buildroot failed with errors, what now?

[att2]

Hello,
I tried to use buildroot to make a custom image for Odroid c4, but I failed.
I used exactly the instructions from : https://wiki.odroid.com/odroid-c4/softw ... _buildroot
(plus I corrected one typo, it must have been meant "mkdir -p /opt/toolchains" instead of "/opt/toolchain" )

Anyway, after

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"source buildroot/build/setenv.sh odroidc4_release
make "

I got the following errors whilst compiling, after 10-15 minutes or so :

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libtool: install: /usr/bin/install -c tools/kmod /home/arm1/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/bin/kmod
/usr/bin/make --no-print-directory install-exec-hook
if test "/home/arm1/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/lib" != "/home/arm1/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/lib"; then \
	/bin/mkdir -p /home/arm1/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/lib && \
	so_img_name=$(readlink /home/arm1/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/lib/libkmod.so) && \
	so_img_rel_target_prefix=$(echo /home/arm1/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/lib | sed 's,\(^/\|\)[^/][^/]*,..,g') && \
	ln -sf $so_img_rel_target_prefix/home/arm1/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/lib/$so_img_name /home/arm1/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/lib/libkmod.so && \
	mv /home/arm1/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/lib/libkmod.so.* /home/arm1/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/lib; \
fi
Making install in libkmod/docs
make[4]: Für das Ziel „install-exec-am“ ist nichts zu tun.
make[4]: Für das Ziel „install-data-am“ ist nichts zu tun.
mkdir -p /home/arm1/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/sbin/
ln -sf ../bin/kmod /home/arm1/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/sbin/depmod
>>> linux amlogic-4.9-dev Syncing from source dir /home/arm1/c4_buildroot/buildroot/../kernel/aml-4.9
rsync -au --chmod=u=rwX,go=rX --exclude .svn --exclude .git --exclude .hg --exclude .bzr --exclude CVS  /home/arm1/c4_buildroot/buildroot/../kernel/aml-4.9/ /home/arm1/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/build/linux-amlogic-4.9-dev
>>> linux amlogic-4.9-dev Patching
test -d /home/arm1/c4_buildroot/buildroot/../kernel/aml-4.9/.git && ln -s /home/arm1/c4_buildroot/buildroot/../kernel/aml-4.9/.git /home/arm1/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/build/linux-amlogic-4.9-dev/ || true

Applying 0001-kernel-custom-fix.patch using patch: 
patching file arch/arm64/configs/odroidg12_defconfig
Reversed (or previously applied) patch detected!  Skipping patch.
4 out of 4 hunks ignored -- saving rejects to file arch/arm64/configs/odroidg12_defconfig.rej
patching file drivers/net/wireless/rtl8812au/Makefile
package/pkg-generic.mk:202: recipe for target '/home/arm1/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/build/linux-amlogic-4.9-dev/.stamp_patched' failed
make[1]: *** [/home/arm1/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/build/linux-amlogic-4.9-dev/.stamp_patched] Error 1
/home/arm1/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/Makefile:23: recipe for target '_all' failed
make: *** [_all] Error 2

I am not quite sure how to properly proceed and get a working image file. Any help ?

[att2]

Okay, so, I am re-compiling. I found out that "make menuconfig" helps a lot - what I do is I simply remove all options that are problematic to compile.
HOWEVER, some kernal patch seems to go wrong, and I get an "Error 2" when compiling, and there it stops:


[........]

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>>> host-kmod 25 Installing to host directory
PATH="/home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/bin:/home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/sbin:/home/att/bin:/home/att/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games:/snap/bin" PKG_CONFIG="/home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/bin/pkg-config" PKG_CONFIG_SYSROOT_DIR="/" PKG_CONFIG_ALLOW_SYSTEM_CFLAGS=1 PKG_CONFIG_ALLOW_SYSTEM_LIBS=1 PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR="/home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/lib/pkgconfig:/home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/share/pkgconfig"  /usr/bin/make -j25 install -C /home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/build/host-kmod-25/
Making install in .
 /usr/bin/mkdir -p '/home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/lib'
 /usr/bin/mkdir -p '/home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/share/bash-completion/completions'
 ./doltlibtool   --mode=install /usr/bin/install -c   libkmod/libkmod.la '/home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/lib'
 /usr/bin/mkdir -p '/home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/include'
 /usr/bin/mkdir -p '/home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/lib/pkgconfig'
 /usr/bin/install -c -m 644 shell-completion/bash/kmod '/home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/share/bash-completion/completions'
 /usr/bin/install -c -m 644 libkmod/libkmod.h '/home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/include'
 /usr/bin/install -c -m 644 libkmod/libkmod.pc '/home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/lib/pkgconfig'
libtool: install: /usr/bin/install -c libkmod/.libs/libkmod.so.2.3.3 /home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/lib/libkmod.so.2.3.3
libtool: install: (cd /home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/lib && { ln -s -f libkmod.so.2.3.3 libkmod.so.2 || { rm -f libkmod.so.2 && ln -s libkmod.so.2.3.3 libkmod.so.2; }; })
libtool: install: (cd /home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/lib && { ln -s -f libkmod.so.2.3.3 libkmod.so || { rm -f libkmod.so && ln -s libkmod.so.2.3.3 libkmod.so; }; })
libtool: install: /usr/bin/install -c libkmod/.libs/libkmod.lai /home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/lib/libkmod.la
libtool: finish: PATH="/home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/bin:/home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/sbin:/home/att/bin:/home/att/bin:/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:/usr/local/games:/snap/bin:/sbin" ldconfig -n /home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/lib
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Libraries have been installed in:
   /home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/lib

If you ever happen to want to link against installed libraries
in a given directory, LIBDIR, you must either use libtool, and
specify the full pathname of the library, or use the '-LLIBDIR'
flag during linking and do at least one of the following:
   - add LIBDIR to the 'LD_LIBRARY_PATH' environment variable
     during execution
   - add LIBDIR to the 'LD_RUN_PATH' environment variable
     during linking
   - use the '-Wl,-rpath -Wl,LIBDIR' linker flag
   - have your system administrator add LIBDIR to '/etc/ld.so.conf'

See any operating system documentation about shared libraries for
more information, such as the ld(1) and ld.so(8) manual pages.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
 /usr/bin/mkdir -p '/home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/bin'
  ./doltlibtool   --mode=install /usr/bin/install -c tools/kmod '/home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/bin'
libtool: install: /usr/bin/install -c tools/kmod /home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/bin/kmod
/usr/bin/make --no-print-directory install-exec-hook
if test "/home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/lib" != "/home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/lib"; then \
        /usr/bin/mkdir -p /home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/lib && \
        so_img_name=$(readlink /home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/lib/libkmod.so) && \
        so_img_rel_target_prefix=$(echo /home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/lib | sed 's,\(^/\|\)[^/][^/]*,..,g') && \
        ln -sf $so_img_rel_target_prefix/home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/lib/$so_img_name /home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/lib/libkmod.so && \
        mv /home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/lib/libkmod.so.* /home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/lib; \
fi
Making install in libkmod/docs
make[4]: Für das Ziel „install-exec-am“ ist nichts zu tun.
make[4]: Für das Ziel „install-data-am“ ist nichts zu tun.
mkdir -p /home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/sbin/
ln -sf ../bin/kmod /home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/sbin/depmod
>>> linux amlogic-4.9-dev Syncing from source dir /home/att/c4_buildroot/buildroot/../kernel/aml-4.9
rsync -au --chmod=u=rwX,go=rX --exclude .svn --exclude .git --exclude .hg --exclude .bzr --exclude CVS  /home/att/c4_buildroot/buildroot/../kernel/aml-4.9/ /home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/build/linux-amlogic-4.9-dev
>>> linux amlogic-4.9-dev Patching
test -d /home/att/c4_buildroot/buildroot/../kernel/aml-4.9/.git && ln -s /home/att/c4_buildroot/buildroot/../kernel/aml-4.9/.git /home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/build/linux-amlogic-4.9-dev/ || true

Applying 0001-kernel-custom-fix.patch using patch: 
patching file arch/arm64/configs/odroidg12_defconfig
Reversed (or previously applied) patch detected!  Skipping patch.
4 out of 4 hunks ignored -- saving rejects to file arch/arm64/configs/odroidg12_defconfig.rej
patching file drivers/net/wireless/rtl8812au/Makefile
make[1]: *** [package/pkg-generic.mk:206: /home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/build/linux-amlogic-4.9-dev/.stamp_patched] Fehler 1
make: *** [/home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/Makefile:23: _all] Fehler 2

Can anyone kindly suggest of just what to do to get this right? Any help is greatly appreciated!
Or maybe you know a download link, or you can provide a download link, of just the basic "buildroot" image for Odroid C4? Would be awesome.......
Thanks!

[att2]

Oh well, I am getting different errors at different times with different options.....

Latest one:

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>>> alsa-utils 1.1.7 Installing to target
mkdir -p /home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/target/var/lib/alsa
for i in usr/sbin/alsaconf usr/sbin/alsactl usr/bin/alsaloop usr/bin/alsamixer usr/bin/alsatplg usr/bin/amixer usr/bin/aplay usr/bin/arecord usr/bin/alsabat usr/bin/iecset usr
/bin/aconnect usr/bin/speaker-test; do /usr/bin/install -D -m 755 /home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/aarch64-linux-gnu/sysroot/$i /home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroid
c4/target/$i || exit 1; done
if [ -x "/home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/target/usr/bin/speaker-test" ]; then mkdir -p /home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/target/usr/share/alsa/speaker-test; mkdir
-p /home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/target/usr/share/sounds/alsa; cp -rdpf /home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/aarch64-linux-gnu/sysroot/usr/share/alsa/speaker-t
est/* /home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/target/usr/share/alsa/speaker-test/; cp -rdpf /home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/aarch64-linux-gnu/sysroot/usr/share/soun
ds/alsa/* /home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/target/usr/share/sounds/alsa/; fi
if [ -x "/home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/target/usr/sbin/alsactl" ]; then mkdir -p /home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/target/usr/share/; rm -rf /home/att/c4_buildro
ot/output/odroidc4/target/usr/share/alsa/; cp -rdpf /home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/aarch64-linux-gnu/sysroot/usr/share/alsa/ /home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc
4/target/usr/share/alsa/; fi
>>> expat 2.2.6 Downloading
--2022-05-18 12:36:43--  http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/expat/expat/2.2.6/expat-2.2.6.tar.bz2
Aufl<F6>sen des Hostnamens downloads.sourceforge.net (downloads.sourceforge.net) & 204.68.111.105
Verbindungsaufbau zu downloads.sourceforge.net (downloads.sourceforge.net)|204.68.111.105|:80 & verbunden.
HTTP-Anforderung gesendet, auf Antwort wird gewartet & 404 Not Found
2022-05-18 12:36:44 FEHLER 404: Not Found.

--2022-05-18 12:36:44--  http://openlinux.amlogic.com:8000/download/GPL_code_release/ThirdParty/expat/expat-2.2.6.tar.bz2
Aufl<F6>sen des Hostnamens openlinux.amlogic.com (openlinux.amlogic.com) & 120.25.202.108
Verbindungsaufbau zu openlinux.amlogic.com (openlinux.amlogic.com)|120.25.202.108|:8000 & verbunden.
HTTP-Anforderung gesendet, auf Antwort wird gewartet & 404 Not Found
2022-05-18 12:36:44 FEHLER 404: Not Found.

--2022-05-18 12:36:44--  http://openlinux.amlogic.com:8000/download/GPL_code_release/ThirdParty/expat-2.2.6.tar.bz2
Aufl<F6>sen des Hostnamens openlinux.amlogic.com (openlinux.amlogic.com) & 120.25.202.108
Verbindungsaufbau zu openlinux.amlogic.com (openlinux.amlogic.com)|120.25.202.108|:8000 & verbunden.
HTTP-Anforderung gesendet, auf Antwort wird gewartet & 404 Not Found
2022-05-18 12:36:45 FEHLER 404: Not Found.

make[1]: *** [package/pkg-generic.mk:146: /home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/build/expat-2.2.6/.stamp_downloaded] Fehler 1
make: *** [/home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/Makefile:23: _all] Fehler 2

So Buildroot cannot find the "expat" code, he cannot download it from anywhere. Why....? How to fix this?

[rooted]

This is an Amlogic issue, apparently they have moved/removed expat and likely other code from their site.

@tobetter any ideas?

[tobetter]

This is an Amlogic issue, apparently they have moved/removed expat and likely other code from their site.

@tobetter any ideas?

Nice timing, I've pushed one commit for the kernel compile issue in the first post but do not have the issue about expat on my test build.

[att2]

Oh! Now I see what the problem with "expat" is! They have had a security issue in that version, and they deleted that specific version from the server.
Thus, I was searching in the directory tree for "expat" and I found :
/c4_buildroot/buildroot/package/expat/expat.mk and expat.hash
expat.mk contains the version number, expat.hash the expected hash values, which you can create yourself with the help of md5sum, sha256sum etc.
So in my expat.mk I changed the version number so like:

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EXPAT_VERSION = 2.4.8

and in the expat.hash file :

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# From https://sourceforge.net/projects/expat/files/expat/2.2.6/
md5     0aa62f74c097c96ecbe62e656f352c3b                expat-2.4.8.tar.bz2
sha1    5bc8aed3107a04ba2a35d45646eb079e6abbfe1d        expat-2.4.8.tar.bz2

# Locally calculated
sha256  a247a7f6bbb21cf2ca81ea4cbb916bfb9717ca523631675f99b3d4a5678dcd16        expat-2.4.8.tar.bz2
sha256  8c6b5b6de8fae20b317f4992729abc0e520bfba4c7606cd1e9eeb87418eebdec        COPYING

I had to do the same thing with zlib in order to update it to zlib-1.2.12.tar.xz, but that zlib would still not compile... he said something about missing zlib despite I did install it on the compilation system.

Furthermore, I just tried to re-compile but failed :

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----------------------------------------------------------------------
 /usr/bin/mkdir -p '/home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/bin'
  ./doltlibtool   --mode=install /usr/bin/install -c tools/kmod '/home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/bin'
libtool: install: /usr/bin/install -c tools/kmod /home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/bin/kmod
/usr/bin/make --no-print-directory install-exec-hook
if test "/home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/lib" != "/home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/lib"; then \
        /usr/bin/mkdir -p /home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/lib && \
        so_img_name=$(readlink /home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/lib/libkmod.so) && \
        so_img_rel_target_prefix=$(echo /home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/lib | sed 's,\(^/\|\)[^/][^/]*,..,g') && \
        ln -sf $so_img_rel_target_prefix/home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/lib/$so_img_name /home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/lib/libkmod.so && \
        mv /home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/lib/libkmod.so.* /home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/lib; \
fi
Making install in libkmod/docs
make[4]: Für das Ziel „install-exec-am“ ist nichts zu tun.
make[4]: Für das Ziel „install-data-am“ ist nichts zu tun.
mkdir -p /home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/sbin/
ln -sf ../bin/kmod /home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/host/sbin/depmod
>>> linux amlogic-4.9-dev Syncing from source dir /home/att/c4_buildroot/buildroot/../kernel/aml-4.9
rsync -au --chmod=u=rwX,go=rX --exclude .svn --exclude .git --exclude .hg --exclude .bzr --exclude CVS  /home/att/c4_buildroot/buildroot/../kernel/aml-4.9/ /home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/build/linux-amlogic-4.9-dev
>>> linux amlogic-4.9-dev Patching
test -d /home/att/c4_buildroot/buildroot/../kernel/aml-4.9/.git && ln -s /home/att/c4_buildroot/buildroot/../kernel/aml-4.9/.git /home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/build/linux-amlogic-4.9-dev/ || true

Applying 0001-kernel-custom-fix.patch using patch: 
patching file arch/arm64/configs/odroidg12_defconfig
Reversed (or previously applied) patch detected!  Skipping patch.
4 out of 4 hunks ignored -- saving rejects to file arch/arm64/configs/odroidg12_defconfig.rej
make[1]: *** [package/pkg-generic.mk:206: /home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/build/linux-amlogic-4.9-dev/.stamp_patched] Fehler 1
make: *** [/home/att/c4_buildroot/output/odroidc4/Makefile:23: _all] Fehler 2

.... so I really don't know how to proceed properly.... any help greatly appreciated!!!

[kidovate]

SkiffOS supports Odroid C4 using Buildroot, if you

export SKIFF_WORKSPACE=c4
export SKIFF_CONFIG=odroid/c4
make configure

there will be a configured buildroot tree under ./workspaces/c4

https://github.com/skiffos/skiffos

Hope this helps.

[MajorTom3D]

An update for the buildroot failures.

I have been working with this buildroot installation. The problem is certain files have been relocated and this build is not being updated.

The real question is how do I submit the fixes so that others do not have to go through the painful experience of fixing this process. I would enjoy preventing others from having to do this.

Also, Amlogic has apparently dropped support for open linux source code (links on the website have been removed). This is the manufacturer of the CPU for the Odroid C4. I see this has a huge weakness that needs to be addressed. Amlogic is not responding to my request for technical support.

[tobetter]

An update for the buildroot failures.

I have been working with this buildroot installation. The problem is certain files have been relocated and this build is not being updated.

Is the issue with Buildroot from Hardkernel or SkiffOS?

The real question is how do I submit the fixes so that others do not have to go through the painful experience of fixing this process. I would enjoy preventing others from having to do this.

If with Buildroot, appreciate your patch if you do pull request to Hardkernel's Buildroot Github or point me out the repository or share the fix. Otherwise pleaes consult with @kidovate for SkiffOS.

[MajorTom3D]

The issues are tied to the hardkernel version. I am surprised at the vast number of errors I am encountering. Basically, missing file locations are the following:

zlib-1.2.11.tar.xz

The directory location is no longer valid. I had to alter it to be located at https://zlib.net/fossils/zlib-1.2.11.tar.gz

Please notice that it is compressed differently so I had to regenerate a new hash for it.

Also corrected for the following libraries:

EXPAT
PCRE

Again, these are all related to location changes.

There also appears to be coding errors in the library source code. The first one is located in gdbusauth.c
The following error is generated:

gdbusauth.c: In function ‘_g_dbus_auth_run_server’:
gdbusauth.c11: error: ‘%s’ directive argument is null [-Werror=format-overflow=]
1302 | debug_print ("SERVER: WaitingForBegin, read '%s'", line);

The error is due to the next code line check for null is located following the statement rather than prior.

I am continuing to fix errors which are adding up. Also, as mentioned by other posters, there is an error with the installation instructions not using "make menuconfig". If this step is avoided, there are more errors that can be avoided if the installation instructions were updated.

I can not use the Skiff OS version due to the reboot problem related to the Odroid C4. Also, I should no have to use it while the hardkernel seems to be the stable release.

[tobetter]

The issues are tied to the hardkernel version. I am surprised at the vast number of errors I am encountering. Basically, missing file locations are the following:

zlib-1.2.11.tar.xz

The directory location is no longer valid. I had to alter it to be located at https://zlib.net/fossils/zlib-1.2.11.tar.gz

Please notice that it is compressed differently so I had to regenerate a new hash for it.

Also corrected for the following libraries:

EXPAT
PCRE

Again, these are all related to location changes.

There also appears to be coding errors in the library source code. The first one is located in gdbusauth.c
The following error is generated:

gdbusauth.c: In function ‘_g_dbus_auth_run_server’:
gdbusauth.c11: error: ‘%s’ directive argument is null [-Werror=format-overflow=]
1302 | debug_print ("SERVER: WaitingForBegin, read '%s'", line);

The error is due to the next code line check for null is located following the statement rather than prior.

I am continuing to fix errors which are adding up. Also, as mentioned by other posters, there is an error with the installation instructions not using "make menuconfig". If this step is avoided, there are more errors that can be avoided if the installation instructions were updated.

I can not use the Skiff OS version due to the reboot problem related to the Odroid C4. Also, I should no have to use it while the hardkernel seems to be the stable release.

Thanks, unfortunately Buildroot is being broken from time to time and trying to fix when discovered but still...and not often maintained due to the low demand. It would be great if you can create a git commit patch so can apply it directly to the repostory. Thank you.

[MajorTom3D]

I can do that. Once I have a stable version running and tested over time, I will commit my changes. Thanks for the information.

[att2]

I am still waiting!!!
How long does it take until I can compile something without errors??????

[MajorTom3D]

Well, I thought I would not have to return to this build process but the platform we investigated after one year is not cost effective. Now I have returned to attempt to get this working again. Trying to build using Ubuntu 20.04 is proving to be an issue due to the uboot creation process using 32 bit build tools (gcc, etc). Certain libraries for multiarch support are missing from Ubuntu 20.04 so I attempted to use the docker platform suggested in the wiki which is based on Ubuntu 16.04 OS.

But I can not even get the git repository pulled using "repo" since it's using functions based on Python3 using f format statements which were introduced in Python3.6 but this docker container will only allow Python3.5 which does not support the fore mentioned formatting. This sorta makes me to believe the wiki posting is based on false information that never worked. The real issue is there appears to be no working creation process for getting buildroot to work for the Odroid C4. I can feel for the previous poster.

Every attempt to get a working process is revealing how bad this process is. I really had hopes to get buildroot for the Odroid C4 and be able to order tens of thousands of the units but this appears to be useless unless I want to make a career of getting this to work.

[tobetter]

Well, I thought I would not have to return to this build process but the platform we investigated after one year is not cost effective. Now I have returned to attempt to get this working again. Trying to build using Ubuntu 20.04 is proving to be an issue due to the uboot creation process using 32 bit build tools (gcc, etc). Certain libraries for multiarch support are missing from Ubuntu 20.04 so I attempted to use the docker platform suggested in the wiki which is based on Ubuntu 16.04 OS.

But I can not even get the git repository pulled using "repo" since it's using functions based on Python3 using f format statements which were introduced in Python3.6 but this docker container will only allow Python3.5 which does not support the fore mentioned formatting. This sorta makes me to believe the wiki posting is based on false information that never worked. The real issue is there appears to be no working creation process for getting buildroot to work for the Odroid C4. I can feel for the previous poster.

I guess you've run repo init in Docker container, so this cause the Python error. Then you should not.
Do run repo init in your host computer, not inside of Docker, and do mount the same directory using the argument -v into the directory inside Docker when you start the Docker image.
In short, download Buildroot source code in the host and build it inside of Docker.

Every attempt to get a working process is revealing how bad this process is. I really had hopes to get buildroot for the Odroid C4 and be able to order tens of thousands of the units but this appears to be useless unless I want to make a career of getting this to work.

There is very low demand of Buildroot support, that's why it's not updated often. But will happily support whenever you share problems with logs.
The Buildroot repo for ODROID-N2 and ODROID-C4 are identical, there is last update/fix in Jul/2023.
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