[Questions] Kernel source issues when compiling LOS/TWRP

mustang_ssc

Senior Member
Apr 29, 2014
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Mars
Hello guys.

This question is specially for devs or advanced users with development skills.

My question is related to the kernel source of one of my devices, Huawei Mediapad T1 10 (codename: hwt1a21l). I got the kernel source from the oficial Huawei website and uploaded it to a github repo. My device, which has a msm8916 chiset, doesn't have any development (roms, recoveries, device tree, etc) and his rom, EMUI 3.0, is based on Kit Kat 4.4.2.
I have been trying to bring development for this tablet many months ago because the stock rom is too deprecated for the hardware that has, with the msm8916 there is a huge potential to bring it a lot of development.

Well, i'm going to summarize my problems when trying to bring development for the device:

To get started development, for example a LineageOS build i needed a solid base to start with: device tree, propietary blobs and kernel source, so i got all of them. I ported the device tree from another one very similar to mine (with the same chipset), extracted the propietary blobs with the build tools from the source and got the kernel source from the Huawei website. So everything seemed to be good, but when i start the build process with my Linux machine (repo sync > source build/envsetup.sh > breakfast hwt1a21l > brunch hwt1a21l) i always receive thousands of build error by the kernel source, and i have been fixing (or at least avoid) a lot of them but it never ends, so i don't know if it's worth to keep trying to "fix" them or if i'm wasting my time.

So, what i have been trying to do: i have been trying to build a LineageOS 14.1 and TWRP recovery with my device tree This: Mustang-ssc/android_device_huawei_msm8916-common ported from this one from @dianlujitao : dianlujitao/android_device_huawei_msm8916-common and the specific kernel source for my device downloaded from the Huawei website Mustang-ssc/android_kernel_huawei_hwt1a21l. Here ends the summary.

So after a lot of hours, days and nights over the last months trying to make progress with this and not getting any help from the few devs i asked after seeing my lack of progress i decided to publicly ask for help.

The questions:

1. I have the official kernel source (Mustang-ssc/android_kernel_huawei_hwt1a21l) which i didn't have success to compile it, and then i saw the kernel source from a device almost identical to mine (same chipset, brand, ram, ...) (dianlujitao/android_kernel_huawei_msm8916). Can i use that kernel source as a base for my device after porting the specific configurations of my official kernel source (defconfig, drivers, libraries)? That one is much more updated and probably optimized than mine, but i don't know if it's possible to adapt a kernel source from other device using your kernel source.

2. This may be a dumb question: my device has Kit Kat 4.4.2. Is there any link between the kernel source and the android version the device has? I mean, i don't know if i should do something to adapt my kernel source for newer android versions (Marshmallow, Nougat) of if it's ok to just build with it without any change.

If you read it all, congratulations, you're awesome :)
 
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