Re: [PATCH v7 2/2] arm64: boot: Support Flat Image Tree

[Simon Glass]

Hi Ahmad,

On Wed, 29 Nov 2023 at 11:59, Ahmad Fatoum <a.fatoum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> a few more comments after decompiling the FIT image:
>
> On 29.11.23 18:21, Simon Glass wrote:
> > +    with fsw.add_node('kernel'):
> > +        fsw.property_string('description', args.name)
> > +        fsw.property_string('type', 'kernel_noload')
>
> The specification only says no loading done, but doesn't explain what it
> means for a bootloader to _not_ load an image. Looking into the U-Boot commit
> b9b50e89d317 ("image: Implement IH_TYPE_KERNEL_NOLOAD") that introduces this,
> apparently no loading means ignoring load and entry address?
>
> I presume missing load and entry is something older U-Boot versions
> were unhappy about? Please let me know if the semantics are as I understood,
> so I can prepare a barebox patch supporting it.

Oh, see my previous email.

>
> > +        fsw.property_string('arch', args.arch)
> > +        fsw.property_string('os', args.os)
> > +        fsw.property_string('compression', args.compress)
> > +        fsw.property('data', data)
> > +        fsw.property_u32('load', 0)
> > +        fsw.property_u32('entry', 0)
> > +
> > +
> > +def finish_fit(fsw, entries):
> > +    """Finish the FIT ready for use
> > +
> > +    Writes the /configurations node and subnodes
> > +
> > +    Args:
> > +        fsw (libfdt.FdtSw): Object to use for writing
> > +        entries (list of tuple): List of configurations:
> > +            str: Description of model
> > +            str: Compatible stringlist
> > +    """
> > +    fsw.end_node()
> > +    seq = 0
> > +    with fsw.add_node('configurations'):
> > +        for model, compat in entries:
> > +            seq += 1
> > +            with fsw.add_node(f'conf-{seq}'):
> > +                fsw.property('compatible', bytes(compat))
>
> The specification says that this is the root U-Boot compatible,
> which I presume to mean the top-level compatible, which makes sense to me.
>
> The code here though adds all compatible strings from the device tree though,
> is this intended?

Yes, since it saves needing to read in each DT just to get the
compatible stringlist.

>
> > +        fsw.property_string('description', model)
> > +        fsw.property_string('type', 'flat_dt')
> > +        fsw.property_string('arch', arch)
> > +        fsw.property_string('compression', compress)
> > +        fsw.property('compatible', bytes(compat))
>
> I think I've never seen a compatible for a fdt node before.
> What use does this serve?

It indicates the machine that the DT is for.

Regards,
Simon