[REFERENCE] [3.10.105] Stock kernel with upstream Linux patches - May 9th - Nexus 6P Android Development

Introduction
Hello all, I am bringing you this thread as a jumping off point to compiling kernels and working with upstream Linux. I will include a guide, some links, and some terms that will help you get started with modifying kernel source. This is also a good reference point for existing developers as I have consolidated all upstream patches into one repo. Let's get down into it!
What in the world is upstream Linux?
When an OEM sets up a device, they will pick a stable longterm branch from the Linux kernel to base their modifications around (drivers and such). In the case of Angler, they picked 3.10.73. Currently, the Linux kernel's 3.10 is updated to 3.10.105, as you can see on kernel.org. This means that Google is "missing" versions 3.10.74 to 3.10.105. Now, why does this matter? Well, the way that the Linux kernel runs its stable branches, the only things that get merged into there are bug fixes and security updates. That's it, there are no wonky features or unstable patches. The only way you get a patch into a stable branch is by having it be in the mainline branch first. Some developers have an aversion to adding upstream because they claim it is excessive and not necessary and they are partially right since not all the patches that come in are relevant to our architecture (arm64). However, upstream Linux is not unstable and by adding each version one at a time, you can verify this. I found only two patches between 3.10.73 and 3.10.105 that gave me issues and it is easy enough to either fix/revert them. Being up to date is good since you keep yourself protected from bugs and security issues that crop up. Google has been better about doing this lately with their monthly security updates but it never hurts to take matters into your own hands.
I suggest watching one of these talks given by Greg Kroah-Hartman, it is really interesting to see how the process goes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPY0LyTU53w | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2SED6sewRw
What did you do?
All I did was fetch the latest kernel.org patches from here and cherry pick them on top of the latest kernel source from Google.
I merge these patches by cherry-picking each version individually (3.10.73 to 3.10.74, 3.10.74 to 3.10.75, etc), that way I can verify that the kernel compiles fine and that there are no merge conflicts. Google will sometimes pick certain commits from upstream that are of a higher importance than others which can result in conflicts if you try to pick it again. Additionally, upstream might fix a bug one way and Google has done it another (which is not really good, Google should be pushing their fixes back to upstream so everything stays in sync).
What do I do with this?
I have created two repos below: one with the latest N security update branch with the latest upstream patches picked up on top of it (the angler-upstream branch) and another one with a plain AnyKernel source for you to modify (angler-stock is the most basic, angler-decrypt contains an fstab file that will disable both forced encryption and dm-verity). You are free to fork these or base other branches on them, that's the whole point of this post. I have verified that all the patches contain no major detectable issues. I would like some credit if you do use it but it's not required since the kernel is licensed under GPL Another reason I offer this is I have seen a lot of developers picking in upstream in patch sets, so you get one single commit for an upstream version. This is detrimental as you start to add your own patches as you cannot fully tell what was modified and for what reason without the individual commits. It might look cleaner but you don't get full history which hurts you in the long run.
Links
Kernel source: https://github.com/nathanchance/angler/tree/7.1.2-upstream
AnyKernel source: https://github.com/nathanchance/AnyKernel2/tree/angler-stock-decrypt
Toolchain source: https://android.googlesource.com/platform/prebuilts/gcc/linux-x86/aarch64/aarch64-linux-android-4.9/
How to compile
This will be a quick, step by step guide on how to compile this kernel from source. By using this process, you can start to make modifications to the kernel source and make a flashable zip.
Clone the kernel source, the AnyKernel source, and toolchain source
Code:
cd ~
mkdir Kernel && cd Kernel
git clone https://github.com/nathanchance/angler.git source
git clone https://github.com/nathanchance/AnyKernel2.git anykernel
git clone https://android.googlesource.com/platform/prebuilts/gcc/linux-x86/aarch64/aarch64-linux-android-4.9 AOSP-4.9
Explanation:
First command: make sure you are in your home directory (or whatever directory you want to hold the kernel folder we are about to make.
Second command: make a Kernel folder and move into it
Third command: clone the kernel source from my repo into a folder named source
Fourth command: clone the AnyKernel source from my repo into a folder named anykernel
Fifth command: clone the Google 4.9 toolchain into a folder named AOSP-4.9
AnyKernel is the name of the zip we are going to make which allows the kernel to be flashed over any ROM.
A toolchain is a set of compiler tools that allow us to compile the kernel on any computer architecture.
Make sure you are on the correct branches
Code:
cd source && git checkout 7.1.2-upstream
cd ../anykernel && git checkout angler-stock-decrypt
Explanation:
First command: move into the source directory and checkout the branch "n7.1.2-upstream", which has all of the necessary patches in it.
Second command: move into the AnyKernel directory and checkout the branch "angler-decrypt". If you don't want to disable forced encryption, use the "angler-stock" branch.
Tell the compiler what you are are compiling
Code:
export CROSS_COMPILE=${HOME}/Kernel/AOSP-4.9/bin/aarch64-linux-android-
export ARCH=arm64 && export SUBARCH=arm64
make clean && make mrproper
make angler_defconfig
Explanation:
First command: point the compiler to the location of your toolchain. If you have done anything different with the folder locations, you will need to modify the "${HOME}/Kernel/AOSP-4.9" part.
Second command: tell the compiler which architecture we are compiling for. In this case, our device is an arm64 device.
Third command: clean out any compiled files and remove our previous defconfig.
Fourth command: tell the compiler which options we want in the kernel using the angler_defconfig.
A defconfig is a file that will tell the compiler which features we want in the kernel. No computer ever uses all of the options in the kernel since there are different drivers for various devices.
Make the kernel!
Code:
make -j$(grep -c ^processor /proc/cpuinfo)
Explanation:
make tells the compiler to make the kernel (duh) and the -j$(grep -c ^processor /proc/cpuinfo) tells the compiler to use the maximum number of cores your computer has available
Make the AnyKernel zip
Code:
cp -v arch/arm64/boot/Image.gz-dtb ../anykernel/zImage-dtb
cd ../anykernel
zip -r9 stock-upstream.zip * -x README stock-upstream.zip
Explanation:
First command: copies the completed kernel (Image.gz-dtb) into the AnyKernel folder
Second command: moves us into the AnyKernel folder
Third command: makes the zip file (named stock-upstream.zip) in the AnyKernel folder.
If you ever want to do this again, run these commands and go straight to step 3:
Code:
cd source && git clean -fxd && git pull
cd anykernel && git clean -fxd && git pull
NOTE: This thread is aimed to be a breeding ground for kernel development, a place to jump off if you will. I am happy to answer how to questions about building kernels or flashing the one I have provided but this is not supposed to be a general Q&A thread. Please use another thread or create your own in Q&A if you need assistance.

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Reserved

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Nice

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Awesome! Thanks
Sent from my ONEPLUS A3000 using Tapatalk

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This is awesome! Can't wait to try this out. I've been looking for a good guide on building kernels for a long time.

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I have cleaned up and reworded the OP a bit, I write better at 12pm than 4am it seems :silly:

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This is nice
Sent from my Nexus 6P using XDA-Developers mobile app

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Any performance or any other benefits? Normally I would just flash. But I've been trying to stay completely stock on N these days.

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Smallsmx3 said:
Any performance or any other benefits? Normally I would just flash. But I've been trying to stay completely stock on N these days.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Most likely not. Just bug fixes and stability improvements.
Sent from my Nexus 6P using XDA Labs

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Been using this kernel all day today and it seems pretty solid and good on battery life
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syrkles said:
Been using this kernel all day today and it seems pretty solid and good on battery life
Sent from my Nexus 6P using XDA-Developers mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Guess that means I did a good job adding all the necessary patches haha.

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Will this be updated as more patches are released?
Sent from my Nexus 6P using XDA-Developers mobile app

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bossofindy said:
Will this be updated as more patches are released?
Sent from my Nexus 6P using XDA-Developers mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's the goal. I'll rebase on top of new Android security releases as they are available and I'll add Linux versions as they come out.

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Github and the kernel in the OP are updated to 3.10.104.

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Added to Nexus 6P index thread:
[INDEX] Huawei Nexus 6P

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Work on 7.1???

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I'm going to nickname this the Streak Kernel for myself.
I quite like keeping up to date stability wise. Bleeding edge is nice but I've learned my lesson.

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Pheoxy said:
I'm going to nickname this the Streak Kernel for myself.
I quite like keeping up to date stability wise. Bleeding edge is nice but I've learned my lesson.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
@Pheoxy how are the folks at the i9305 forum going with their ROMs, I left there with a terrible build of cm13,,, i really hope that they had sorted out the RIL issue in source instead of using a really dirty hack of using chmod with cm12.1 to get Radio working... glad to see you here in the 6p forums though
Sent from my Nexus 6P using XDA-Developers mobile app

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winxuser said:
@Pheoxy how are the folks at the i9305 forum going with their ROMs, I left there with a terrible build of cm13,,, i really hope that they had sorted out the RIL issue in source instead of using a really dirty hack of using chmod with cm12.1 to get Radio working... glad to see you here in the 6p forums though
Sent from my Nexus 6P using XDA-Developers mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was time to upgrade. Still got the old S3 but I must have left around the same time as you. Bit to busy to really do anything of my own anymore so @theflash makes some awesome but not clogged full stuff stuff and seems alright.
Have to take this to PMs [emoji1].

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Nathan, say I have stock kernel source and I just want to update it to 3.10.74 how to u upstream/Cherry pick just 3.10.74 updates all at once instead of having the source update to 3.10.104. WITHOUT having to download the patch file
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