Linux kernel/Image Size

Vision

Reduce the flash and memory footprint of the linux-yocto generated kernel to boot with 8MB of memory and allow for a minimal image in under 8MB of flash. The uncompressed kernel image should come in around 1.5MB. Changes to the kernel shall not impact POSIX compliance.

Resources

• http://elinux.org/Kernel_Size_Tuning_Guide
• http://elinux.org/Kernel_Size_Tuning_Guide_Config_Option_Impact
• http://elinux.org/System_Size
• http://elinux.org/Linux_Tiny

Results

Initial Beagleboard (refresh v2 21-Jun-2011)

$ ls -la ./arch/arm/boot/uImage
-rw-rw-r-- 1 dvhart dvhart 2738416 2011-06-20 23:19 ./arch/arm/boot/uImage

$ size ./arch/arm/boot/vmlinux
   text	   data	    bss	    dec	    hex	filename
5527685	 338944	 272776	6139405	 5dae0d	./arch/arm/boot/vmlinux