Question How to compile and run custom kernel for Pixel 6 - Google Pixel 6

Hello!
I'm trying to compile and run a custom Android kernel on my Pixel 6. I did this multiple times in the past but with Android 12 it seems things have changed.
I'm following the usual "Building Kernels" page https://source.android.com/setup/build/building-kernels?hl=en
In more details these are the commands that I run:
mkdir android-kernel && cd android-kernel
repo init -u https://android.googlesource.com/kernel/manifest -b android-gs-raviole-5.10-android12-d1
./build/build.sh
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
However when I try to boot the boot.img using the "fastboot boot boot.img" command, I get immediately redirected back to the bootloader. I suspect this is due to a bad image file format.
I also tried to compile as follow
BUILD_BOOT_IMG=1 SKIP_VENDOR_BOOT=1 KERNEL_BINARY=Image \
GKI_RAMDISK_PREBUILT_BINARY=gki-ramdisk.lz4 \
BUILD_CONFIG=private/gs-google/build.config.gki.aarch64 \
./build/build.sh
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
where gki-ramdisk.lz4 is the ramdisk extracted from the prebuilt images found here https://developers.google.com/android/images#oriole
With this last setup I get a boot-loop, so at least the boot.img file format seems to be ok.
I think that these issues are related to the new GKI format, however I cannot find any information online on how to compile a custom GKI kernel.
Does any of you know how to build and run custom kernels for the Pixel 6?
Thanks!

---

barbito said:
Hello!
I'm trying to compile and run a custom Android kernel on my Pixel 6. I did this multiple times in the past but with Android 12 it seems things have changed.
I'm following the usual "Building Kernels" page https://source.android.com/setup/build/building-kernels?hl=en
In more details these are the commands that I run:
However when I try to boot the boot.img using the "fastboot boot boot.img" command, I get immediately redirected back to the bootloader. I suspect this is due to a bad image file format.
I also tried to compile as follow
where gki-ramdisk.lz4 is the ramdisk extracted from the prebuilt images found here https://developers.google.com/android/images#oriole
With this last setup I get a boot-loop, so at least the boot.img file format seems to be ok.
I think that these issues are related to the new GKI format, however I cannot find any information online on how to compile a custom GKI kernel.
Does any of you know how to build and run custom kernels for the Pixel 6?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You just need to run build_slider.sh script on the root of the repo you cloned for compile stock source

---

Ah thanks! build_slider works but you need to specify to compile the kernel otherwise it uses the prebuilt kernel
BUILD_KERNEL=1 ./build_slider.sh

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barbito said:
Ah thanks! build_slider works but you need to specify to compile the kernel otherwise it uses the prebuilt kernel
BUILD_KERNEL=1 ./build_slider.sh
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi I am trying to do the same thing, looks like there is no aosp folder anymore.

---

I had the same issue. I can no more compile it correctly.
They constantly change everything. I even tried to checkout to older branches where I was sure I managed to compile it but still no success. Maybe the sub cloned repository were not in sync

---

barbito said:
I had the same issue. I can no more compile it correctly.
They constantly change everything. I even tried to checkout to older branches where I was sure I managed to compile it but still no success. Maybe the sub cloned repository were not in sync
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
[email protected]:/mnt/code/shaoyang/aosp_kernel$ ls
build build_slider.sh prebuilts tools
build.config common-modules prebuilts-master update_symbol_list.sh
build_mixed.sh kernel private
[email protected]:/mnt/code/shaoyang/aosp_kernel$ BUILD_KERNEL=1 ./build_slider.sh
Building GKI kernel using aosp/build.config.gki.aarch64...
realpath: /mnt/code/shaoyang/aosp_kernel/aosp/build.config.gki.aarch64: No such file or directory
ERROR: Failed to compile GKI kernel: retval=1
ERROR: Failed to create mixed build: retval=1
there is no aosp folder any more, the older branches you mentioned is ?

---

hey,
try doing this.
Return to the ClockworkMod Recovery main menu. Choose "install zip from sdcard" and press "N." Choose "choose zip from sdcard" and press "N." Scroll through the list of ROMs, updates and kernels located on your SD card. Select the custom kernel you want to flash to the Nook.

---

I am trying to build AOSP 12 and kernel and unable to get it working on the Pixel 6.
my AOSP branch is android-12.1.0_r2 and my kernel branch is android-gs-raviole-5.10-android12L.
Pixel 6 works well if only flash the AOSP images I build, however, it won't boot up if I flash the boot.img build with kernel.
Here is my step:
1. mkdir android-kernel && cd android-kernel
2. repo init -u https://android.googlesource.com/kernel/manifest -b android-gs-raviole-5.10-android12L
3. repo sync
4. build/build.sh
I could see the logs below after I build successfully.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Files copied to /mnt/code/shaoyang/kernel/out/android-gs-pixel-5.10/dist
vendor_ramdisk-oriole.img is LZ4 compressed boot image created at boot.img
Signing the boot.img...
vendor boot image created at /mnt/code/shaoyang/kernel/out/android-gs-pixel-5.10/dist/vendor_boot.img
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note that the boot.img and vendor_boot.img had already been generated, then I use “fastboot flash boot boot.img” and “fastboot flash vendor_boot vendor_boot.img”to flash the boot.img and vendor_boot.img.
Unfortunately, the Pixel6 couldn’t boot up, it always stay in the fastboot mode.
I am also tried that copy all the files from out/android-gs-pixel-5.10/dist to the folder AOSP/device/google/raviole-kernel/
export TARGET_PREBUILT_KERNEL=out/android-gs-pixel-5.10/dist/Image.lz4
make bootimage
after that I flash the boot.img , Pixel 6 couldn't boot up.
I have compared the good boot.img and the bad boot.img, looks like there is no ramdisk in the bad boot.img .
I have also tried to do the below steps:
Building a Boot Image​It's possible to build a boot image using the kernel build environment. To do this you need a ramdisk binary, which you can obtain by downloading a GKI boot image and unpacking it. Any GKI boot image from the associated Android release will work.
tools/mkbootimg/unpack_bootimg.py --boot_img=boot-5.4-gz.img
mv tools/mkbootimg/out/ramdisk gki-ramdisk.lz4
The target folder is the top-level directory of the kernel tree (the current working directory).
If you're developing with AOSP master, you can instead download the ramdisk-recovery.img build artifact from an aosp_arm64 build on ci.android.com and use that as your ramdisk binary.
When you have a ramdisk binary and have copied it to gki-ramdisk.lz4 in the root directory of the kernel build, you can generate a boot image by executing:
BUILD_BOOT_IMG=1 SKIP_VENDOR_BOOT=1 KERNEL_BINARY=Image GKI_RAMDISK_PREBUILT_BINARY=gki-ramdisk.lz4 BUILD_CONFIG=common/build.config.gki.aarch64 build/build.sh
That file is located in the artifact directory $KERNEL_ROOT/out/$KERNEL_VERSION/dist.
The boot image is located at out/<kernel branch>/dist/boot.img.
looks like the boot.img still don't have the ramdisk.
the pixel 6 couldn't boot up after flashed the boot.img

---

barbito said:
I had the same issue. I can no more compile it correctly.
They constantly change everything. I even tried to checkout to older branches where I was sure I managed to compile it but still no success. Maybe the sub cloned repository were not in sync
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi , we don't need to build the whole kernel, just replace the KO file and build your vendor_boot.img and flash it. that will works for your mofiy in kernel source.

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shaoyang said:
I am trying to build AOSP 12 and kernel and unable to get it working on the Pixel 6.
my AOSP branch is android-12.1.0_r2 and my kernel branch is android-gs-raviole-5.10-android12L.
Pixel 6 works well if only flash the AOSP images I build, however, it won't boot up if I flash the boot.img build with kernel.
Here is my step:
1. mkdir android-kernel && cd android-kernel
2. repo init -u https://android.googlesource.com/kernel/manifest -b android-gs-raviole-5.10-android12L
3. repo sync
4. build/build.sh
I could see the logs below after I build successfully.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Files copied to /mnt/code/shaoyang/kernel/out/android-gs-pixel-5.10/dist
vendor_ramdisk-oriole.img is LZ4 compressed boot image created at boot.img
Signing the boot.img...
vendor boot image created at /mnt/code/shaoyang/kernel/out/android-gs-pixel-5.10/dist/vendor_boot.img
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note that the boot.img and vendor_boot.img had already been generated, then I use “fastboot flash boot boot.img” and “fastboot flash vendor_boot vendor_boot.img”to flash the boot.img and vendor_boot.img.
Unfortunately, the Pixel6 couldn’t boot up, it always stay in the fastboot mode.
I am also tried that copy all the files from out/android-gs-pixel-5.10/dist to the folder AOSP/device/google/raviole-kernel/
export TARGET_PREBUILT_KERNEL=out/android-gs-pixel-5.10/dist/Image.lz4
make bootimage
after that I flash the boot.img , Pixel 6 couldn't boot up.
I have compared the good boot.img and the bad boot.img, looks like there is no ramdisk in the bad boot.img .
I have also tried to do the below steps:
Building a Boot Image​It's possible to build a boot image using the kernel build environment. To do this you need a ramdisk binary, which you can obtain by downloading a GKI boot image and unpacking it. Any GKI boot image from the associated Android release will work.
tools/mkbootimg/unpack_bootimg.py --boot_img=boot-5.4-gz.img
mv tools/mkbootimg/out/ramdisk gki-ramdisk.lz4
The target folder is the top-level directory of the kernel tree (the current working directory).
If you're developing with AOSP master, you can instead download the ramdisk-recovery.img build artifact from an aosp_arm64 build on ci.android.com and use that as your ramdisk binary.
When you have a ramdisk binary and have copied it to gki-ramdisk.lz4 in the root directory of the kernel build, you can generate a boot image by executing:
BUILD_BOOT_IMG=1 SKIP_VENDOR_BOOT=1 KERNEL_BINARY=Image GKI_RAMDISK_PREBUILT_BINARY=gki-ramdisk.lz4 BUILD_CONFIG=common/build.config.gki.aarch64 build/build.sh
That file is located in the artifact directory $KERNEL_ROOT/out/$KERNEL_VERSION/dist.
The boot image is located at out/<kernel branch>/dist/boot.img.
looks like the boot.img still don't have the ramdisk.
the pixel 6 couldn't boot up after flashed the boot.img
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,I went through the same steps as you，“the Pixel6 couldn’t boot up, it always stay in the fastboot mode.” How to solve and finally successful?
environment：Unbutu 20.04

---

barbito said:
Hello!
I'm trying to compile and run a custom Android kernel on my Pixel 6. I did this multiple times in the past but with Android 12 it seems things have changed.
I'm following the usual "Building Kernels" page https://source.android.com/setup/build/building-kernels?hl=en
In more details these are the commands that I run:
However when I try to boot the boot.img using the "fastboot boot boot.img" command, I get immediately redirected back to the bootloader. I suspect this is due to a bad image file format.
I also tried to compile as follow
where gki-ramdisk.lz4 is the ramdisk extracted from the prebuilt images found here https://developers.google.com/android/images#oriole
With this last setup I get a boot-loop, so at least the boot.img file format seems to be ok.
I think that these issues are related to the new GKI format, however I cannot find any information online on how to compile a custom GKI kernel.
Does any of you know how to build and run custom kernels for the Pixel 6?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi，I went through the same steps as you ，I had the same problem as you； How to solve and finally successful? am looking forward to your early reply

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any solution for this problem? can't find any with google.... need help badly

---

I know it's definitely possible, but getting boot loops/crashes. There are certainly working kernels out there. So I am sure that this is possible. But can't figure it out.
acuicultor said:
You just need to run build_slider.sh script on the root of the repo you cloned for compile stock source
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
acuicultor after this, do you just copy the files under out/mixed/dist to device/google/raviole-kernel? And then run the aosp build?​

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haunted2bwanted said:
I know it's definitely possible, but getting boot loops/crashes. There are certainly working kernels out there. So I am sure that this is possible. But can't figure it out.
acuicultor after this, do you just copy the files under out/mixed/dist to device/google/raviole-kernel? And then run the aosp build?​
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I run standalone builds, no need to build aosp just for the kernel.

---

Hello
Is it possible to compile only the kernel from source without downloading all that AOSP bloatware simply by using the Android NDK to build it? Just like you would build any other aarch64 binary using the ndk-build command? Thank you!

---

acuicultor said:
I run standalone builds, no need to build aosp just for the kernel.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yep. That is exactly what I am curious about. I tried the same, I can't get my device to boot unfortunately. Couple of things:
I am on a userdebug build (not sure if that matters)
I started with branch android-gs-raviole-5.10-android12L
Detailed procedure as follows:
Bash:
# download the manifest and get the repo kernel
$ repo init --depth=1 -u https://android.googlesource.com/kernel/manifest -b android-gs-raviole-5.10-android12L
$ repo sync --force-sync -c --no-clone-bundle -j$(nproc --all) --verbose
# build the kernel
$ BUILD_KERNEL=1 ./build_slider.sh
# once the build finishes, you would find the following image files
# in ./out/dist/dist/
$ ls ./out/mixed/dist/*.img -ls
19188 -rw-rw-r-- 1 user user 67108864 Jul 23 11:39 ./out/mixed/dist/boot.img
484 -rw-rw-r-- 1 user user 495134 Jul 23 11:39 ./out/mixed/dist/dtb.img
2136 -rw-rw-r-- 1 user user 2183590 Jul 23 11:29 ./out/mixed/dist/dtbo.img
12116 -rw-rw-r-- 1 user user 12405857 Jul 23 11:39 ./out/mixed/dist/initramfs.img
4 -rw-rw-r-- 1 user user 38 Jul 23 11:39 ./out/mixed/dist/vendor-bootconfig.img
31656 -rw-rw-r-- 1 user user 32415744 Jul 23 11:39 ./out/mixed/dist/vendor_boot.img
43528 -rw-rw-r-- 1 user user 44605440 Jul 23 11:39 ./out/mixed/dist/vendor_dlkm.img
# I flash the following way:
$ adb reboot bootloader
$ fastboot flash boot boot.img
$ fastboot flash dtbo dtbo.img
$ fastboot flash vendor_boot vendor_boot.img
# boot to fastbootd
$ fastboot reboot fastboot
# flash the dlkm vendor image
$ fastboot flash vendor_dlkm vendor_dlkm.img
# reboot the device
$ fastboot reboot

---

haunted2bwanted said:
Yep. That is exactly what I am curious about. I tried the same, I can't get my device to boot unfortunately. Couple of things:
I am on a userdebug build (not sure if that matters)
I started with branch android-gs-raviole-5.10-android12L
Detailed procedure as follows:
Bash:
# download the manifest and get the repo kernel
$ repo init --depth=1 -u https://android.googlesource.com/kernel/manifest -b android-gs-raviole-5.10-android12L
$ repo sync --force-sync -c --no-clone-bundle -j$(nproc --all) --verbose
# build the kernel
$ BUILD_KERNEL=1 ./build_slider.sh
# once the build finishes, you would find the following image files
# in ./out/dist/dist/
$ ls ./out/mixed/dist/*.img -ls
19188 -rw-rw-r-- 1 user user 67108864 Jul 23 11:39 ./out/mixed/dist/boot.img
484 -rw-rw-r-- 1 user user 495134 Jul 23 11:39 ./out/mixed/dist/dtb.img
2136 -rw-rw-r-- 1 user user 2183590 Jul 23 11:29 ./out/mixed/dist/dtbo.img
12116 -rw-rw-r-- 1 user user 12405857 Jul 23 11:39 ./out/mixed/dist/initramfs.img
4 -rw-rw-r-- 1 user user 38 Jul 23 11:39 ./out/mixed/dist/vendor-bootconfig.img
31656 -rw-rw-r-- 1 user user 32415744 Jul 23 11:39 ./out/mixed/dist/vendor_boot.img
43528 -rw-rw-r-- 1 user user 44605440 Jul 23 11:39 ./out/mixed/dist/vendor_dlkm.img
# I flash the following way:
$ adb reboot bootloader
$ fastboot flash boot boot.img
$ fastboot flash dtbo dtbo.img
$ fastboot flash vendor_boot vendor_boot.img
# boot to fastbootd
$ fastboot reboot fastboot
# flash the dlkm vendor image
$ fastboot flash vendor_dlkm vendor_dlkm.img
# reboot the device
$ fastboot reboot
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My guess is that the vendor modules inside the vendor_boot.img may not be updated. When the kernel is built the vendor modules might need to be rebuilt along with the GKI itself. Thoughts? acuicultor

---

haunted2bwanted said:
Yep. That is exactly what I am curious about. I tried the same, I can't get my device to boot unfortunately. Couple of things:
I am on a userdebug build (not sure if that matters)
I started with branch android-gs-raviole-5.10-android12L
Detailed procedure as follows:
Bash:
# download the manifest and get the repo kernel
$ repo init --depth=1 -u https://android.googlesource.com/kernel/manifest -b android-gs-raviole-5.10-android12L
$ repo sync --force-sync -c --no-clone-bundle -j$(nproc --all) --verbose
# build the kernel
$ BUILD_KERNEL=1 ./build_slider.sh
# once the build finishes, you would find the following image files
# in ./out/dist/dist/
$ ls ./out/mixed/dist/*.img -ls
19188 -rw-rw-r-- 1 user user 67108864 Jul 23 11:39 ./out/mixed/dist/boot.img
484 -rw-rw-r-- 1 user user 495134 Jul 23 11:39 ./out/mixed/dist/dtb.img
2136 -rw-rw-r-- 1 user user 2183590 Jul 23 11:29 ./out/mixed/dist/dtbo.img
12116 -rw-rw-r-- 1 user user 12405857 Jul 23 11:39 ./out/mixed/dist/initramfs.img
4 -rw-rw-r-- 1 user user 38 Jul 23 11:39 ./out/mixed/dist/vendor-bootconfig.img
31656 -rw-rw-r-- 1 user user 32415744 Jul 23 11:39 ./out/mixed/dist/vendor_boot.img
43528 -rw-rw-r-- 1 user user 44605440 Jul 23 11:39 ./out/mixed/dist/vendor_dlkm.img
# I flash the following way:
$ adb reboot bootloader
$ fastboot flash boot boot.img
$ fastboot flash dtbo dtbo.img
$ fastboot flash vendor_boot vendor_boot.img
# boot to fastbootd
$ fastboot reboot fastboot
# flash the dlkm vendor image
$ fastboot flash vendor_dlkm vendor_dlkm.img
# reboot the device
$ fastboot reboot
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This procedure seems fine to me, just for july rom build you should use android-gs-raviole-5.10-android12-qpr3 branch
haunted2bwanted said:
My guess is that the vendor modules inside the vendor_boot.img may not be updated. When the kernel is built the vendor modules might need to be rebuilt along with the GKI itself. Thoughts? acuicultor
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Running /build_slider.sh all the necessary stuff is being built, no need to do anything more than just running the script.

---

acuicultor said:
This procedure seems fine to me, just for july rom build you should use android-gs-raviole-5.10-android12-qpr3 branch
Running /build_slider.sh all the necessary stuff is being built, no need to do anything more than just running the script.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very strange. This does not work for me. I tried android-gs-raviole-5.10-android12-qpr3 . I see the google logo and it restarts from bootloader mode. I have no idea what I am doing wrong. I updated my aosp version to oriole-sq3a.220605.009.b1. (Link to zip)
The only change I made what changing the version string of the kernel by modifying gki_defconfig.
Bash:
$ head -n2 aosp/arch/arm64/configs/gki_defconfig
CONFIG_LOCALVERSION="-haunted2bwanted-"
CONFIG_AUDIT=y
I see the version being reflected correctly:
Bash:
$ grep -a 'Linux version' out/mixed/dist/Image
(%u)%s: Unknown advertising packet type: 0x%02xhciLinux version %s (%s)Wrong link type (%d)
�l��� ����� ������������ �����
initcallinitcall_debugLinux version 5.10.81-haunted2bwanted--android12-9-geba40aecb3b7-dirty ([email protected]) (Android (7284624, based on r416183b) clang version 12.0.5 (https://android.googlesource.com/toolchain/llvm-project c935d99d7cf2016289302412d708641d52d2f7ee), LLD 12.0.5 (/buildbot/src/android/llvm-toolchain/out/llvm-project/lld c935d99d7cf2016289302412d708641d52d2f7ee)) #1 SMP PREEMPT Tue May 3 02:46:17 UTC 2022
Could it be that I am on the wrong ROM? Which one do you recommend? @acuicultor
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acuicultor I tried fastboot version your kernel provided here: RadioactiveKernel_RAVIOLE_v1.2.2_FASTBOOT.zip
I got identical results on my device. Reboot to bootloader.Any ideas?
I can record a video of how the device behaves if you like? In the past, the anykernel kiri kernel worked like charm. I tried it calyxos. I'll try the anykernel3 version dist of your kernel as well.