packages/rpi-firmware: enabling BR2_PACKAGE_RPI_FIRMWARE_INSTALL_VCDBG results in failed build

Quick summary: the vcdbg executables that the rpi-firmware packages wants to install if BR2_PACKAGE_RPI_FIRMWARE_INSTALL_VCDBG is enabled have been removed from the upstream repo in February 2024, resulting in a build failure if that option is enabled.

Check-list

  • I did not find the issue in the existing issues
  • I can reproduce the issue with unmodified Buildroot from this repository, not from a fork somewhere else
  • I can reproduce the issue on the latest commit of the branch I'm using:
    • master
    • stable (i.e. 2024.08)
  • I can reproduce the issue after running make clean; make

What I did

I enabled BR2_PACKAGE_RPI_FIRMWARE_INSTALL_VCDBG, then issued make.

What happens

The build of the rpi-firmware package fails with he following error:

rpi-firmware-5476720d52cf579dc1627715262b30ba1242525e.tar.gz: OK (sha256: 00fe5487376e9d5ed14cbc72a9b7a5bd8d6900c84aee10f6d656f192a26d161c)
>>> rpi-firmware 5476720d52cf579dc1627715262b30ba1242525e Extracting
gzip -d -c /buildroot/dl/rpi-firmware/rpi-firmware-5476720d52cf579dc1627715262b30ba1242525e.tar.gz | tar --strip-components=1 -C /build/server-pw/build/rpi-firmware-5476720d52cf579dc1627715262b30ba1242525e   -xf -
>>> rpi-firmware 5476720d52cf579dc1627715262b30ba1242525e Patching
>>> rpi-firmware 5476720d52cf579dc1627715262b30ba1242525e Configuring
>>> rpi-firmware 5476720d52cf579dc1627715262b30ba1242525e Building
>>> rpi-firmware 5476720d52cf579dc1627715262b30ba1242525e Installing to target
/usr/bin/install -D -m 0700 /build/server-pw/build/rpi-firmware-5476720d52cf579dc1627715262b30ba1242525e/hardfp/opt/vc/bin/vcdbg /build/server-pw/target/usr/sbin/vcdbg
/usr/bin/install: cannot stat '/build/server-pw/build/rpi-firmware-5476720d52cf579dc1627715262b30ba1242525e/hardfp/opt/vc/bin/vcdbg': No such file or directory
make[1]: *** [package/pkg-generic.mk:380: /build/server-pw/build/rpi-firmware-5476720d52cf579dc1627715262b30ba1242525e/.stamp_target_installed] Error 1
make: *** [Makefile:23: _all] Error 2

What was expected

For the build to succeed and vcdbg to be available in the image. Or alternatively, that installing vcdbg is not available as a build option in the rpi-firmware package.

Extra information

It seems like vcdbg was removed from the upstream raspberrypi/firmware repository: https://github.com/raspberrypi/firmware/commit/d1fcc26038186aecc1501a0b749833300afba801

Edited by Marcus Weseloh