AOSP on Pixel3 running Mainline kernel

Not to be confused with AOSP's aosp_blueline-userdebug build target, goal of this project is to run AOSP on Pixel3 device with mainline linux kernel.

• Upstream aosp_blueline-userdebug build target use Qcom prebuilt firmware and services binaries which only work with msm-android-4.9 kernel.
• pixel3_mainline-userdebug build target use mainline linux kernel and can boot to console right now with ADB. Work is going on to enable Display panel + Mesa/Freedreno support.

Compile AOSP and kernel image from sources for pixel3_mainline

1. Download the AOSP source tree and build pixel3_mainline target:

   1 repo init -u https://android.googlesource.com/platform/manifest -b master
   2 repo sync -j`nproc`
   3 source ./build/envsetup.sh
   4 lunch pixel3_mainline-userdebug
   5 make -j`nproc`

3. Build kernel image and boot.img:

Run the following commands to clone and build kernel Image:

   1 git clone https://git.linaro.org/people/amit.pundir/linux.git -b dragonboard-android-mainline-tracking
   2 cd linux
   3 make ARCH=arm64 CROSS_COMPILE=aarch64-linux-gnu- blueline_defconfig
   4 make ARCH=arm64 CROSS_COMPILE=aarch64-linux-gnu- Image.gz qcom/sdm845-blueline.dtb -j`nproc`
   5 cat arch/arm64/boot/Image.gz arch/arm64/boot/dts/qcom/sdm845-blueline.dtb > Image.gz-dtb

Build boot.img by running following mkbootimg command:

   1 mkbootimg --kernel Image.gz-dtb --ramdisk \
   2 out/target/product/pixel3_mainline/ramdisk.img \
   3 --base 0x00000000 --pagesize 4096 \
   4 --cmdline "" --output boot.img

where ramdisk.img is created as part of AOSP build for pixel3_mainline-userdebug. cmdline is hardcoded in kernel config (blueline_defconfig) so that bootloader appended bootargs do not crash our boot.

4. Install:

Boot Pixel3 in fastboot mode by powering off the device and then hold VOL down button and press/hold POWER button until bootloader (fastboot) comes up. Download and unzip vbmeta.img from Pixel3 factory images, which is used to disable image verification. And then run following commands from HOST machine while Pixel3 is still booted in fastboot mode:

   1 # unlock bootloader
   2 fastboot oem unlock
   3 
   4 # disable image verification if you haven't already
   5 fastboot --disable-verity --disable-verification flash vbmeta_a vbmeta.img
   6 fastboot --disable-verity --disable-verification flash vbmeta_b vbmeta.img
   7 
   8 # avoid a known smmu crash by turning OFF the display
   9 fastboot oem select-display-panel none; fastboot reboot bootloader
  10 
  11 # set _b as active partition since we mount system_b as super partition
  12 fastboot set_active b
  13 
  14 # flash AOSP images and reboot
  15 fastboot flash system out/target/product/pixel3_mainline/super.img
  16 fastboot flash userdata out/target/product/pixel3_mainline/userdata.img
  17 fastboot flash boot boot.img
  18 fastboot reboot
  19 
  20 # login to Android console
  21 adb shell

When done with testing, reboot into fastboot/bootloader mode, turn ON the display and switch OFF the device from bootloader menu :

   1 adb reboot bootloader
   2 fastboot oem select-display-panel; fastboot reboot bootloader

ToDo / Known Issues

• fastboot boot boot.img is broken

• Display is WIP

• bootctrl HAL is WIP. So if you run into FAILED (remote: 'Failed to load/authenticate boot image: Load Error'), then run following command:

   1 fastboot fastboot set_active b

Need some help?

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• LCG's public mailing lists

  • linaro-android. Archive is here

• IRC via irc.freenode.net
  • #linaro-android
  • #linaro-lmg

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