AArch64 kernel image decompression

[Will Deacon]

On Fri, Jan 10, 2014 at 05:04:36PM +0000, Josh Cartwright wrote:
> Hey Will-

Hi Josh,

> Scanning the Documentation/arm64/booting.txt document, I came across
> this, listing an optional step a bootloader might take:
> 
> "The AArch64 kernel does not currently provide a decompressor and
> therefore requires decompression (gzip, etc.) to be performed by the
> boot loader if a compressed Image target (e.g. Image.gz) is used."
> 
> Do you envision that, if a decompressor is desired, it will always be
> the responsibility of a bootloader to implement it?

That's certainly our current stance, yes. It also simplifies the booting
code and things like EFI stub, so I'd be reluctant to consider adding a
decompressor to the arm64 kernel without a compelling use-case.

> In other words, would you accept patches adding support for building
> zImages (and others) for AArch64?

Are these patches actually needed, or are you trying to find a project
involving the arm64 kernel? If the latter, I'm sure we can think of plenty
of other things you can work on :)

Will