xref: /openbmc/u-boot/doc/README.commands (revision dd1033e4)
1Command definition
2------------------
3
4Commands are added to U-Boot by creating a new command structure.
5This is done by first including command.h, then using the U_BOOT_CMD() or the
6U_BOOT_CMD_COMPLETE macro to fill in a cmd_tbl_t struct.
7
8U_BOOT_CMD(name, maxargs, repeatable, command, "usage", "help")
9U_BOOT_CMD_COMPLETE(name, maxargs, repeatable, command, "usage, "help", comp)
10
11name:		The name of the command. THIS IS NOT a string.
12
13maxargs:	The maximum number of arguments this function takes including
14		the command itself.
15
16repeatable:	Either 0 or 1 to indicate if autorepeat is allowed.
17
18command:	Pointer to the command function. This is the function that is
19		called when the command is issued.
20
21usage:		Short description. This is a string.
22
23help:		Long description. This is a string. The long description is
24		only available if CONFIG_SYS_LONGHELP is defined.
25
26comp:		Pointer to the completion function. May be NULL.
27		This function is called if the user hits the TAB key while
28		entering the command arguments to complete the entry. Command
29		completion is only available if CONFIG_AUTO_COMPLETE is defined.
30
31Command function
32----------------
33
34The commmand function pointer has to be of type
35int (*cmd)(struct cmd_tbl_s *cmdtp, int flag, int argc, const char *argv[]);
36
37cmdtp:		Table entry describing the command (see above).
38
39flag:		A bitmap which may contain the following bit:
40		CMD_FLAG_REPEAT - The last command is repeated.
41		CMD_FLAG_BOOTD  - The command is called by the bootd command.
42		CMD_FLAG_ENV    - The command is called by the run command.
43
44argc:		Number of arguments including the command.
45
46argv:		Arguments.
47
48Allowable return value are:
49
50CMD_SUCCESS	The command was successfully executed.
51
52CMD_FAILURE	The command failed.
53
54CMD_RET_USAGE	The command was called with invalid parameters. This value
55		leads to the display of the usage string.
56
57Completion function
58-------------------
59
60The completion function pointer has to be of type
61int (*complete)(int argc, char *const argv[], char last_char,
62		int maxv, char *cmdv[]);
63
64argc:		Number of arguments including the command.
65
66argv:		Arguments.
67
68last_char:	The last character in the command line buffer.
69
70maxv:		Maximum number of possible completions that may be returned by
71		the function.
72
73cmdv:		Used to return possible values for the last argument. The last
74		possible completion must be followed by NULL.
75
76The function returns the number of possible completions (without the terminating
77NULL value).
78
79Behind the scene
80----------------
81
82The structure created is named with a special prefix and placed by
83the linker in a special section using the linker lists mechanism
84(see include/linker_lists.h)
85
86This makes it possible for the final link to extract all commands
87compiled into any object code and construct a static array so the
88command array can be iterated over using the linker lists macros.
89
90The linker lists feature ensures that the linker does not discard
91these symbols when linking full U-Boot even though they are not
92referenced in the source code as such.
93
94If a new board is defined do not forget to define the command section
95by writing in u-boot.lds ($(srctree)/board/boardname/u-boot.lds) these
963 lines:
97
98	.u_boot_list : {
99		KEEP(*(SORT(.u_boot_list*)));
100	}
101