[meta-xilinx] Why no support for FSBL?

[Manjukumar Harthikote Matha]

Hi Mike,

> -----Original Message-----
> From: meta-xilinx-bounces at yoctoproject.org [mailto:meta-xilinx-
> bounces at yoctoproject.org] On Behalf Of Mike Looijmans
> Sent: Thursday, November 30, 2017 10:36 PM
> To: meta-xilinx at yoctoproject.org
> Subject: Re: [meta-xilinx] Why no support for FSBL?
> 
> There are many reasons we moved away from the FSBL flow. The *main* reason is
> that we encountered various bugs (the FSBL worked okay on the evaluation board,
> but once we made our own module with different pinouts and support chips, the
> bugs started to appear). With the FSBL being non-free software ("free" as in
> "freedom", not "free beer") we could not fix these issues ourselves.

Again not aware of history here, embeddedsw code (including FSBL/PMUFW) is available on github, we can address any breakages or even take patches to fix them. 

> 
> A big issue with non-free software is that in say five years a customer will return to
> us and ask "hey, can you do this small addition". Chances are that the tools we used
> will no longer run on the machines we have then, and in many cases, it will be
> impossible to revive the licenses. And we will have no way of fixing that, other that
> putting our current machines in the fridge along with the software.
> 
> 
Does a standalone/baremetal distribution would work in this case? As I have stated earlier we are open for suggestions on how to improve the process for our customers. 

Thanks,
Manju

> 
> On 30-11-17 19:57, Manjukumar Harthikote Matha wrote:
> > Hi Mike,
> >
> > On 11/28/2017 01:09 AM, Mike Looijmans wrote:
> >> The "open source" way is to avoid the FSBL (and in fact, all of
> >> meta-xilinx-tools) and use u-boot SPL instead. All functionality
> >> provided by the fsbl/bootgen flow is provided by u-boot SPL already.
> >>
> >
> > "All functionality" would be a blanket statement, there are many
> > driver support that is officially tested by Xilinx in fsbl/bootgen
> > flow, including safety and security support
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Manju
> >
> >>
> >> On 20-11-17 22:08, Peter Smith wrote:
> >>> Hi, I’m aware of the meta-xilinx-tools layer, but this needs you to
> >>> have the Xilinx SDK installed (unless I’m mistaken), I was wondering
> >>> ion there were any plans to create support in meta-xilinx for
> >>> building the FSBL without the need for the SDK dependency. Peter
> >>>
> >>>> On 20 Nov 2017, at 21:05, Giordon Stark <kratsg at gmail.com
> >>>> <mailto:kratsg at gmail.com>> wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>> Hi (resending from right address),
> >>>>
> >>>> You can indeed build the FSBL + boot.bin using the
> >>>> meta-xilinx-tools
> >>>> layer: https://github.com/Xilinx/meta-xilinx-tools
> >>>>
> >>>> Giordon
> >>>>
> >>>> On Mon, Nov 20, 2017 at 3:03 PM Peter Smith <salerio at gmail.com
> >>>> <mailto:salerio at gmail.com>> wrote:
> >>>>
> >>>>     A question, I was wondering why there is no support for
> >>>> building FSBL in
> >>>>     a similar way to that provided by meta-xilinx for the PMU
> >>>> firmware, is
> >>>>     there a technical reason or is it just one of those things that
> >>>> has not
> >>>>     yet been got around to? Thanks in advance Peter.
> >>>>     --
> >>
> >> Kind regards,
> >>
> >> Mike Looijmans
> >> System Expert
> >>
> >> TOPIC Products
> >> Materiaalweg 4, NL-5681 RJ Best
> >> Postbus 440, NL-5680 AK Best
> >> Telefoon: +31 (0) 499 33 69 79
> >> E-mail: mike.looijmans at topicproducts.com
> >> Website: www.topicproducts.com
> >>
> >> Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> 
> Kind regards,
> 
> Mike Looijmans
> System Expert
> 
> TOPIC Products
> Materiaalweg 4, NL-5681 RJ Best
> Postbus 440, NL-5680 AK Best
> Telefoon: +31 (0) 499 33 69 79
> E-mail: mike.looijmans at topicproducts.com
> Website: www.topicproducts.com
> 
> Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> >>>>     meta-xilinx mailing list
> >>>>     meta-xilinx at yoctoproject.org
> >>>> <mailto:meta-xilinx at yoctoproject.org>
> >>>>     https://lists.yoctoproject.org/listinfo/meta-xilinx
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>
> 
> --
> _______________________________________________
> meta-xilinx mailing list
> meta-xilinx at yoctoproject.org
> https://lists.yoctoproject.org/listinfo/meta-xilinx