Editing Modifying the root image

Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be recorded in this page's edit history.

The edit can be undone. Please check the comparison below to verify that this is what you want to do, and then save the changes below to finish undoing the edit.

Learn more about Contributing to the wiki.

This article describes two methods for extending and modifying an existing tablet JFFS2 root image.

== Background ==
The root filesystem (rootfs) of the tablets is stored in a Journal Flash File System version 2 (JFFS2) format. It resides on one of the partitions on the flash chip in the device. Additionally, a pristine version of the rootfs can be obtained from the [http://tablets-dev.nokia.com/ Nokia official firmware] site.

There are two ways to mount the JFFS2 image:
#Have a block device emulate a Memory Technology Device (MTD) via block2mtd.
#Have kernel memory emulate a MTD via mtdram.

Note that for a host kernel config you need to enable mtd device support to access/enable jffs2 filesystem support.

== Getting the JFFS2 image ==
First of all, we need to get the rootfs.jffs2 from the official [http://tablets-dev.nokia.com/ Nokia FIASCO image]. After downloading the FIASCO image, run this on it to unpack it (this will give you all of the individual parts of the image):

sudo ./flasher-3.0 --unpack  -F <FIASCO image>

== Mounting the JFFS2 image ==
These commands will be executed with root privileges on the host machine and not on the device itself.

=== Block device emulating an MTD device ===
You must have the following kernel modules compiled and installed:

'''Memory Technology Device (MTD) support  --->'''
*CONFIG_MTD ( Memory Technology Device (MTD) support )
*CONFIG_MTDBLOCK ( Caching block device access to MTD devices )
*CONFIG_MTD_PARITIONS ( MTD partitioning support ) 
'''Self-contained MTD device drivers  ---> '''
*CONFIG_MTD_MTDRAM ( Test driver using RAM ) 
*CONFIG_MTD_BLOCK2MTD ( MTD using block device ) 
'''Block devices  --->'''
*CONFIG_BLK_DEV_LOOP ( Loopback device support ) 
'''File systems  --->Miscellaneous filesystems  --->'''
*CONFIG_JFFS2_FS ( Journalling Flash File System v2 (JFFS2) support )
*CONFIG_JFFS2_LZO ( Advanced compression options for JFFS2 --> LZO compression support )

I suggest you do not make these modules statically linked into the kernel. It is more practical to be able to unload these modules when not needed or when you want to start over from scratch.

You will use the loopback device (/dev/loop[0-15]) to simulate a block device whose contents are from the JFFS2 image. To mount the JFFS2 image, you perform the following steps:

mknod /tmp/mtdblock0 b 31 0
 modprobe loop
 losetup /dev/loop0 rootfs.jffs2
 modprobe mtdblock
 modprobe block2mtd
 echo "/dev/loop0" > /sys/module/block2mtd/parameters/block2mtd
 modprobe jffs2
 mount -t jffs2 /tmp/mtdblock0 /media/jffs2

To unmount and cleanup:

umount /media/jffs2
 modprobe -r block2mtd
 modprobe -r mtdblock
 losetup -d /dev/loop0

Or use the [[#Shell_script_to_mount/unmount_JFFS2_using_block_device_emulating_MTD|automated shell script]].

=== Kernel memory emulating an MTD device ===
To mount the JFFS2 image, you perform the following steps:

mknod /tmp/mtdblock0 b 31 0
 modprobe mtdblock
 modprobe mtdram total_size=65536 erase_size=256
 modprobe jffs2
 dd if=/pathtoimage/rootfs.jffs2 of=/tmp/mtdblock0
 mkdir /media/jffs2
 mount -t jffs2 /tmp/mtdblock0 /media/jffs2

To unmount and cleanup:

umount /media/jffs2
 modprobe -r jffs2
 modprobe -r mtdram
 modprobe -r mtdblock

Or use the [[Modifying_the_root_image#Shell_script_to_mount.2Funmount_JFFS2_using_kernel_memory_emulating_MTD|automated shell script]].

== Archiving and extracting the rootfs image ==
The image is now accessible under /media/jffs2. Copy the whole image to another directory. This new directory will be used for modifying the image. Extending the currently mounted JFFS2 image is not suggested. Using cp for copying the image to a working directory won't work due to special files in /media/jffs2/dev, which is why we use tar.

cd /media/jffs2
 tar cvzf /my_path/myRootImage.tar.gz .
 cd $HOME
 mkdir myRootImage
 cd myRootImage
 tar xvpzf /my_path/myRootImage.tar.gz

== Repacking the image ==
[http://maemo.org/development/documentation/how-tos/2-x/howto_use_flasher_rootfs.html Using the flasher utility and creating the reference root file system]

== Modifying the copy of the image ==
Now the image is successfully archived and copied. The working directory  $HOME/myRootImage can now be used for adding, changing or modifying packages.

cd $HOME/myRootImage
 dpkg -x $HOME/arm_debs/mypackage_arm.deb .

Now we create a new tarball from the working directory of the image.

cd $HOME/myRootImage
 tar cvzf $HOME/myNewRootImage.tar.gz .

== Installing on the tablet ==
When the new tarball is created,  Using flasher and the reference root filesystem for creating JFFS2 image from the myNewRootImage.tar.gz.

Use flasher to install the image on the tablet.

./flasher-3.0 -r rootfs.jffs2 --f -R

== Shell script to mount/unmount JFFS2 using block device emulating MTD ==
Create a shell script (mount_jffs2.sh) from the following:
<pre>
 #!/bin/sh
 JFFSIMG=$1 # jffs image
 LOOP="/dev/loop1" # loop device
 MP="/media/jffs2" # mount point
 MTDBLOCK="/tmp/mtdblock0" # MTD device file
 KVER="2.6"
 BLKMTD="block2mtd"
 UMNT=""

echo "$0" | grep unmount_ >/dev/null 2>&1
 [ $? -eq 0 ] && UMNT=1
 if [ $# -gt 1 -a x"$2"x = x"unmount"x ]; then
   UMNT=1
 fi

uname -r | egrep '^2\.6' >/dev/null 2>&1
 if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
   KVER="2.4"
   BLKMTD=blkmtd
 fi

if [ x"${UMNT}"x = x""x ]; then
   if [ ! -b ${MTDBLOCK} ] ; then
     mknod ${MTDBLOCK} b 31 0 || exit 1
   fi
   lsmod | grep loop >/dev/null 2>&1
   if [ $? -ne 0 [; then
     modprobe loop
     [ $? -ne 0 ] && echo "loopback loading failed" && exit 1
     sleep 1
   fi
   losetup ${LOOP} ${JFFSIMG} || exit 1
   sleep 1
   modprobe mtdblock
   if [ x"${KVER}"x = x"2.4"x [; then
     modprobe ${BLKMTD} device=${LOOP} || exit 1
   else
     modprobe ${BLKMTD} || exit 1
     echo "${LOOP}" > /sys/module/block2mtd/parameters/block2mtd
   fi
   sleep 1
   modprobe jffs2
   [ ! -d ${MP} ] && mkdir -p ${MP}
   mount -t jffs2 ${MTDBLOCK} ${MP} || exit 1
 else
   umount ${MP}
   if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
     echo "Cannot unmount JFFS2 at $MP" && exit 1
   fi
   modprobe -r jffs2
   modprobe -r ${BLKMTD}
   modprobe -r mtdblock
   sleep 1
   losetup -d ${LOOP}
 fi 
</pre>
Make sure you chmod a+x mount_jffs2.sh to make the shell script executable.

Usage:

./mount_jffs2.sh rootfs.jffs2

You can also use this script to unmount and unload the non-utilized kernel modules and loopback reference:
 ./mount_jffs2.sh rootfs.jffs2 unmount

== Shell script to mount/unmount JFFS2 using kernel memory emulating MTD ==
Create a shell script (mount_jffs2.sh) from the following:
<pre>
 #!/bin/sh
 JFFSIMG=$1 # jffs image
 MP="/media/jffs2" # mount point
 MTDBLOCK="/tmp/mtdblock0" # MTD device file
 UMNT=""

echo "$0" | grep unmount_ >/dev/null 2>&1
 [ $? -eq 0 ] && UMNT=1
 if [ $# -gt 1 -a x"$2"x = x"unmount"x ]; then
   UMNT=1
 fi

if [ x"${UMNT}"x = x""x ]; then
   if [ ! -b ${MTDBLOCK} ] ; then
     mknod ${MTDBLOCK} b 31 0 || exit 1
   fi
   modprobe mtdblock
   modprobe mtdram total_size=65536 erase_size=256
   modprobe jffs2
   dd if=${JFFSIMG} of=${MTDBLOCK}
   [ ! -d ${MP} ] && mkdir -p ${MP}
   mount -t jffs2 ${MTDBLOCK} ${MP}
 else
   umount ${MP}
   if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
     echo "Cannot unmount JFFS2 at $MP" && exit 1
   fi
   modprobe -r jffs2
   modprobe -r mtdram
   modprobe -r mtdblock
 fi 
</pre>
Make sure you chmod a+x mount_jffs2.sh to make the shell script executable.

Usage:
 ./mount_jffs2.sh rootfs.jffs2

You can also use this script to unmount and unload the non-utilized kernel modules:
 ./mount_jffs2.sh rootfs.jffs2 unmount

[[Category:HowTos]]
[[Category:Wiki page of the day]]

Please note that all contributions to maemo.org wiki may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here.
You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see maemo.org wiki:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission!

Summary:

Cancel | Editing help (opens in new window)

Retrieved from "https://wiki.maemo.org/Modifying_the_root_image"

Personal tools

Navigation

Views

Editing Modifying the root image

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-This article describes two methods for extending and modifying an existing tablet JFFS2 root image. Note that this article does not work with the "root.jffs2" file for the [[Nokia N900|N900]], as despite the filename, the N900 does not use jffs2. See http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p=403015&postcount=3 for a solution for N900.
+This article describes two methods for extending and modifying an existing tablet JFFS2 root image.
 == Background ==
@@ Line 43: / Line 43: @@
   modprobe mtdblock
   modprobe block2mtd
- # Note the ,128KiB is needed (on 2.6.26 at least) to set the eraseblock size.
+  echo "/dev/loop0" > /sys/module/block2mtd/parameters/block2mtd
-  echo "/dev/loop0,128KiB" > /sys/module/block2mtd/parameters/block2mtd
   modprobe jffs2
- # check dmesg
   mount -t jffs2 /tmp/mtdblock0 /media/jffs2
- # check dmesg again - if the above mount results in any errors there is a problem...
 To unmount and cleanup:
@@ Line 58: / Line 55: @@
 Or use the [[#Shell_script_to_mount/unmount_JFFS2_using_block_device_emulating_MTD|automated shell script]].
----
-Edit in 2019 - Hi. I (i336_) thought I'd leave the eraseblock size off since I'm on kernel 5.1.4.
-My HDD promptly began seeking a lot for a few seconds (!), and I discovered this was because it was scrambling to keep up with the just-over-30,000 errors jffs had just dumped into syslog.
-You definitely still need the ",128KiB". :)
 === Kernel memory emulating an MTD device ===
+To mount the JFFS2 image, you perform the following steps:
-Note that mtdram requires 88mb of raw ram on a 2gb system to mount a ~2Mb initfs image [Faheem Pervez on -dev ml], it probably won't work well with a rootfs!
-Use total_size=85892 for mtdram if 65536 is too little.
-However, if you insist... to mount the JFFS2 image, you perform the following steps:
   mknod /tmp/mtdblock0 b 31 0
@@ Line 103: / Line 87: @@
 == Repacking the image ==
-[http://maemo.org/development/documentation/manuals/2-x/howto_use_flasher_rootfs/ Using the flasher utility and creating the reference root file system]
+[http://maemo.org/development/documentation/how-tos/2-x/howto_use_flasher_rootfs.html Using the flasher utility and creating the reference root file system]
 == Modifying the copy of the image ==
@@ Line 115: / Line 99: @@
   cd $HOME/myRootImage
   tar cvzf $HOME/myNewRootImage.tar.gz .
-== Making the actual jffs2 image ==
-''This was done on a Ubuntu Hardy system and was only done to make an initfs image successfully. I can't ensure this will work (though in theory, it should do) for creating an rootfs.''
-<ol><li>Install mtd-tools which contains the required mkfs.jffs2.</li></ol>
-:<pre> sudo apt-get install mtd-tools </pre>
-<ol start="2"><li>Run:</li></ol>
-:<pre> sudo mkfs.jffs2 -r myRootImage -o myRootImage.jffs2 -e 128 -l -n </pre>
-Where ''myRootImage'' is the root of your new filesystem and ''myRootImage.jffs2'' is the name of the output file. -e 128 specifies a erase size of 128 KiB. 128 KiB is the correct erase size for the initfs. It is correct for an rootfs too.
-== Making the jffs2 image mount faster ==
-The jffs2 image that was just created is a plain jffs2 image. That's nice and if you were to flash it, it would work fine but what you can do is use sumtool which makes an summarized JFFS2 image. An summarized JFFS2 image mounts faster than a non-summarized one.
-This can be done simply with:
-sumtool -i <input jffs2 image> -o <output jffs2 image> -e 128KiB -l -n
 == Installing on the tablet ==
@@ Line 144: / Line 109: @@
 == Shell script to mount/unmount JFFS2 using block device emulating MTD ==
 Create a shell script (mount_jffs2.sh) from the following:
-<source lang="bash">
+<pre>
-#!/bin/sh
+ #!/bin/sh
-JFFSIMG=$1 # jffs image
+ JFFSIMG=$1 # jffs image
-LOOP="/dev/loop1" # loop device
+ LOOP="/dev/loop1" # loop device
-MP="/media/jffs2" # mount point
+ MP="/media/jffs2" # mount point
-MTDBLOCK="/tmp/mtdblock0" # MTD device file
+ MTDBLOCK="/tmp/mtdblock0" # MTD device file
-KVER="2.6"
+ KVER="2.6"
-BLKMTD="block2mtd"
+ BLKMTD="block2mtd"
-UMNT=""
+ UMNT=""
-echo "$0" | grep unmount_ >/dev/null 2>&1
+ echo "$0" | grep unmount_ >/dev/null 2>&1
-[ $? -eq 0 ] && UMNT=1
+ [ $? -eq 0 ] && UMNT=1
-if [ $# -gt 1 -a x"$2"x = x"unmount"x ]; then
+ if [ $# -gt 1 -a x"$2"x = x"unmount"x ]; then
-  UMNT=1
+   UMNT=1
-fi
+ fi
-uname -r | egrep '^2\.6' >/dev/null 2>&1
+ uname -r | egrep '^2\.6' >/dev/null 2>&1
-if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
+ if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
-  KVER="2.4"
+   KVER="2.4"
-  BLKMTD=blkmtd
+   BLKMTD=blkmtd
-fi
+ fi
-if [ x"${UMNT}"x = x""x ]; then
+ if [ x"${UMNT}"x = x""x ]; then
-  if [ ! -b ${MTDBLOCK} ] ; then
+   if [ ! -b ${MTDBLOCK} ] ; then
-    mknod ${MTDBLOCK} b 31 0 || exit 1
+     mknod ${MTDBLOCK} b 31 0 || exit 1
-  fi
+   fi
-  lsmod | grep loop >/dev/null 2>&1
+   lsmod | grep loop >/dev/null 2>&1
-  if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
+   if [ $? -ne 0 [; then
-    modprobe loop
+     modprobe loop
-    [ $? -ne 0 ] && echo "loopback loading failed" && exit 1
+     [ $? -ne 0 ] && echo "loopback loading failed" && exit 1
-    sleep 1
+     sleep 1
-  fi
+   fi
-  losetup ${LOOP} ${JFFSIMG} || exit 1
+   losetup ${LOOP} ${JFFSIMG} || exit 1
-  sleep 1
+   sleep 1
-  modprobe mtdblock
+   modprobe mtdblock
-  if [ x"${KVER}"x = x"2.4"x ]; then
+   if [ x"${KVER}"x = x"2.4"x [; then
-    modprobe ${BLKMTD} device=${LOOP} || exit 1
+     modprobe ${BLKMTD} device=${LOOP} || exit 1
-  else
+   else
-    modprobe ${BLKMTD} || exit 1
+     modprobe ${BLKMTD} || exit 1
-    echo "${LOOP}" > /sys/module/block2mtd/parameters/block2mtd
+     echo "${LOOP}" > /sys/module/block2mtd/parameters/block2mtd
-  fi
+   fi
-  sleep 1
+   sleep 1
-  modprobe jffs2
+   modprobe jffs2
-  [ ! -d ${MP} ] && mkdir -p ${MP}
+   [ ! -d ${MP} ] && mkdir -p ${MP}
-  mount -t jffs2 ${MTDBLOCK} ${MP} || exit 1
+   mount -t jffs2 ${MTDBLOCK} ${MP} || exit 1
-else
+ else
-  umount ${MP}
+   umount ${MP}
-  if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
+   if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
-    echo "Cannot unmount JFFS2 at $MP" && exit 1
+     echo "Cannot unmount JFFS2 at $MP" && exit 1
-  fi
+   fi
-  modprobe -r jffs2
+   modprobe -r jffs2
-  modprobe -r ${BLKMTD}
+   modprobe -r ${BLKMTD}
-  modprobe -r mtdblock
+   modprobe -r mtdblock
-  sleep 1
+   sleep 1
-  losetup -d ${LOOP}
+   losetup -d ${LOOP}
-fi
+ fi
-</source>
+</pre>
 Make sure you chmod a+x mount_jffs2.sh to make the shell script executable.
@@ Line 212: / Line 177: @@
 == Shell script to mount/unmount JFFS2 using kernel memory emulating MTD ==
 Create a shell script (mount_jffs2.sh) from the following:
-<source lang="bash">
+<pre>
-#!/bin/sh
+ #!/bin/sh
-JFFSIMG=$1 # jffs image
+ JFFSIMG=$1 # jffs image
-MP="/media/jffs2" # mount point
+ MP="/media/jffs2" # mount point
-MTDBLOCK="/tmp/mtdblock0" # MTD device file
+ MTDBLOCK="/tmp/mtdblock0" # MTD device file
-UMNT=""
+ UMNT=""
-echo "$0" | grep unmount_ >/dev/null 2>&1
+ echo "$0" | grep unmount_ >/dev/null 2>&1
-[ $? -eq 0 ] && UMNT=1
+ [ $? -eq 0 ] && UMNT=1
-if [ $# -gt 1 -a x"$2"x = x"unmount"x ]; then
+ if [ $# -gt 1 -a x"$2"x = x"unmount"x ]; then
-  UMNT=1
+   UMNT=1
-fi
+ fi
-if [ x"${UMNT}"x = x""x ]; then
+ if [ x"${UMNT}"x = x""x ]; then
-  if [ ! -b ${MTDBLOCK} ] ; then
+   if [ ! -b ${MTDBLOCK} ] ; then
-    mknod ${MTDBLOCK} b 31 0 || exit 1
+     mknod ${MTDBLOCK} b 31 0 || exit 1
-  fi
+   fi
-  modprobe mtdblock
+   modprobe mtdblock
-  modprobe mtdram total_size=65536 erase_size=256
+   modprobe mtdram total_size=65536 erase_size=256
-  modprobe jffs2
+   modprobe jffs2
-  dd if=${JFFSIMG} of=${MTDBLOCK}
+   dd if=${JFFSIMG} of=${MTDBLOCK}
-  [ ! -d ${MP} ] && mkdir -p ${MP}
+   [ ! -d ${MP} ] && mkdir -p ${MP}
-  mount -t jffs2 ${MTDBLOCK} ${MP}
+   mount -t jffs2 ${MTDBLOCK} ${MP}
-else
+ else
-  umount ${MP}
+   umount ${MP}
-  if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
+   if [ $? -ne 0 ]; then
-    echo "Cannot unmount JFFS2 at $MP" && exit 1
+     echo "Cannot unmount JFFS2 at $MP" && exit 1
-  fi
+   fi
-  modprobe -r jffs2
+   modprobe -r jffs2
-  modprobe -r mtdram
+   modprobe -r mtdram
-  modprobe -r mtdblock
+   modprobe -r mtdblock
-fi
+ fi
-</source>
+</pre>
 Make sure you chmod a+x mount_jffs2.sh to make the shell script executable.
@@ Line 253: / Line 218: @@
   ./mount_jffs2.sh rootfs.jffs2 unmount
-[[Category:HowTo]]
+[[Category:HowTos]]
 [[Category:Wiki page of the day]]