.. Copyright (c) 2016 Google, Inc
Introduction
-------------
+============
Firmware often consists of several components which must be packaged together.
For example, we may have SPL, U-Boot, a device tree and an environment area
into a final image (binman).
+Using binman
+============
+
Example use of binman in U-Boot
-------------------------------
inclusion' below.
+Access to binman entry offsets at run time (symbols)
+----------------------------------------------------
+
+Binman assembles images and determines where each entry is placed in the image.
+This information may be useful to U-Boot at run time. For example, in SPL it
+is useful to be able to find the location of U-Boot so that it can be executed
+when SPL is finished.
+
+Binman allows you to declare symbols in the SPL image which are filled in
+with their correct values during the build. For example::
+
+ binman_sym_declare(ulong, u_boot_any, image_pos);
+
+declares a ulong value which will be assigned to the image-pos of any U-Boot
+image (u-boot.bin, u-boot.img, u-boot-nodtb.bin) that is present in the image.
+You can access this value with something like::
+
+ ulong u_boot_offset = binman_sym(ulong, u_boot_any, image_pos);
+
+Thus u_boot_offset will be set to the image-pos of U-Boot in memory, assuming
+that the whole image has been loaded, or is available in flash. You can then
+jump to that address to start U-Boot.
+
+At present this feature is only supported in SPL and TPL. In principle it is
+possible to fill in such symbols in U-Boot proper, as well, but a future C
+library is planned for this instead, to read from the device tree.
+
+As well as image-pos, it is possible to read the size of an entry and its
+offset (which is the start position of the entry within its parent).
+
+A small technical note: Binman automatically adds the base address of the image
+(i.e. __image_copy_start) to the value of the image-pos symbol, so that when the
+image is loaded to its linked address, the value will be correct and actually
+point into the image.
+
+For example, say SPL is at the start of the image and linked to start at address
+80108000. If U-Boot's image-pos is 0x8000 then binman will write an image-pos
+for U-Boot of 80110000 into the SPL binary, since it assumes the image is loaded
+to 80108000, with SPL at 80108000 and U-Boot at 80110000.
+
+For x86 devices (with the end-at-4gb property) this base address is not added
+since it is assumed that images are XIP and the offsets already include the
+address.
+
+
+Access to binman entry offsets at run time (fdt)
+------------------------------------------------
+
+Binman can update the U-Boot FDT to include the final position and size of
+each entry in the images it processes. The option to enable this is -u and it
+causes binman to make sure that the 'offset', 'image-pos' and 'size' properties
+are set correctly for every entry. Since it is not necessary to specify these in
+the image definition, binman calculates the final values and writes these to
+the device tree. These can be used by U-Boot at run-time to find the location
+of each entry.
+
+Alternatively, an FDT map entry can be used to add a special FDT containing
+just the information about the image. This is preceded by a magic string so can
+be located anywhere in the image. An image header (typically at the start or end
+of the image) can be used to point to the FDT map. See fdtmap and image-header
+entries for more information.
+
+
+Map files
+---------
+
+The -m option causes binman to output a .map file for each image that it
+generates. This shows the offset and size of each entry. For example::
+
+ Offset Size Name
+ 00000000 00000028 main-section
+ 00000000 00000010 section@0
+ 00000000 00000004 u-boot
+ 00000010 00000010 section@1
+ 00000000 00000004 u-boot
+
+This shows a hierarchical image with two sections, each with a single entry. The
+offsets of the sections are absolute hex byte offsets within the image. The
+offsets of the entries are relative to their respective sections. The size of
+each entry is also shown, in bytes (hex). The indentation shows the entries
+nested inside their sections.
+
+
+Passing command-line arguments to entries
+-----------------------------------------
+
+Sometimes it is useful to pass binman the value of an entry property from the
+command line. For example some entries need access to files and it is not
+always convenient to put these filenames in the image definition (device tree).
+
+The-a option supports this::
+
+ -a<prop>=<value>
+
+where::
+
+ <prop> is the property to set
+ <value> is the value to set it to
+
+Not all properties can be provided this way. Only some entries support it,
+typically for filenames.
+
+
Image description format
-------------------------
+========================
The binman node is called 'binman'. An example image description is shown
below::
image description to be stored in the FDT and fdtmap.
+Hashing Entries
+---------------
+
+It is possible to ask binman to hash the contents of an entry and write that
+value back to the device-tree node. For example::
+
+ binman {
+ u-boot {
+ hash {
+ algo = "sha256";
+ };
+ };
+ };
+
+Here, a new 'value' property will be written to the 'hash' node containing
+the hash of the 'u-boot' entry. Only SHA256 is supported at present. Whole
+sections can be hased if desired, by adding the 'hash' node to the section.
+
+The has value can be chcked at runtime by hashing the data actually read and
+comparing this has to the value in the device tree.
+
+
+Expanded entries
+----------------
+
+Binman automatically replaces 'u-boot' with an expanded version of that, i.e.
+'u-boot-expanded'. This means that when you write::
+
+ u-boot {
+ };
+
+you actually get::
+
+ u-boot {
+ type = "u-boot-expanded';
+ };
+
+which in turn expands to::
+
+ u-boot {
+ type = "section";
+
+ u-boot-nodtb {
+ };
+
+ u-boot-dtb {
+ };
+ };
+
+U-Boot's various phase binaries actually comprise two or three pieces.
+For example, u-boot.bin has the executable followed by a devicetree.
+
+With binman we want to be able to update that devicetree with full image
+information so that it is accessible to the executable. This is tricky
+if it is not clear where the devicetree starts.
+
+The above feature ensures that the devicetree is clearly separated from the
+U-Boot executable and can be updated separately by binman as needed. It can be
+disabled with the --no-expanded flag if required.
+
+The same applies for u-boot-spl and u-boot-spl. In those cases, the expansion
+includes the BSS padding, so for example::
+
+ spl {
+ type = "u-boot-spl"
+ };
+
+you actually get::
+
+ spl {
+ type = "u-boot-expanded';
+ };
+
+which in turn expands to::
+
+ spl {
+ type = "section";
+
+ u-boot-spl-nodtb {
+ };
+
+ u-boot-spl-bss-pad {
+ };
+
+ u-boot-spl-dtb {
+ };
+ };
+
+Of course we should not expand SPL if it has no devicetree. Also if the BSS
+padding is not needed (because BSS is in RAM as with CONFIG_SPL_SEPARATE_BSS),
+the 'u-boot-spl-bss-pad' subnode should not be created. The use of the expaned
+entry type is controlled by the UseExpanded() method. In the SPL case it checks
+the 'spl-dtb' entry arg, which is 'y' or '1' if SPL has a devicetree.
+
+For the BSS case, a 'spl-bss-pad' entry arg controls whether it is present. All
+entry args are provided by the U-Boot Makefile.
+
+
+Compression
+-----------
+
+Binman support compression for 'blob' entries (those of type 'blob' and
+derivatives). To enable this for an entry, add a 'compress' property::
+
+ blob {
+ filename = "datafile";
+ compress = "lz4";
+ };
+
+The entry will then contain the compressed data, using the 'lz4' compression
+algorithm. Currently this is the only one that is supported. The uncompressed
+size is written to the node in an 'uncomp-size' property, if -u is used.
+
+Compression is also supported for sections. In that case the entire section is
+compressed in one block, including all its contents. This means that accessing
+an entry from the section required decompressing the entire section. Also, the
+size of a section indicates the space that it consumes in its parent section
+(and typically the image). With compression, the section may contain more data,
+and the uncomp-size property indicates that, as above. The contents of the
+section is compressed first, before any padding is added. This ensures that the
+padding itself is not compressed, which would be a waste of time.
+
+
+Automatic .dtsi inclusion
+-------------------------
+
+It is sometimes inconvenient to add a 'binman' node to the .dts file for each
+board. This can be done by using #include to bring in a common file. Another
+approach supported by the U-Boot build system is to automatically include
+a common header. You can then put the binman node (and anything else that is
+specific to U-Boot, such as u-boot,dm-pre-reloc properies) in that header
+file.
+
+Binman will search for the following files in arch/<arch>/dts::
+
+ <dts>-u-boot.dtsi where <dts> is the base name of the .dts file
+ <CONFIG_SYS_SOC>-u-boot.dtsi
+ <CONFIG_SYS_CPU>-u-boot.dtsi
+ <CONFIG_SYS_VENDOR>-u-boot.dtsi
+ u-boot.dtsi
+
+U-Boot will only use the first one that it finds. If you need to include a
+more general file you can do that from the more specific file using #include.
+If you are having trouble figuring out what is going on, you can uncomment
+the 'warning' line in scripts/Makefile.lib to see what it has found::
+
+ # Uncomment for debugging
+ # This shows all the files that were considered and the one that we chose.
+ # u_boot_dtsi_options_debug = $(u_boot_dtsi_options_raw)
+
+
Entry Documentation
-------------------
binman entry-docs >tools/binman/README.entries
+Managing images
+===============
+
Listing images
--------------
You can use BINMAN_VERBOSE=5 (for example) when building to select this.
-Hashing Entries
----------------
-
-It is possible to ask binman to hash the contents of an entry and write that
-value back to the device-tree node. For example::
-
- binman {
- u-boot {
- hash {
- algo = "sha256";
- };
- };
- };
-
-Here, a new 'value' property will be written to the 'hash' node containing
-the hash of the 'u-boot' entry. Only SHA256 is supported at present. Whole
-sections can be hased if desired, by adding the 'hash' node to the section.
-
-The has value can be chcked at runtime by hashing the data actually read and
-comparing this has to the value in the device tree.
+Technical details
+=================
Order of image creation
-----------------------
final step.
-Automatic .dtsi inclusion
--------------------------
-
-It is sometimes inconvenient to add a 'binman' node to the .dts file for each
-board. This can be done by using #include to bring in a common file. Another
-approach supported by the U-Boot build system is to automatically include
-a common header. You can then put the binman node (and anything else that is
-specific to U-Boot, such as u-boot,dm-pre-reloc properies) in that header
-file.
-
-Binman will search for the following files in arch/<arch>/dts::
-
- <dts>-u-boot.dtsi where <dts> is the base name of the .dts file
- <CONFIG_SYS_SOC>-u-boot.dtsi
- <CONFIG_SYS_CPU>-u-boot.dtsi
- <CONFIG_SYS_VENDOR>-u-boot.dtsi
- u-boot.dtsi
-
-U-Boot will only use the first one that it finds. If you need to include a
-more general file you can do that from the more specific file using #include.
-If you are having trouble figuring out what is going on, you can uncomment
-the 'warning' line in scripts/Makefile.lib to see what it has found::
-
- # Uncomment for debugging
- # This shows all the files that were considered and the one that we chose.
- # u_boot_dtsi_options_debug = $(u_boot_dtsi_options_raw)
-
-
-Access to binman entry offsets at run time (symbols)
-----------------------------------------------------
-
-Binman assembles images and determines where each entry is placed in the image.
-This information may be useful to U-Boot at run time. For example, in SPL it
-is useful to be able to find the location of U-Boot so that it can be executed
-when SPL is finished.
-
-Binman allows you to declare symbols in the SPL image which are filled in
-with their correct values during the build. For example::
-
- binman_sym_declare(ulong, u_boot_any, image_pos);
-
-declares a ulong value which will be assigned to the image-pos of any U-Boot
-image (u-boot.bin, u-boot.img, u-boot-nodtb.bin) that is present in the image.
-You can access this value with something like::
-
- ulong u_boot_offset = binman_sym(ulong, u_boot_any, image_pos);
-
-Thus u_boot_offset will be set to the image-pos of U-Boot in memory, assuming
-that the whole image has been loaded, or is available in flash. You can then
-jump to that address to start U-Boot.
-
-At present this feature is only supported in SPL and TPL. In principle it is
-possible to fill in such symbols in U-Boot proper, as well, but a future C
-library is planned for this instead, to read from the device tree.
-
-As well as image-pos, it is possible to read the size of an entry and its
-offset (which is the start position of the entry within its parent).
-
-A small technical note: Binman automatically adds the base address of the image
-(i.e. __image_copy_start) to the value of the image-pos symbol, so that when the
-image is loaded to its linked address, the value will be correct and actually
-point into the image.
-
-For example, say SPL is at the start of the image and linked to start at address
-80108000. If U-Boot's image-pos is 0x8000 then binman will write an image-pos
-for U-Boot of 80110000 into the SPL binary, since it assumes the image is loaded
-to 80108000, with SPL at 80108000 and U-Boot at 80110000.
-
-For x86 devices (with the end-at-4gb property) this base address is not added
-since it is assumed that images are XIP and the offsets already include the
-address.
-
-
-Access to binman entry offsets at run time (fdt)
-------------------------------------------------
-
-Binman can update the U-Boot FDT to include the final position and size of
-each entry in the images it processes. The option to enable this is -u and it
-causes binman to make sure that the 'offset', 'image-pos' and 'size' properties
-are set correctly for every entry. Since it is not necessary to specify these in
-the image definition, binman calculates the final values and writes these to
-the device tree. These can be used by U-Boot at run-time to find the location
-of each entry.
-
-Alternatively, an FDT map entry can be used to add a special FDT containing
-just the information about the image. This is preceded by a magic string so can
-be located anywhere in the image. An image header (typically at the start or end
-of the image) can be used to point to the FDT map. See fdtmap and image-header
-entries for more information.
-
-
-Expanded entries
-----------------
-
-Binman automatically replaces 'u-boot' with an expanded version of that, i.e.
-'u-boot-expanded'. This means that when you write::
-
- u-boot {
- };
-
-you actually get::
-
- u-boot {
- type = "u-boot-expanded';
- };
-
-which in turn expands to::
-
- u-boot {
- type = "section";
-
- u-boot-nodtb {
- };
-
- u-boot-dtb {
- };
- };
-
-U-Boot's various phase binaries actually comprise two or three pieces.
-For example, u-boot.bin has the executable followed by a devicetree.
-
-With binman we want to be able to update that devicetree with full image
-information so that it is accessible to the executable. This is tricky
-if it is not clear where the devicetree starts.
-
-The above feature ensures that the devicetree is clearly separated from the
-U-Boot executable and can be updated separately by binman as needed. It can be
-disabled with the --no-expanded flag if required.
-
-The same applies for u-boot-spl and u-boot-spl. In those cases, the expansion
-includes the BSS padding, so for example::
-
- spl {
- type = "u-boot-spl"
- };
-
-you actually get::
-
- spl {
- type = "u-boot-expanded';
- };
-
-which in turn expands to::
-
- spl {
- type = "section";
-
- u-boot-spl-nodtb {
- };
-
- u-boot-spl-bss-pad {
- };
-
- u-boot-spl-dtb {
- };
- };
-
-
-Of course we should not expand SPL if it has no devicetree. Also if the BSS
-padding is not needed (because BSS is in RAM as with CONFIG_SPL_SEPARATE_BSS),
-the 'u-boot-spl-bss-pad' subnode should not be created. The use of the expaned
-entry type is controlled by the UseExpanded() method. In the SPL case it checks
-the 'spl-dtb' entry arg, which is 'y' or '1' if SPL has a devicetree.
-
-For the BSS case, a 'spl-bss-pad' entry arg controls whether it is present. All
-entry args are provided by the U-Boot Makefile.
-
-
-Compression
------------
-
-Binman support compression for 'blob' entries (those of type 'blob' and
-derivatives). To enable this for an entry, add a 'compress' property::
-
- blob {
- filename = "datafile";
- compress = "lz4";
- };
-
-The entry will then contain the compressed data, using the 'lz4' compression
-algorithm. Currently this is the only one that is supported. The uncompressed
-size is written to the node in an 'uncomp-size' property, if -u is used.
-
-Compression is also supported for sections. In that case the entire section is
-compressed in one block, including all its contents. This means that accessing
-an entry from the section required decompressing the entire section. Also, the
-size of a section indicates the space that it consumes in its parent section
-(and typically the image). With compression, the section may contain more data,
-and the uncomp-size property indicates that, as above. The contents of the
-section is compressed first, before any padding is added. This ensures that the
-padding itself is not compressed, which would be a waste of time.
-
-
-Map files
----------
-
-The -m option causes binman to output a .map file for each image that it
-generates. This shows the offset and size of each entry. For example::
-
- Offset Size Name
- 00000000 00000028 main-section
- 00000000 00000010 section@0
- 00000000 00000004 u-boot
- 00000010 00000010 section@1
- 00000000 00000004 u-boot
-
-This shows a hierarchical image with two sections, each with a single entry. The
-offsets of the sections are absolute hex byte offsets within the image. The
-offsets of the entries are relative to their respective sections. The size of
-each entry is also shown, in bytes (hex). The indentation shows the entries
-nested inside their sections.
-
-
-Passing command-line arguments to entries
------------------------------------------
-
-Sometimes it is useful to pass binman the value of an entry property from the
-command line. For example some entries need access to files and it is not
-always convenient to put these filenames in the image definition (device tree).
-
-The-a option supports this::
-
- -a<prop>=<value>
-
-where::
-
- <prop> is the property to set
- <value> is the value to set it to
-
-Not all properties can be provided this way. Only some entries support it,
-typically for filenames.
-
-
External tools
--------------
You can also use gcc-i686-linux-gnu similar to the above.
-Advanced Features / Technical docs
-----------------------------------
+Writing new entries and debugging
+---------------------------------
The behaviour of entries is defined by the Entry class. All other entries are
a subclass of this. An important subclass is Entry_blob which takes binary
projects / platform / kernel / u-boot.git / commitdiff