[U-Boot] Avoiding reload on ARM U-BOOT

[U-Boot] Avoiding reload on ARM U-BOOT

[yehuda80]

Hello everyone

im trying to port u-boot 2011-09 to a new board with an arm based SOC 

i found that u-boot will always relocate the code even if it is placed
already in DDR which is the case with my SOC. 

is there any clean way to avoid relocating the u-boot ? does the various SPL
configs have something to do with that ?

if yes which one should i define ?

Thanks in advance 

Yehuda
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[U-Boot] Avoiding reload on ARM U-BOOT

[Marek Vasut]

> Hello everyone
> 
> im trying to port u-boot 2011-09 to a new board with an arm based SOC
> 
> i found that u-boot will always relocate the code even if it is placed
> already in DDR which is the case with my SOC.

The u-boot is always relocated to the end of the DRAM, which is likely what you 
want. And it's quite a quick process. So if you are manufacturing your soc with 
various size of RAM, you want the relocation to happen. What SoC is that anyway?

> 
> is there any clean way to avoid relocating the u-boot ? does the various
> SPL configs have something to do with that ?

Not really and you don't want this to happen.

M

> 
> if yes which one should i define ?
> 
> Thanks in advance
> 
> Yehuda

[U-Boot] Avoiding reload on ARM U-BOOT

[Marek Vasut]

> Hello Marek

ALWAYS CC U-BOOT ML

> 
> Thank you for your answer
> 
> My SOC (Marvells Armada Controller) uses a bootrom code to copy to
> initialize the DRAM and to copy the u-boot image. so the entire DRAM init
> and copy sequence in u-boot is redundant.

I see. I know about this soc's bootrom. Though it still can't place the 
bootloader properly to the end of DRAM.

> 
> in previous version there was a way to avoid this. i find it limiting that
> there isn't a way in the new version.
> 
> Why would i want to relocate the code anyway ?

See above, to place it to the end of DRAM.

> 
> Yehuda
> 
> On Thu, Feb 2, 2012 at 11:34 AM, Marek Vasut <marek.vasut@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > Hello everyone
> > > 
> > > im trying to port u-boot 2011-09 to a new board with an arm based SOC
> > > 
> > > i found that u-boot will always relocate the code even if it is placed
> > > already in DDR which is the case with my SOC.
> > 
> > The u-boot is always relocated to the end of the DRAM, which is likely
> > what you
> > want. And it's quite a quick process. So if you are manufacturing your
> > soc with
> > various size of RAM, you want the relocation to happen. What SoC is that
> > anyway?
> > 
> > > is there any clean way to avoid relocating the u-boot ? does the
> > > various SPL configs have something to do with that ?
> > 
> > Not really and you don't want this to happen.
> > 
> > M
> > 
> > > if yes which one should i define ?
> > > 
> > > Thanks in advance
> > > 
> > > Yehuda

[U-Boot] Avoiding reload on ARM U-BOOT

[yehuda yitchak]

Hello again

Sorry for slipping the u-boot list e-mail address

i understand the benefit of relocating u-boot to the end of DRAM but in
systems where boot time is critical this redundant copy is undesirable.
anyway i understand there is no official way of avoiding it.

One more question i have is regarding the SPL Framework. i read all the
documentation i could find about the SPL but i don't think i fully
understand the usage of this framework. since i noticed several SPL Macros
around the relocation code i suspected it has something to do with
relocation or u-boot running as secondary boot program

i would appreciate a short explanation when CONFIG_SPL or CONFIG_NAND_SPL
should be set ?

Thanks again

Yehuda

On Fri, Feb 3, 2012 at 10:15 AM, Marek Vasut <marek.vasut@gmail.com> wrote:

> > Hello Marek
>
> ALWAYS CC U-BOOT ML
>
> >
> > Thank you for your answer
> >
> > My SOC (Marvells Armada Controller) uses a bootrom code to copy to
> > initialize the DRAM and to copy the u-boot image. so the entire DRAM init
> > and copy sequence in u-boot is redundant.
>
> I see. I know about this soc's bootrom. Though it still can't place the
> bootloader properly to the end of DRAM.
>
> >
> > in previous version there was a way to avoid this. i find it limiting
> that
> > there isn't a way in the new version.
> >
> > Why would i want to relocate the code anyway ?
>
> See above, to place it to the end of DRAM.
>
> >
> > Yehuda
> >
> > On Thu, Feb 2, 2012 at 11:34 AM, Marek Vasut <marek.vasut@gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > > > Hello everyone
> > > >
> > > > im trying to port u-boot 2011-09 to a new board with an arm based SOC
> > > >
> > > > i found that u-boot will always relocate the code even if it is
> placed
> > > > already in DDR which is the case with my SOC.
> > >
> > > The u-boot is always relocated to the end of the DRAM, which is likely
> > > what you
> > > want. And it's quite a quick process. So if you are manufacturing your
> > > soc with
> > > various size of RAM, you want the relocation to happen. What SoC is
> that
> > > anyway?
> > >
> > > > is there any clean way to avoid relocating the u-boot ? does the
> > > > various SPL configs have something to do with that ?
> > >
> > > Not really and you don't want this to happen.
> > >
> > > M
> > >
> > > > if yes which one should i define ?
> > > >
> > > > Thanks in advance
> > > >
> > > > Yehuda
>

[U-Boot] Avoiding reload on ARM U-BOOT

[Marek Vasut]

> Hello again
> 
> Sorry for slipping the u-boot list e-mail address
> 
> i understand the benefit of relocating u-boot to the end of DRAM but in
> systems where boot time is critical this redundant copy is undesirable.
> anyway i understand there is no official way of avoiding it.

You can boot linux directly via SPL if your boottime is critical. And, if you do 
not want to boot linux directly, implement some "hit key to interrupt direct 
booting sequence" into SPL.

> 
> One more question i have is regarding the SPL Framework. i read all the
> documentation i could find about the SPL but i don't think i fully
> understand the usage of this framework. since i noticed several SPL Macros
> around the relocation code i suspected it has something to do with
> relocation or u-boot running as secondary boot program

If you can read only a small piece of eg. NAND with your bootrom, you use SPL. 
The purpose is to init the system (ram, gpio ...) and load the u-boot (the big 
bootloader).

M
> 
> i would appreciate a short explanation when CONFIG_SPL or CONFIG_NAND_SPL
> should be set ?
> 
> Thanks again
> 
> Yehuda
> 
> On Fri, Feb 3, 2012 at 10:15 AM, Marek Vasut <marek.vasut@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > Hello Marek
> > 
> > ALWAYS CC U-BOOT ML
> > 
> > > Thank you for your answer
> > > 
> > > My SOC (Marvells Armada Controller) uses a bootrom code to copy to
> > > initialize the DRAM and to copy the u-boot image. so the entire DRAM
> > > init and copy sequence in u-boot is redundant.
> > 
> > I see. I know about this soc's bootrom. Though it still can't place the
> > bootloader properly to the end of DRAM.
> > 
> > > in previous version there was a way to avoid this. i find it limiting
> > 
> > that
> > 
> > > there isn't a way in the new version.
> > > 
> > > Why would i want to relocate the code anyway ?
> > 
> > See above, to place it to the end of DRAM.
> > 
> > > Yehuda
> > > 
> > > On Thu, Feb 2, 2012 at 11:34 AM, Marek Vasut <marek.vasut@gmail.com>
> > 
> > wrote:
> > > > > Hello everyone
> > > > > 
> > > > > im trying to port u-boot 2011-09 to a new board with an arm based
> > > > > SOC
> > > > > 
> > > > > i found that u-boot will always relocate the code even if it is
> > 
> > placed
> > 
> > > > > already in DDR which is the case with my SOC.
> > > > 
> > > > The u-boot is always relocated to the end of the DRAM, which is
> > > > likely what you
> > > > want. And it's quite a quick process. So if you are manufacturing
> > > > your soc with
> > > > various size of RAM, you want the relocation to happen. What SoC is
> > 
> > that
> > 
> > > > anyway?
> > > > 
> > > > > is there any clean way to avoid relocating the u-boot ? does the
> > > > > various SPL configs have something to do with that ?
> > > > 
> > > > Not really and you don't want this to happen.
> > > > 
> > > > M
> > > > 
> > > > > if yes which one should i define ?
> > > > > 
> > > > > Thanks in advance
> > > > > 
> > > > > Yehuda

[U-Boot] Avoiding reload on ARM U-BOOT

[Stefano Babic]

On 05/02/2012 15:22, Marek Vasut wrote:
>> Hello again
>>
>> Sorry for slipping the u-boot list e-mail address
>>
>> i understand the benefit of relocating u-boot to the end of DRAM but in
>> systems where boot time is critical this redundant copy is undesirable.
>> anyway i understand there is no official way of avoiding it.
> 
> You can boot linux directly via SPL if your boottime is critical.

To this purpose I have posted the final version of the patchset to boot
Linux directly from SPL - maybe you can try this way on your hardware.

Best regards,
Stefano Babic

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