[U-Boot] [PATCH 1/8] Add simple hwconfig infrastructure

[Anton Vorontsov]

On Thu, Apr 30, 2009 at 03:00:50PM -0500, Kim Phillips wrote:
> On Thu, 30 Apr 2009 01:50:00 +0400
> Anton Vorontsov <avorontsov at ru.mvista.com> wrote:
> 
> > This patch implements simple hwconfig infrastructure: an
> > interface for software knobs to control a hardware.
> > 
> > This is very simple implementation, i.e. it is implemented
> > via `hwconfig' environment variable. Later we could write
> > some "hwconfig <enable|disable|list>" commands, ncurses
> > interface for Award BIOS-like interface, and frame-buffer
> > interface for AMI GUI[1] BIOS-like interface with mouse
> > support[2].
> > 
> > Current implementation details/limitations:
> > 
> > 1. Doesn't support options dependencies and mutual exclusion.
> >    We can implement this by integrating apt-get[3] into the
> >    u-boot. But I didn't bother yet.
> > 
> > 2. Since we don't implement hwconfig command, i.e. we're working
> >    with the environement directly, there is no way to tell that
> >    toggling a particular option will need a reboot to take
> >    an effect. So, for now it's advised to always reboot the
> >    target after modifying hwconfig variable.
> > 
> > 3. We support hwconfig options with arguments. For example,
> > 
> >    set hwconfig dr_usb,dr_usb_mode:peripheral,dr_usb_phy_type:ulpi
> 
> so a newbie displays his board's environment and sees the above line
> for the first time.  It's not clear whether they will interpret the
> above as how you would have them:
> 
> >    There are three hwconfig options selected:
> >    1. dr_usb - enable Dual-Role USB controller;
> >    2. dr_usb_mode:peripheral - USB in Function mode;
> >    3. dr_usb_phy_type:ulpi - USB should work with ULPI PHYs.
> 
> or as something starting along the lines of "dr_usb and/or dr_usb_mode
> acquire the 'peripheral' setting,..." and then realize
> "peripheral,dr_usb_phy_type" doesn't make much sense, and have to
> revert to applying different 'weights' to the comma (,) and colon (:)
> token separator characters (to a native English speaker, a colon has
> a higher separation weight than the comma).
> 
> May I suggest something more clearer on the outset, such as:
> 
> set hwconfig "dr_usb=enable; dr_usb_mode=peripheral; dr_usb_phy_type=ulpi"
> 
> or
> 
> set hwconfig "usb=dr; dr_usb_mode=peripheral; dr_usb_phy_type=ulpi"

Yes, much more readable. Will implement.


Thanks!

-- 
Anton Vorontsov
email: cbouatmailru at gmail.com
irc://irc.freenode.net/bd2