[U-Boot-Users] booting kernel image from jffs2 partition
Hi all, I have a Spansion S29GL512N NOR flash. Specifically, I have two banks of 64 MB mapped in the following way:
0xf4000000- 0xf7ffffff First bank 0xfc000000-0xffffff Second Bank (boot bank)
In the Linux kernel we have partitioned the flash in five parts:
0xf4000000 - 0xf43fffff Linux kernel image 0xf4400000 - 0xf4fffffff Rootfs Image 0xf5000000 - 0xf7ffffff Data1
0xfc000000 - 0xfff7ffff Data2 0xfff80000 - 0xffffffff U-boot image
We'd like to format linux kernel and rootfs image partitions (and the others) with jffs2, because the two images may be replaced with newer ones while Linux is running.
A first question is: Is it possible to boot (bootm command) the images stored in partitions formatted using jffs2? i.e. after the images are replaced and the machine is rebooted, can the u-boot be configured to read the new image from these jffs2 partitions?
If so, how is it possible to perform it? Because from Internet and manual, I reckon out that u-boot works using binary or file-system images stored in raw way and I don't understand if the image can be read andloaded from a not-raw partitions.
Thanks in advance for the reply. Fabio Ubaldi
Fabio Ubaldi wrote:
We'd like to format linux kernel and rootfs image partitions (and the others) with jffs2, because the two images may be replaced with newer ones while Linux is running.
It is not a problem to replace the linux image while it is running, because Linux runs from RAM. You can always replace the Linux image.
A first question is: Is it possible to boot (bootm command) the images stored in partitions formatted using jffs2?
U-boot can read JFFS2 partitions, but as I said, this should not be necessary if your goal is only to replace the kernel images. And u-boot does not need to understand the rootfs, too.
Regards, stefano babic
In message 46DED487.40607@denx.de you wrote:
We'd like to format linux kernel and rootfs image partitions (and the others) with jffs2, because the two images may be replaced with newer ones while Linux is running.
It is not a problem to replace the linux image while it is running, because Linux runs from RAM. You can always replace the Linux image.
...unless you use XIP (eXecution In Place), which very few people do as it usually brings only pain an no advantages.
Best regards,
Wolfgang Denk
participants (3)
-
Fabio Ubaldi -
stefano babic -
Wolfgang Denk