Thanks Grant for adding me to the list, To introduce myself, I am part of the UEFI team at ARM Ltd. I am also the maintainer of the ARM Packages in the Open Source implementation of UEFI (http://www.tianocore.org/ ).
Maybe an issue this "ARM Boot Architecture" topic should solve is the interface between the boot loader and the Linux kernel binary.
Recently, I was trying to extend our ARM UEFI boot loader to detect the type of the Linux kernel binary: - zImage, non-compressed Image, uImage format - ATAG or FDT support ... to start any kernel by passing the correct parameters and jump to the right offset.
Unfortunately, it was not as easy as it should be. In fact it does not look to be possible right now. Defining a signature (eg: kernel binary format + machine type) in the kernel binary would make the task easier. Some of the formats have a signature (eg: u-boot) but not all the formats.
Actually, if we try to boot a Linux kernel with the wrong settings then the kernel would crash or raise an error. And it is not be possible to recover from this state without restarting the platform. Making these information available to the boot loader (u-boot, uefi, etc) would also make easier the migration from the legacy ATAG to the Flat Device Tree (FDT) support.
BTW, Thursday 15:00UTC is fine for me.
Cheers, Olivier
-----Original Message----- From: boot-architecture-bounces@lists.linaro.org [mailto:boot-architecture-bounces@lists.linaro.org] On Behalf Of Grant Likely Sent: 20 June 2011 13:29 To: octo@linaro.org; boot-architecture@lists.linaro.org; Jon Masters; Jeremy Kerr; nicolas.pitre@linaro.org; Bobby Batacharia; David Rusling; Loïc Minier; Roger Teague; Jason Parker; Dan Handley; Andrew Pickard; Olivier Martin; Jean-Christophe PLAGNIOL-VILLARD Subject: Re: Linux Boot Architecture coordination meeting
2011/6/13 Grant Likely grant.likely@secretlab.ca:
I'd also like to set up a bi-weekly conference call. I'll try to schedule it in the afternoon(europe)/morning(north america) to play nice with everyone's schedule. Right now I'm considering scheduling it on Wednesdays, but I'm open to suggestions.
How does Thursday at 15:00UTC sound to everyone?
Also, the boot architecture topic is now on the agenda[1] for the August Linaro meeting[2].
[1]https://wiki.linaro.org/Events/2011-08-LDS/Schedule [2]https://wiki.linaro.org/Events/2011-08-LDS
g.
Cheers, g.
On Wed, Jun 8, 2011 at 2:32 PM, Grant Likely grant.likely@secretlab.ca
wrote:
Hi all,
Following up from the decisions made at UDS last month[1], we need to organize a boot architecture coordination meeting. Currently the proposal is to hold a meeting either as part of the Linaro platform sprint[2] in the week on August 1-5, 2011, or in the weekend between the platform sprint and the ARM Partners Meeting the week after. Personally, my preference is to schedule a full day meeting on Friday, Aug 5 as part of the platform sprint, but I'd like to get some feedback before settling on that date.
[1]
https://blueprints.launchpad.net/linaro/+spec/linaro-kernel-o-bootarchitectu re
[2] https://wiki.linaro.org/Events/2011-08-LDS
Right now I'm in the process of organizing the information and topics which were discussed during UDS and get them out onto the Linaro wiki. Expect to see some early draft documents showing up late this week or early next week. After that, I'm going to be soliciting feedback and help to make them reflect the priorities and requirements that Linux vendors, users and developers have for the boot architecture. By the time the Linaro platform sprint rolls around, we should have a solid set of documents covering both requirements and a draft boot architecture. At the boot architecture meeting, my goal is to first come to agreement on the general approach and draft design, second to make decisions about how the boot architecture fits in with existing technologies like Fastboot, UEFI and U-Boot, and third to kick off work on implementation and detailed design.
In order to be successful, we need to make sure the appropriate people are involved. I've started by sending this email to the people who I know are interested in the topic, but I know I've missed folks. I'm also going to cc: the boot-architecture@lists.linaro.org[3] for any boot architecture traffic. Please let me know if there is anybody else that I should be inviting. In addition to the meeting in August, I'm considering a regular boot architecture conference call as part of the document drafting process, so I'd like to put together a list of critical stakeholders by the end of next week.
[3] http://lists.linaro.org/mailman/listinfo/boot-architecture
Grant Likely, B.Sc., P.Eng. Secret Lab Technologies Ltd.
-- Grant Likely, B.Sc., P.Eng. Secret Lab Technologies Ltd.