Error Building Kernel with make vmlinux and make tinyconfig on 35.4.1

[vK-embedded]

My main intent here is to build and boot the tiniest kernel to see what the fastest boot time available is.

I’m encountering an error when attempting to build the kernel using make vmlinux on a Nano 35.4.1 setup, within the Linux_for_Tegra/source/public/kernel/kernel-5.10 directory. The error persists even when I try using make tinyconfig as a preliminary step. Below are the error messages for both commands:

For make vmlinux:

make vmlinux
  SYNC    include/config/auto.conf.cmd
  GEN     Makefile
make[3]: *** [/home/tonbo/vc_mipi_nvidia/build/Nano_35.4.1/Linux_for_Tegra/source/public/kernel/kernel-5.10/scripts/kconfig/Makefile:71: syncconfig] Error 1
make[2]: *** [/home/tonbo/vc_mipi_nvidia/build/Nano_35.4.1/Linux_for_Tegra/source/public/kernel/kernel-5.10/Makefile:633: syncconfig] Error 2
make[1]: *** [/home/tonbo/vc_mipi_nvidia/build/Nano_35.4.1/Linux_for_Tegra/source/public/kernel/kernel-5.10/Makefile:742: include/config/auto.conf.cmd] Error 2
make: *** [/home/tonbo/vc_mipi_nvidia/build/Nano_35.4.1/Linux_for_Tegra/source/public/kerne

And with make tinyconfig, I encounter a similar failure.

make[5]: *** [/home/tonbo/vc_mipi_nvidia/build/Nano_35.4.1/Linux_for_Tegra/source/public/kernel/kernel-5.10/scripts/kconfig/Makefile:71: allnoconfig] Error 1
make[4]: *** [/home/tonbo/vc_mipi_nvidia/build/Nano_35.4.1/Linux_for_Tegra/source/public/kernel/kernel-5.10/Makefile:633: allnoconfig] Error 2
make[3]: *** [/home/tonbo/vc_mipi_nvidia/build/Nano_35.4.1/Linux_for_Tegra/source/public/kernel/kernel-5.10/Makefile:365: __build_one_by_one] Error 2
make[2]: *** [/home/tonbo/vc_mipi_nvidia/build/Nano_35.4.1/Linux_for_Tegra/source/public/kernel/kernel-5.10/scripts/kconfig/Makefile:113: tinyconfig] Error 2
make[1]: *** [/home/tonbo/vc_mipi_nvidia/build/Nano_35.4.1/Linux_for_Tegra/source/public/kernel/kernel-5.10/Makefile:633: tinyconfig] Error 2
make: *** [/home/tonbo/vc_mipi_nvidia/build/Nano_35.4.1/Linux_for_Tegra/source/public/kernel/kernel-5.10/Makefile:213: __sub-make] Error 2

I’ve followed the standard kernel build process and haven’t made any modifications that should affect the build like this. Could someone suggest potential causes or solutions for these errors? Specifically, I’m looking for insights into resolving the syncconfig error and whether there might be any dependency or environment configuration I’m overlooking.

The normal pipeline of make for modules, dev-tree, module_install, Image works fine.

Thank you in advance for any assistance or guidance.

[linuxdev]

Boot uses Image, not vmlinux.

[vK-embedded]

vmlinux is a ELF format based file which is nothing but the uncompressed version of kernel image which can be used for debugging. The zImage or bzImage are the compressed version of kernel image which is normally used for booting.

The vmlinux as such directly cannot be used by UBoot. However, by addition of metadata info in the process of creation of uImage for vmlinux, it is possible to boot via UBoot.

This is a definition i found online, so technically wouldn’t vmlinux allow me to debug kernel Image?

[linuxdev]

One normally boots from Image on a Jetson, but if you do kernel debug, then you must also have the vmlinux (and perhaps some module content read from /sys files as well). vmlinux is not used for boot, but it can be used for debug, e.g., with kgdb/kgdboc.