Steps to Add Custom Modules

Steps to Add Custom Modules - 2022.1 English

PetaLinux Tools Documentation: Reference Guide (UG1144)

Document ID

UG1144

Release Date

2022-04-26

Version

2022.1 English

Create a user module by running petalinux-create -t modules from inside a PetaLinux project on your workstation:
```
$ cd <plnx-proj-root>
$ petalinux-create -t modules --name <user-module-name> --enable
```
For example, to create a user module called mymodule in C (the default):
```
$ petalinux-create -t modules --name mymodule --enable
```
You can use -h or --help to see the usage of the petalinux-create -t modules. The new module recipe you created can be found in the <plnx-proj-root>/project-spec/meta-user/recipes-modules/mymodule directory.

Note: If the module name has '_' or uppercase letters or starts with an uppercase letter, see Recipe Name has ' _ ' or Uppercase Letters or Starts with an Uppercase Letter.

Change to the newly created module directory.

$ cd <plnx-proj-root>/project-spec/meta-user/recipes-modules/mymodule

You should see the following PetaLinux template-generated files:

Table 1. Adding Custom Module Files
Template	Description
Makefile	Compilation file template - This is a basic Makefile containing targets to build and install your module into the root file system. This file needs to be modified when you add additional source code files to your project. Click here to customize the make file.
README	A file to introduce how to build the user module.
mymodule.c	Simple kernel module in C.
<plnx-proj-root>/project- spec/meta-user/conf/user-rootfsconfig	Configuration file template - This file controls the integration of your application/modules/libs into the PetaLinux RooFS menu configuration system. It also allows you to select or de-select the app and its dev, dbg packages into the target root file system.

mymodule.c file can be edited or replaced with the real source code for your module. Later if you want to modify your custom user module, you are required to edit this file.
Note: If you want to use the build artifacts for debugging with the third party utilities, add the following line in project-spec/meta-user/conf/petalinuxbsp.conf:
```
RM_WORK_EXCLUDE += "mymodule"
```

Note: You can find all build artifacts under ${TMPDIR}/work/aarch64-xilinx-linux/mymodule/1.0-r0/.

Note: The modules created with petalinux-create -t modules have debug symbols by default.

CAUTION:

You can delete the module directory if it is no longer required. Apart from deleting the module directory, you have to remove the line: CONFIG_mymodule from <plnx-proj-root>/project-spec/meta-user/conf/user-rootfsconfig. Deleting the directory by keeping the mentioned line in user-rootfsconfig throws an error.