[U-Boot] [U-boot] Uboot's plan for ARMv8

[Abraham Varricatt]

Hello Tiger,

On Fri, Jan 10, 2014 at 8:32 AM,  <TigerLiu at viatech.com.cn> wrote:
> Hi, experts:
>
> Does U-boot have any plan to support ARMv8 SOC?

I'm replying to this because I'd like some confirmation on the
development process.

u-boot is an open source bootloader. It isn't run by a single
organization (though it IS headed by denx). Architecturally the
software can be divided into multiple processor and development
boards.

Now, if organization A is developing a new processor (along with
development board) and they want to use u-boot as the bootloader, they
would need to write the necessary /cpu sections by themselves and post
it as a patch to the u-boot mailing list. Assuming it meets the coding
standards, it will usually get accepted. After that, organization A
would need to develop the necessary board additions and submit that as
a patch as well.

Why are things done this way? From the mailing list perspective, it is
organization-A which wants to port u-boot to their brand new
processor/development board. Thus, organization-A will need to do the
hard work to make it happen. organization-A is, of course, free to ask
for help or assistance from the mailing list and is encouraged to use
the architecture independent modules (part of u-boot) in their
development.

Looking it at from another perspective, it is rather arrogant (and
rude) of organization-A to build a brand new processor, come in here
and expect u-boot to magically support it. Most people don't work for
free. And even if they wanted to, since the rest of the mailing list
does not have physical access to the new processor/board, how much
help can you _reasonably_ expect?

>
> Nvidia has decleared 64bit SOC plan.
>
> So, i think bootloader for ARMv8 SOC is urgent now.

Coming back to your specific case, I would think it best to ask nVidia
if they have any plans to support u-boot on the new ARMv8 SOC.

Can someone more experienced from the list confirm/deny my understanding?

-Abraham V.