[PATCH v4] fdt: Allow the devicetree to come from a bloblist

[Simon Glass]

Hi Tom,

On Thu, Dec 28, 2023 at 1:48 PM Tom Rini <trini at konsulko.com> wrote:
>
> On Thu, Dec 28, 2023 at 01:37:39PM +0000, Simon Glass wrote:
> > Hi Tom,
> >
> >
> > On Wed, Dec 27, 2023 at 8:06 PM Tom Rini <trini at konsulko.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > On Wed, Dec 27, 2023 at 05:48:42PM +0000, Simon Glass wrote:
> > > > Hi Tom,
> > > >
> > > > On Tue, Dec 26, 2023 at 12:07 PM Tom Rini <trini at konsulko.com> wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > On Tue, Dec 26, 2023 at 09:46:25AM +0000, Simon Glass wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > > Standard passage provides for a bloblist to be passed from one firmware
> > > > > > phase to the next. That can be used to pass the devicetree along as well.
> > > > > > Add an option to support this.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Tests for this will be added as part of the Universal Payload work.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Signed-off-by: Simon Glass <sjg at chromium.org>
> > > > > > ---
> > > > > > The discussion on this was not resolved and is now important due to the
> > > > > > bloblist series from Raymond. So I am sending it again since I believe
> > > > > > this is a better starting point than building on OF_BOARD
> > > > >
> > > > > I really don't like adding another option for "DT is given to us". Why
> > > > > isn't adding another enum to fdt_source_t sufficient
> > > >
> > > > That is added by this patch, but...
> > > >
> > > > >, and if we have
> > > > > bloblist enabled, that will look for and use if found?
> > > >
> > > > ...this is the question. I would like to be able to enable bloblist
> > > > without *requiring* the DT to come from there, hence the separate
> > > > Kconfig option.
> > > >
> > > > > Maybe some other
> > > > > code needs to be restructured and cleaned up too?
> > > >
> > > > Possibly, but I really am not keen on this board-specific solution. I
> > > > believe Ilias & I agreed that OF_BOARD should fade away, so I don't
> > > > like adding another thing onto it.
> > >
> > > I think you're missing something then. It should not be board specific
> > > to just find the dtb via bloblist, without a new CONFIG.
> >
> > Yes, that is what I am looking for.
> >
> > > Whatever is
> > > stopping that is what needs to be refactored and then you can just
> > > extend fdt_source_t without a new CONFIG option.
> >
> > OK, but I need a way to turn it off, at least for development.
> >
> > [merging in the other thread:]
> >
> > On Wed, Dec 27, 2023 at 8:11 PM Tom Rini <trini at konsulko.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > On Wed, Dec 27, 2023 at 05:48:44PM +0000, Simon Glass wrote:
> > > > Hi Ilias,
> > > >
> > > > On Wed, Dec 27, 2023 at 6:44 AM Ilias Apalodimas
> > > > <ilias.apalodimas at linaro.org> wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > Hi Tom,
> > > > >
> > > > > On Tue, 26 Dec 2023 at 14:07, Tom Rini <trini at konsulko.com> wrote:
> > > > > >
> > > > > > On Tue, Dec 26, 2023 at 09:46:25AM +0000, Simon Glass wrote:
> > > > > >
> > > > > > > Standard passage provides for a bloblist to be passed from one firmware
> > > > > > > phase to the next. That can be used to pass the devicetree along as well.
> > > > > > > Add an option to support this.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Tests for this will be added as part of the Universal Payload work.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Signed-off-by: Simon Glass <sjg at chromium.org>
> > > > > > > ---
> > > > > > > The discussion on this was not resolved and is now important due to the
> > > > > > > bloblist series from Raymond. So I am sending it again since I believe
> > > > > > > this is a better starting point than building on OF_BOARD
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I really don't like adding another option for "DT is given to us". Why
> > > > > > isn't adding another enum to fdt_source_t sufficient, and if we have
> > > > > > bloblist enabled, that will look for and use if found? Maybe some other
> > > > > > code needs to be restructured and cleaned up too?
> > > > >
> > > > > Same here. On top of that the bloblist has a few items in there, e.g a
> > > > > TPM eventlog. What are we going to do? Add a Kconfig for each item?
> > > >
> > > > No, but that is just a straw man. The DT is special and U-Boot reports
> > > > where it comes from.
> > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > This has been going back and forth for a while. I've lost count of how
> > > > > many times I repeated the same proposal, but here it goes again. We
> > > > > have OF_BOARD and BLOBLIST options. The bloblist and its properties
> > > > > are scannable at runtime. Can't we use the combination of these 2 can
> > > > > be used to imply we expect things from a bloblist. If we want to be
> > > > > stricter in the future and explicitly expect the DT from a bloblist,
> > > > > we could add a Kconfig option failing the boot if that's missing.
> > > >
> > > > I would like to have that Kconfig option now, not later. In my mind,
> > > > the boot must be deterministic, so that if OF_BLOBLIST is enabled, the
> > > > DT must come from there, or it is an error.
> > >
> > > Determinism doesn't require a CONFIG option, it just requires an if/else
> > > tree where we say what the "correct" priority list should be and then
> > > set a flag so that we can tell the user where we found it too. This also
> > > means that we can get whatever is going to use this mechanism to
> > > migrate over, and have less of a chicken-and-egg type of problem.
> >
> > OK I think I understand what is going on here. We need a way to enable
> > OF_BLOBLIST while still allowing the prior stage to NOT provide a
> > bloblist, at least for a transition period (= forever, I suspect, but
> > that's another discussion).
> >
> > How about if OF_BLOBLIST enables the option, but we allow a fallback
> > to OF_BOARD if the DT is not there?
>
> Oh, OK, so your use case is development. Why don't we just make
> OF_EMBEDDED be the first clause in the if/else (and yes, if
> (IS_ENABLED(CONFIG_OF_EMBEDDED) :)) and move on still not needing a knob
> for "bloblist has it"?

Because OF_EMBED doesn't work with binman, and takes a lot of
different code paths, etc. It is somewhat useful when loading U-Boot
using a debugger, but that is about it.

I sent a v5 that I hope does what is needed.

Regards,
Simon