[Bug 1384955] [NEW] flash-kernel should support compressed kernels

[Jim Hull]

Public bug reported:

When building an upstream kernel using "make deb-pkg" and not any of the
Ubuntu-specific kernel build methods (such as debian/rules binary-
headers binary-generic), the resulting linux-image deb package includes
a gzip-compressed kernel image (copied from Image.gz, not Image). When
such a deb package is installed on an arm64 system (such as McDivitt)
and flash-kernel is run, it always calls "mkimage" with "-C none", which
results in a uImage that can't boot.

The attached patch adds a check to the mkimage_kernel() function in
/usr/share/flash-kernel/functions to determine whether the kernel image
is gzip-compressed or not, and calls "mkimage" with the appropriate "-C
gzip" or "-C none" option. I have tested this patch on McDivitt, with
both standard Ubuntu 3.13.0-37 and upstream 3.18-rc1 kernels, and it
works for me.

** Affects: flash-kernel (Ubuntu)
     Importance: Undecided
         Status: New

** Patch added: "flash_kernel_compress.patch"
   https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1384955/+attachment/4242721/+files/flash_kernel_compress.patch

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https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1384955

Title:
  flash-kernel should support compressed kernels

Status in “flash-kernel” package in Ubuntu:
  New

Bug description:
  When building an upstream kernel using "make deb-pkg" and not any of
  the Ubuntu-specific kernel build methods (such as debian/rules binary-
  headers binary-generic), the resulting linux-image deb package
  includes a gzip-compressed kernel image (copied from Image.gz, not
  Image). When such a deb package is installed on an arm64 system (such
  as McDivitt) and flash-kernel is run, it always calls "mkimage" with
  "-C none", which results in a uImage that can't boot.

  The attached patch adds a check to the mkimage_kernel() function in
  /usr/share/flash-kernel/functions to determine whether the kernel
  image is gzip-compressed or not, and calls "mkimage" with the
  appropriate "-C gzip" or "-C none" option. I have tested this patch on
  McDivitt, with both standard Ubuntu 3.13.0-37 and upstream 3.18-rc1
  kernels, and it works for me.

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