[U-Boot] New Oxford Semiconductor board with assertion fail in linker

[Wolfgang Denk]

Dear Paul Gortmaker,

In message <CAP=VYLr60CFQ0dBG_x0djGeT_3d9LaCEtUCapu0yk3DgAXNRpA at mail.gmail.com> you wrote:
>
> > U-Boot 1.1.2 (Jun 24 2011 - 09:41:57)
...
> Everyone always feels that they need to do a big uprev in one
> giant step.  That is not an insult in any way -- I've also done the
> same thing.  But even if you get it compiled, are you ready to debug
> silent-boot-death where you don't get a single byte out the UART?
> The probability of this happening is relatively high, since your
> origin tree is so old and predates the config.mk removal stuff.

The probability of this happening is non-negligible for each smaller
step as well - there have been so many reorganizations and
restructurings you will run into one of these any time.

> I think in a case like this, you would be well served to start with smaller
> steps, since your origin is so old.  Try moving it just to U-Boot-1_1_4 and
> see if you can make that work.  THat will ensure your process, and your
> toolchain and your install are OK.  Then maybe U-Boot-1_2_0 and then
> next to v1.3.0, then v1.3.4, then v2008.10 and so on.

Argh... sorry, but I don't think this is a good idea.  This is just
aprolongated way of continuous frustration, and a lot of completely
wasted efforts.

Come on - porting U-Boot from scratch for a well-supported
architecture is not that hard.  The most efficient way to revive such
an old port is to check what they changed by then ompared to their
respective base version, collect all the information about device
initialization parameters, and then forget that old code.  Instead,
restart with current code, and go through step by step.

Doing this gives you incremental success.

Getting all (or any number) of intermediate versions running is just
incremental frustrations.

It's a matter of taste which one you prefer, but I rather chose the
short and happy path.

Best regards,

Wolfgang Denk

-- 
DENX Software Engineering GmbH,     MD: Wolfgang Denk & Detlev Zundel
HRB 165235 Munich, Office: Kirchenstr.5, D-82194 Groebenzell, Germany
Phone: (+49)-8142-66989-10 Fax: (+49)-8142-66989-80 Email: wd at denx.de
Worlds may change, galaxies disintegrate, but a woman always  remains
a woman.
	-- Kirk, "The Conscience of the King", stardate 2818.9