[U-Boot] [PATCH 27/27] remove bi_enet*addr from global data for all arches

Wolfgang Denk
2009-02-16T19:47:52Z

Dear Mike,

In message <200902161429.10360.vapier@gentoo.org> you wrote:
>
> > > at any rate, is there a define that can be keyed off of ? CONFIG_HAS_FDT
> > > or some such junk ? then the behavior can be changed to like:
> > > #ifndef CONFIG_HAS_FDT
> > > /* ABI compat junk */
> > > uchar bi_padding_was_enetaddr[6];
> > > #endif
> >
> > Why not just leave the bd_t alone, until such a time as we can get rid
> > of it altogether?
> >
> > Note that just because we support booting with device trees doesn't mean
> > we don't also support booting legacy kernels.
>
> the name has to go. u-boot no longer uses that field and leaving it in will
> simply lead to code misusing it creeping it back into the tree. whether you
> choose to force the warts on everyone is up to you ... i'm not a ppc consumer
> so i could care less.

You are not permitted to change this interface. It must remain
stable. There are systems out there running really old kernel
versions, and every now and then they may even need to update U-Boot
to adapt it for recent hardware changes, while they cannot change the
kernel. It is mandatory that even old 2.4 kernel versions must be
bootable with recent versions of U-Boot.

As mentioned before, bd_info is a binary interfwace between U-Boot and
the Linux kernel, and it must not be changed.

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

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