[U-Boot-Users] using a flat device tree to drive u-boot config

Wolfgang Denk
2008-08-03T07:51:05Z

In message <9e4733910808021858i766307b1q45b5bace59996d03@mail.gmail.com> you wrote:
>
> > What about creating a tool that parses a device tree and creates (or
> > updates) the board header file? This will retain compatibility with
> > other platforms, clean up the existing header files (they won't need
> > to contain as much information), and reduce the amount of changes to
> > U-Boot itself.
>
> That's a good idea. I have used variation on this concept in the past
> and they have worked out well.

A much more powerful concept is to have U-Boot read and interpret the
DT dynamically - only then can you use the same U-Boot binary image
on different board configurations, which is an important feature for
many board vendors.

> A perfect tool would take a fully populated DTS file and use it to
> dynamically generate all of the needed header files to build uboot.
> More info would need to be added to the DTS file like DRAM timings,
> etc. But a DTS file is good place to track all of that info. The
> generated uboot image could contain a copy of the DTB and feed it to
> Linux. Allow the user to override the embedded DTB if necessary.

No, no, no. The DTB *must not* be included with the U-Boot image. It
shall always be kept separate so we canupdate it independently -
otherwise you lose a lot of advantages.

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

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