How to use OpenEmbedded generated images

Question

I installed openembedded and tried building a couple of images for Zaurus SL-6000 "Tosa", basically, helloworld-image and console-image. And I ended up with an angstrom-dev/deploy/glibc/images/tosa directory that contains files like this (slightly truncated from a forum post I made elsewhere):

Angstrom-helloworld-image-glibc-ipk-2009.X-test-20090529-tosa-installkit.tgz

Angstrom-helloworld-image-glibc-ipk-2009.X-test-20090529-tosa.rootfs.jffs2

Angstrom-helloworld-image-glibc-ipk-2009.X-test-20090529-tosa.rootfs.tar.bz2

Angstrom-helloworld-image-glibc-ipk-2009.X-test-20090529-tosa.rootfs.tar.gz

helloworld-image-tosa.tar.bz2

helloworld-image-tosa.tar.gz

initramfs-kexecboot-image-tosa.cpio.gz

initramfs-kexecboot-image-tosa.jffs2

initramfs-kexecboot-image-tosa.tar.bz2

initramfs-kexecboot-image-tosa.tar.gz

modules-2.6.29-r0-tosa.tgz

updater.sh.tosa

zImage-2.6.29-r0-tosa.bin

zImage-kexecboot-2.6.24-r0-tosa.bin

zImage-kexecboot-tosa.bin

zImage-tosa.bin

I have no idea what all these do or how to install them properly. What I did try is various combinations of flashing a zImage.bin and initrd.bin using option 4 of the maintenance menu (as specified per earlier instructions). The flashing usually works alright but then when it boots, it loads a bootloader that cannot find any bootable devices. On a hunch, I tried unpacking one of the tar.gz images to an ext2 formatted SD card and tried booting with that plugged in and it was detected by the bootloader. Booting it sort of worked but it quickly exited back to the bootloader (I assume that was just a problem with the image I unpacked).

My questions are:

What is the correct usage for all of these file types, i.e. should the .jffs2 files be renamed initrd.bin and included in the flashing process? What am I supposed to do with the bz2 and gz files? Are they only for unpacking to external media?

How do I install to the internal flash? It used to work with the stable Angstrom 2007-12 build and instructions.

Is there a newer version of updater.sh (that one was not built by oe and I added it myself having picked it up from elsewhere)? The reason I ask is that when trying to flash zImage-2.6.29-r0-tosa.bin it fails during the update program with the error that the file is too big. That kernel is approximately 1.3mb while the others are 1.2mb. Is this a constraint of the SL-6000 itself? I thought it has 32mb of internal memory.

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Unfortunately, none of the available documentation that I could find online talks about installing these files. I did find a small entry in the "Angstrom Manual" which talks about what they are but not how to use them as they are all device specific. Unfortunately the tosa documentation only talks about copying the files from an installkit and flashing the device from the maintenance menu.

Answer 1

Okay, "ant" over at OE forums was able to answer my questions ^^ Just recording the answer here for posterity.

installkit-tosa.tar.gz, contains updater.sh and zImage (the kexecboot-kernel). This kexecboot-kernel can be and is likely different from the kernel you will have on the rootfs after the machine boots. Unpack the installkit on a formatted card and follow the flashing procedure for the device.

Regarding the also be various image-rootfs.tar.gz, .bz2, and .jffs2 files. These are the root file systems that will be be booted by kexecboot. The tar.gz or .bz2 archive should be unpacked onto an ext2 (or possibly ext3) formatted SD or CF card. It will be detected by kexecboot at boot time and appear in the kexecboot menu.

If you want a rootfs in nand (installed internally), rename your-image-rootfs.jffs2 to initrd.bin and copy it on the card with updater.sh (then flash).