[U-Boot-Users] Proposal for patch to configure network parameters

[Wolfgang Denk]

In message <462BC189.2040502 at freescale.com> you wrote:
>
> Although, to be honest, this is very handy for me because these are the 
> MAC addresses that have been assigned to the MPC8349E-mITX board in our 
> lab.  This way, every time I build an image, it's guaranteed to have the 
> right MAC addresses.  I don't need to run some kind of script to set up 
> my variables.

I understand that it may be handy for you, but it may be a  debugging
nightmare for your users, and it may generate a lot of support calls.

> Is there some easy way for me to specify personalized config options at 
> build time?

Use a script to auto-install your board. Expect is a great  tool.  Or
at least make sure that these settings never go out to a customer, i.
e. make sure they are fixed during production (probably when you save
serial  numbers  etc.).  But  IMHO it's definitely better not to have
these build in at all.

> I agree, but if every board has the same flash image, how do we specify 
> a different MAC address for each one?

Normally you do this during production. It depends  how  your  boards
are  manufactured  and tested - if testing includes to boot the board
at least once, then this is where you can add such customization.

> I don't see how.  Not every company has a manufacturing process that 

See all my previous postings.

> allows that.  This is especially true for reference boards, which aren't 
> supposed to be used in a public environment anyway.

Ummm... all Freescale reference boards  that  make  their  way  to  a
customer run in a "public environment".

Anyway - there are standards which shold be adhered to, and they make
it pretty clear that you must not use the same MAC address  for  more
than one board.

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

-- 
DENX Software Engineering GmbH, HRB 165235 Munich, CEO: Wolfgang Denk
Office:  Kirchenstr. 5,       D-82194 Groebenzell,            Germany
Phone: (+49)-8142-66989-10 Fax: (+49)-8142-66989-80 Email: wd at denx.de
Perfection is reached, not when there is no longer anything  to  add,
but when there is no longer anything to take away.
                                           - Antoine de Saint-Exupery