I'm currently using the Angstrom uImage I obtained via Narcissus
(2.6.29-omap1) in combination with a custom Debian 5.0.3 rootfs on the
Rev C3 BeagleBoard. I didn't face any problems until it was necessary
to load modules which were not built directly into the kernel, namely
tun and fuse, causing such an error message:
FATAL: Error inserting tun (/lib/modules/2.6.29-omap1/kernel/drivers/
net/tun.ko): Invalid module format
The folder in which the modules reside was transferred over from
Angstrom as well, so I didn't expect there to be any problems. The
foolish attempt to use insert kernel build's modules failed for the
same reason (invalid module format).
To solve this problem I attempted to build an own kernel with built-in
support for tun and fuse from the official OMAP kernel repository's
source code, which resulted in failure as well as the builds were
unable to boot up, although I followed the instructions here
http://elinux.org/BeagleBoard#Linux_kernel precisely. I just added the
modules in question in menuconfig, nothing more.
Unfortunately, I can't investigate this any further since my serial
connection won't deliver more than ~3 lines of random characters per
connection, despite being properly configures. But that's another
story.
My questions:
1. Is it possible that uImages don't allow loading external modules?
2. If uImages allow loading external modules, why are they apparently
invalid although originating from the same build?
3. Is it possible to resolve this situation without building a new
kernel? If yes, how?
4. If there is no way around building a new kernel, what do I have to
pay attention to in order not to make the same mistakes again, ending
up with an unbootable kernel?
I'm grateful for all answers I can get.
Chris