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-rw-r--r--Documentation/arm/Booting94
1 files changed, 83 insertions, 11 deletions
diff --git a/Documentation/arm/Booting b/Documentation/arm/Booting
index 76850295af8..371814a3671 100644
--- a/Documentation/arm/Booting
+++ b/Documentation/arm/Booting
@@ -18,7 +18,8 @@ following:
2. Initialise one serial port.
3. Detect the machine type.
4. Setup the kernel tagged list.
-5. Call the kernel image.
+5. Load initramfs.
+6. Call the kernel image.
1. Setup and initialise RAM
@@ -65,13 +66,19 @@ looks at the connected hardware is beyond the scope of this document.
The boot loader must ultimately be able to provide a MACH_TYPE_xxx
value to the kernel. (see linux/arch/arm/tools/mach-types).
-
-4. Setup the kernel tagged list
--------------------------------
+4. Setup boot data
+------------------
Existing boot loaders: OPTIONAL, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
New boot loaders: MANDATORY
+The boot loader must provide either a tagged list or a dtb image for
+passing configuration data to the kernel. The physical address of the
+boot data is passed to the kernel in register r2.
+
+4a. Setup the kernel tagged list
+--------------------------------
+
The boot loader must create and initialise the kernel tagged list.
A valid tagged list starts with ATAG_CORE and ends with ATAG_NONE.
The ATAG_CORE tag may or may not be empty. An empty ATAG_CORE tag
@@ -101,7 +108,40 @@ The tagged list must be placed in a region of memory where neither
the kernel decompressor nor initrd 'bootp' program will overwrite
it. The recommended placement is in the first 16KiB of RAM.
-5. Calling the kernel image
+4b. Setup the device tree
+-------------------------
+
+The boot loader must load a device tree image (dtb) into system ram
+at a 64bit aligned address and initialize it with the boot data. The
+dtb format is documented in Documentation/devicetree/booting-without-of.txt.
+The kernel will look for the dtb magic value of 0xd00dfeed at the dtb
+physical address to determine if a dtb has been passed instead of a
+tagged list.
+
+The boot loader must pass at a minimum the size and location of the
+system memory, and the root filesystem location. The dtb must be
+placed in a region of memory where the kernel decompressor will not
+overwrite it, whilst remaining within the region which will be covered
+by the kernel's low-memory mapping.
+
+A safe location is just above the 128MiB boundary from start of RAM.
+
+5. Load initramfs.
+------------------
+
+Existing boot loaders: OPTIONAL
+New boot loaders: OPTIONAL
+
+If an initramfs is in use then, as with the dtb, it must be placed in
+a region of memory where the kernel decompressor will not overwrite it
+while also with the region which will be covered by the kernel's
+low-memory mapping.
+
+A safe location is just above the device tree blob which itself will
+be loaded just above the 128MiB boundary from the start of RAM as
+recommended above.
+
+6. Calling the kernel image
---------------------------
Existing boot loaders: MANDATORY
@@ -112,11 +152,17 @@ is stored in flash, and is linked correctly to be run from flash,
then it is legal for the boot loader to call the zImage in flash
directly.
-The zImage may also be placed in system RAM (at any location) and
-called there. Note that the kernel uses 16K of RAM below the image
-to store page tables. The recommended placement is 32KiB into RAM.
+The zImage may also be placed in system RAM and called there. The
+kernel should be placed in the first 128MiB of RAM. It is recommended
+that it is loaded above 32MiB in order to avoid the need to relocate
+prior to decompression, which will make the boot process slightly
+faster.
-In either case, the following conditions must be met:
+When booting a raw (non-zImage) kernel the constraints are tighter.
+In this case the kernel must be loaded at an offset into system equal
+to TEXT_OFFSET - PAGE_OFFSET.
+
+In any case, the following conditions must be met:
- Quiesce all DMA capable devices so that memory does not get
corrupted by bogus network packets or disk data. This will save
@@ -125,17 +171,43 @@ In either case, the following conditions must be met:
- CPU register settings
r0 = 0,
r1 = machine type number discovered in (3) above.
- r2 = physical address of tagged list in system RAM.
+ r2 = physical address of tagged list in system RAM, or
+ physical address of device tree block (dtb) in system RAM
- CPU mode
All forms of interrupts must be disabled (IRQs and FIQs)
- The CPU must be in SVC mode. (A special exception exists for Angel)
+
+ For CPUs which do not include the ARM virtualization extensions, the
+ CPU must be in SVC mode. (A special exception exists for Angel)
+
+ CPUs which include support for the virtualization extensions can be
+ entered in HYP mode in order to enable the kernel to make full use of
+ these extensions. This is the recommended boot method for such CPUs,
+ unless the virtualisations are already in use by a pre-installed
+ hypervisor.
+
+ If the kernel is not entered in HYP mode for any reason, it must be
+ entered in SVC mode.
- Caches, MMUs
The MMU must be off.
Instruction cache may be on or off.
Data cache must be off.
+ If the kernel is entered in HYP mode, the above requirements apply to
+ the HYP mode configuration in addition to the ordinary PL1 (privileged
+ kernel modes) configuration. In addition, all traps into the
+ hypervisor must be disabled, and PL1 access must be granted for all
+ peripherals and CPU resources for which this is architecturally
+ possible. Except for entering in HYP mode, the system configuration
+ should be such that a kernel which does not include support for the
+ virtualization extensions can boot correctly without extra help.
+
- The boot loader is expected to call the kernel image by jumping
directly to the first instruction of the kernel image.
+ On CPUs supporting the ARM instruction set, the entry must be
+ made in ARM state, even for a Thumb-2 kernel.
+
+ On CPUs supporting only the Thumb instruction set such as
+ Cortex-M class CPUs, the entry must be made in Thumb state.