From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Message-ID: <3BB5EA1D.554D7617@mvista.com> Date: Sat, 29 Sep 2001 11:34:53 -0400 From: Dan Malek MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Wolfgang Denk , Stefan Roese , Linuxppc-Embedded , Linuxppc-Commit Subject: Re: CPCI-405 port (PPC405GP) References: <20010923180118.83CBB1009E@denx.denx.de> <3BAEB9DA.232C8FEB@mvista.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Sender: owner-linuxppc-embedded@lists.linuxppc.org List-Id: Dan Malek wrote: > I'm not in the bootrom business. While your experience is nearly > exclusively PPCboot, mine is nearly everything but PPCboot. I guess I should try to rephrase this. My effort to use a minimal amount of words missed the point I was trying to make. When I'm working on a new Linux port, I try to get the most done with the minimal amount of effort. I (or the customer paying me) try to use the bootrom that is on the board from the supplier, rather than get "into the bootrom business" when the goal is to port a kernel. That's why the piggyback loaders exist, to bridge the gap between a variety of boot roms and the kernel. If a bootrom doesn't exist or is quite inferior to the job, I would certainly port PPCBoot and use that. So, while lots of people work on PPCBoot (which I am thankful) and see it on a daily basis, I seldom see it in the commercial production environments. I'll change that whenever it it possible. The challenge changing or writing the boot rom is often more work and testing that the kernel port. The complexity of the processors and memory controllers, sometimes special hardware tools and development boards, and of course documentation to get this done right isn't always available outside of the company that designed the system. My real concern is PPCBoot is tied very tightly to the Linux start-up environment. Through these last few messages, I understand the design reasons for features and attempt to minimize code duplication. I just want everyone to be aware, as is happening and discussed today, that this environment is subject to change as we modify features and attempt to consolidate the code in the piggyback loaders that everyone except PPCBoot uses. I hope this helps. Thanks. -- Dan ** Sent via the linuxppc-embedded mail list. See http://lists.linuxppc.org/