[U-Boot-Users] u-boot v2

[Menon, Nishanth]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: u-boot-users-bounces at lists.sourceforge.net [mailto:u-boot-users-bounces at lists.sourceforge.net]
> On Behalf Of Robert Schwebel
> Sent: Friday, May 30, 2008 5:50 AM
> To: Kenneth Johansson
> Cc: u-boot-users at lists.sourceforge.net
> Subject: Re: [U-Boot-Users] u-boot v2
> 
> On Wed, May 28, 2008 at 03:41:58PM +0200, Kenneth Johansson wrote:
> > I'm just wondering what the status and plans are with the V2 branch.
> >
> > Is the plan that at some future date everyone just stops works on the
> > main branch and switch over to V2 or is the features of V2 going to be
> > ported over one by one.
> 
> v2 is currently a technology study, lead by Pengutronix developers
> (mainly Sascha Hauer), which shows where *we* do currently see weak
> points in the U-Boot design and how things could look in the future.
> 
> I doubt that there will some point in time where everyone will just
> switch over; what will happen depends very much on how much people look
> at the code, see the shiny beauty of these ideas and start contributing
> :-)
Some personal experiences might be in context.
a) If you look at u-boot v2 with the expectation that architecture is same as U-Boot v1, you'd be sadly proven wrong. It is more aligned with linux kernel architecture than U-Boot v1.
b) If you expect all features you see in U-Boot v1 to be present in U-Boot v2, again you'd be proven wrong. In my experience, most peripherals and features I need, I am having to port it/make it work.. but then folks who love to hack around from scratch would love it..
c) Is there a huge user base like U-Boot v1 for U-Boot v2? Not from what I see in the list and in irc. U-Boot v2 is what we'd call "early adopter" phase.. mebbe a little before that I guess. Very few brave folks have stepped in ;)..
d) I find U-Boot v2 code architecture to be much cleaner, easily modifiable+ maintainable in comparison with U-Boot v1. But then, that is a personal preference (no offence to any folks ;)).
e) Are all features stable? I do not think so.. As it is still a nascent concept. But I think we can fix all that is broken out there. Lot of stuff can be done in sandbox (PC app emulation of u-boot v2), so there are opportunities.

In short, I see huge potential in U-Boot v2, only it will take some effort in getting it working in mainstream.

Regards,
Nishanth Menon