[U-Boot] http client?

[Peter Tyser]

Hi Robin,

> Robin Getz wrote:
> > Sorry - first time I sent this -- I forgot to cc the list...
> >
> > On Tue 21 Jul 2009 12:37, Robin Getz pondered:
> >   
> >> redboot supports (and has since 2002) a mini-http client:
> >>
> >> This is just a transfer data via the network using HTTP protocol, no 
> >> better or worse than tftp. (no https, no proxy, no other protocols).
> >>
> >> http://ecos.sourceware.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb.cgi/ecos/packages/redboot/current/src/net/http_client.c?rev=1.11&content-type=text/x-cvsweb-markup&cvsroot=ecos
> >>
> >> I know there have been discussions about adding wget to U-Boot, which
> >> I agree is not something that is worthwhile to do.
> >>
> >> http://lists.denx.de/pipermail/u-boot/2006-March/013697.html
> >>
> >> but a simple client would be helpful in many situations.
> >>
> >> If a port of the redboot functionality is done - any thoughts on if it would 
> >> be accepted?
> >>     
> I have no philosophical objection - in fact it seems kinda cool.  As 
> always, if you're able to make a good case for why something should be 
> included, it probably will be.

The wget functionality would be the easy part.  Adding TCP support to
U-Boot would be the very, very hard part in my opinion:)

For what its worth, we used the lwip stack for our proprietary
bootloader in the past and it worked reasonable well for both TCP and
UDP at a somewhat reasonable code size:
http://savannah.nongnu.org/projects/lwip/

Anyway, I think it'd be neat too and it would open the doors for other
interesting apps, but adding TCP support is no small task at all.

My $.02,
Peter