[SOLVED] Confusion regarding kernel version, device tree, and buildroot

I was provided with a 3.0.35 linux kernel for an arm i.mx6 board that uses the older "board file" format, as well as an older (2013.02) buildroot repo that has been used to generate the proper images and rootfs.

My goal is to use the latest buildroot public repo commit so that in the future it will be easier to keep packages up to date. Currently, I have to manually edit package files (OpenSSL, lighttpd, etc) to make the latest version available via buildroot.

I tried replicating my board configuration within the latest buildroot (post-2016.05). Everything remained more or less the same, except the toolchain had to change to support the newer systemd (Linaro 2013.01 -> CodeBench ARM 2014.05). Results:

Buildroot: build succeeds
U-boot: image works
Kernel: image causes a kernel panic

My questions really are:

Can I use my older kernel with the newer buildroot/toolchain, or is this an incompatibility? Do certain toolchains not support older kernels?
If it is an incompatiblity, is there an easier way to keep my older buildroot's packages up to date?
If both above are not options, is there any sort of tool to help migrate from a board file to device tree? Is it easy to convert to dts, or is this a long project?

EDIT: Changed to Linaro 2014.09 toolchain. I was previously using systemd 202 as my init system. Since the newer buildroot requires a toolchain built against kernel headers >= 3.10 for systemd, I had to switch my init system to systemv. Here is the crash I'm receiving:

Starting kernel ...

Linux version 3.0.35 (eschumacher@ubuntu) (gcc version 4.9.2 20140904 (prerelease) (crosstool-NG linaro-1.13.1-4.9-2014.09 - Linaro GCC 4.9-2014.09) ) #1 SMP PREEMPT Tue Jun 21 11:01:40 PDT 2016
CPU: ARMv7 Processor [412fc09a] revision 10 (ARMv7), cr=10c53c7d
CPU: VIPT nonaliasing data cache, VIPT aliasing instruction cache
Machine: i.MX 6Quad/DualLite/Solo SMARC CPU Board
Memory policy: ECC disabled, Data cache writealloc
CPU identified as i.MX6DL/SOLO, silicon rev 1.1
PERCPU: Embedded 7 pages/cpu @8bc06000 s5440 r8192 d15040 u32768
Built 1 zonelists in Zone order, mobility grouping on.  Total pages: 84992
Kernel command line: console=ttymxc3,115200 root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 rootwait rw
PID hash table entries: 2048 (order: 1, 8192 bytes)
Dentry cache hash table entries: 65536 (order: 6, 262144 bytes)
Inode-cache hash table entries: 32768 (order: 5, 131072 bytes)
Memory: 336MB = 336MB total
Memory: 327580k/327580k available, 196708k reserved, 0K highmem
Virtual kernel memory layout:
    vector  : 0xffff0000 - 0xffff1000   (   4 kB)
    fixmap  : 0xfff00000 - 0xfffe0000   ( 896 kB)
    DMA     : 0xf4600000 - 0xffe00000   ( 184 MB)
    vmalloc : 0xa0800000 - 0xf2000000   (1304 MB)
    lowmem  : 0x80000000 - 0xa0000000   ( 512 MB)
    pkmap   : 0x7fe00000 - 0x80000000   (   2 MB)
    modules : 0x7f000000 - 0x7fe00000   (  14 MB)
      .init : 0x80008000 - 0x80039000   ( 196 kB)
      .text : 0x80039000 - 0x80af9538   (11010 kB)
      .data : 0x80afa000 - 0x80b53be0   ( 359 kB)
       .bss : 0x80b53c04 - 0x80ba775c   ( 335 kB)
SLUB: Genslabs=13, HWalign=32, Order=0-3, MinObjects=0, CPUs=1, Nodes=1
Preemptible hierarchical RCU implementation.
NR_IRQS:624
MXC GPIO hardware
sched_clock: 32 bits at 3000kHz, resolution 333ns, wraps every 1431655ms
Set periph_clk's parent to pll2_pfd_400M!
arm_max_freq=800MHz
MXC_Early serial console at MMIO 0x21f0000 (options '115200')
bootconsole [ttymxc3] enabled
Console: colour dummy device 80x30
Calibrating delay loop... 1581.05 BogoMIPS (lpj=7905280)
pid_max: default: 32768 minimum: 301
Mount-cache hash table entries: 512
CPU: Testing write buffer coherency: ok
hw perfevents: enabled with ARMv7 Cortex-A9 PMU driver, 7 counters available
Brought up 1 CPUs
SMP: Total of 1 processors activated (1581.05 BogoMIPS).
devtmpfs: initialized
print_constraints: dummy:
NET: Registered protocol family 16
print_constraints: vddpu: 725 <--> 1300 mV at 700 mV fast normal
print_constraints: vddcore: 725 <--> 1300 mV at 1150 mV fast normal
print_constraints: vddsoc: 725 <--> 1300 mV at 1200 mV fast normal
print_constraints: vdd2p5: 2000 <--> 2775 mV at 2400 mV fast normal
print_constraints: vdd1p1: 800 <--> 1400 mV at 1100 mV fast normal
print_constraints: vdd3p0: 2625 <--> 3400 mV at 3000 mV fast normal
hw-breakpoint: found 6 breakpoint and 1 watchpoint registers.
hw-breakpoint: 1 breakpoint(s) reserved for watchpoint single-step.
hw-breakpoint: maximum watchpoint size is 4 bytes.
L310 cache controller enabled
l2x0: 16 ways, CACHE_ID 0x410000c8, AUX_CTRL 0x02050000, Cache size: 524288 B
bio: create slab <bio-0> at 0
mxs-dma mxs-dma-apbh: initialized
print_constraints: vmmc: 3300 mV
vgaarb: loaded
SCSI subsystem initialized
usbcore: registered new interface driver usbfs
usbcore: registered new interface driver hub
usbcore: registered new device driver usb
Freescale USB OTG Driver loaded, $Revision: 1.55 $
imx-ipuv3 imx-ipuv3.0: IPU DMFC NORMAL mode: 1(0~1), 5B(4,5), 5F(6,7)
MIPI CSI2 driver module loaded
Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.24.
Bluetooth: Core ver 2.16
NET: Registered protocol family 31
Bluetooth: HCI device and connection manager initialized
Bluetooth: HCI socket layer initialized
Bluetooth: L2CAP socket layer initialized
Bluetooth: SCO socket layer initialized
i2c-core: driver [max17135] using legacy suspend method
i2c-core: driver [max17135] using legacy resume method
Switching to clocksource mxc_timer1
cfg80211: Calling CRDA to update world regulatory domain
Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 00000040
pgd = 80004000
[00000040] *pgd=00000000
Internal error: Oops: 5 [#1] PREEMPT SMP
Modules linked in:
CPU: 0    Not tainted  (3.0.35 #1)
PC is at kmem_cache_alloc+0xa4/0x108
LR is at con_insert_unipair+0xb8/0x104
pc : [<800f40c0>]    lr : [<80299574>]    psr: 60000093
sp : 9202fef0  ip : 9202e000  fp : 00000001
r10: 00000000  r9 : 0bbcf000  r8 : 20000013
r7 : 000000d0  r6 : 92002300  r5 : 00000040  r4 : 80b0fcc8
r3 : 8003a5a0  r2 : 80b0fcc8  r1 : 000024ac  r0 : 00000001
Flags: nZCv  IRQs off  FIQs on  Mode SVC_32  ISA ARM  Segment kernel
Control: 10c53c7d  Table: 1000404a  DAC: 00000015
Process swapper (pid: 1, stack limit = 0x9202e2f0)
Stack: (0x9202fef0 to 0x92030000)
fee0:                                     00002665 921bcee4 920f4900 00000003
ff00: 80b2fee8 80b2fee6 00000003 80299574 00000000 00000001 920f4900 00000003
ff20: 80b2fee8 8029a1a4 00000000 80b30143 92003000 80b729d8 00000136 00000001
ff40: 00000014 80b72bfc 00000001 00000002 00000004 00000000 8001fce4 8001f214
ff60: 00000000 80b72ad8 00000001 8001f714 80a695d4 00000000 80b725d4 00000000
ff80: 8003fb04 00000013 00000000 00000000 00000000 8001eb68 80a37670 00000000
ffa0: 80b53c20 80b53c20 9202e030 800395c0 000001df 00000013 00000000 00000000
ffc0: 00000039 00000000 00000270 8002fb14 8002ffa0 8003fb04 00000013 00000000
ffe0: 00000000 00000000 00000000 8000898c 00000000 8003fb04 c38ac389 c38dc38b
[<800f40c0>] (kmem_cache_alloc+0xa4/0x108) from [<80299574>] (con_insert_unipair+0xb8/0x104)
[<80299574>] (con_insert_unipair+0xb8/0x104) from [<8029a1a4>] (con_set_default_unimap+0xe8/0x178)
[<8029a1a4>] (con_set_default_unimap+0xe8/0x178) from [<8001f214>] (console_map_init+0x44/0x50)
[<8001f214>] (console_map_init+0x44/0x50) from [<8001f714>] (vty_init+0x18c/0x19c)
[<8001f714>] (vty_init+0x18c/0x19c) from [<8001eb68>] (tty_init+0x12c/0x144)
[<8001eb68>] (tty_init+0x12c/0x144) from [<800395c0>] (do_one_initcall+0x114/0x16c)
[<800395c0>] (do_one_initcall+0x114/0x16c) from [<8000898c>] (kernel_init+0xc0/0x144)
[<8000898c>] (kernel_init+0xc0/0x144) from [<8003fb04>] (kernel_thread_exit+0x0/0x8)
Code: 1afffff3 e596a014 e2811004 e3a00001 (e795a00a)
---[ end trace 1b75b31a2719ed1c ]---
Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init!
[<8004631c>] (unwind_backtrace+0x0/0xec) from [<80569100>] (panic+0x80/0x19c)
[<80569100>] (panic+0x80/0x19c) from [<80075934>] (complete_and_exit+0x0/0x1c)
[<80075934>] (complete_and_exit+0x0/0x1c) from [<00000001>] (0x1)

EDIT 2:

I changed buildroot config to build my own toolchain using my kernel headers. I still receive a similar kernel panic. Output:

Starting kernel ...

Linux version 3.0.35 (eschumacher@ubuntu) (gcc version 4.9.3 (Buildroot 2016.08-           git-00508-geba9c44-dirty) ) #1 SMP PREEMPT Tue Jun 21 16:41:35 PDT 2016
CPU: ARMv7 Processor [412fc09a] revision 10 (ARMv7), cr=10c53c7d
CPU: VIPT nonaliasing data cache, VIPT aliasing instruction cache
Machine: i.MX 6Quad/DualLite/Solo SMARC CPU Board
Memory policy: ECC disabled, Data cache writealloc
CPU identified as i.MX6DL/SOLO, silicon rev 1.1
PERCPU: Embedded 7 pages/cpu @8bc06000 s5440 r8192 d15040 u32768
Built 1 zonelists in Zone order, mobility grouping on.  Total pages: 84992
Kernel command line: console=ttymxc3,115200 root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 rootwait rw
PID hash table entries: 2048 (order: 1, 8192 bytes)
Dentry cache hash table entries: 65536 (order: 6, 262144 bytes)
Inode-cache hash table entries: 32768 (order: 5, 131072 bytes)
Memory: 336MB = 336MB total
Memory: 327564k/327564k available, 196724k reserved, 0K highmem
Virtual kernel memory layout:
    vector  : 0xffff0000 - 0xffff1000   (   4 kB)
    fixmap  : 0xfff00000 - 0xfffe0000   ( 896 kB)
    DMA     : 0xf4600000 - 0xffe00000   ( 184 MB)
    vmalloc : 0xa0800000 - 0xf2000000   (1304 MB)
    lowmem  : 0x80000000 - 0xa0000000   ( 512 MB)
    pkmap   : 0x7fe00000 - 0x80000000   (   2 MB)
    modules : 0x7f000000 - 0x7fe00000   (  14 MB)
      .init : 0x80008000 - 0x80039000   ( 196 kB)
      .text : 0x80039000 - 0x80afd458   (11026 kB)
      .data : 0x80afe000 - 0x80b57bc0   ( 359 kB)
       .bss : 0x80b57be4 - 0x80bab73c   ( 335 kB)
SLUB: Genslabs=13, HWalign=32, Order=0-3, MinObjects=0, CPUs=1, Nodes=1
Preemptible hierarchical RCU implementation.
NR_IRQS:624
MXC GPIO hardware
sched_clock: 32 bits at 3000kHz, resolution 333ns, wraps every 1431655ms
Set periph_clk's parent to pll2_pfd_400M!
arm_max_freq=800MHz
MXC_Early serial console at MMIO 0x21f0000 (options '115200')
bootconsole [ttymxc3] enabled
Console: colour dummy device 80x30
Calibrating delay loop... 1581.05 BogoMIPS (lpj=7905280)
pid_max: default: 32768 minimum: 301
Mount-cache hash table entries: 512
CPU: Testing write buffer coherency: ok
hw perfevents: enabled with ARMv7 Cortex-A9 PMU driver, 7 counters available
Brought up 1 CPUs
SMP: Total of 1 processors activated (1581.05 BogoMIPS).
devtmpfs: initialized
print_constraints: dummy:
NET: Registered protocol family 16
print_constraints: vddpu: 725 <--> 1300 mV at 700 mV fast normal
print_constraints: vddcore: 725 <--> 1300 mV at 1150 mV fast normal
print_constraints: vddsoc: 725 <--> 1300 mV at 1200 mV fast normal
print_constraints: vdd2p5: 2000 <--> 2775 mV at 2400 mV fast normal
print_constraints: vdd1p1: 800 <--> 1400 mV at 1100 mV fast normal
print_constraints: vdd3p0: 2625 <--> 3400 mV at 3000 mV fast normal
hw-breakpoint: found 6 breakpoint and 1 watchpoint registers.
hw-breakpoint: 1 breakpoint(s) reserved for watchpoint single-step.
hw-breakpoint: maximum watchpoint size is 4 bytes.
L310 cache controller enabled
l2x0: 16 ways, CACHE_ID 0x410000c8, AUX_CTRL 0x02050000, Cache size: 524288 B
bio: create slab <bio-0> at 0
mxs-dma mxs-dma-apbh: initialized
print_constraints: vmmc: 3300 mV
vgaarb: loaded
SCSI subsystem initialized
usbcore: registered new interface driver usbfs
usbcore: registered new interface driver hub
usbcore: registered new device driver usb
Freescale USB OTG Driver loaded, $Revision: 1.55 $
imx-ipuv3 imx-ipuv3.0: IPU DMFC NORMAL mode: 1(0~1), 5B(4,5), 5F(6,7)
MIPI CSI2 driver module loaded
Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.24.
Bluetooth: Core ver 2.16
NET: Registered protocol family 31
Bluetooth: HCI device and connection manager initialized
Bluetooth: HCI socket layer initialized
Bluetooth: L2CAP socket layer initialized
Bluetooth: SCO socket layer initialized
i2c-core: driver [max17135] using legacy suspend method
i2c-core: driver [max17135] using legacy resume method
Switching to clocksource mxc_timer1
cfg80211: Calling CRDA to update world regulatory domain
Unable to handle kernel NULL pointer dereference at virtual address 00000040
pgd = 80004000
[00000040] *pgd=00000000
Internal error: Oops: 5 [#1] PREEMPT SMP
Modules linked in:
CPU: 0    Not tainted  (3.0.35 #1)
PC is at kmem_cache_alloc+0xa4/0x108
LR is at con_insert_unipair+0xb8/0x104
pc : [<800f3bbc>]    lr : [<80298a88>]    psr: 60000093
sp : 9202fef8  ip : 9202e000  fp : 00000001
r10: 00000000  r9 : 0bbcf000  r8 : 20000013
r7 : 000000d0  r6 : 92002300  r5 : 00000040  r4 : 80b13cc8
r3 : 8003a5a0  r2 : 80b13cc8  r1 : 000024ac  r0 : 00000001
Flags: nZCv  IRQs off  FIQs on  Mode SVC_32  ISA ARM  Segment kernel
Control: 10c53c7d  Table: 1000404a  DAC: 00000015
Process swapper (pid: 1, stack limit = 0x9202e2f0)
Stack: (0x9202fef8 to 0x92030000)
fee0:                                                       00002665 921bcee4
ff00: 920f4900 00000003 80b33ec8 80b33ec6 00000003 80298a88 80b34123 00000000
ff20: 00000001 920f4900 00000003 802996b8 00000001 80b34123 92003000 80b769b8
ff40: 8001fc40 00000001 00000014 80b76bdc 00000002 00000004 00000000 00000000
ff60: 8001fc40 8001f168 00000000 80b76ab8 00000001 8001f668 80a684a4 8014768c
ff80: 80b765b4 00000000 8003fac4 00000013 00000000 8001eac4 80a36540 00000000
ffa0: 80b57c00 80b57c00 9202e030 800395b8 000001df 00000013 00000000 00000000
ffc0: 00000039 00000000 00000270 8002fa74 8002ff00 8003fac4 00000013 00000000
ffe0: 00000000 00000000 00000000 8000898c 00000000 8003fac4 e345c1eb e0c32c90
[<800f3bbc>] (kmem_cache_alloc+0xa4/0x108) from [<80298a88>] (con_insert_unipair           +0xb8/0x104)
[<80298a88>] (con_insert_unipair+0xb8/0x104) from [<802996b8>] (con_set_default_           unimap+0xe8/0x178)
[<802996b8>] (con_set_default_unimap+0xe8/0x178) from [<8001f168>] (console_map_           init+0x44/0x50)
[<8001f168>] (console_map_init+0x44/0x50) from [<8001f668>] (vty_init+0x18c/0x19           c)
[<8001f668>] (vty_init+0x18c/0x19c) from [<8001eac4>] (tty_init+0x12c/0x144)
[<8001eac4>] (tty_init+0x12c/0x144) from [<800395b8>] (do_one_initcall+0x114/0x1           6c)
[<800395b8>] (do_one_initcall+0x114/0x16c) from [<8000898c>] (kernel_init+0xc0/0           x144)
[<8000898c>] (kernel_init+0xc0/0x144) from [<8003fac4>] (kernel_thread_exit+0x0/           0x8)
Code: 1afffff3 e596a014 e2811004 e3a00001 (e795a00a)
---[ end trace 1b75b31a2719ed1c ]---
Kernel panic - not syncing: Attempted to kill init!
[<800462c8>] (unwind_backtrace+0x0/0xec) from [<80567fcc>] (panic+0x80/0x19c)
[<80567fcc>] (panic+0x80/0x19c) from [<800757e0>] (complete_and_exit+0x0/0x1c)
[<800757e0>] (complete_and_exit+0x0/0x1c) from [<00000001>] (0x1)