[U-Boot] [PATCH] configs: Remove CONFIG_SPL_FS_EXT4 for all MX6 platforms

[Tom Rini]

On Sun, May 26, 2019 at 01:30:01AM +0200, Marek Vasut wrote:
> On 5/26/19 1:23 AM, Tom Rini wrote:
> > On Sun, May 26, 2019 at 01:20:34AM +0200, Marek Vasut wrote:
> >> On 5/26/19 1:08 AM, Tom Rini wrote:
> >>> On Sun, May 26, 2019 at 12:57:08AM +0200, Marek Vasut wrote:
> >>>> On 5/26/19 12:45 AM, Ezequiel Garcia wrote:
> >>>>> On Sun, 2019-05-26 at 00:24 +0200, Marek Vasut wrote:
> >>>>>> On 5/25/19 11:47 PM, Ezequiel Garcia wrote:
> >>>>>>> On Sat, 2019-05-25 at 22:15 +0200, Marek Vasut wrote:
> >>>>>>>> On 5/25/19 6:49 PM, Ezequiel Garcia wrote:
> >>>>>>>>> i.MX6 platforms boot U-Boot second-stage from unformatted space,
> >>>>>>>>> and should not need Ext filesystem support on SPL.
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>> The commit was generated with:
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>> git grep -l MX6 -- configs/ | xargs grep -l SPL_FS_EXT4 | xargs sed -i -e '/CONFIG_SPL_FS_EXT4=y/d'
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>> This change has a dramatic impact on SPL size:
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>> ./scripts/bloat-o-meter old new
> >>>>>>>>> add/remove: 0/59 grow/shrink: 0/3 up/down: 0/-8674 (-8674)
> >>>>>>>>> [..]
> >>>>>>>>> Total: Before=38320, After=29646, chg -22.64%
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>> Cc: Otavio Salvador <otavio at ossystems.com.br>
> >>>>>>>>> Cc: Fabio Estevam <fabio.estevam at nxp.com>
> >>>>>>>>> Cc: Peng Fan <peng.fan at nxp.com>
> >>>>>>>>> Cc: Marek Vasut <marex at denx.de>
> >>>>>>>>> Cc: Stefano Babic <sbabic at denx.de>
> >>>>>>>>> Cc: Stefan Roese <sr at denx.de>
> >>>>>>>>> Cc: "Eric Bénard" <eric at eukrea.com>
> >>>>>>>>> Cc: Breno Lima <breno.lima at nxp.com>
> >>>>>>>>> Cc: Francesco Montefoschi <francesco.montefoschi at udoo.org>
> >>>>>>>>> Signed-off-by: Ezequiel Garcia <ezequiel at collabora.com>
> >>>>>>>>> ---
> >>>>>>>>> Tested on Wandboard only. Maintainers, please ACK or NAK!
> >>>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>>>  configs/cgtqmx6eval_defconfig       | 1 -
> >>>>>>>>>  configs/mx6cuboxi_defconfig         | 1 -
> >>>>>>>>>  configs/mx6sabreauto_defconfig      | 1 -
> >>>>>>>>>  configs/mx6sabresd_defconfig        | 1 -
> >>>>>>>>>  configs/mx6slevk_spl_defconfig      | 1 -
> >>>>>>>>>  configs/mx6sxsabresd_spl_defconfig  | 1 -
> >>>>>>>>>  configs/mx6ul_14x14_evk_defconfig   | 1 -
> >>>>>>>>>  configs/mx6ul_9x9_evk_defconfig     | 1 -
> >>>>>>>>>  configs/novena_defconfig            | 1 -
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> NAK, I boot my Novena from ext4 and this just broke it.
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>> And also, NAK, this removes functionality from SPL which worked fine before.
> >>>>>>>>
> >>>>>>>
> >>>>>>> I'll drop from Novena, but I think the patch still makes some sense,
> >>>>>>> why do you want Ext4 on SPL?
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>> What other filesystem is available in SPL and doesn't have patent problems ?
> >>>>>>
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Sorry for not being clear. I am asking why turn on a feature that is so heavy,
> >>>>> on a system that won't need it (such as Sabre* boards, Wandboard and similar)?
> >>>>
> >>>> Two reasons:
> >>>> 1) It was enabled, disabling it means removing functionality for no good
> >>>>    reason (oops, bloat, is not a good reason), and that is not desired.
> >>>> 2) Booting from block device implies booting from a filesystem,
> >>>>    otherwise you might overwrite various things on the block device when
> >>>>    updating the file (u-boot image).
> >>>
> >>> So, are you using SPL to load something from ext4 or not?
> >>
> >> Yes, I think that's what I said.
> >>
> >>> There are
> >>> setups where people have configured the system such that SPL loads
> >>> something from ext4 and that's why we have it available.  Is anyone
> >>> doing that on Novena?  Or any iMX system?
> >>
> >> Quoting my first response in this thread:
> >> "
> >> NAK, I boot my Novena from ext4 and this just broke it.
> >> "
> > 
> > Actually, I wasn't sure from your first response if you're using SPL to
> > load u-boot from EXT4 or not.  So, Novena is a no and we should wait for
> > more board maintainers to speak up to see if they use it or not, thanks!
> 
> Novena is certainly a no. Since I use a couple of wandboards, those are
> no as well.

No, it's what the board maintainer says, for wandboard.

> But I do not want to see useful functionality removed from SPL only to
> make space for useless DM/DT bloat. Temporarily band-aiding this real
> problem by removing functionality is a no-go, no matter how you slice
> it. The real fix is to fix the DM/DT and figure out a way to reduce it's
> size and _retain_ _all_ the functionality.

By that logic you should be enabling every possible filesystem in SPL
and a bunch of other features too just in case.  No, if no one is
_using_ a feature on a board, removing useless features is a goal onto
itself.

-- 
Tom
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