[U-Boot-Users] ENV_IS_EMBEDDED functionality

[J. William Campbell]

Hello Mr. Denk,
        I have a question regarding the functionality provided by 
ENV_IS_EMBEDDED. Currently, this value is computed only for the case 
CFG_ENV_IS_IN_FLASH defined in environment.h, and is based on the flash 
addresses of the environment being defined as inside the executing 
addresses of u-boot. This seems to be designed for the case where u-boot 
is executed out of flash and not copied into ram for execution. There is 
an old configuration variable, CFG_ENV_IS_EMBEDDED, that appears to be 
non-functional and deprecated. I am working with u-boot for the Analog 
Devices Blackfin chip, which has not yet been submitted to mainstream 
(AFAIK). The code directly defines ENV_IS_EMBEDDED to force that 
functionality even though it is copied to ram for execution (and thereby 
making the embedded determination in environment.h false). The linker 
script is fixed up to force the environment data onto a flash sector 
boundary, so everything works. It does however mean that u-boot cannot 
be updated without destroying the old environment data. This approach is 
also used for a serial flash on the spi bus using the env_eeprom module 
and CFG_ENV_IS_IN_EEPROM. Normally ENV_IS_EMBEDDED could not be defined 
in this case.
        My question is: What is your opinion of this approach? It seems 
to me that this makes ENV_IS_EMBEDDED a configuration parameter (again), 
which provides some (useful?) functionality but may not be what you 
envision.  If ENV_IS_EMBEDDED is a configuration option, the name should 
be changed to include CFG, shouldn't it? The main advantages I see of 
allowing this are
1) CFG_ENV_OFFSET is fixed forever, u-boot growth will never collide 
with it.
2) Some flash space can be saved because the sector alignment of the 
environment data can be optimized as opposed to tacking it onto the end 
(which may waste almost an entire flash sector).
       Is this worth another configuration parameter? I do not want to 
go too far down this road if it will not be acceptable to you in any 
case. Thank you for your attention!


Best Regards,
Bill Campbell