[RFC] Re: TP link MR3220 status, boot from flash via u-boot question

[Milan Obuch]

On Mon, 11 Apr 2011 12:41:59 +0300, Aleksandr Rybalko <ray at dlink.ua> wrote:

> On Sat, 9 Apr 2011 14:29:31 +0200
> Milan Obuch <freebsd-mips at dino.sk> wrote:
> 
> >> On Fri, 8 Apr 2011 11:31:32 +0300, Aleksandr Rybalko <ray at dlink.ua>
> >> wrote:
> >> 
> >> > On Fri, 8 Apr 2011 09:57:12 +0200
> >> > Milan Obuch <freebsd-mips at dino.sk> wrote:
> >> > 

[ snip ]

> >> For lzma, u-boot told 'bad gzip data, must reset'. No joy. I have
> >> no idea on old lzma method, will try xz, but I have little hope it
> >> will be any better.
> >> 
> 
> oldlzma is a lzma tool 4.17
> You can use my copy (Makefile reorganized to simple BSD Makefile) 
> http://my.ddteam.net/files/oldlzma.tar.gz
> 

I will try, but not too hard :) (see below)

[ snip ]

> >> Will try with -O binary, actually I am using it now without this
> >> option.
> Don't forget to use objcopy of mips toolchain (somewhere
> in /usr/obj/mips.mipsel)
> 

Yes, naturally - all tools are cross build ones...

[ snip ]

> >> > >> On a side note, there is one thing to be addressed. As my
> >> > >> device has only 4 MB flash, I still need to shrink the image
> >> > >> I would like to use there. I could put there working kernel,
> >> > >> when flash boot issue is solved, but root fs not yet,
> >> > >> together they do not fit. I still need to save as much as 600
> >> > >> kB of space... Do you have any tips to share? In some older
> >> > >> mails here I saw you managed to do it for other device...
> >> > 
> >> > 1. compile with NOSHARED=no
> >> > 2. delete .h, .a, .o and many other docs and unused binary's (I
> >> > think that step you know :) ) 3. mkulzma+geom_uncompress instead
> >> > mkuzip+geom_uzip
> >> > 
> >> 
> >> There are following files at http://my.ddteam.net page:
> >> 
> >> 2011-01-19_add_contrib_xz-embedded.patch
> >> 2011-01-19_geom_ulzma_and_mkulzma.patch
> >> 2011-01-21_geom_ulzma_and_uzip.diff
> >> 2011-01-23_geom_uncompress.diff
> >> 2011-01-23_geom_uncompress.patch
> >> 2011-01-24_mkulzma.patch
> >> 
> >> Which one should I use? There is no mkulzma in base now...
> >> 
> >> Regards,
> >> Milan
> 
> Use please:
> mkulzma utility - http://my.ddteam.net/files/2011-01-24_mkulzma.patch
> geom_uncompress(uzip/ulzma) -
> http://my.ddteam.net/files/2011-01-23_geom_uncompress.patch
> xz-embedded decompressor -
> http://my.ddteam.net/files/2011-01-19_add_contrib_xz-embedded.patch
> 

Looks like my guess was right. It works and I am able to create
combined kernel + root fs fitting in 4 MB flash, kernel is gzipped as
u-boot seems support only that and rootfs lzma-compressed.

Trouble is u-boot does not like my images, so I need to investigate
that, which does not seems to be easy now... Has anybody some
experience in this area? There is GPL compliance tarball from TP-link
with some u-boot directory in it, but is it possible to build it
somehow under FreeBSD? All in this tarball seems to be 'just Linux'...

Regards,
Milan