[meta-xilinx] Why no support for FSBL?

[Manjukumar Harthikote Matha]

Hi Andrey,

On 11/30/2017 11:56 AM, Andrey Filippov wrote:
> Manju,
> 
> For 4 years we use Xilin Zynq with our hardware and never ever used FSBL 
> or SDK. When we started in 2013 
> (https://blog.elphel.com/2013/10/fpga-is-for-freedom/) we quickly 
> noticed that there is no way to distribute Zynq-based products and stay 
> compliant with U-boot GPLv2 license - that would require to distribute 
> binary that combines U-boot code with that of FSBL, so we had to develop 
> our GPL code. We also included more debug features to troubleshoot 
> bringing to life yet untested hardware. Later when U-boot SPL became 
> available we upgraded our code to use it (again - no dependence on SDK) 
> - 
> https://blog.elphel.com/2016/03/nand-flash-support-for-xilinx-zynq-in-u-boot-spl/
> 
> Later Xilinx fixed the legal incompatibility by licensing auto-generated 
> code under GNU GPL, so it is now possible to link FSBL and U-Boot code. 
> But it still has inconvenience of dependence on non-free SDK.
> 

I am not aware of the history on Zynq platform, thanks for letting me know.

I am under the assumption that SDK is free, 
https://www.xilinx.com/support/download/index.html/content/xilinx/en/downloadNav/embedded-design-tools.html

I agree that meta-xilinx-tools depends on SDK which is not lightweight, 
we are looking at different approaches to resolve the issue (including a 
standalone Yocto distribution).

Any suggestions on how you all want to see the development flow is 
always appreciated, we will do our best to incorporate the changes.

Thanks,
Manju

> Andrey
> 
> 
> ---- On Thu, 30 Nov 2017 10:57:14 -0800 *Manjukumar Harthikote Matha 
> <manjukumar.harthikote-matha at xilinx.com>* 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>
>      >>> <mailto: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>
>      >>> <mailto: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
>      >
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>      > E-mail: mike.looijmans at topicproducts.com
>     <mailto:mike.looijmans at topicproducts.com>
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>      >
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>      >
>      >
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