Compiling u-boot-rpi3 on an rpi3

Tue May 7 02:04:22 UTC 2019

On Mon, May 06, 2019 at 10:50:26PM +0000, James Shuriff wrote:
> The u-boot-rpi3 port configures U-Boot with the rpi_3_defconfig in the U-Boot sources. U-Boot contains definitions with tons of boards. All the u-boot-* ports do is tell U-Boot which defconfig to apply and possibly apply any patches that are needed for that specific board. Take a look at this:
> 
> https://github.com/u-boot/u-boot/blob/master/configs/rpi_3_defconfig
> 
I gather that make doesn't need to "know" the target platform to create
the executables. But, doesn't an install script  figure out either with
system calls or explict configuration files where to put the executables? 

>  That's what tells U-Boot how to build for Raspberry Pi 3. It doesn't need to know anything further than that to build U-Boot. The process for installing U-Boot isn't specific for FreeBSD it would be similar for any OS that supports U-Boot. The config.txt file tells the firmware where to find the next stage of the boot process but theoretically you could name the file whatever you want. 
Yes, but in practice the names are well established on any given platform.
Is the problem in identifying with sufficient detail the exact platform?

> I wrote a script that sets up the boot files, if you're interested. 
I am interested, but: 

I'm puzzled why it's not done by default during a normal world or kernel
upgrade if the firmware or u-boot sources are updated. Is there some sort
of ambiguity that can't be resolved?  

> Formatting the SD card isn't too much of a trial, either. There's no MBR boot code needed.
>
I _think_ that's a different problem than upgrading a working system, no?

Thanks for replying!

bob prohaska

> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: bob prohaska <fbsd at www.zefox.net>
> Sent: Monday, May 6, 2019 5:48 PM
> To: Ian Lepore <ian at freebsd.org>
> Cc: James Shuriff <james at opentech.cc>; freebsd-arm at freebsd.org; bob prohaska <fbsd at www.zefox.net>
> Subject: Re: Compiling u-boot-rpi3 on an rpi3
> 
> On Mon, May 06, 2019 at 03:18:10PM -0600, Ian Lepore wrote:
> > On Mon, 2019-05-06 at 14:08 -0700, bob prohaska wrote:
> > > Ok, now I'm thoroughly confused 8-) It sounds as if the guiding
> > > assumption behind the u-boot-rpi3 port is that it _isn't_ being
> > > self-hosted, but rather part of a cross-compile to be copied onto an
> > > installer medium. This is at variance with "normal" ports, but
> > > consistent with an embedded target that never self-hosts.
> > >
> > > Looking at my own rpi3's /boot directory, most of the files are
> > > dated May 4th, the last time world and kernel were rebuilt and installed.
> > > Are those files genuinely up-to-date, or merely fresh copies of old
> > > versions from /usr/share.....?
> > >
> > > On a Pi3 that _is_ selfhosting, will updating rpi-firmware and u-
> > > boot-rpi3
> > > and then updating world and kernel complete the firmware and u-boot
> > > update?
> > >
> > > Apologies for the confusion, and thanks for any clarification!
> > >
> > > bob prohaska
> > >
> >
> > Updating boot stuff is always a semi-manual procedure.  For example,
> > on
> > x86 systems after doing make installworld you have a new boot0 and a
> > new gptboot or zfsboot, but they've only been installed to /boot.
> > It's up to you to run the gpart commands that install those things to
> > the outside-the-ufs-filesystem parts of the disk drive.
> >
> > The same concept applies to arm and other embedded systems, which have
> > an even more diverse set of "outside the ufs filesystem" things to
> > deal
> 
> Apparently I'm not understanding the significance of "outside of ufs" in this situation. On the Pi3 a simple cp works. I'd think that an install script could run gpart, certainly more reliably than I can!
> 
> > with.  In the embedded case it's not necessarily even safe or possible
> > to install the various boot bits to /boot, because there may be items
> > that have the same name (u-boot.bin for example) but actually differ
> > depending on SoC or system type.
> 
> Doesn't the system have to know that anyway to compile in the first place?
> 
> > So installing boot bits to
> > /usr/local/share/u-boot then making the user handle the last bit of
> > the install is about the only option.
> >
> 
> If it's not practical to make an installer sufficiently platform-aware to handle "the last bit" then a man page would really help. U-boot updates aren't needed often and a botched attempt is hard to recover from.
> 
> Thanks for reading!
> 
> bob prohaska
> 
> 
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: James Shuriff
> > > > Sent: Monday, May 6, 2019 3:42 PM
> > > > To: bob prohaska <fbsd at www.zefox.net>
> > > > Cc: freebsd-arm at freebsd.org
> > > > Subject: RE: Compiling u-boot-rpi3 on an rpi3
> > > >
> > > > /boot/msdos is an arbitrary location. It's not even required to
> > > > mount it. I mount my FAT partition elsewhere. Some boards don't
> > > > even have u-boot in the filesystem they dd it directly onto the
> > > > disk. Also consider you don't have to build the port on the
> > > > Raspberry Pi, so there would be no way to install u-boot from the
> > > > host system without knowing where the SD card is mounted.
> > > >
> > > > The rpi-firmware port also puts stuff in /usr/local/share. That's
> > > > the port that has most of the files needed for the Raspberry Pi's
> > > > FAT partition. Here is a list of the files in the FAT partition
> > > > and where you can get them from:
> > > >
> > > > /LICENSE.broadcom: rpi-firmware port
> > > > /armstub8.bin: rpi-firmware port
> > > > /bcm2710-rpi-3-b.dtb: rpi-firmware port
> > > > /bootcode.bin: rpi-firmware port
> > > > /config.txt: rpi-firmware (config_rpi3.txt)
> > > > /dtb/*: FreeBSD Build Output
> > > > (/usr/obj/usr/src/arm64.aarch64/sys/$KERNCONF/modules/usr/src/sys/
> > > > m odules/dtb or /boot/dtb on the Raspberry Pi)
> > > > /fixup*.dat: rpi-firmware port
> > > > /overlays/*: rpi-firmware port
> > > > /start*.elf: rpi-firmware port
> > > > /u-boot.bin: u-boot-rpi3 port
> > > >
> > > > - James Shuriff
> > > >
> > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > From: bob prohaska <fbsd at www.zefox.net>
> > > > Sent: Monday, May 6, 2019 3:29 PM
> > > > To: James Shuriff <james at opentech.cc>
> > > > Cc: bob prohaska <fbsd at www.zefox.net>
> > > > Subject: Re: Compiling u-boot-rpi3 on an rpi3
> > > >
> > > > On Mon, May 06, 2019 at 06:18:35PM +0000, James Shuriff wrote:
> > > > > Copy /usr/local/share/u-boot/u-boot-rpi3/u-boot.bin to
> > > > > /boot/msdos.
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > > Ok, that did the trick.  Is there some particular reason make
> > > > install didn't perform the copy?
> > > >
> > > > Thank you very much!
> > > >
> > > > bob prohaska
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > > - James Shuriff
> > > > >
> > > > > -----Original Message-----
> > > > > From: owner-freebsd-arm at freebsd.org <
> > > > > owner-freebsd-arm at freebsd.org> On Behalf Of bob prohaska
> > > > > Sent: Monday, May 6, 2019 2:05 PM
> > > > > To: Mika??l Urankar <mikael.urankar at gmail.com>
> > > > > Cc: freebsd-arm at freebsd.org; freebsd-ports at freebsd.org
> > > > > Subject: Re: Compiling u-boot-rpi3 on an rpi3
> > > > >
> > > > > On Mon, May 06, 2019 at 06:20:45PM +0200, Mika??l Urankar wrote:
> > > > > > Le lun. 6 mai 2019 ?? 17:19, bob prohaska <fbsd at www.zefox.net>
> > > > > > a ??crit :
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > On Mon, May 06, 2019 at 03:22:31PM +0200, Mika??l Urankar
> > > > > > > wrote:
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > > > It builds fine here on aarch64, do you have
> > > > > > > > security/openssl* installed?
> > > > > > > >
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Yes, security/openssl is installed. I didn't use it by
> > > > > > > default because of earlier reports of trouble. The system
> > > > > > > reminds me that
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Delete it and rebuild u-boot-rpi3
> > > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > That certainly helped, make now runs successfully.
> > > > >
> > > > > But, make install didn't update anything in /boot/msdos.
> > > > > There seem to be three copies of u-boot-bin floating around,
> > > > > with identical size. Should I copy one manually to /boot/msdos,
> > > > > and does it matter which one?
> > > > >
> > > > > Thanks for reading and your help!
> > > > >
> > > > > bob prohaska
> > > > >
> > > > > _______________________________________________
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> > > > > https://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-arm
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> > > > > delete it and promptly notify the sender, James Shuriff (
> > > > > james at opentech.cc<mailto:james at opentech.cc>).
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > > ________________________________
> > > >  DISCLAIMER: This message and any attachments are intended solely
> > > > for the use of the recipient and may contain confidential
> > > > information. If you have received this message in error please
> > > > delete it and promptly notify the sender, James Shuriff (
> > > > james at opentech.cc<mailto:james at opentech.cc>).
> > > >
> > >
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> >
> ________________________________
>  DISCLAIMER: This message and any attachments are intended solely for the use of the recipient and may contain confidential information. If you have received this message in error please delete it and promptly notify the sender, James Shuriff (james at opentech.cc<mailto:james at opentech.cc>).
> 