Re: [PATCH v2 5/6] dtc: Report an error for a delete in an overlay fragment

[Herve Codina <herve.codina@bootlin.com>]

Hi Simon,

On Wed, 28 Oct 2026 03:36:12 -0600
Simon Glass <sjg@chromium.org> wrote:

> An overlay cannot encode a /delete-property/ or /delete-node/, since
> applying an overlay only adds or updates nodes and properties. So a
> delete in an overlay fragment has no effect on the base tree, yet dtc
> drops it without complaint, which suggests that it works. A delete which
> removes something earlier in the same fragment is fine, since the
> fragment is compiled without it.
> 
> Report an error for a /delete-property/ or /delete-node/ in a fragment
> which does not delete anything within the fragment, naming it. Record in
> apply_deletes() which placeholders delete something, and add
> find_unapplied_delete() to look for one which does not. Do this for each
> of the three ways in which a plugin creates a fragment.
> 
> Drop the deletes with nothing to delete from the overlay test, and add
> tests which check for the error, one for each way of creating a
> fragment.
> 
> Note: This breaks the build of two overlays in Linux v7.3-rc7, whose
> deletes have never taken effect:
> 
>    imx8mn-tqma8mqnl-mba8mx-usbotg.dtso
>    imx8mp-tqma8mpql-mba8mp-ras314-imx219.dtso
> 
> Linux needs to remove these deletes. Where the result matters, the base
> dts must change instead, e.g. by moving the property or node to the
> boards which need it, so that the overlay only adds to the tree.
> 
> Suggested-by: David Gibson <david@gibson.dropbear.id.au>
> Assisted-by: Claude:claude-opus-5-5
> Signed-off-by: Simon Glass <sjg@chromium.org>
> ---
> 

/delete-node/ &label;

We can probably delete a node defined in the overlay but in an other
fragment.

Is than handled ?

Best regards,
Hervé