On 02/04/18 12:20, Mark Kettenis wrote:
....
This feature make U-Boot to have full Linux dts inside, Can't we implement automatic-boot-of-os distro to grab Linux dtb during commands stage like other distro does? Because this make few development struggles for U-Boot project like (few of the comments are repeated from previous mail, but I'm trying to group them all)
- Unnecessary to maintain nodes which are not required for bootloader
and which doesn't have proper dt drivers.
- It becomes more patches for each-and-every sync.
- We can compare the sync with Linux dt and simply apply on U-Boot
which look not good to project growing.
- Increase size(though it 10KB increase) it becomes unnecessary size
from U-Boot point-of-view
This is not just about booting Linux. And even if it was, it means that you can only boot on hardware for which a full device tree is included in your distro. So a new board that comes with a usable U-Boot in SPI flash still won't work since the right device tree isn't there.
Ah right, I didn't even mention SPI flash in that thread. Thanks!
Out of curiosity: what OS are you thinking about? Collecting trophies here ;-) I tried the FreeBSD-current installer the other day, and it worked pretty well.
So I Agree with Andre, U-Boot should provide the full device tree if possible. That doesn't mean it shouldn't try to load a device tree from the boot media if there is one. That way users can easily update/tweak their device tree without re-flashing the complete firmware.
Yes, users should still be able to provide their own DT, if needed. Actually that's what I often do for Linux development myself.
Thanks! Andre.