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dt: add documentation of ARM dt boot interface

v6: typo fixes
v5: clarified that dtb should be aligned on a 64 bit boundary in RAM.
v3: added details to Documentation/arm/Booting

Acked-by: Tony Lindgren <tony@atomide.com>
Acked-by: Nicolas Pitre <nicolas.pitre@linaro.org>
Acked-by: Russell King <rmk+kernel@arm.linux.org.uk>
Signed-off-by: Grant Likely <grant.likely@secretlab.ca>
Grant Likely 14 years ago
parent
commit
ede338f4ce
2 changed files with 73 additions and 8 deletions
  1. 29 4
      Documentation/arm/Booting
  2. 44 4
      Documentation/devicetree/booting-without-of.txt

+ 29 - 4
Documentation/arm/Booting

@@ -65,13 +65,19 @@ looks at the connected hardware is beyond the scope of this document.
 The boot loader must ultimately be able to provide a MACH_TYPE_xxx
 The boot loader must ultimately be able to provide a MACH_TYPE_xxx
 value to the kernel. (see linux/arch/arm/tools/mach-types).
 value to the kernel. (see linux/arch/arm/tools/mach-types).
 
 
-
-4. Setup the kernel tagged list
--------------------------------
+4. Setup boot data
+------------------
 
 
 Existing boot loaders:		OPTIONAL, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
 Existing boot loaders:		OPTIONAL, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
 New boot loaders:		MANDATORY
 New boot loaders:		MANDATORY
 
 
+The boot loader must provide either a tagged list or a dtb image for
+passing configuration data to the kernel.  The physical address of the
+boot data is passed to the kernel in register r2.
+
+4a. Setup the kernel tagged list
+--------------------------------
+
 The boot loader must create and initialise the kernel tagged list.
 The boot loader must create and initialise the kernel tagged list.
 A valid tagged list starts with ATAG_CORE and ends with ATAG_NONE.
 A valid tagged list starts with ATAG_CORE and ends with ATAG_NONE.
 The ATAG_CORE tag may or may not be empty.  An empty ATAG_CORE tag
 The ATAG_CORE tag may or may not be empty.  An empty ATAG_CORE tag
@@ -101,6 +107,24 @@ The tagged list must be placed in a region of memory where neither
 the kernel decompressor nor initrd 'bootp' program will overwrite
 the kernel decompressor nor initrd 'bootp' program will overwrite
 it.  The recommended placement is in the first 16KiB of RAM.
 it.  The recommended placement is in the first 16KiB of RAM.
 
 
+4b. Setup the device tree
+-------------------------
+
+The boot loader must load a device tree image (dtb) into system ram
+at a 64bit aligned address and initialize it with the boot data.  The
+dtb format is documented in Documentation/devicetree/booting-without-of.txt.
+The kernel will look for the dtb magic value of 0xd00dfeed at the dtb
+physical address to determine if a dtb has been passed instead of a
+tagged list.
+
+The boot loader must pass at a minimum the size and location of the
+system memory, and the root filesystem location.  The dtb must be
+placed in a region of memory where the kernel decompressor will not
+overwrite it.  The recommended placement is in the first 16KiB of RAM
+with the caveat that it may not be located at physical address 0 since
+the kernel interprets a value of 0 in r2 to mean neither a tagged list
+nor a dtb were passed.
+
 5. Calling the kernel image
 5. Calling the kernel image
 ---------------------------
 ---------------------------
 
 
@@ -125,7 +149,8 @@ In either case, the following conditions must be met:
 - CPU register settings
 - CPU register settings
   r0 = 0,
   r0 = 0,
   r1 = machine type number discovered in (3) above.
   r1 = machine type number discovered in (3) above.
-  r2 = physical address of tagged list in system RAM.
+  r2 = physical address of tagged list in system RAM, or
+       physical address of device tree block (dtb) in system RAM
 
 
 - CPU mode
 - CPU mode
   All forms of interrupts must be disabled (IRQs and FIQs)
   All forms of interrupts must be disabled (IRQs and FIQs)

+ 44 - 4
Documentation/devicetree/booting-without-of.txt

@@ -12,8 +12,9 @@ Table of Contents
 =================
 =================
 
 
   I - Introduction
   I - Introduction
-    1) Entry point for arch/powerpc
-    2) Entry point for arch/x86
+    1) Entry point for arch/arm
+    2) Entry point for arch/powerpc
+    3) Entry point for arch/x86
 
 
   II - The DT block format
   II - The DT block format
     1) Header
     1) Header
@@ -148,7 +149,46 @@ upgrades without significantly impacting the kernel code or cluttering
 it with special cases.
 it with special cases.
 
 
 
 
-1) Entry point for arch/powerpc
+1) Entry point for arch/arm
+---------------------------
+
+   There is one single entry point to the kernel, at the start
+   of the kernel image. That entry point supports two calling
+   conventions.  A summary of the interface is described here.  A full
+   description of the boot requirements is documented in
+   Documentation/arm/Booting
+
+        a) ATAGS interface.  Minimal information is passed from firmware
+        to the kernel with a tagged list of predefined parameters.
+
+                r0 : 0
+
+                r1 : Machine type number
+
+                r2 : Physical address of tagged list in system RAM
+
+        b) Entry with a flattened device-tree block.  Firmware loads the
+        physical address of the flattened device tree block (dtb) into r2,
+        r1 is not used, but it is considered good practise to use a valid
+        machine number as described in Documentation/arm/Booting.
+
+                r0 : 0
+
+                r1 : Valid machine type number.  When using a device tree,
+                a single machine type number will often be assigned to
+                represent a class or family of SoCs.
+
+                r2 : physical pointer to the device-tree block
+                (defined in chapter II) in RAM.  Device tree can be located
+                anywhere in system RAM, but it should be aligned on a 64 bit
+                boundary.
+
+   The kernel will differentiate between ATAGS and device tree booting by
+   reading the memory pointed to by r2 and looking for either the flattened
+   device tree block magic value (0xd00dfeed) or the ATAG_CORE value at
+   offset 0x4 from r2 (0x54410001).
+
+2) Entry point for arch/powerpc
 -------------------------------
 -------------------------------
 
 
    There is one single entry point to the kernel, at the start
    There is one single entry point to the kernel, at the start
@@ -226,7 +266,7 @@ it with special cases.
   cannot support both configurations with Book E and configurations
   cannot support both configurations with Book E and configurations
   with classic Powerpc architectures.
   with classic Powerpc architectures.
 
 
-2) Entry point for arch/x86
+3) Entry point for arch/x86
 -------------------------------
 -------------------------------
 
 
   There is one single 32bit entry point to the kernel at code32_start,
   There is one single 32bit entry point to the kernel at code32_start,