On Thursday 27 April 2006 23:40, Jerry Van Baren wrote:
Wolfgang Denk wrote:
In message 44511C88.1010107@smiths-aerospace.com you wrote:
A thought that keeps recurring (but I've suppressed because I don't have time to play...) is that it would be Really Cool[tm] to store the u-boot env variables in a flat tree and then pass the env/tree to linux. It
If somebody wants to read the environment variables, you don't need to create a flat tree from it.
Understood. That is why it is Really Cool[tm] rather than Really Useful[tm] ;-)
Also, it doesn't solve the original problem as most of the informa- tion you need to pass is NOT part of the environment (and shall not become such a part).
Best regards, Wolfgang Denk
I agree and disagree with the parenthetical part of your statement. Agree because it _wouldn't_ be a part of u-boot (technically it would be if someone put it in their default env for their specific board, but why would denx.de care?).
Disagree because, while u-boot needs/uses some env variables, engineers/companies/end users are free to add variables and, I dare say, most do. If a given board needs to pass certain non u-boot parameters to linux, it would simply add that to its env (which already happens).
I'm not sure you (Wolfgang and Kumar) are following my thought fully (or my ignorance is showing to everybody but me). The thought is to change the native format of the u-boot environment storage from the key-string/value-string pairs to the flat tree (OpenFirmware) format which still supports the same key-string/value-string capability (but can do more than that).
The advantage, as I see it, is that it would be unifying and thus easier to maintain the common variables (call it the GRand Unifying Flat Tree (GRAFT) ;-). One language (flat tree), no shims, equivalent key/value utility (but a different underlying storage format), no visible difference for the users (but potentially an upgrade challenge for existing boards and env variables).
The disadvantage is that it would be disruptive to u-boot and may cause some bloating and discomfort.
gvb (the naive)
P.S. For the non-USA readers: "may cause some bloating and discomfort" is a standard disclaimer on medicines advertised on TV over here.
Since I'm the guy responsible let me weigh in a bit.
For starters, yes it's possible to pass the whole env using the FT tree. Use CONFIG_OF_HAS_UBOOT_ENV to pass the u-boot env to the FT tree.
As for the rest of the cat-fight, I'm afraid I don't have the energy to jump in at the moment.
Perhaps tomorrow :)
Regards
Pantelis
Using Tomcat but need to do more? Need to support web services, security? Get stuff done quickly with pre-integrated technology to make your job easier Download IBM WebSphere Application Server v.1.0.1 based on Apache Geronimo http://sel.as-us.falkag.net/sel?cmd=lnk&kid=120709&bid=263057&da... _______________________________________________ U-Boot-Users mailing list U-Boot-Users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/u-boot-users