Building/Running Android Goldfish kernel

Among the tasks for build an Android kernel development, building the Android Goldfish kernel is the easiest :-) (I mean, no compiling errors...)

First, you need to have access to the cross-compiling tools. The Android source code provides them in folder /prebuilt/linux-x86/toolchain/. 

Steps


1. Set the path to include the pre-build toolchain
   # export PATH=/prebuilt/linux-x86/toolchain/arm-eabi-4.4.3/bin/:$PATH
2. Set the Kernel config file. In this case, we are compiling for the ARM emulator (armv7).
   # make ARCH=arm goldfish_armv7_defconfig
3. Run make
   # CROSS_COMPILE=/prebuilt/linux-x86/toolchain/arm-eabi-4.4.3/bin/arm-eabi- ARCH=arm make
4. Change var ANDROID_PRODUCT_OUT
   # export ANDROID_PRODUCT_OUT=/out/target/product/generic/
5. Run the emulator
   # /out/host/linux-x86/bin/emulator-arm -system /out/target/product/generic/system.img -kernel /goldfish/arch/arm/boot/zImage -data /out/target/product/generic/userdata.img -ramdisk /out/target/product/generic/ramdisk.img -skindir /sdk/emulator/skins/ -skin HVGA -verbose -show-kernel

Issues

• The option CONFIG_MODULES is NOT enabled by default. If you want to insert modules into the kernel, make sure to set CONFIG_MODULES;
• Android emulator does NOT work with Kernels > 2.6.X So, make sure to use the proper Kernel. For devices, any support Kernel will work.