[U-Boot] Porting Linux's MTD/NAND changes into U-Boot

[Boris Brezillon]

On Mon, 25 Apr 2016 13:36:46 -0400
Tom Rini <trini at konsulko.com> wrote:

> On Mon, Apr 25, 2016 at 04:43:14PM +0200, Boris Brezillon wrote:
> 
> > Hi Scott,
> > 
> > I've recently contributed a lot of MTD/NAND related patches (and intend
> > to continue doing so). Some of them are transversal changes touching the
> > MTD and NAND framework internals, which implies patching all NAND
> > drivers along with the core changes.
> > 
> > All those changes are required to properly handle modern NANDs (MLC/TLC
> > NANDs), and I need them to add proper NAND support to the sunxi
> > platform (and more particularly to the C.H.I.P from NextThing Co.).
> > 
> > So my question is, how should I port those changes to U-Boot? I see
> > that your doing "synchronization commits", but in my case this mean
> > including a bunch of driver specific changes into this "sync commit".
> > 
> > I think it's also worth mentioning that I plan to heavily rework the
> > Linux NAND framework to improve NAND performances on modern NAND
> > controllers and clarify the NAND chip / NAND controller concepts, and
> > other people are also working on merging the BBT code of the NAND and
> > OneNAND framework. Which unfortunately means that we're not done porting
> > invasive changes to U-Boot :-/.
> > 
> > Any advice is welcome.  
> 
> I suppose my first suggestion would be to sync the kernel back into
> U-Boot more frequently.  With our bi-monthly release cycle it shouldn't
> be too hard to pick a window to grab the current kernel release and
> bring it over.  I think the more stuff we let build up prior to syncing
> the harder it will be.
> 

Okay, so this means I should be the one back-porting Linux changes into
U-Boot? I was planning on porting my current work on the sunxi NAND
driver (including all the core dependencies) and submitting it to
U-Boot, but honestly, I don't see how I can keep things in sync in the
long run. From my experience, porting things to U-Boot is never as
easy at it seems, and I don't think I'll have the time to maintain that
by myself. Scott, what's your policy regarding Linux -> U-Boot syncs?
Can I expect some help from your side?


-- 
Boris Brezillon, Free Electrons
Embedded Linux and Kernel engineering
http://free-electrons.com