[U-Boot-Users] dtb in env sector - was: (Try 2) Please pull ...

[Joakim Tjernlund]

On Tue, 2007-04-03 at 14:49 +0200, Wolfgang Denk wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> in message <1175593151.12080.17.camel at gentoo-jocke.transmode.se> you wrote:
> > 
> > This is probably a little off but I am thinking about were to
> > put my dtb on the flash and it occured to me that it could fit into the
> > environment sector as the environment doesn't use the whole sector.
> 
> It is you who defines the usage of yoru flash.

yes and I want to waste as little as possible

> 
> > But one can't just write it into that sector without take measures to
> > preserve the environment.
> 
> What measures? No matter where you store it in flash  you  must  make
> sure   it's  an  otherwise  unused  area.  The  unused  part  of  the
> environment sector is not much different.

You need some help from u-boot to make this practical to use:
Add an command like dtbinstall that given an address saves
the dtb into the free area avaliable in the env. sector (and into
the redundant env sector if enabled)

Then you can download your dtb with tftp into RAM and install
it in a space efficient way. 

> 
> > Is this a bad idea?
> 
> I think it is not a good idea. When something  goes  wrong  during  a
> "saveenv"  you lose your dtb. THe environment is still secured if you
> use redundant environment, but your dtb is gone.
> 
> I would use a dedicated flash sector, but that's just my $ 0.02
> 
> Best regards,
> 
> Wolfgang Denk
>