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diff --git a/Documentation/powerpc/bootwrapper.rst b/Documentation/powerpc/bootwrapper.rst new file mode 100644 index 000000000..cdfa2bc84 --- /dev/null +++ b/Documentation/powerpc/bootwrapper.rst @@ -0,0 +1,131 @@ +======================== +The PowerPC boot wrapper +======================== + +Copyright (C) Secret Lab Technologies Ltd. + +PowerPC image targets compresses and wraps the kernel image (vmlinux) with +a boot wrapper to make it usable by the system firmware. There is no +standard PowerPC firmware interface, so the boot wrapper is designed to +be adaptable for each kind of image that needs to be built. + +The boot wrapper can be found in the arch/powerpc/boot/ directory. The +Makefile in that directory has targets for all the available image types. +The different image types are used to support all of the various firmware +interfaces found on PowerPC platforms. OpenFirmware is the most commonly +used firmware type on general purpose PowerPC systems from Apple, IBM and +others. U-Boot is typically found on embedded PowerPC hardware, but there +are a handful of other firmware implementations which are also popular. Each +firmware interface requires a different image format. + +The boot wrapper is built from the makefile in arch/powerpc/boot/Makefile and +it uses the wrapper script (arch/powerpc/boot/wrapper) to generate target +image. The details of the build system is discussed in the next section. +Currently, the following image format targets exist: + + ==================== ======================================================== + cuImage.%: Backwards compatible uImage for older version of + U-Boot (for versions that don't understand the device + tree). This image embeds a device tree blob inside + the image. The boot wrapper, kernel and device tree + are all embedded inside the U-Boot uImage file format + with boot wrapper code that extracts data from the old + bd_info structure and loads the data into the device + tree before jumping into the kernel. + + Because of the series of #ifdefs found in the + bd_info structure used in the old U-Boot interfaces, + cuImages are platform specific. Each specific + U-Boot platform has a different platform init file + which populates the embedded device tree with data + from the platform specific bd_info file. The platform + specific cuImage platform init code can be found in + `arch/powerpc/boot/cuboot.*.c`. Selection of the correct + cuImage init code for a specific board can be found in + the wrapper structure. + + dtbImage.%: Similar to zImage, except device tree blob is embedded + inside the image instead of provided by firmware. The + output image file can be either an elf file or a flat + binary depending on the platform. + + dtbImages are used on systems which do not have an + interface for passing a device tree directly. + dtbImages are similar to simpleImages except that + dtbImages have platform specific code for extracting + data from the board firmware, but simpleImages do not + talk to the firmware at all. + + PlayStation 3 support uses dtbImage. So do Embedded + Planet boards using the PlanetCore firmware. Board + specific initialization code is typically found in a + file named arch/powerpc/boot/<platform>.c; but this + can be overridden by the wrapper script. + + simpleImage.%: Firmware independent compressed image that does not + depend on any particular firmware interface and embeds + a device tree blob. This image is a flat binary that + can be loaded to any location in RAM and jumped to. + Firmware cannot pass any configuration data to the + kernel with this image type and it depends entirely on + the embedded device tree for all information. + + treeImage.%; Image format for used with OpenBIOS firmware found + on some ppc4xx hardware. This image embeds a device + tree blob inside the image. + + uImage: Native image format used by U-Boot. The uImage target + does not add any boot code. It just wraps a compressed + vmlinux in the uImage data structure. This image + requires a version of U-Boot that is able to pass + a device tree to the kernel at boot. If using an older + version of U-Boot, then you need to use a cuImage + instead. + + zImage.%: Image format which does not embed a device tree. + Used by OpenFirmware and other firmware interfaces + which are able to supply a device tree. This image + expects firmware to provide the device tree at boot. + Typically, if you have general purpose PowerPC + hardware then you want this image format. + ==================== ======================================================== + +Image types which embed a device tree blob (simpleImage, dtbImage, treeImage, +and cuImage) all generate the device tree blob from a file in the +arch/powerpc/boot/dts/ directory. The Makefile selects the correct device +tree source based on the name of the target. Therefore, if the kernel is +built with 'make treeImage.walnut', then the build system will use +arch/powerpc/boot/dts/walnut.dts to build treeImage.walnut. + +Two special targets called 'zImage' and 'zImage.initrd' also exist. These +targets build all the default images as selected by the kernel configuration. +Default images are selected by the boot wrapper Makefile +(arch/powerpc/boot/Makefile) by adding targets to the $image-y variable. Look +at the Makefile to see which default image targets are available. + +How it is built +--------------- +arch/powerpc is designed to support multiplatform kernels, which means +that a single vmlinux image can be booted on many different target boards. +It also means that the boot wrapper must be able to wrap for many kinds of +images on a single build. The design decision was made to not use any +conditional compilation code (#ifdef, etc) in the boot wrapper source code. +All of the boot wrapper pieces are buildable at any time regardless of the +kernel configuration. Building all the wrapper bits on every kernel build +also ensures that obscure parts of the wrapper are at the very least compile +tested in a large variety of environments. + +The wrapper is adapted for different image types at link time by linking in +just the wrapper bits that are appropriate for the image type. The 'wrapper +script' (found in arch/powerpc/boot/wrapper) is called by the Makefile and +is responsible for selecting the correct wrapper bits for the image type. +The arguments are well documented in the script's comment block, so they +are not repeated here. However, it is worth mentioning that the script +uses the -p (platform) argument as the main method of deciding which wrapper +bits to compile in. Look for the large 'case "$platform" in' block in the +middle of the script. This is also the place where platform specific fixups +can be selected by changing the link order. + +In particular, care should be taken when working with cuImages. cuImage +wrapper bits are very board specific and care should be taken to make sure +the target you are trying to build is supported by the wrapper bits. |