Fast rollout process on jffs2?

Fast rollout process on jffs2?

[Robert Schwebel]

Hi, 

Is there a method for faster rollout of an embedded root filesystem on
jffs2? I'm currently first erase the chip from u-boot, then copy the
image created with mkfs.jffs2 into the empty flash. On first startup it
seems to detect that the partition is larger than the actual image and
it takes quite some time before the / mount is finished. 

Does anybody know a faster variant? 

Robert
-- 
 Dipl.-Ing. Robert Schwebel | http://www.pengutronix.de
 Pengutronix - Linux Solutions for Science and Industry
   Handelsregister:  Amtsgericht Hildesheim, HRA 2686
     Hannoversche Str. 2, 31134 Hildesheim, Germany
   Phone: +49-5121-206917-0 |  Fax: +49-5121-206917-9

Re: Fast rollout process on jffs2?

[David Vrabel]

Robert Schwebel wrote:
> 
> Is there a method for faster rollout of an embedded root filesystem on
> jffs2? I'm currently first erase the chip from u-boot, then copy the
> image created with mkfs.jffs2 into the empty flash. On first startup it
> seems to detect that the partition is larger than the actual image and
> it takes quite some time before the / mount is finished. 
> 
> Does anybody know a faster variant? 

You can pad the JFFS2 image with the --pad option to mkfs.jffs2.

David Vrabel
-- 
David Vrabel, Design Engineer

Arcom, Clifton Road           Tel: +44 (0)1223 411200 ext. 3233
Cambridge CB1 7EA, UK         Web: http://www.arcom.com/

Re: Fast rollout process on jffs2?

[Steven Scholz]

David Vrabel wrote:

> Robert Schwebel wrote:
> 
>>Is there a method for faster rollout of an embedded root filesystem on
>>jffs2? I'm currently first erase the chip from u-boot, then copy the
>>image created with mkfs.jffs2 into the empty flash. On first startup it
>>seems to detect that the partition is larger than the actual image and
>>it takes quite some time before the / mount is finished. 
>>
>>Does anybody know a faster variant? 
> 
> 
> You can pad the JFFS2 image with the --pad option to mkfs.jffs2.

But isn't it padded with 0xFF only?

Or will it place the magic "1985 2003" as well?

--
Steven

Re: Fast rollout process on jffs2?

[David Vrabel]

Steven Scholz wrote:
> David Vrabel wrote:
>> You can pad the JFFS2 image with the --pad option to mkfs.jffs2.
> 
> But isn't it padded with 0xFF only?
> 
> Or will it place the magic "1985 2003" as well?

Since I happened to have an image lying around I checked and it does
place the clean markers at the start of every erase zone.

David Vrabel
-- 
David Vrabel, Design Engineer

Arcom, Clifton Road           Tel: +44 (0)1223 411200 ext. 3233
Cambridge CB1 7EA, UK         Web: http://www.arcom.com/

Re: Fast rollout process on jffs2?

[Robert Schwebel]

On Thu, May 26, 2005 at 05:04:52PM +0100, David Vrabel wrote:
> Since I happened to have an image lying around I checked and it does
> place the clean markers at the start of every erase zone.

Hmm, sounds good, but that probably means that the jffs2 images have to
be the full flash size (which is 32 MB in my case) compared to about 8
MB at the moment? 

Robert
-- 
 Dipl.-Ing. Robert Schwebel | http://www.pengutronix.de
 Pengutronix - Linux Solutions for Science and Industry
   Handelsregister:  Amtsgericht Hildesheim, HRA 2686
     Hannoversche Str. 2, 31134 Hildesheim, Germany
   Phone: +49-5121-206917-0 |  Fax: +49-5121-206917-9

Re: Fast rollout process on jffs2?

[Steven Scholz]

Robert Schwebel wrote:

> On Thu, May 26, 2005 at 05:04:52PM +0100, David Vrabel wrote:
> 
>>Since I happened to have an image lying around I checked and it does
>>place the clean markers at the start of every erase zone.
> 
> 
> Hmm, sounds good, but that probably means that the jffs2 images have to
> be the full flash size (which is 32 MB in my case) compared to about 8
> MB at the moment? 

You could {g,b}zip it. The many 0xFF should compress quite nice... ;-)

--
Steven

Re: Fast rollout process on jffs2?

[Robert Schwebel]

On Thu, May 26, 2005 at 06:54:26PM +0200, Steven Scholz wrote:
> You could {g,b}zip it. The many 0xFF should compress quite nice... ;-)

Yes, but is there a way to decompress gzip/bzip in u-boot? 

Robert
-- 
 Dipl.-Ing. Robert Schwebel | http://www.pengutronix.de
 Pengutronix - Linux Solutions for Science and Industry
   Handelsregister:  Amtsgericht Hildesheim, HRA 2686
     Hannoversche Str. 2, 31134 Hildesheim, Germany
   Phone: +49-5121-206917-0 |  Fax: +49-5121-206917-9

Re: Fast rollout process on jffs2?

[Steven Scholz]

Robert Schwebel wrote:

> On Thu, May 26, 2005 at 06:54:26PM +0200, Steven Scholz wrote:
> 
>>You could {g,b}zip it. The many 0xFF should compress quite nice... ;-)
> 
> 
> Yes, but is there a way to decompress gzip/bzip in u-boot? 

Sure.
But maybe not yet as a user command. But the code is there. I use it to 
unzip boot logos at start up.

--
Steven

Re: Fast rollout process on jffs2?

[David Woodhouse]

On Thu, 2005-05-26 at 18:46 +0200, Robert Schwebel wrote:
> Hmm, sounds good, but that probably means that the jffs2 images have to
> be the full flash size (which is 32 MB in my case) compared to about 8
> MB at the moment? 

You don't have to pad the image. If you use the '-j' argument to
RedBoot's 'fis create' command, it'll erase the extra space and write
cleanmarkers for you.

-- 
dwmw2

Re: Fast rollout process on jffs2?

[Ian Campbell]

On Fri, 2005-05-27 at 13:37 +0100, David Woodhouse wrote:
> On Thu, 2005-05-26 at 18:46 +0200, Robert Schwebel wrote:
> > Hmm, sounds good, but that probably means that the jffs2 images have to
> > be the full flash size (which is 32 MB in my case) compared to about 8
> > MB at the moment? 
> 
> You don't have to pad the image. If you use the '-j' argument to
> RedBoot's 'fis create' command, it'll erase the extra space and write
> cleanmarkers for you.

That doesn't seem to be in upstream CVS, is it very new or unmerged?

Ian.
-- 
Ian Campbell, Senior Design Engineer
                                        Web: http://www.arcom.com
Arcom, Clifton Road,                    Direct: +44 (0)1223 403 465
Cambridge CB1 7EA, United Kingdom       Phone:  +44 (0)1223 411 200

Re: Fast rollout process on jffs2?

[David Woodhouse]

On Fri, 2005-05-27 at 13:53 +0100, Ian Campbell wrote:
> That doesn't seem to be in upstream CVS, is it very new or unmerged?

Er, it's certainly not new. It must be unmerged. I'm trying to remember
where I was using it now -- perhaps on the Symbol2800 port? That's the
project which funded JFFS2 in the first place.

-- 
dwmw2

Re: Fast rollout process on jffs2?

[Wolfgang Denk]

In message <429606D3.3050704@imc-berlin.de> you wrote:
> 
> >>You could {g,b}zip it. The many 0xFF should compress quite nice... ;-)
> > 
> > Yes, but is there a way to decompress gzip/bzip in u-boot? 
> 
> Sure.
> But maybe not yet as a user command. But the code is there. I use it to 
> unzip boot logos at start up.

Sometimes it helps to read the FAQ:
http://www.denx.de/twiki/bin/view/DULG/HowCanILoadAndUncompressACompressedImage

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

-- 
Software Engineering:  Embedded and Realtime Systems,  Embedded Linux
Phone: (+49)-8142-66989-10 Fax: (+49)-8142-66989-80 Email: wd@denx.de
The joys of love made her human and the  agonies  of  love  destroyed
her.
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