sun55iw3: radxa-cubie-a5e: update patches for mainline 6.17 and 6.18

[heitbaum]

Description

Please include a summary of the change and which issue is fixed. Please also include relevant motivation and context. List any dependencies that are required for this change.

Upstream have merged the patches being carried in 6.17 and 6.18. Update the patches to support builds of radxa-cubie-a5e with both 6.17 and 6.18-rc3

How Has This Been Tested?

Please describe the tests that you ran to verify your changes. Please also note any relevant details for your test configuration.

• [X] Build test of both 6.17.9 and 6.18
• [X] Run test on Radxa Cubie A5E V1.1 4GB Ram

root@radxa-cubie-a5e:~# dmesg
[    0.000000] Booting Linux on physical CPU 0x0000000000 [0x412fd050]
[    0.000000] Linux version 6.18.0-rc3-edge-sun55iw3 (build@armbian) (aarch64-linux-gnu-gcc (Ubuntu 13.3.0-6ubuntu2~24.04) 13.3.0, GNU ld (GNU Binutils for Ubuntu) 2.42) #1 SMP PREEMPT Sun Oct 26 22:59:49 UTC 2025
[    0.000000] KASLR disabled due to lack of seed
[    0.000000] Machine model: Radxa Cubie A5E
[    0.000000] efi: UEFI not found.

Checklist:

Please delete options that are not relevant.

• [X] My code follows the style guidelines of this project
• [X] I have performed a self-review of my own code
• [ ] I have commented my code, particularly in hard-to-understand areas
• [X] My changes generate no new warnings
• [ ] Any dependent changes have been merged and published in downstream modules

cc: @juanesf

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[!IMPORTANT]

Review skipped

Review was skipped due to path filters

:no_entry: Files ignored due to path filters (2)

• patch/kernel/archive/sunxi-dev-6.17/01-Add-wifi-to-Radxa-Cubie-A5E.patch is excluded by !patch/**
• patch/kernel/archive/sunxi-dev-6.18/11-allwinner-a523-Enable-I2S-and-SPDIF-TX.patch is excluded by !patch/**

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Walkthrough

This pull request updates kernel version variables in the edge branch configuration for the sun55iw3 family. Two kernel-related parameters are incremented: KERNEL_MAJOR_MINOR is bumped from "6.16" to "6.18", and KERNELBRANCH is updated from "tag:v6.16" to "tag:v6.18-rc4". The KERNELPATCHDIR assignment automatically references the updated major/minor version. No control flow, logic, or error-handling modifications are present.

Estimated code review effort

🎯 1 (Trivial) | ⏱️ ~3 minutes

• Single file modified with only configuration value updates
• No logic changes or structural alterations
• Homogeneous changes (identical pattern applied twice)
• Primary verification needed: confirm kernel version numbers are correct and compatible with the target architecture

Possibly related PRs

• armbian/build#8270: Updates kernel version variables (KERNEL_MAJOR_MINOR and KERNELBRANCH) in the edge branch of other sunxi family configuration files, following the same versioning pattern.

Suggested reviewers

• PanderMusubi
• janprunk
• krachlatte
• pyavitz
• TheSnowfield
• JohnTheCoolingFan

Pre-merge checks and finishing touches

❌ Failed checks (1 warning)

Check name	Status	Explanation	Resolution
Title check	⚠️ Warning	The title references kernel versions 6.17 and 6.18, but the actual changeset only updates from 6.16 to 6.18-rc4 in the edge branch configuration.	Update the title to accurately reflect that only kernel versions 6.16→6.18-rc4 are being updated in the edge branch, or clarify which branch versions are targeted.

✅ Passed checks (2 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	No functions found in the changed files to evaluate docstring coverage. Skipping docstring coverage check.
Description check	✅ Passed	The PR description clearly relates to the changeset, detailing kernel version updates for sun55iw3 radxa-cubie-a5e support with testing results.

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[igorpecovnik]

I think it would be wise to merge this to sunxi64 patch folder.

@The-going How far we are with sunxi EDGE to 6.17 / 6.18 ? @juanesf

[heitbaum]

Update the patch directory for 6.18 to reference the updated upstream/upstream ready patches. Reference links to patches included. Reordered the patches - patches 01-11 are from upstream and 20,21 are local. Testing of the 2nd Ethernet no longer throws errors with the "waiting for 6.19 upstream" patches Thermal output now available from sensors.

• Refresh the 2nd Ethernet patches to those waiting for 6.19 upstream (1-4)
• Refresh the poly-phased patch to the updated RFC patch from mailing-list (5-9)
• Add the thermal patch (from patchwork), detail showed in commit message (10)
• Add the I2S and SPDIF TX patch (from patchwork) (11)

[juanesf]

Just as version 6.16 was declared End of Life (EOL), I was removing and updating already merged patches from 6.17 and 6.18 that stabilize support for Allwinner A523/A527/T527/H728, and this helps. As soon as I have time to test these changes, I can confirm if they work well for me. I also acquired an i2s sound card (respeaker 2 mic 1.1) to test the recently released sound patches. Thanks for this...

[juanesf]

6.17 build log: compiled...

[igorpecovnik]

There is a bug in the config - you keep compiling 6.17.0 ... while its 6.17.7 now. And then patches fail. I didn't check 6.18

--- a/config/sources/families/sun55iw3.conf
+++ b/config/sources/families/sun55iw3.conf

-               declare -g KERNEL_MAJOR_MINOR="6.16" # Major and minor versions of this kernel.
-               declare -g KERNELBRANCH="tag:v6.16"
+               declare -g KERNEL_MAJOR_MINOR="6.17" # Major and minor versions of this kernel.
+               declare -g KERNELBRANCH="tag:v6.17.7"

[heitbaum]

There is a bug in the config - you keep compiling 6.17.0 ... while its 6.17.7 now. And then patches fail. I didn't check 6.18

--- a/config/sources/families/sun55iw3.conf
+++ b/config/sources/families/sun55iw3.conf

-               declare -g KERNEL_MAJOR_MINOR="6.16" # Major and minor versions of this kernel.
-               declare -g KERNELBRANCH="tag:v6.16"
+               declare -g KERNEL_MAJOR_MINOR="6.17" # Major and minor versions of this kernel.
+               declare -g KERNELBRANCH="tag:v6.17.7"

I have rebased the 6.17 patches onto 6.17.7. They now build. ref: https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/stable/linux.git/log/arch/arm64/boot/dts/allwinner/sun55i-a527-cubie-a5e.dts?h=v6.17.7

[heitbaum]

Run test on latest 6.18-rc5:

root@radxa-cubie-a5e:~# dmesg | head
[    0.000000] Booting Linux on physical CPU 0x0000000000 [0x412fd050]
[    0.000000] Linux version 6.18.0-rc5-edge-sun55iw3 (build@armbian) (aarch64-linux-gnu-gcc (Ubuntu 13.3.0-6ubuntu2~24.04) 13.3.0, GNU ld (GNU Binutils for Ubuntu) 2.42) #3 SMP PREEMPT Sun Nov  9 23:10:19 UTC 2025
[    0.000000] KASLR disabled due to lack of seed
[    0.000000] Machine model: Radxa Cubie A5E
[    0.000000] efi: UEFI not found.

[heitbaum]

build and run tested with tag: v26.2.0-trunk.32 against both 6.17.9 and 6.18.

root@radxa-cubie-a5e:~# dmesg | head
[    0.000000] Booting Linux on physical CPU 0x0000000000 [0x412fd050]
[    0.000000] Linux version 6.18.0-edge-sun55iw3 (build@armbian) (aarch64-linux-gnu-gcc (Ubuntu 13.3.0-6ubuntu2~24.04) 13.3.0, GNU ld (GNU Binutils for Ubuntu) 2.42) #4 SMP PREEMPT Sun Nov 30 22:42:10 UTC 2025
[    0.000000] KASLR disabled due to lack of seed
[    0.000000] Machine model: Radxa Cubie A5E
[    0.000000] efi: UEFI not found.