kernel-build-containers

This project provides Docker containers for building the Linux kernel (or other software) with many different compilers.

It's very useful for testing gcc-plugins for the Linux kernel, for example. Goodbye headache!

Repositories

• Main at GitHub https://github.com/a13xp0p0v/kernel-build-containers
• Mirror at Codeberg: https://codeberg.org/a13xp0p0v/kernel-build-containers
• Mirror at GitFlic: https://gitflic.ru/project/a13xp0p0v/kernel-build-containers

Supported features

Supported build targets:

• x86_64
• i386
• arm64 or aarch64
• arm or aarch32

Supported gcc versions:

• gcc-4.9 (doesn't support gcc-plugins for arm64 and arm)
• gcc-5
• gcc-6
• gcc-7
• gcc-8
• gcc-9
• gcc-10
• gcc-11
• gcc-12
• gcc-13

Supported clang versions:

• clang-12
• clang-13
• clang-14
• clang-15

Usage

Building all containers

$ sh build_containers.sh

Created containers:

$ sudo docker image list | grep kernel-build-container
kernel-build-container   gcc-13     da5490de8c72   3 hours ago     3.14GB
kernel-build-container   clang-15   317bcc9cbe7e   2 months ago    2.34GB
kernel-build-container   clang-14   2801a41dc153   2 months ago    1.69GB
kernel-build-container   clang-13   155ea2d3f4ad   2 months ago    2.28GB
kernel-build-container   gcc-12     283a273fa54d   2 months ago    3.03GB
kernel-build-container   clang-12   b4891e3c38aa   9 months ago    3.68GB
kernel-build-container   gcc-11     443c02ccc2eb   9 months ago    1.01GB
kernel-build-container   gcc-10     e1ad5c23c709   9 months ago    1.25GB
kernel-build-container   gcc-9      7980321acf8e   9 months ago    816MB
kernel-build-container   gcc-8      50fedf287444   9 months ago    1.11GB
kernel-build-container   gcc-7      40d953aaef4a   9 months ago    736MB
kernel-build-container   gcc-6      dcd304714792   9 months ago    988MB
kernel-build-container   gcc-5      3bf57a4d2283   9 months ago    723MB
kernel-build-container   gcc-4.9    8b7c32b723f1   9 months ago    916MB

Running a container

Get help:

$ sh ./start_container.sh
Hey, we gonna use sudo for running docker
usage: ./start_container.sh compiler src_dir out_dir [-n] [cmd with args]
  use '-n' for non-interactive session
  if cmd is empty, we will start an interactive bash in the container

Run interactive bash in the container:

$ sh start_container.sh gcc-12 ~/linux-stable/linux-stable/ ~/linux-stable/build_out/
Hey, we gonna use sudo for running docker
Starting "kernel-build-container:gcc-12"
Source code directory "/home/a13x/linux-stable/linux-stable/" is mounted at "~/src"
Build output directory "/home/a13x/linux-stable/build_out/" is mounted at "~/out"
Run docker in interactive mode
Gonna run interactive bash...

To run a command as administrator (user "root"), use "sudo <command>".
See "man sudo_root" for details.

a13x@969f6b1526a0:~/src$

Execute a command in the container:

$ sh start_container.sh clang-15 ~/linux-stable/linux-stable/ ~/linux-stable/build_out/ make defconfig
Hey, we gonna use sudo for running docker
Starting "kernel-build-container:clang-15"
Source code directory "/home/a13x/linux-stable/linux-stable/" is mounted at "~/src"
Build output directory "/home/a13x/linux-stable/build_out/" is mounted at "~/out"
Run docker in interactive mode
Gonna run "make defconfig"

Building Linux kernel

Get help:

$ python3 make_linux.py -h
usage: make_linux.py [-h] -a {x86_64,i386,arm64,arm} [-k kconfig] -s src -o out -c
                     {gcc-4.9,gcc-5,gcc-6,gcc-7,gcc-8,gcc-9,gcc-10,gcc-11,gcc-12,
                     gcc-13,clang-12,clang-13,clang-14,clang-15,all}
                     ...

Build Linux kernel using kernel-build-containers

positional arguments:
  ...                   additional arguments for 'make', can be separated by -- delimiter

options:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -a {x86_64,i386,arm64,arm}
                        build target architecture
  -k kconfig            path to kernel kconfig file
  -s src                Linux kernel sources directory
  -o out                Build output directory
  -c {gcc-4.9,gcc-5,gcc-6,gcc-7,gcc-8,gcc-9,gcc-10,gcc-11,gcc-12,gcc-13,
  clang-12,clang-13,clang-14,clang-15,all}
                        building compiler ('all' to build with each of them)

Build the Linux kernel in the needed container:

$ python3 make_linux.py -a arm64 -k ~/linux-stable/experiment.config -s ~/linux-stable/linux-stable -o ~/linux-stable/build_out -c gcc-13 -- -j9
[+] Going to build the Linux kernel for arm64
[+] Using "/home/a13x/linux-stable/experiment.config" as kernel config
[+] Using "/home/a13x/linux-stable/linux-stable" as Linux kernel sources directory
[+] Using "/home/a13x/linux-stable/build_out" as build output directory
[+] Going to build with: gcc-13
[+] Have additional arguments for 'make': -j9

=== Building with gcc-13 ===
Output subdirectory for this build: /home/a13x/linux-stable/build_out/experiment__arm64__gcc-13
Output subdirectory doesn't exist, create it
Copy kconfig to output subdirectory as ".config"
Going to save build log to "build_log.txt" in output subdirectory
Add arguments for cross-compilation: ARCH=arm64 CROSS_COMPILE=aarch64-linux-gnu-
Run the container: bash ./start_container.sh gcc-13 /home/a13x/linux-stable/linux-stable /home/a13x/linux-stable/build_out/experiment__arm64__gcc-13 -n make O=~/out/ ARCH=arm64 CROSS_COMPILE=aarch64-linux-gnu- -j9 2>&1
    Hey, we gonna use sudo for running docker
    Starting "kernel-build-container:gcc-13"
    Source code directory "/home/a13x/linux-stable/linux-stable" is mounted at "~/src"
    Build output directory "/home/a13x/linux-stable/build_out/experiment__arm64__gcc-13" is mounted at "~/out"
    Run docker in NON-interactive mode
    Gonna run "make O=~/out/ ARCH=arm64 CROSS_COMPILE=aarch64-linux-gnu- -j9 2>&1"
    
    make[1]: Entering directory '/home/a13x/out'
      SYNC    include/config/auto.conf.cmd
      GEN     Makefile
...
    make[1]: Leaving directory '/home/a13x/out'
The container returned 0
Finish building the kernel
Only remove the container id file:
    Hey, we gonna use sudo for running docker
    Search "container.id" file in build output directory "/home/a13x/linux-stable/build_out/experiment__arm64__gcc-13"
    OK, "container.id" file exists, removing it
    OK, container e4cafed59083c4d7ca4b56d5e2473389d054cad595d0b2435f1c157b8f0c3303 doesn't run
The finish_container.sh script returned 0
See the build log: /home/a13x/linux-stable/build_out/experiment__arm64__gcc-13/build_log.txt

[+] Done, see the results

Configure the Linux kernel with menuconfig in the needed container:

$ ./make_linux.py -a arm64 -k ~/linux-stable/experiment.config -s ~/linux-stable/linux-stable -o ~/linux-stable/build_out -c gcc-13 -- menuconfig
[+] Going to build the Linux kernel for arm64
[+] Using "/home/a13x/linux-stable/experiment.config" as kernel config
[+] Using "/home/a13x/linux-stable/linux-stable" as Linux kernel sources directory
[+] Using "/home/a13x/linux-stable/build_out" as build output directory
[+] Going to build with: gcc-13
[+] Have additional arguments for 'make': menuconfig

=== Building with gcc-13 ===
Output subdirectory for this build: /home/a13x/linux-stable/build_out/experiment__arm64__gcc-13
Output subdirectory already exists, use it (no cleaning!)
Copy kconfig to output subdirectory as ".config"
Going to run the container in the interactive mode (without build log)
Add arguments for cross-compilation: ARCH=arm64 CROSS_COMPILE=aarch64-linux-gnu-
Run the container: bash ./start_container.sh gcc-13 /home/a13x/linux-stable/linux-stable /home/a13x/linux-stable/build_out/experiment__arm64__gcc-13 make O=~/out/ ARCH=arm64 CROSS_COMPILE=aarch64-linux-gnu- menuconfig
Hey, we gonna use sudo for running docker
Starting "kernel-build-container:gcc-13"
Source code directory "/home/a13x/linux-stable/linux-stable" is mounted at "~/src"
Build output directory "/home/a13x/linux-stable/build_out/experiment__arm64__gcc-13" is mounted at "~/out"
Run docker in interactive mode
Gonna run "make O=~/out/ ARCH=arm64 CROSS_COMPILE=aarch64-linux-gnu- menuconfig"

make[1]: Entering directory '/home/a13x/out'
  GEN     Makefile
...
*** End of the configuration.
*** Execute 'make' to start the build or try 'make help'.

make[1]: Leaving directory '/home/a13x/out'
The container returned 0
Finish building the kernel
Only remove the container id file:
    Hey, we gonna use sudo for running docker
    Search "container.id" file in build output directory "/home/a13x/linux-stable/build_out/experiment__arm64__gcc-13"
    NO such file, nothing to do, exit
The finish_container.sh script returned 2

[+] Done, see the results

Finishing with the container

That tool is used by make_linux.py for fast stopping the kernel build.

Get help:

$ sh ./finish_container.sh 
Hey, we gonna use sudo for running docker
usage: ./finish_container.sh kill/nokill out_dir
  kill/nokill -- how to finish: kill the container and then clean up / only clean up
  out_dir -- build output directory used by this container (with container.id file)

Removing created Docker images

$ sh rm_containers.sh