[PATCH 8/8] Documentation: devel: porting: bring it up-to-date
Ahmad Fatoum
a.fatoum at pengutronix.de
Sun Oct 23 23:57:16 PDT 2022
A number of changes happened since this guide was first drafted:
- We no longer use inline assembly for the header on ARM64, which
lacks __attribute__((naked))
- FDT compression algorithm is no longer limited to LZO
Update the guide to reflect this and while at it, fix some typos.
---
Documentation/devel/porting.rst | 26 ++++++++++++++++++--------
1 file changed, 18 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)
diff --git a/Documentation/devel/porting.rst b/Documentation/devel/porting.rst
index dea5ebd1c511..f95e8cbba3e4 100644
--- a/Documentation/devel/porting.rst
+++ b/Documentation/devel/porting.rst
@@ -195,14 +195,15 @@ Looking at other boards you might see some different patterns:
by using ``ENTRY_FUNCTION_WITHSTACK``, which will take care to initialize the
stack beforehand. If either a barebox assembly entry point,
``ENTRY_FUNCTION_WITHSTACK`` or earlier firmware has set up the stack, there is
- no reason to use ``__naked``, just use ``ENTRY_FNCTION_WITHSTACK`` with a zero
+ no reason to use ``__naked``, just use ``ENTRY_FUNCTION_WITHSTACK`` with a zero
stack top.
``noinline``
Compiler code inlining is oblivious to stack manipulation in
inline assembly. If you want to ensure a new function has its own stack frame
(e.g. after setting up the stack in a ``__naked`` function), you must jump to
- a ``__noreturn noinline`` function.
+ a ``__noreturn noinline`` function. This is already handled by
+ ``ENTRY_FUNCTION_WITHSTACK``.
``arm_setup_stack``
For 32-bit ARM, ``arm_setup_stack`` initializes the stack
@@ -214,7 +215,7 @@ Looking at other boards you might see some different patterns:
``__dtb_z_my_board_start[];``
Because the PBL normally doesn't parse anything out
of the device tree blob, boards can benefit from keeping the device tree blob
- compressed and only unpack it in barebox proper. Such LZO-compressed device trees
+ compressed and only unpack it in barebox proper. Such compressed device trees
are prefixed with ``__dtb_z_``. It's usually a good idea to use this.
``imx6q_barebox_entry(...);``
@@ -232,7 +233,7 @@ Looking at other boards you might see some different patterns:
``*_start_image(...)/*_load_image(...)/*_xload_*(...)``
If the SRAM couldn't fit both PBL and the compressed barebox proper, PBL
- will need to chainload full barebox binary from disk.
+ will need to chainload full barebox binary from the boot medium.
Repeating previous advice: The specifics about how different SoCs handle
things can vary widely. You're best served by mimicking a similar recently
@@ -404,9 +405,18 @@ New header format
=================
Your loader may require a specific header or format. If the header is meant
-to be executable, it should preferably be added as inline assembly to
-the start of the PBL entry points. See ``__barebox_arm_head`` and
-``__barebox_riscv_header``. Otherwise, add a new tool to ``scripts/``
+to be executable, it should be written in assembly.
+If the C compiler for that platform supports ``__attribute__((naked))``, it
+can be written in inline assembly inside such a naked function. See for
+example ``__barebox_arm_head`` for ARM32 or ``__barebox_riscv_header`` for RISC-V.
+
+For platforms, without naked function support, inline assembly may not be used
+and the entry point should be written in a dedicated assembly file.
+This is the case with ARM64, see for example ``__barebox_arm64_head`` and the
+``ENTRY_PROC`` macro.
+
+Another way, which is often used for non-executable headers with extra
+meta-information like a checksum, is adding a new tool to ``scripts/``
and have it run as part the image build process. ``images/`` contains
various examples.
@@ -434,7 +444,7 @@ well as its prerequisites like clocks, resets or pin multiplexers.
Examples for this are the i.MX xload functions. Some BootROMs boot from
a FAT file system. There is vfat support in the PBL. Refer to the sama5d2
-baord support for an example.
+board support for an example.
Core drivers
============
--
2.30.2
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