Re: [U-Boot] Avoiding reload on ARM U-BOOT

Hello Marek
ALWAYS CC U-BOOT ML
Thank you for your answer
My SOC (Marvells Armada Controller) uses a bootrom code to copy to initialize the DRAM and to copy the u-boot image. so the entire DRAM init and copy sequence in u-boot is redundant.
I see. I know about this soc's bootrom. Though it still can't place the bootloader properly to the end of DRAM.
in previous version there was a way to avoid this. i find it limiting that there isn't a way in the new version.
Why would i want to relocate the code anyway ?
See above, to place it to the end of DRAM.
Yehuda
On Thu, Feb 2, 2012 at 11:34 AM, Marek Vasut marek.vasut@gmail.com wrote:
Hello everyone
im trying to port u-boot 2011-09 to a new board with an arm based SOC
i found that u-boot will always relocate the code even if it is placed already in DDR which is the case with my SOC.
The u-boot is always relocated to the end of the DRAM, which is likely what you want. And it's quite a quick process. So if you are manufacturing your soc with various size of RAM, you want the relocation to happen. What SoC is that anyway?
is there any clean way to avoid relocating the u-boot ? does the various SPL configs have something to do with that ?
Not really and you don't want this to happen.
M
if yes which one should i define ?
Thanks in advance
Yehuda

Hello again
Sorry for slipping the u-boot list e-mail address
i understand the benefit of relocating u-boot to the end of DRAM but in systems where boot time is critical this redundant copy is undesirable. anyway i understand there is no official way of avoiding it.
One more question i have is regarding the SPL Framework. i read all the documentation i could find about the SPL but i don't think i fully understand the usage of this framework. since i noticed several SPL Macros around the relocation code i suspected it has something to do with relocation or u-boot running as secondary boot program
i would appreciate a short explanation when CONFIG_SPL or CONFIG_NAND_SPL should be set ?
Thanks again
Yehuda
On Fri, Feb 3, 2012 at 10:15 AM, Marek Vasut marek.vasut@gmail.com wrote:
Hello Marek
ALWAYS CC U-BOOT ML
Thank you for your answer
My SOC (Marvells Armada Controller) uses a bootrom code to copy to initialize the DRAM and to copy the u-boot image. so the entire DRAM init and copy sequence in u-boot is redundant.
I see. I know about this soc's bootrom. Though it still can't place the bootloader properly to the end of DRAM.
in previous version there was a way to avoid this. i find it limiting
that
there isn't a way in the new version.
Why would i want to relocate the code anyway ?
See above, to place it to the end of DRAM.
Yehuda
On Thu, Feb 2, 2012 at 11:34 AM, Marek Vasut marek.vasut@gmail.com
wrote:
Hello everyone
im trying to port u-boot 2011-09 to a new board with an arm based SOC
i found that u-boot will always relocate the code even if it is
placed
already in DDR which is the case with my SOC.
The u-boot is always relocated to the end of the DRAM, which is likely what you want. And it's quite a quick process. So if you are manufacturing your soc with various size of RAM, you want the relocation to happen. What SoC is
that
anyway?
is there any clean way to avoid relocating the u-boot ? does the various SPL configs have something to do with that ?
Not really and you don't want this to happen.
M
if yes which one should i define ?
Thanks in advance
Yehuda

Hello again
Sorry for slipping the u-boot list e-mail address
i understand the benefit of relocating u-boot to the end of DRAM but in systems where boot time is critical this redundant copy is undesirable. anyway i understand there is no official way of avoiding it.
You can boot linux directly via SPL if your boottime is critical. And, if you do not want to boot linux directly, implement some "hit key to interrupt direct booting sequence" into SPL.
One more question i have is regarding the SPL Framework. i read all the documentation i could find about the SPL but i don't think i fully understand the usage of this framework. since i noticed several SPL Macros around the relocation code i suspected it has something to do with relocation or u-boot running as secondary boot program
If you can read only a small piece of eg. NAND with your bootrom, you use SPL. The purpose is to init the system (ram, gpio ...) and load the u-boot (the big bootloader).
M
i would appreciate a short explanation when CONFIG_SPL or CONFIG_NAND_SPL should be set ?
Thanks again
Yehuda
On Fri, Feb 3, 2012 at 10:15 AM, Marek Vasut marek.vasut@gmail.com wrote:
Hello Marek
ALWAYS CC U-BOOT ML
Thank you for your answer
My SOC (Marvells Armada Controller) uses a bootrom code to copy to initialize the DRAM and to copy the u-boot image. so the entire DRAM init and copy sequence in u-boot is redundant.
I see. I know about this soc's bootrom. Though it still can't place the bootloader properly to the end of DRAM.
in previous version there was a way to avoid this. i find it limiting
that
there isn't a way in the new version.
Why would i want to relocate the code anyway ?
See above, to place it to the end of DRAM.
Yehuda
On Thu, Feb 2, 2012 at 11:34 AM, Marek Vasut marek.vasut@gmail.com
wrote:
Hello everyone
im trying to port u-boot 2011-09 to a new board with an arm based SOC
i found that u-boot will always relocate the code even if it is
placed
already in DDR which is the case with my SOC.
The u-boot is always relocated to the end of the DRAM, which is likely what you want. And it's quite a quick process. So if you are manufacturing your soc with various size of RAM, you want the relocation to happen. What SoC is
that
anyway?
is there any clean way to avoid relocating the u-boot ? does the various SPL configs have something to do with that ?
Not really and you don't want this to happen.
M
if yes which one should i define ?
Thanks in advance
Yehuda

On 05/02/2012 15:22, Marek Vasut wrote:
Hello again
Sorry for slipping the u-boot list e-mail address
i understand the benefit of relocating u-boot to the end of DRAM but in systems where boot time is critical this redundant copy is undesirable. anyway i understand there is no official way of avoiding it.
You can boot linux directly via SPL if your boottime is critical.
To this purpose I have posted the final version of the patchset to boot Linux directly from SPL - maybe you can try this way on your hardware.
Best regards, Stefano Babic
participants (3)
-
Marek Vasut
-
Stefano Babic
-
yehuda yitchak