Subject: Re: [Linux-mips-kernel]PATCH

From: Geoffrey Espin <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 16 Oct 2001 11:50:59 -0700

Pete,

> I've attached a patch which adds zImage support for the Alchemy pb1000 board. 
> The image is burned in flash and yamon can be used to just jump to that location 
>... 
> Feedback would be appreciated, including whether or not arch/mips/zboot is the 
> most appropriate place to put the zImage support.

It ain't a pretty patch.  I do want to do this for the Korva-Markham
board... either arch/arm/boot/compressed or arch/ppc/boot scheme
would be nice to follow.  I think arch/ppc/boot/mbx/Makefile does
some of the magic offset stuff you need with quick `sh ` scripts
and also includes piggyback initrd stuff!

Geoff

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From: Pete Popov <[email-masked]>
Date: 18 Oct 2001 23:12:01 -0700

On Tue, 2001-10-16 at 11:50, Geoffrey Espin wrote:
> would be nice to follow.  

I ported the code from arch/ppc/boot, so if you like that scheme, what 
is it that you don't like about the patch I sent?  The directory
structure is the same as arch/ppc/boot, and the generic code is the same
as well.

> I think arch/ppc/boot/mbx/Makefile does

I picked arch/ppc/boot/sandpoint, which does the offset stuff with
standard compiler tools, like objdump.  The initrd stuff can be added
easily.

Pete

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From: Geoffrey Espin <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2001 10:27:49 -0700

Pete,

> structure is the same as arch/ppc/boot, and the generic code is the same

I see that PPC now has some of the silly utils where $(shell
objdump ...) in the Makefile would be a lot tighter.  Other
superficial but better ways like subdir-$(CONFIG_<board>) are
not used (instead ifdef CONFIG_NEC_PB100 $MAKE -- ugh!).  Not
sure why using CFLAGS/LOADADDR/.. from arch/mips/Makefile is not
done either... dup'ing this is bad.  Use "override CFLAGS" if it
needs to be re-constructed from GCCFLAGS,CPPFLAGS...

Apologies for playing "armchair coder".  I'll try to create Korva
version... but mine does it without benefit of a separate loader
(standalone vrboot style)... which might be a useful standard
build option.

Seems to me this is way more important than vrxx stuff... which
is already done and over... compression/initrd is in its infancy.

Geoff
-- 
Geoffrey Espin [email-masked]

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From: Pete Popov <[email-masked]>
Date: 19 Oct 2001 11:13:49 -0700

On Fri, 2001-10-19 at 10:27, Geoffrey Espin wrote:
> objdump ...) in the Makefile would be a lot tighter.  

Are you talking about the utils in boot/utils?  I suppose you can get
rid of those and put everything in the makefile, but I'm not sure it
would be cleaner.

> Other
> done either... dup'ing this is bad.  

Yes, it is. I tried inheriting LOADADDR from arch/mips/Makefile, but it
didn't work and I didn't want to spend more time on it. I figured we can
clean that up later.

> Use "override CFLAGS" if it

Certainly on embedded mips boards it is. It seems like every other arch
already has compression and initrd support.  What I was shooting for
with that ppc patch is a reasonable start at having compression / kernel
loader support.  

Pete

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From: Keith Owens <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 20 Oct 2001 09:58:42 +1000

On 19 Oct 2001 11:13:49 -0700, 
>rid of those and put everything in the makefile, but I'm not sure it

FWIW, the entire kernel build system is being redesigned from scratch
for 2.5.  In particular all the boot loader stuff is being cleaned up
and standardized across architectures (as much as possible).

http://sourceforge.net/projects/kbuild

Keith Owens, kbuild maintainer (who will soon be bugging this list to
test MIPS specific kbuild 2.5 changes).