xref: /openbmc/u-boot/doc/README.semihosting (revision 261d27605c70f5c7644686df25ce76adf80a7a21)
1*261d2760SDarwin Rambo/*
2*261d2760SDarwin Rambo * Copyright 2014 Broadcom Corporation.
3*261d2760SDarwin Rambo *
4*261d2760SDarwin Rambo * SPDX-License-Identifier:	GPL-2.0+
5*261d2760SDarwin Rambo */
6*261d2760SDarwin Rambo
7*261d2760SDarwin RamboSemihosting is ARM's way of having a real or virtual target communicate
8*261d2760SDarwin Rambowith a host or host debugger for basic operations such as file I/O,
9*261d2760SDarwin Ramboconsole I/O, etc. Please see
10*261d2760SDarwin Rambohttp://infocenter.arm.com/help/index.jsp?topic=/com.arm.doc.dui0471c/Bgbjjgij.html for more information.
11*261d2760SDarwin Rambo
12*261d2760SDarwin RamboFor developing on armv8 virtual fastmodel platforms, semihosting is a
13*261d2760SDarwin Rambovaluable tool since it allows access to image/configuration files before
14*261d2760SDarwin RamboeMMC or other NV media are available.
15*261d2760SDarwin Rambo
16*261d2760SDarwin RamboThere are two main ARM virtual Fixed Virtual Platform (FVP) models,
17*261d2760SDarwin RamboVersatile Express (VE) FVP and BASE FVP (See
18*261d2760SDarwin Rambohttp://www.arm.com/products/tools/models/fast-models/foundation-model.php)
19*261d2760SDarwin RamboThe initial vexpress64 u-boot board created here runs on the VE virtual
20*261d2760SDarwin Ramboplatform using the license-free Foundation_v8 simulator. Fortunately,
21*261d2760SDarwin Rambothe Foundation_v8 simulator also supports the BASE_FVP model which
22*261d2760SDarwin Rambocompanies can purchase licenses for and contain much more functionality.
23*261d2760SDarwin RamboSo we can, in u-boot, run either model by either using the VE FVP (default),
24*261d2760SDarwin Ramboor turning on CONFIG_BASE_FVP for the more full featured model.
25*261d2760SDarwin Rambo
26*261d2760SDarwin RamboRather than create a new armv8 board similar to armltd/vexpress64, add
27*261d2760SDarwin Rambosemihosting calls to the existing one, enabled with CONFIG_SEMIHOSTING
28*261d2760SDarwin Ramboand CONFIG_BASE_FVP both set. Also reuse the existing board config file
29*261d2760SDarwin Rambovexpress_aemv8a.h but differentiate the two models by the presence or
30*261d2760SDarwin Ramboabsence of CONFIG_BASE_FVP. This change is tested and works on both the
31*261d2760SDarwin RamboFoundation and Base fastmodel simulators.
32*261d2760SDarwin Rambo
33*261d2760SDarwin RamboThe level of semihosting support is minimal, restricted to just what it
34*261d2760SDarwin Rambotakes to load images to memory. If more semihosting functionality is
35*261d2760SDarwin Ramborequired, such as file seek, outputting strings, reading characters, etc,
36*261d2760SDarwin Rambothen it can be easily added later.
37*261d2760SDarwin Rambo
38*261d2760SDarwin RamboWe require that the board include file define these env variables:
39*261d2760SDarwin Rambo- kernel_name		e.g. "uImage"
40*261d2760SDarwin Rambo- kernel_addr_r		e.g. "0x80000000"
41*261d2760SDarwin Rambo- initrd_name		e.g. "ramdisk.img"
42*261d2760SDarwin Rambo- initrd_addr_r		e.g. "0x88000000"
43*261d2760SDarwin Rambo- fdt_name		e.g. "devtree.dtb"
44*261d2760SDarwin Rambo- fdt_addr_r		e.g. "0x83000000"
45*261d2760SDarwin Rambo
46*261d2760SDarwin RamboOptionally, "fdt_high" and "initrd_high" can be specified as per
47*261d2760SDarwin Rambotheir rules for allowing or preventing copying of these images.
48*261d2760SDarwin Rambo
49*261d2760SDarwin RamboFor the "fdt chosen" startup macro, this code will then define:
50*261d2760SDarwin Rambo- initrd_end (based on retrieving initrd_addr_r plus actual initrd_size)
51*261d2760SDarwin Rambo
52*261d2760SDarwin RamboWe will then load the kernel, initrd, and fdt into the specified
53*261d2760SDarwin Rambolocations in memory in a similar way that the ATF fastmodel code
54*261d2760SDarwin Rambouses semihosting calls to load other boot stages and u-boot itself.
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