Re: [Yaffs] Problem with Yaffs on Routerboard RB112 and kern…

On Tuesday 08 May 2007, Wookey wrote:
> On 2007-05-08 13:10 +0100, David Goodenough wrote:
> > On Monday 07 May 2007, David Goodenough wrote:
> > <snip/>
> >
> > > I also noticed that I was using a version of Yaffs which was not quite
> > > up to date, so downloaded the latest version and in there I saw that
> > > there were two versions of one file which looked relevant. The file
> > > in question is yaffs_mtdif2.c, one copy is in the mail fs/yaffs2
> > > directory and the other is in a patch directory. Also in the patch
> > > directory is a README which contains the following enigmatic
> > > paragraph:-
> > >
> > > "Right now there is only one patched file, yaffs_mtdif2.c. This has
> > > been patched with a tweaked version of "Sergey's patch" and typically
> > > makes a stock mtd work properly."
> > >
> > > Having now real history with Yaffs I do not know what Sergey's patch
> > > is, and whether this version is what I need. Can anyone suggest
> > > whether this is relevant to my situation? If not, can anyone suggest
> > > what I should do in order to achieve my aim of having something that
> > > the boot layer can recognise.
>
> The short answer is 'it's complicated - various things have changed at
> varying times'.
>
> current yaffs2 cvs does indeed work with current kernels, and older
> kernels. However the on-flash format has (probably - it depends on
> exactly what MTD does for chips IIRC) changed. The main thing that has
> moved is the bad-block markers (which is why you get everything marked
> as bad).
>
> Sergey's patch was a way to get yaffs working with MTD changes
> introduced around kernel 2.6.16 IIRC. But as you have discovered
> things have moved on around it, and whilst it may provide a helpful
> pointer to where to fiddle it isn't actually much practical use
> anymore, and the fundamentals have been incorporated into yaffs
> proper. It probably isn't useful leaving it in cvs any longer.
OK, I will stop trying to compile it.
>
> You can use yaffs without MTD if you write some chip acces functions
> directly. Getting new kernels to work with old-format yaffs whilst
> using MTD is not trivial, but should be possible. In general it would
> be easier to fix the bootloader to match the new state of the world.
Microtik is not responsive to any attempt to get Linux running on the RB1xx
series. Their attitude is seems to be that RouterOS is all the world needs.
Unfortunately my network was built around some code that does not exist
in RouterOS, so I need something like OpenWrt which allows me the choice.
So trying to get them to change the boot loader is not an option I have
open to me - they won't even answer questions so I see no realistic
possibility of getting the boot loader updated.
>
> Yes this is all a hassle. That's the nature of distributed development.
>
> Now if you do a nand-dump like vitaly says, we can try and give some
> more specific advice.
I am currently building it for OpenWrt, and will report back when I have
done so. I will then also have to reload the RouterOS code onto the RB112
as I have overwritten that many times and the only way to do that that I
am aware of requires a Windows machine, and all my machines are Linux.
Unfortunately their uploader will not run under Wine.

David
>
> Wookey