[U-Boot-Users] Proposal for a make option to include an additional stand alone program directory

[Jeff Mann]

> This sounds like a good idea. I am developing a custom 
> MPC8349E board that I'll submit a U-Boot patch for when its done.
> I also plan to build a test-suite that executes as a u-boot 
> stand-alone application. Its not clear to me that such a test 
> suite should also be added into the U-Boot source, since its 
> board-specific; more so than whatever changes to the current 
> MPC8349E support I need to get the board booted. Although, I 
> have no intention of hiding the test-suite source code.

You can put it in the board folder and have a separate make rule to
choose when to compile it. In my case, though, the diagnostic tests
never reach a finished state and really are only for our produtction
testing. 


> I figured I'd submit the board support patch, and then just 
> maintain the test-suite locally, with an email reference in a 
> u-boot README to anyone who wanted to get access to the 
> test-suite code. Of course, if lots of people build test 
> suites using U-Boot, and there is common code, I'd be happy 
> to use it. I just haven't looked for it in the source yet.
> The test suite would involve programming Altera FPGAs with 
> FPGA configurations, running pin-to-pin tests, etc.
> 
> So is this the intention of your proposal, or just another 
> use-case your proposal would support?

Actually, that is almost my exact intention. 

You'll see in an e-mailed patch to this list earlier this week (I think,
maybe it was last week), I started adding finctions to the exports
function. I'd like to better document the stand alone programs feature.
Also if there is intrest and if I have time, I'll look at putting
together a barebone test suite starter package with instructions.