[U-Boot-Users] u-boot v2

[U-Boot-Users] u-boot v2

[Kenneth Johansson]

I'm just wondering what the status and plans are with the V2 branch. 

Is the plan that at some future date everyone just stops works on the
main branch and switch over to V2 or is the features of V2 going to be
ported over one by one.

[U-Boot-Users] u-boot v2

[Robert Schwebel]

On Wed, May 28, 2008 at 03:41:58PM +0200, Kenneth Johansson wrote:
> I'm just wondering what the status and plans are with the V2 branch. 
> 
> Is the plan that at some future date everyone just stops works on the
> main branch and switch over to V2 or is the features of V2 going to be
> ported over one by one.

v2 is currently a technology study, lead by Pengutronix developers
(mainly Sascha Hauer), which shows where *we* do currently see weak
points in the U-Boot design and how things could look in the future.

I doubt that there will some point in time where everyone will just
switch over; what will happen depends very much on how much people look
at the code, see the shiny beauty of these ideas and start contributing
:-)

People have contributed in the past, they still do, we do active
development on it for real life customer projects, because it solves
real problems. So it will evolve over the time. Anything else is a
matter of community activity.

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

[U-Boot-Users] u-boot v2

[Menon, Nishanth]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: u-boot-users-bounces at lists.sourceforge.net [mailto:u-boot-users-bounces at lists.sourceforge.net]
> On Behalf Of Robert Schwebel
> Sent: Friday, May 30, 2008 5:50 AM
> To: Kenneth Johansson
> Cc: u-boot-users at lists.sourceforge.net
> Subject: Re: [U-Boot-Users] u-boot v2
> 
> On Wed, May 28, 2008 at 03:41:58PM +0200, Kenneth Johansson wrote:
> > I'm just wondering what the status and plans are with the V2 branch.
> >
> > Is the plan that at some future date everyone just stops works on the
> > main branch and switch over to V2 or is the features of V2 going to be
> > ported over one by one.
> 
> v2 is currently a technology study, lead by Pengutronix developers
> (mainly Sascha Hauer), which shows where *we* do currently see weak
> points in the U-Boot design and how things could look in the future.
> 
> I doubt that there will some point in time where everyone will just
> switch over; what will happen depends very much on how much people look
> at the code, see the shiny beauty of these ideas and start contributing
> :-)
Some personal experiences might be in context.
a) If you look at u-boot v2 with the expectation that architecture is same as U-Boot v1, you'd be sadly proven wrong. It is more aligned with linux kernel architecture than U-Boot v1.
b) If you expect all features you see in U-Boot v1 to be present in U-Boot v2, again you'd be proven wrong. In my experience, most peripherals and features I need, I am having to port it/make it work.. but then folks who love to hack around from scratch would love it..
c) Is there a huge user base like U-Boot v1 for U-Boot v2? Not from what I see in the list and in irc. U-Boot v2 is what we'd call "early adopter" phase.. mebbe a little before that I guess. Very few brave folks have stepped in ;)..
d) I find U-Boot v2 code architecture to be much cleaner, easily modifiable+ maintainable in comparison with U-Boot v1. But then, that is a personal preference (no offence to any folks ;)).
e) Are all features stable? I do not think so.. As it is still a nascent concept. But I think we can fix all that is broken out there. Lot of stuff can be done in sandbox (PC app emulation of u-boot v2), so there are opportunities.

In short, I see huge potential in U-Boot v2, only it will take some effort in getting it working in mainstream.

Regards,
Nishanth Menon