[PATCH] spl: Add generic SPL MTD loader support

Maniyam, Dinesh dinesh.maniyam at altera.com
Thu Feb 12 06:42:14 CET 2026


Hi Fabio,

Thanks for the patch.

On 12/2/2026 6:25 am, Fabio Estevam wrote:
> [CAUTION: This email is from outside your organization. Unless you trust the sender, do not click on links or open attachments as it may be a fraudulent email attempting to steal your information and/or compromise your computer.]
>
> From: Fabio Estevam <festevam at nabladev.com>
>
> Add support for loading the next stage from an MTD device in SPL.
>
> Introduce CONFIG_SPL_MTD_LOAD and a generic SPL MTD loader
> implementation that uses the MTD subsystem to read the U-Boot payload.
>
> The loader works with any MTD-backed storage, including raw NAND and
> SPI NAND, without being tied to a specific NAND type.
>
> The payload offset defaults to CONFIG_SYS_MTD_U_BOOT_OFFS and can be
> overridden via the device tree property:
>
>      u-boot,spl-payload-offset
>
> To support both raw NAND and SPI NAND boot flows, the loader is
> registered for BOOT_DEVICE_NAND and BOOT_DEVICE_SPI. This allows it
> to operate correctly on platforms where the ROM reports either NAND
> or SPI as the boot source while using the same MTD-based loading
> infrastructure.
>
> The required NAND core and SPI NAND drivers are built for SPL when
> CONFIG_SPL_MTD_LOAD is enabled.
>
> This provides reusable infrastructure for boards that boot from MTD
> devices without relying on SPI-specific or NAND-specific SPL loaders.
>
> Signed-off-by: Fabio Estevam <festevam at nabladev.com>
> ---
> Dinesh,
>
> Could you please test this approach on your boards?
>
> Thanks
>
> Sure, seems like the approach is quite robust.
> Let me try the approach on my board and will update you
>
> Thanks
>
>
>   common/spl/Kconfig        | 15 +++++++
>   common/spl/Makefile       |  1 +
>   common/spl/spl_mtd.c      | 88 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>   drivers/mtd/Makefile      |  1 +
>   drivers/mtd/nand/Makefile | 12 +++++-
>   5 files changed, 116 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)
>   create mode 100644 common/spl/spl_mtd.c
>
> diff --git a/common/spl/Kconfig b/common/spl/Kconfig
> index 2998b7acb75f..2aba6da73c10 100644
> --- a/common/spl/Kconfig
> +++ b/common/spl/Kconfig
> @@ -1576,8 +1576,23 @@ config SPL_SPI_LOAD
>            Enable support for loading next stage, U-Boot or otherwise, from
>            SPI NOR in U-Boot SPL.
>
> +config SPL_MTD_LOAD
> +       bool "Support loading from a generic MTD device"
> +       depends on SPL
> +       depends on MTD && DM_MTD
> +       help
> +         Enable support for loading next stage, U-Boot or otherwise, from
> +         a generic MTD device (raw NAND, SPI NAND) in U-Boot SPL.
> +
>   endif # SPL_SPI_FLASH_SUPPORT
>
> +config SYS_MTD_U_BOOT_OFFS
> +       hex "address of u-boot payload in the MTD device"
> +       default 0x0
> +       help
> +        Address within the MTD device where the u-boot payload is fetched
> +        from.
> +
>   config SYS_SPI_U_BOOT_OFFS
>          hex "address of u-boot payload in SPI flash"
>          default 0x8000 if ARCH_SUNXI
> diff --git a/common/spl/Makefile b/common/spl/Makefile
> index 4c9482bd3096..9f5ddcad17af 100644
> --- a/common/spl/Makefile
> +++ b/common/spl/Makefile
> @@ -35,6 +35,7 @@ obj-$(CONFIG_$(PHASE_)NVME) += spl_nvme.o
>   obj-$(CONFIG_$(PHASE_)SEMIHOSTING) += spl_semihosting.o
>   obj-$(CONFIG_$(PHASE_)DFU) += spl_dfu.o
>   obj-$(CONFIG_$(PHASE_)SPI_LOAD) += spl_spi.o
> +obj-$(CONFIG_$(PHASE_)MTD_LOAD) += spl_mtd.o
>   obj-$(CONFIG_$(PHASE_)RAM_SUPPORT) += spl_ram.o
>   obj-$(CONFIG_$(PHASE_)USB_SDP_SUPPORT) += spl_sdp.o
>   endif
> diff --git a/common/spl/spl_mtd.c b/common/spl/spl_mtd.c
> new file mode 100644
> index 000000000000..8c6c94e592d0
> --- /dev/null
> +++ b/common/spl/spl_mtd.c
> @@ -0,0 +1,88 @@
> +// SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+
> +
> +/*
> + * Generic SPL loader for MTD devices.
> + *
> + * Based on spl_spi.c, which is:
> + *
> + * Copyright (C) 2011 OMICRON electronics GmbH
> + *
> + * based on drivers/mtd/nand/raw/nand_spl_load.c
> + *
> + * Copyright (C) 2011
> + * Heiko Schocher, DENX Software Engineering, hs at denx.de.
> + */
> +
> +#include <config.h>
> +#include <errno.h>
> +#include <image.h>
> +#include <log.h>
> +#include <spl.h>
> +#include <spl_load.h>
> +
> +#include <dm.h>
> +#include <dm/ofnode.h>
> +#include <dm/uclass.h>
> +#include <mtd.h>
> +
> +static struct mtd_info *spl_mtd_get_device(void)
> +{
> +       struct udevice *dev;
> +       int ret;
> +
> +       for (ret = uclass_first_device_err(UCLASS_MTD, &dev);
> +            dev;
> +            ret = uclass_next_device_err(&dev)) {
> +               if (ret)
> +                       continue;
> +
> +               return dev_get_uclass_priv(dev);
> +       }
> +
> +       return NULL;
> +}
> +
> +static ulong spl_mtd_read(struct spl_load_info *load,
> +                         ulong offs, ulong size, void *buf)
> +{
> +       struct mtd_info *mtd = load->priv;
> +       size_t retlen;
> +       int ret;
> +
> +       ret = mtd_read(mtd, offs, size, &retlen, buf);
> +       if (ret && !mtd_is_bitflip(ret))
> +               return 0;
> +
> +       if (retlen != size)
> +               return 0;
> +
> +       return retlen;
> +}
> +
> +static int spl_mtd_load_image(struct spl_image_info *spl_image,
> +                             struct spl_boot_device *bootdev)
> +{
> +       struct spl_load_info load;
> +       struct mtd_info *mtd;
> +       ulong offset;
> +
> +       mtd = spl_mtd_get_device();
> +       if (!mtd) {
> +               debug("No MTD device found\n");
> +               return -ENODEV;
> +       }
> +
> +       spl_load_init(&load, spl_mtd_read, mtd, mtd->writesize);
> +
> +       offset = CONFIG_SYS_MTD_U_BOOT_OFFS;
> +
> +       if (CONFIG_IS_ENABLED(OF_REAL))
> +               offset = ofnode_conf_read_int("u-boot,spl-payload-offset",
> +                                             offset);
> +
> +       return spl_load(spl_image, bootdev, &load, 0, offset);
> +}
> +
> +/* Priority 1 so boards may override */
> +SPL_LOAD_IMAGE_METHOD("MTD-NAND", 1, BOOT_DEVICE_NAND, spl_mtd_load_image);
> +SPL_LOAD_IMAGE_METHOD("MTD-SPI-NAND", 1, BOOT_DEVICE_SPI, spl_mtd_load_image);
> diff --git a/drivers/mtd/Makefile b/drivers/mtd/Makefile
> index ce05e206073d..0856a8f68732 100644
> --- a/drivers/mtd/Makefile
> +++ b/drivers/mtd/Makefile
> @@ -34,6 +34,7 @@ else
>   ifneq ($(mtd-y),)
>   obj-$(CONFIG_SPL_MTD) += mtd.o
>   endif
> +obj-$(CONFIG_SPL_MTD_LOAD) += nand/
>   obj-$(CONFIG_$(PHASE_)NAND_SUPPORT) += nand/
>   obj-$(CONFIG_SPL_ONENAND_SUPPORT) += onenand/
>   obj-$(CONFIG_$(PHASE_)SPI_FLASH_SUPPORT) += spi/
> diff --git a/drivers/mtd/nand/Makefile b/drivers/mtd/nand/Makefile
> index c8169cf73902..cd6eaa87739c 100644
> --- a/drivers/mtd/nand/Makefile
> +++ b/drivers/mtd/nand/Makefile
> @@ -1,10 +1,20 @@
>   # SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+
>
> -ifeq ($(CONFIG_XPL_BUILD)$(CONFIG_TPL_BUILD),)
>   nandcore-objs := core.o bbt.o
> +
> +ifeq ($(CONFIG_XPL_BUILD),)
> +
> +# U-Boot proper
>   obj-$(CONFIG_MTD_NAND_CORE) += nandcore.o
>   obj-$(CONFIG_MTD_RAW_NAND) += raw/
>   obj-$(CONFIG_MTD_SPI_NAND) += spi/
> +
>   else
> +
> +# XPL
> +obj-$(CONFIG_SPL_MTD_LOAD) += nandcore.o
> +obj-$(CONFIG_SPL_MTD_LOAD) += spi/
> +
> +# raw NAND still follows the normal SPL rule
>   obj-$(CONFIG_$(PHASE_)NAND_SUPPORT) += raw/
>   endif
> --
> 2.34.1
>


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