.

2.0 THE ARCHITECTURE OF BUILD FRAMEWORK

In the framework, kernel, drivers, user applications and configuration files are separated into different
directories. The top-level Makefile controls the whole build process according to the chosen profile of a
build. The next page shows the whole source code structure.
kernel directory is the Linux kernel source directory as well as board support package (BSP) for
BCM963XX boards. 3.0 release uses 2.6.8.1 Linux kernel.
bcmdrivers directory includes both Broadcom proprietary and GPL licensed driver code. opensource sub-
directory contains GPL licensed code. broadcom sub-directory contains the proprietary code.
userapps directory is the user space application source directory. opensource sub-directory contains GPL
licensed code from the public domain. broadcom sub-directory contains the proprietary code developed
by Broadcom.
targets directory is the place to hold different build profiles for different hardware platforms. Several
default profiles are included in this directory such as 96345R, 96348GW etc. Developers can create their
own profiles in this directory using a GUI-based tool. Each profile corresponds to a sub-directory in the
targets directory. The sub-directory must have the same name as that of the profile. The final target root
file system and flash images generated by the build process for a chosen hardware platform are also
included in the sub-directory.

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/opt/bcm963xx

Makefile Top-level makefile

kernel Linux Kernel code

bcmdrivers Broadcom driver code

opensource GPL licensed driver

broadcom Broadcom proprietary driver code

userapps User application code

opensource GPL licensed user application code

broadcom Broadcom proprietary user application code

targets Target profiles and rootfs materials

fs.src Common rootfs build materials

fs.bin Binary rootfs build materials

boardparms Board parameters for different boards

cfe cfe binaries for different boards

defaultcfg Default configurations built into image

buildFS, makeDevs Common rootfs build scripts

96345R…
96345R Build profile for 6345R board

cfe CFE bootloader code

hostTools Tools running on the host to build image

docs Development documents and manuals

toolChains GNU/UCLIBC toolchain for MIPS

images Place to hold the built images with timestamp

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3.0 PLATFORM BUILD PROFILE

A platform build profile specifies various configuration items when building a software image for a board.
It is a central and single place to create configurations for a build. When developers need to build a
customized image, they need to create a build profile and specify configurations. Note that a hardware
board may have any number of build profiles, with different configurations specified.

3.1 Supported configuration items

The value of each configuration item should be specified in the build profile. Current supported
configuration items include (but not limited to):

• Chip ID (6345, 6348 and 6338)

• Target board flash size, flash block size, Number of MAC address and default config file
• ADSL standard (ANNEX_A, ANNEX_B, ANNEX_C or SADSL)
• Broadcom drivers such as ADSL, ATM, Ethernet, USB, Wireless or Voice
• User applications
• Toolchain such as compiler, C libraries or pthread support
• Kernel netfilter
o Firewall
o NAT
o ALGs (Application Level Gateway)
o Event Logging such as intrusion detection
o Special module combination for remote access in PPP IP extension mode
• Kernel debugging
• Root file system type (SQUASHFS, CRAMFS or NFS)
• Phone/voice signaling (SIP or MGCP)
• SOAP for chip diagnostics

3.2 Use GUI to create a build profile

The build framework provides a GUI interface to make the configuration process easier.

Within a build profile, a form of “name=value” is used to specify a configuration item. Different values
have different meanings.
For kernel drivers and modules:
• "m" means “build the driver as kernel module”
• "y" means “statically link with kernel”
• "# ... is not set" means “do not build the driver”

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For user applications:

• "dynamic" means that the user application will be built as an executable
• "static" means the user application will be built as a static library
• "# ... is not set" means“ do not include the application in the build

For other configuration options:

• "y" means that the option is enabled
• "# … is not set" means the option is disabled.

At the top-level of source code directory, type make menuconfig, then a GUI interface appears.
.

By selecting “Load software build profile”, you can load an existing profile, such as 96345GW or
96345R, and then you can modify configurations and select “Save software build profile as…” to create
your own platform build profile. You can also start from scratch to create a profile. Following steps show
how to create a customized profile based upon 96345GW profile.

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By default, the 96345GW profile supports all the netfilter features including NAT and firewall. In this
example, we show how to create a profile that does not support NAT and firewall, but it needs remote
access in PPP IP extension mode. Consequently, the user applications, upnp and reaim (transparent
proxy of AOL/MSN messenger) are not needed, and are excluded from the new build profile.

Step 1:
Load BCM96345GW profile by selecting “Load software build profile”,

Step 2:
Select “Netfilter selection”. NAT, firewall and ALGs are all supported by the default BCM96345GW
profile.

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Step 3:
Clear “Firewall support”, “NAT support” and “Logging events” by pressing space or “n”, and then
select “Remote access support in PPP IP extension” by pressing “m” if built as kernel modules or “y” if
built as statically linked with the kernel.
Note:
When “Firewall support” is enabled, several netfilter kernel modules will be built into the root file system
including ip_tables.o, ipt_state.o, iptable_filter.o, ipt_TCPMSS.o.
When “NAT support” is enabled, several netfilter kernel modules will be automatically built into the root
file system including ip_tables.o, ip_conntrack.o, iptable_nat.o, ipt_MASQUERADE.o, ipt_REDIRECT.o.
You can enable those ALG modules as well, such as H.323 (ip_conntrack_h323.o, ip_nat_h323.o).
When “Remote access support in PPP IP extension” is enabled, several netfilter kernel modules will be
built into the root file system including ip_tables.o, ip_conntrack.o, iptable_nat.o, iptable_filter.o and
ipt_TCPMSS.o

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Step 4:
Select “Exit” and go back to the main menu. Select “User application selection”. All the included
applications for the BCM96345GW board are listed.

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Step 5:
Clear “Transparent proxy for AOL/MSN messenger” and “UPNP” by pressing space or “n”,

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Step 6:
Select “Exit” and go back to the main menu. Select “Save software build profile as…” and then type
“my96345GW”.

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After the profile named “my96345GW” is saved, a new directory “my96345GW” is created under “targets”
directory and the profile named “my96345GW” is also created. You can use the new profile to build your
customized image by following commands described in the next section.

4.0 BUILD IMAGES WITH PROFILE

The image created by the build process is located in the”/opt/bcm963xx/targets/<profile_name>”
directory. The same image is copied to “/opt/bcm963xx/images” directory, but with a build timestamp and
version tag attached to the file name for archive purposes.

Since we may build different images with different configurations in one place, it is required to specify the
profile name in all the following build commands.

4.1 Image build commands

The following commands list how to build the image under different circumstances.

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1. Build image
$make PROFILE=<profile name>

2. Build kernel and final image only

$make PROFILE=<profile name> kernel
If you just change a kernel file and then build an image, you should use this command. This saves build
time.

3. Build kernel modules and final image only

$make PROFILE=<profile name> modules
If you just change kernel module code such as Broadcom proprietary drivers in “bcmdrivers/broadcom”
directory and then build an image, you should use this command.

4. Build applications and final image only

$make PROFILE=<profile name> app
If you just change a user application file and then build an image, you should use this command.

5. Build final image only

$make PROFILE=<profile name> buildimage
If you just change a configuration file such as a file in “fs.src” directory, you should use this command.

6. Clean up all directories

$make PROFILE=<profile name> clean

7. Clean up kernel and modules only

$make PROFILE=<profile name> kernel_clean

8. Clean up applications and target only

$make PROFILE=<profile name> app_clean

4.2 Build image with default settings

Default settings (configurations) are quite desirable for end-users because they do not need to configure
the software themselves and thus it makes customer support easier. A developer can specify which
default settings file to be included in the image by using GUI-based "make menuconfig” when creating a
build profile.

The steps are:

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1. Select "Board configuration selection"

2. Select "default settings file name" and type in the file name. The file must be located in
"targets/defaultcfg" directory.

After the default settings file is specified, the build framework will copy the file from "targets/defaultcfg"
directory to the target root file system, which is "fs/etc/default.cfg". When the xDSL router boots, it will use
the default settings in that file to properly configure itself.

Note that the design of default settings support is backward compatible, which means that a default
settings file is optional. If you do not want a default settings file and do not specify it in your profile,
everything stays the same as before (the default settings are empty.)

The way to generate a default settings file for adding into the build framework is easy. Just use WebUI to
configure all the settings that are expected to be included in the default settings, then select
"Management/Settings/Backup" to export the settings to a file. Put the file under "targets/defaultcfg"
directory for including when building an image. In this way, the default settings file can include any
possible configurations.

4.3 Flash layout and image size report

After the profile is specified and the image built, the layout and size information of all the components in
your target board flash memory are reported, including CFE bootloader, root file system, kernel, and
remaining free space.

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4.4 Other image build materials

In the targets directory, the fs.src sub-directory has configuration files and scripts that need to be copied
into the target root file system when the image is built. The fs.bin sub-directory may contain binaries to be
included in the root file system. In this case, the binaries (kernel modules or user applications) must be
organized in the same way as the root file system is organized.

The "buildFS" script specifies how to build the final root file system, i.e., how to pull out the necessary files
in "fs.src" into the "fs" directory. The "makeDevs" script specifies how to create the device files in the
target root file system.
For each profile, its directory "targets/<profile name>/fs" directory which is generated by the build
process, contains the final target root file system.

5.0 ADD AN APPLICATION TO THE BUILD FRAMEWORK

This section describes how to add a new application to the "userapps" directory. We will use a simple
application ‘reaim’ as the example.

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Note that the “static” here implies that an application will be built as a static library. It is useful if you want
to build the application as the busybox applet. It DOES NOT mean that the application is a self-contained
application that statically links in C library code.

5.1 Steps to add applications

Step 1:
Add your application code under the directory "userapps". If your application is based on public-domain
code, you may put it under “opensource” directory, otherwise under “broadcom” directory. The
recommended way to add opensource code is to add the original source tar ball such as reaim.tar.bz2
under opensource, add a directory such as reaim, and then only add whatever code you modified under
that directory. In this way, it is easier to track the files you modified.

Step 2:
Modify the Makefile in your application source directory by adding 'dynamic' and 'static' target. The
following lists the Makefile of 'reaim'.

#############################################################
CFLAGS= -s -Os -fomit-frame-pointer
LDFLAGS= -Wl,-allow-shlib-undefined
ifeq ($(strip $(BUILD_REAIM)), static)
CFLAGS += -DBUILD_STATIC
endif
all: reaim
install:
install -m 755 reaim $(INSTALL_DIR)/bin
$(STRIP) $(INSTALL_DIR)/bin/reaim
dynamic: reaim install
static: reaim.a

reaim: reaim.c
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) $(LDFLAGS) -o reaim reaim.c
reaim.a: reaim.c
$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -c -o reaim.o reaim.c
$(AR) rcs reaim.a reaim.o
clean:
rm -f reaim reaim.o reaim.a
############################################################

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'dynamic' target builds dynamic-linked executable application, ‘reaim’. 'static' target builds a static library,
for example, 'reaim.a'”.
In CFLAGS, '-Os' to enable optimization for size. (If -Os causes problem, go back to -O2)

Step 3:
Modify the source file that contains the 'main' function like the following:

#ifdef BUILD_STATIC
int reaim_main(int argc, char *argv[])
#else
int main(int argc, char *argv[])
#endif

Step 4:
In all your profiles, define whether your application is going to be built as dynamic-linked or static library,
like
BUILD_REAIM=dynamic or BUILD_REAIM=static

Step 5:
Add the application to the build framework and make it configurable through the GUI 'make menuconfig'.
Add the following line into targets/config.in file:

tristate2 'Transparent proxy for AOL/MSN Messenger' BUILD_REAIM

Step 6:
In the top-level Makefile, add the following:

• Add your application source directory to either SUBDIRS_OPENSOURCE or

SUBDIRS_BROADCOM
• Add your application name to either OPENSOURCE_APPS or BROADCOM_APPS
• Add the target to make your application, for example
ifneq ($(strip $(BUILD_REAIM)),)
reaim:
$(MAKE) -C $(OPENSOURCE_DIR)/reaim $(BUILD_REAIM)
else
reaim:
endif

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If you added the application as opensource code following the recommended way in step 1, you need to
add one more line before $(MAKE) command to untar the original source code tar ball.

cd $(OPENSOURCE_DIR); (tar xkfj reaim.tar.bz2 2> /dev/null || true)

• Export the variable BUILD_<YOURAPPNAME> such as BUILD_REAIM at the end of the
Makefile so that the variable is accessible throughout all the Makefiles in the build framework.

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