how can i add u-boot-fw-utils to my build without u-boot being part of the build?

how can i add u-boot-fw-utils to my build without u-boot being part of the build?

[Robert P. J. Day]

  not sure if i asked this once, but i'm still trying to figure it
out.

  i want to add the u-boot-fw-utils recipe to my current build, but
u-boot is *not* part of the relevant BSP layer -- u-boot is being
configured and built elsewhere, and that's not changing for the
foreseeable future.

  the good news is that those utilities don't need to have any info on
the default environment for u-boot -- they need only have access to
the environment in flash, and there is a /etc/fw_env.config file that
is all set up and ready to go and referring to the correct device and
offset in flash.

  so how do i specify that i want to add that recipe to my build,
while saying, "don't worry about the default environment, you don't
need it." can that be done? thanks.

rday

-- 

========================================================================
Robert P. J. Day                                 Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA
                        http://crashcourse.ca

Twitter:                                       http://twitter.com/rpjday
LinkedIn:                               http://ca.linkedin.com/in/rpjday
========================================================================

Re: how can i add u-boot-fw-utils to my build without u-boot being part of the build?

[Tom Rini]

On Thu, Aug 18, 2016 at 12:41:25PM -0400, Robert P. J. Day wrote:

>   not sure if i asked this once, but i'm still trying to figure it
> out.
> 
>   i want to add the u-boot-fw-utils recipe to my current build, but
> u-boot is *not* part of the relevant BSP layer -- u-boot is being
> configured and built elsewhere, and that's not changing for the
> foreseeable future.
> 
>   the good news is that those utilities don't need to have any info on
> the default environment for u-boot -- they need only have access to
> the environment in flash, and there is a /etc/fw_env.config file that
> is all set up and ready to go and referring to the correct device and
> offset in flash.
> 
>   so how do i specify that i want to add that recipe to my build,
> while saying, "don't worry about the default environment, you don't
> need it." can that be done? thanks.

The "easy" way out here is to just set a valid (as in, compiles)
UBOOT_MACHINE and then not worry about installing U-Boot from the OE
build.  You can ASSUME_PROVIDED away u-boot itself, but you still need
to have a UBOOT_MACHINE set so that we configure U-Boot before building
the tools (And you  must configure before building).

-- 
Tom

Re: how can i add u-boot-fw-utils to my build without u-boot being part of the build?

[Robert P. J. Day]

On Fri, 19 Aug 2016, Tom Rini wrote:

> On Thu, Aug 18, 2016 at 12:41:25PM -0400, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
> >
> >   i want to add the u-boot-fw-utils recipe to my current build,
> > but u-boot is *not* part of the relevant BSP layer -- u-boot is
> > being configured and built elsewhere, and that's not changing for
> > the foreseeable future.
> >
> >   the good news is that those utilities don't need to have any
> > info on the default environment for u-boot -- they need only have
> > access to the environment in flash, and there is a
> > /etc/fw_env.config file that is all set up and ready to go and
> > referring to the correct device and offset in flash.
> >
> >   so how do i specify that i want to add that recipe to my build,
> > while saying, "don't worry about the default environment, you
> > don't need it." can that be done? thanks.
>
> The "easy" way out here is to just set a valid (as in, compiles)
> UBOOT_MACHINE and then not worry about installing U-Boot from the OE
> build.  You can ASSUME_PROVIDED away u-boot itself, but you still
> need to have a UBOOT_MACHINE set so that we configure U-Boot before
> building the tools (And you must configure before building).

  the problem is that the machine is a custom tweaking of an existing
platform in u-boot, so that a regular checkout of u-boot won't have a
defconfig for that machine. the entirety of u-boot for this target
board is configured and built elsewhere, so i'm just trying to figure
out what little i need to supply to get a build of those fw-utils in
my image.

  i suppose i can just use an existing machine that's compatible --
beyond that, i assume all i need to supply is a /etc/fw_env.config
file defining where in flash the environment is to be manipulated.

  i realize this is a weird scenario, it's just what i have to work
with for the time being.

rday

-- 

========================================================================
Robert P. J. Day                                 Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA
                        http://crashcourse.ca

Twitter:                                       http://twitter.com/rpjday
LinkedIn:                               http://ca.linkedin.com/in/rpjday
========================================================================

Re: how can i add u-boot-fw-utils to my build without u-boot being part of the build?

[Tom Rini]

On Sun, Aug 21, 2016 at 09:59:22AM -0400, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
> On Fri, 19 Aug 2016, Tom Rini wrote:
> 
> > On Thu, Aug 18, 2016 at 12:41:25PM -0400, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
> > >
> > >   i want to add the u-boot-fw-utils recipe to my current build,
> > > but u-boot is *not* part of the relevant BSP layer -- u-boot is
> > > being configured and built elsewhere, and that's not changing for
> > > the foreseeable future.
> > >
> > >   the good news is that those utilities don't need to have any
> > > info on the default environment for u-boot -- they need only have
> > > access to the environment in flash, and there is a
> > > /etc/fw_env.config file that is all set up and ready to go and
> > > referring to the correct device and offset in flash.
> > >
> > >   so how do i specify that i want to add that recipe to my build,
> > > while saying, "don't worry about the default environment, you
> > > don't need it." can that be done? thanks.
> >
> > The "easy" way out here is to just set a valid (as in, compiles)
> > UBOOT_MACHINE and then not worry about installing U-Boot from the OE
> > build.  You can ASSUME_PROVIDED away u-boot itself, but you still
> > need to have a UBOOT_MACHINE set so that we configure U-Boot before
> > building the tools (And you must configure before building).
> 
>   the problem is that the machine is a custom tweaking of an existing
> platform in u-boot, so that a regular checkout of u-boot won't have a
> defconfig for that machine. the entirety of u-boot for this target
> board is configured and built elsewhere, so i'm just trying to figure
> out what little i need to supply to get a build of those fw-utils in
> my image.
> 
>   i suppose i can just use an existing machine that's compatible --
> beyond that, i assume all i need to supply is a /etc/fw_env.config
> file defining where in flash the environment is to be manipulated.
> 
>   i realize this is a weird scenario, it's just what i have to work
> with for the time being.

This is a fairly common scenario I think.  I'm doing it myself right now
for a customer :)  And what I'm doing is having OE build U-Boot for the
reference platform (and not using that U-Boot) and re-use that config
for building u-boot-fw-utils (which we do need) and providing a good
fw_env.config just like you suggest.

-- 
Tom

Re: how can i add u-boot-fw-utils to my build without u-boot being part of the build?

[Robert P. J. Day]

On Sun, 21 Aug 2016, Tom Rini wrote:

> On Sun, Aug 21, 2016 at 09:59:22AM -0400, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
> > On Fri, 19 Aug 2016, Tom Rini wrote:
> >
> > > On Thu, Aug 18, 2016 at 12:41:25PM -0400, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
> > > >
> > > >   i want to add the u-boot-fw-utils recipe to my current build,
> > > > but u-boot is *not* part of the relevant BSP layer -- u-boot is
> > > > being configured and built elsewhere, and that's not changing for
> > > > the foreseeable future.
> > > >
> > > >   the good news is that those utilities don't need to have any
> > > > info on the default environment for u-boot -- they need only have
> > > > access to the environment in flash, and there is a
> > > > /etc/fw_env.config file that is all set up and ready to go and
> > > > referring to the correct device and offset in flash.
> > > >
> > > >   so how do i specify that i want to add that recipe to my build,
> > > > while saying, "don't worry about the default environment, you
> > > > don't need it." can that be done? thanks.
> > >
> > > The "easy" way out here is to just set a valid (as in, compiles)
> > > UBOOT_MACHINE and then not worry about installing U-Boot from the OE
> > > build.  You can ASSUME_PROVIDED away u-boot itself, but you still
> > > need to have a UBOOT_MACHINE set so that we configure U-Boot before
> > > building the tools (And you must configure before building).
> >
> >   the problem is that the machine is a custom tweaking of an existing
> > platform in u-boot, so that a regular checkout of u-boot won't have a
> > defconfig for that machine. the entirety of u-boot for this target
> > board is configured and built elsewhere, so i'm just trying to figure
> > out what little i need to supply to get a build of those fw-utils in
> > my image.
> >
> >   i suppose i can just use an existing machine that's compatible --
> > beyond that, i assume all i need to supply is a /etc/fw_env.config
> > file defining where in flash the environment is to be manipulated.
> >
> >   i realize this is a weird scenario, it's just what i have to work
> > with for the time being.
>
> This is a fairly common scenario I think.  I'm doing it myself right
> now for a customer :)  And what I'm doing is having OE build U-Boot
> for the reference platform (and not using that U-Boot) and re-use
> that config for building u-boot-fw-utils (which we do need) and
> providing a good fw_env.config just like you suggest.

  i apologize for being clueless, but i'm still unclear on what i need
to do here, and in my case, i'm going in the opposite direction.

  currently, u-boot is being configured and compiled standalone -- not
as part of OE. and that build works just fine, so i can grab whatever
(little?) i need from that build to then add to an actual OE build so
i can just add u-boot-fw-utils to an existing image.

  as i read it, for an OE build of u-boot, i need to supply either
UBOOT_MACHINE or UBOOT_CONFIG. so in this case, what would i do? my
assumption until now is that i need to add to the OE build just enough
to get the fw utils to build, and i'd do that by setting either of
those variables. and i already have the appropriate fw_env.config file
ready to go.

  so what precisely do i need to do here?

rday

-- 

========================================================================
Robert P. J. Day                                 Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA
                        http://crashcourse.ca

Twitter:                                       http://twitter.com/rpjday
LinkedIn:                               http://ca.linkedin.com/in/rpjday
========================================================================

Re: how can i add u-boot-fw-utils to my build without u-boot being part of the build?

[Javier Viguera]

Hi Robert,

On 21/08/16 17:51, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
>
>   i apologize for being clueless, but i'm still unclear on what i need
> to do here, and in my case, i'm going in the opposite direction.
>
>   currently, u-boot is being configured and compiled standalone -- not
> as part of OE. and that build works just fine, so i can grab whatever
> (little?) i need from that build to then add to an actual OE build so
> i can just add u-boot-fw-utils to an existing image.
>
>   as i read it, for an OE build of u-boot, i need to supply either
> UBOOT_MACHINE or UBOOT_CONFIG. so in this case, what would i do? my
> assumption until now is that i need to add to the OE build just enough
> to get the fw utils to build, and i'd do that by setting either of
> those variables. and i already have the appropriate fw_env.config file
> ready to go.
>
>   so what precisely do i need to do here?

Have you tried to override UBOOT_CONFIG in a u-boot-fw-utils bbappend?

Have a look at how we do that (using sandbox_defconfig) in meta-digi-arm:

https://github.com/digi-embedded/meta-digi/blob/jethro/meta-digi-arm/recipes-bsp/u-boot/u-boot-fw-utils_%25.bbappend

Hope this helps.

-- 
Javier Viguera
Software Engineer
Digi International® Spain S.A.U.

Re: how can i add u-boot-fw-utils to my build without u-boot being part of the build?

[Robert P. J. Day]

On Mon, 22 Aug 2016, Javier Viguera wrote:

> Hi Robert,
>
> On 21/08/16 17:51, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
> >
> >   i apologize for being clueless, but i'm still unclear on what i
> > need to do here, and in my case, i'm going in the opposite
> > direction.
> >
> >   currently, u-boot is being configured and compiled standalone --
> > not as part of OE. and that build works just fine, so i can grab
> > whatever (little?) i need from that build to then add to an actual
> > OE build so i can just add u-boot-fw-utils to an existing image.
> >
> >   as i read it, for an OE build of u-boot, i need to supply either
> > UBOOT_MACHINE or UBOOT_CONFIG. so in this case, what would i do?
> > my assumption until now is that i need to add to the OE build just
> > enough to get the fw utils to build, and i'd do that by setting
> > either of those variables. and i already have the appropriate
> > fw_env.config file ready to go.
> >
> >   so what precisely do i need to do here?
>
> Have you tried to override UBOOT_CONFIG in a u-boot-fw-utils
> bbappend?

  i did figure out a while back that i needed to set at least one of
UBOOT_MACHINE or UBOOT_CONFIG, and since i couldn't set the former,
clearly, i needed to figure out how to set the latter, i just didn't
know what was supposed to go into it. am i just missing it, or is
there an actual example of what would go into a UBOOT_CONFIG variable?

> Have a look at how we do that (using sandbox_defconfig) in
> meta-digi-arm:
>
> https://github.com/digi-embedded/meta-digi/blob/jethro/meta-digi-arm/recipes-bsp/u-boot/u-boot-fw-utils_%25.bbappend
>
> Hope this helps.

  ok, will check that out later today, thanks. is there, in fact, any
OE/YP documentation that shows a detailed example of how to do that?
i'm fairly familiar with the OE/YP manuals, but i don't recall
tripping over anything like that.

rday

-- 

========================================================================
Robert P. J. Day                                 Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA
                        http://crashcourse.ca

Twitter:                                       http://twitter.com/rpjday
LinkedIn:                               http://ca.linkedin.com/in/rpjday
========================================================================

Re: how can i add u-boot-fw-utils to my build without u-boot being part of the build?

[Robert P. J. Day]

On Mon, 22 Aug 2016, Javier Viguera wrote:

> Hi Robert,
>
> On 21/08/16 17:51, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
> >
> >   i apologize for being clueless, but i'm still unclear on what i need
> > to do here, and in my case, i'm going in the opposite direction.
> >
> >   currently, u-boot is being configured and compiled standalone -- not
> > as part of OE. and that build works just fine, so i can grab whatever
> > (little?) i need from that build to then add to an actual OE build so
> > i can just add u-boot-fw-utils to an existing image.
> >
> >   as i read it, for an OE build of u-boot, i need to supply either
> > UBOOT_MACHINE or UBOOT_CONFIG. so in this case, what would i do? my
> > assumption until now is that i need to add to the OE build just enough
> > to get the fw utils to build, and i'd do that by setting either of
> > those variables. and i already have the appropriate fw_env.config file
> > ready to go.
> >
> >   so what precisely do i need to do here?
>
> Have you tried to override UBOOT_CONFIG in a u-boot-fw-utils bbappend?
>
> Have a look at how we do that (using sandbox_defconfig) in meta-digi-arm:
>
> https://github.com/digi-embedded/meta-digi/blob/jethro/meta-digi-arm/recipes-bsp/u-boot/u-boot-fw-utils_%25.bbappend

  ah, this is kind of what i suspected would work ... a generic
sandbox build, accompanied by the appropriate /etc/fw_etc.config file.
i'm assuming that's not x86-specific since you're using it with one of
your ARM boards. thanks, i'll give it a shot.

rday

-- 

========================================================================
Robert P. J. Day                                 Ottawa, Ontario, CANADA
                        http://crashcourse.ca

Twitter:                                       http://twitter.com/rpjday
LinkedIn:                               http://ca.linkedin.com/in/rpjday
========================================================================