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diff --git a/Documentation/powerpc/booting.rst b/Documentation/powerpc/booting.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..11aa440f9 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/powerpc/booting.rst @@ -0,0 +1,110 @@ +.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 + +DeviceTree Booting +------------------ + +During the development of the Linux/ppc64 kernel, and more specifically, the +addition of new platform types outside of the old IBM pSeries/iSeries pair, it +was decided to enforce some strict rules regarding the kernel entry and +bootloader <-> kernel interfaces, in order to avoid the degeneration that had +become the ppc32 kernel entry point and the way a new platform should be added +to the kernel. The legacy iSeries platform breaks those rules as it predates +this scheme, but no new board support will be accepted in the main tree that +doesn't follow them properly. In addition, since the advent of the arch/powerpc +merged architecture for ppc32 and ppc64, new 32-bit platforms and 32-bit +platforms which move into arch/powerpc will be required to use these rules as +well. + +The main requirement that will be defined in more detail below is the presence +of a device-tree whose format is defined after Open Firmware specification. +However, in order to make life easier to embedded board vendors, the kernel +doesn't require the device-tree to represent every device in the system and only +requires some nodes and properties to be present. For example, the kernel does +not require you to create a node for every PCI device in the system. It is a +requirement to have a node for PCI host bridges in order to provide interrupt +routing information and memory/IO ranges, among others. It is also recommended +to define nodes for on chip devices and other buses that don't specifically fit +in an existing OF specification. This creates a great flexibility in the way the +kernel can then probe those and match drivers to device, without having to hard +code all sorts of tables. It also makes it more flexible for board vendors to do +minor hardware upgrades without significantly impacting the kernel code or +cluttering it with special cases. + + +Entry point +~~~~~~~~~~~ + +There is one single entry point to the kernel, at the start +of the kernel image. That entry point supports two calling +conventions: + + a) Boot from Open Firmware. If your firmware is compatible + with Open Firmware (IEEE 1275) or provides an OF compatible + client interface API (support for "interpret" callback of + forth words isn't required), you can enter the kernel with: + + r5 : OF callback pointer as defined by IEEE 1275 + bindings to powerpc. Only the 32-bit client interface + is currently supported + + r3, r4 : address & length of an initrd if any or 0 + + The MMU is either on or off; the kernel will run the + trampoline located in arch/powerpc/kernel/prom_init.c to + extract the device-tree and other information from open + firmware and build a flattened device-tree as described + in b). prom_init() will then re-enter the kernel using + the second method. This trampoline code runs in the + context of the firmware, which is supposed to handle all + exceptions during that time. + + b) Direct entry with a flattened device-tree block. This entry + point is called by a) after the OF trampoline and can also be + called directly by a bootloader that does not support the Open + Firmware client interface. It is also used by "kexec" to + implement "hot" booting of a new kernel from a previous + running one. This method is what I will describe in more + details in this document, as method a) is simply standard Open + Firmware, and thus should be implemented according to the + various standard documents defining it and its binding to the + PowerPC platform. The entry point definition then becomes: + + r3 : physical pointer to the device-tree block + (defined in chapter II) in RAM + + r4 : physical pointer to the kernel itself. This is + used by the assembly code to properly disable the MMU + in case you are entering the kernel with MMU enabled + and a non-1:1 mapping. + + r5 : NULL (as to differentiate with method a) + +Note about SMP entry: Either your firmware puts your other +CPUs in some sleep loop or spin loop in ROM where you can get +them out via a soft reset or some other means, in which case +you don't need to care, or you'll have to enter the kernel +with all CPUs. The way to do that with method b) will be +described in a later revision of this document. + +Board supports (platforms) are not exclusive config options. An +arbitrary set of board supports can be built in a single kernel +image. The kernel will "know" what set of functions to use for a +given platform based on the content of the device-tree. Thus, you +should: + + a) add your platform support as a _boolean_ option in + arch/powerpc/Kconfig, following the example of PPC_PSERIES, + PPC_PMAC and PPC_MAPLE. The latter is probably a good + example of a board support to start from. + + b) create your main platform file as + "arch/powerpc/platforms/myplatform/myboard_setup.c" and add it + to the Makefile under the condition of your ``CONFIG_`` + option. This file will define a structure of type "ppc_md" + containing the various callbacks that the generic code will + use to get to your platform specific code + +A kernel image may support multiple platforms, but only if the +platforms feature the same core architecture. A single kernel build +cannot support both configurations with Book E and configurations +with classic Powerpc architectures. |