[U-Boot-Users] builtin OF tree dtb gone

[Joakim Tjernlund]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jerry Van Baren [mailto:gerald.vanbaren at comcast.net] 
> Sent: den 16 december 2006 17:08
> To: Joakim Tjernlund
> Cc: u-boot-users at lists.sourceforge.net
> Subject: Re: [U-Boot-Users] builtin OF tree dtb gone
> 
> Joakim Tjernlund wrote:
> > While trying out the latest u-boot from my board I noticed that
> > support for using a prebuilt OF tree compiled int u-boot is gone.
> > The oftree_dtb symbol is gone and I can't find a replacement.
> > 
> > Why was it removed and is there a replacement?
> > 
> > If there isn't a replacement I request that
> > one is added.
> > 
> >  Jocke
> 
> I'm not the authority on this, but I believe the intent is that you 
> compile the blob outside of u-boot and then you can load it 
> into RAM via 
> tftp or burn it into flash if you want it permanently on the board. 
> Other than having to download and burn two things (u-boot and the dtb 
> blob) rather than one, having it burn into flash separately is no 
> different from compiling it into the u-boot image and is 
> aesthetically 
> much cleaner and more flexible.

"Other than having to download and burn two things" is a rather big
deal to me. First it adds extra work actually get two images into the board.
Secondly, now you have to reserve a DTB flash partion so you have
somewhere to store it and that is a waste of space.
Then you have to add even more args to the boot command to tell uboot where
to find it.

To me this new OF seems like a nice feature for developing new
stuff, but once you are done and ready to ship it only complicates
things for boards that don't need this new flexibility.

 Jocke