[U-Boot-Users] Using u-boot as application-firmware upgrader / Performing logical operations?

[Wolfgang Denk <wd@denx.de>]

Dear Martin,

in message <cqbedv$el6$1@sea.gmane.org> you wrote:
> 
> I have plans of using u-boot as the last-and-ever-working 
> application-firmware-upgrade (in case my Linux [from NAND] is somehow 
> damged).

You're not the first to implement this. See the existing code.

> Hence my plans are that U-boot should perform the following on startup:
> 
> 1) Try fetching new application-image using tftp against some hardcoded 
> address

Why a hardcoded address instead of the usual, configurable mechanism?

> 2) Timeout after 2 secs if no connection (skip to pt 5) (logigs needed)

A timeout is probably not what you want. And how do  you  define  "no
connection"?  There  is  many  steps  for  a  TFTP download which can
produce errors, and you will need to handle them - a  simple  timeout
may  as  well kill running download, or otherwise stuck downloads may
hang your system.

> 3) Perform some simple validation of the image - e.g. check that the 
> last bytes of the image is "egholm" (logics needed)

Why  not  use  the  built-in  verification  (through  CRC   checksum.
timestamp, image name etc.) ? See for example board/trab/auto_update.c

> I reckon there is a problem with 2) where the remainder of the script 
> should only run in case the tftp-action went well. And the same goes for 3).
> 
> Does this idea have a future?

The ide is OK. It has been implemented before. But  I  disagree  with
your  approach, at least as far as the timeout and image verification
are concerned.

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

-- 
Software Engineering:  Embedded and Realtime Systems,  Embedded Linux
Phone: (+49)-8142-66989-10 Fax: (+49)-8142-66989-80 Email: wd at denx.de
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