How to use images in the new image format
Overview
The new uImage format allows more flexibility in handling images of various types (kernel, ramdisk, etc.), it also enhances integrity protection of images with cryptographic checksums.
Two auxiliary tools are needed on the development host system in order to create an uImage in the new format: mkimage and dtc, although only one (mkimage) is invoked directly. dtc is called from within mkimage and operates behind the scenes, but needs to be present in the $PATH nevertheless. It is important that the dtc used has support for binary includes – refer to:
git://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/utils/dtc/dtc.git
for its latest version. mkimage (together with dtc) takes as input an image source file, which describes the contents of the image and defines its various properties used during booting. By convention, image source file has the “.its” extension, also, the details of its format are provided in Flattened Image Tree (FIT) Format. The actual data that is to be included in the uImage (kernel, ramdisk, etc.) is specified in the image source file in the form of paths to appropriate data files. The outcome of the image creation process is a binary file (by convention with the “.itb” extension) that contains all the referenced data (kernel, ramdisk, etc.) and other information needed by U-Boot to handle the uImage properly. The uImage file is then transferred to the target (e.g., via tftp) and booted using the bootm command.
To summarize the prerequisites needed for new uImage creation:
mkimage
dtc (with support for binary includes)
image source file (*.its)
image data file(s)
Here’s a graphical overview of the image creation and booting process:
image source file mkimage + dtc transfer to target
+ ---------------> image file --------------------> bootm
image data file(s)
SPL usage
The SPL can make use of the new image format as well, this traditionally is used to ship multiple device tree files within one image. Code in the SPL will choose the one matching the current board and append this to the U-Boot proper binary to be automatically used up by it. Aside from U-Boot proper and one device tree blob the SPL can load multiple, arbitrary image files as well. These binaries should be specified in their own subnode under the /images node, which should then be referenced from one or multiple /configurations subnodes. The required images must be enumerated in the “loadables” property as a list of strings.
If a platform specific image source file (.its) is shipped with the U-Boot source, it can be specified using the CONFIG_SPL_FIT_SOURCE Kconfig symbol. In this case it will be automatically used by U-Boot’s Makefile to generate the image. If a static source file is not flexible enough, CONFIG_SPL_FIT_GENERATOR can point to a script which generates this image source file during the build process. It gets passed a list of device tree files (taken from the CONFIG_OF_LIST symbol).
The SPL also records to a DT all additional images (called loadables) which are loaded. The information about loadables locations is passed via the DT node with fit-images name.
Finally, if there are multiple xPL phases (e.g. SPL, VPL), images can be marked as intended for a particular phase using the ‘phase’ property. For example, if fit_image_load() is called with image_ph(IH_PHASE_SPL, IH_TYPE_FIRMWARE), then only the image listed into the “firmware” property where phase is set to “spl” will be loaded.
Loadables Example
Consider the following case for an ARM64 platform where U-Boot runs in EL2 started by ATF where SPL is loading U-Boot (as loadables) and ATF (as firmware).
/dts-v1/;
/ {
description = "Configuration to load ATF before U-Boot";
images {
uboot {
description = "U-Boot (64-bit)";
data = /incbin/("u-boot-nodtb.bin");
type = "firmware";
os = "u-boot";
arch = "arm64";
compression = "none";
load = <0x8 0x8000000>;
entry = <0x8 0x8000000>;
hash {
algo = "sha256";
};
};
atf {
description = "ARM Trusted Firmware";
data = /incbin/("bl31.bin");
type = "firmware";
os = "arm-trusted-firmware";
arch = "arm64";
compression = "none";
load = <0xfffea000>;
entry = <0xfffea000>;
hash {
algo = "sha256";
};
};
fdt_1 {
description = "zynqmp-zcu102-revA";
data = /incbin/("arch/arm/dts/zynqmp-zcu102-revA.dtb");
type = "flat_dt";
arch = "arm64";
compression = "none";
load = <0x100000>;
hash {
algo = "sha256";
};
};
};
configurations {
default = "config_1";
config_1 {
description = "zynqmp-zcu102-revA";
firmware = "atf";
loadables = "uboot";
fdt = "fdt_1";
};
};
};
In this case the SPL records via fit-images DT node the information about loadables U-Boot image:
ZynqMP> fdt addr $fdtcontroladdr
ZynqMP> fdt print /fit-images
fit-images {
uboot {
os = "u-boot";
type = "firmware";
size = <0x001017c8>;
entry = <0x00000008 0x08000000>;
load = <0x00000008 0x08000000>;
};
};
As you can see entry and load properties are 64bit wide to support loading images above 4GB (in past entry and load properties where just 32bit).
Example 1 – old-style (non-FDT) kernel booting
Consider a simple scenario, where a PPC Linux kernel built from sources on the development host is to be booted old-style (non-FDT) by U-Boot on an embedded target. Assume that the outcome of the build is vmlinux.bin.gz, a file which contains a gzip-compressed PPC Linux kernel (the only data file in this case). The uImage can be produced using the image source file doc/uImage.FIT/kernel.its (note that kernel.its assumes that vmlinux.bin.gz is in the current working directory; if desired, an alternative path can be specified in the kernel.its file). Here’s how to create the image and inspect its contents:
[on the host system]:
$ mkimage -f kernel.its kernel.itb
DTC: dts->dtb on file "kernel.its"
$
$ mkimage -l kernel.itb
FIT description: Simple image with single Linux kernel
Created: Tue Mar 11 17:26:15 2008
Image 0 (kernel)
Description: Vanilla Linux kernel
Type: Kernel Image
Compression: gzip compressed
Data Size: 943347 Bytes = 921.24 kB = 0.90 MB
Architecture: PowerPC
OS: Linux
Load Address: 0x00000000
Entry Point: 0x00000000
Hash algo: crc32
Hash value: 2ae2bb40
Hash algo: sha256
Hash value: c22f6bb5a3f96942507a37e7d6a9333ebdc7da57971bc4c082113fe082fdc40f
Default Configuration: 'config-1'
Configuration 0 (config-1)
Description: Boot Linux kernel
Kernel: kernel
The resulting image file kernel.itb can be now transferred to the target, inspected and booted (note that first three U-Boot commands below are shown for completeness – they are part of the standard booting procedure and not specific to the new image format).
[on the target system]:
=> print nfsargs
nfsargs=setenv bootargs root=/dev/nfs rw nfsroot=${serverip}:${rootpath}
=> print addip
addip=setenv bootargs ${bootargs} ip=${ipaddr}:${serverip}:${gatewayip}:${netmask}:${hostname}:${netdev}:off panic=1
=> run nfsargs addip
=> tftp 900000 /path/to/tftp/location/kernel.itb
Using FEC device
TFTP from server 192.168.1.1; our IP address is 192.168.160.5
Filename '/path/to/tftp/location/kernel.itb'.
Load address: 0x900000
Loading: #################################################################
done
Bytes transferred = 944464 (e6950 hex)
=> iminfo
## Checking Image at 00900000 ...
FIT image found
FIT description: Simple image with single Linux kernel
Created: 2008-03-11 16:26:15 UTC
Image 0 (kernel)
Description: Vanilla Linux kernel
Type: Kernel Image
Compression: gzip compressed
Data Start: 0x009000e0
Data Size: 943347 Bytes = 921.2 kB
Architecture: PowerPC
OS: Linux
Load Address: 0x00000000
Entry Point: 0x00000000
Hash algo: crc32
Hash value: 2ae2bb40
Hash algo: sha256
Hash value: c22f6bb5a3f96942507a37e7d6a9333ebdc7da57971bc4c082113fe082fdc40f
Default Configuration: 'config-1'
Configuration 0 (config-1)
Description: Boot Linux kernel
Kernel: kernel
=> bootm
## Booting kernel from FIT Image at 00900000 ...
Using 'config-1' configuration
Trying 'kernel' kernel subimage
Description: Vanilla Linux kernel
Type: Kernel Image
Compression: gzip compressed
Data Start: 0x009000e0
Data Size: 943347 Bytes = 921.2 kB
Architecture: PowerPC
OS: Linux
Load Address: 0x00000000
Entry Point: 0x00000000
Hash algo: crc32
Hash value: 2ae2bb40
Hash algo: sha256
Hash value: c22f6bb5a3f96942507a37e7d6a9333ebdc7da57971bc4c082113fe082fdc40f
Verifying Hash Integrity ... crc32+ sha1+ OK
Uncompressing Kernel Image ... OK
Memory BAT mapping: BAT2=256Mb, BAT3=0Mb, residual: 0Mb
Linux version 2.4.25 (m8@hekate) (gcc version 4.0.0 (DENX ELDK 4.0 4.0.0)) #2 czw lip 5 17:56:18 CEST 2007
On node 0 totalpages: 65536
zone(0): 65536 pages.
zone(1): 0 pages.
zone(2): 0 pages.
Kernel command line: root=/dev/nfs rw nfsroot=192.168.1.1:/opt/eldk-4.1/ppc_6xx ip=192.168.160.5:192.168.1.1::255.255.0.0:lite5200b:eth0:off panic=1
Calibrating delay loop... 307.20 BogoMIPS
Example 2 – new-style (FDT) kernel booting
Consider another simple scenario, where a PPC Linux kernel is to be booted new-style, i.e., with a FDT blob. In this case there are two prerequisite data files: vmlinux.bin.gz (Linux kernel) and target.dtb (FDT blob). The uImage can be produced using image source file doc/uImage.FIT/kernel_fdt.its like this (note again, that both prerequisite data files are assumed to be present in the current working directory – image source file kernel_fdt.its can be modified to take the files from some other location if needed):
[on the host system]:
$ mkimage -f kernel_fdt.its kernel_fdt.itb
DTC: dts->dtb on file "kernel_fdt.its"
$
$ mkimage -l kernel_fdt.itb
FIT description: Simple image with single Linux kernel and FDT blob
Created: Tue Mar 11 16:29:22 2008
Image 0 (kernel)
Description: Vanilla Linux kernel
Type: Kernel Image
Compression: gzip compressed
Data Size: 1092037 Bytes = 1066.44 kB = 1.04 MB
Architecture: PowerPC
OS: Linux
Load Address: 0x00000000
Entry Point: 0x00000000
Hash algo: crc32
Hash value: 2c0cc807
Hash algo: sha256
Hash value: a3e9e18b793873827d27c97edfbca67c404a1972d9f36cf48e73ff85d69a422c
Image 1 (fdt-1)
Description: Flattened Device Tree blob
Type: Flat Device Tree
Compression: uncompressed
Data Size: 16384 Bytes = 16.00 kB = 0.02 MB
Architecture: PowerPC
Hash algo: crc32
Hash value: 0d655d71
Hash algo: sha256
Hash value: e9b9a40c5e2e12213ac819e7ccad7271ef43eb5edf9b421f0fa0b4b51bfdb214
Default Configuration: 'conf-1'
Configuration 0 (conf-1)
Description: Boot Linux kernel with FDT blob
Kernel: kernel
FDT: fdt-1
The resulting image file kernel_fdt.itb can be now transferred to the target, inspected and booted:
[on the target system]:
=> tftp 900000 /path/to/tftp/location/kernel_fdt.itb
Using FEC device
TFTP from server 192.168.1.1; our IP address is 192.168.160.5
Filename '/path/to/tftp/location/kernel_fdt.itb'.
Load address: 0x900000
Loading: #################################################################
###########
done
Bytes transferred = 1109776 (10ef10 hex)
=> iminfo
## Checking Image at 00900000 ...
FIT image found
FIT description: Simple image with single Linux kernel and FDT blob
Created: 2008-03-11 15:29:22 UTC
Image 0 (kernel)
Description: Vanilla Linux kernel
Type: Kernel Image
Compression: gzip compressed
Data Start: 0x009000ec
Data Size: 1092037 Bytes = 1 MB
Architecture: PowerPC
OS: Linux
Load Address: 0x00000000
Entry Point: 0x00000000
Hash algo: crc32
Hash value: 2c0cc807
Hash algo: sha256
Hash value: a3e9e18b793873827d27c97edfbca67c404a1972d9f36cf48e73ff85d69a422c
Image 1 (fdt-1)
Description: Flattened Device Tree blob
Type: Flat Device Tree
Compression: uncompressed
Data Start: 0x00a0abdc
Data Size: 16384 Bytes = 16 kB
Architecture: PowerPC
Hash algo: crc32
Hash value: 0d655d71
Hash algo: sha256
Hash value: e9b9a40c5e2e12213ac819e7ccad7271ef43eb5edf9b421f0fa0b4b51bfdb214
Default Configuration: 'conf-1'
Configuration 0 (conf-1)
Description: Boot Linux kernel with FDT blob
Kernel: kernel
FDT: fdt-1
=> bootm
## Booting kernel from FIT Image at 00900000 ...
Using 'conf-1' configuration
Trying 'kernel' kernel subimage
Description: Vanilla Linux kernel
Type: Kernel Image
Compression: gzip compressed
Data Start: 0x009000ec
Data Size: 1092037 Bytes = 1 MB
Architecture: PowerPC
OS: Linux
Load Address: 0x00000000
Entry Point: 0x00000000
Hash algo: crc32
Hash value: 2c0cc807
Hash algo: sha1
Hash value: a3e9e18b793873827d27c97edfbca67c404a1972d9f36cf48e73ff85d69a422c
Verifying Hash Integrity ... crc32+ sha1+ OK
Uncompressing Kernel Image ... OK
## Flattened Device Tree from FIT Image at 00900000
Using 'conf-1' configuration
Trying 'fdt-1' FDT blob subimage
Description: Flattened Device Tree blob
Type: Flat Device Tree
Compression: uncompressed
Data Start: 0x00a0abdc
Data Size: 16384 Bytes = 16 kB
Architecture: PowerPC
Hash algo: crc32
Hash value: 0d655d71
Hash algo: sha1
Hash value: e9b9a40c5e2e12213ac819e7ccad7271ef43eb5edf9b421f0fa0b4b51bfdb214
Verifying Hash Integrity ... crc32+ sha1+ OK
Booting using the fdt blob at 0xa0abdc
Loading Device Tree to 007fc000, end 007fffff ... OK
[ 0.000000] Using lite5200 machine description
[ 0.000000] Linux version 2.6.24-rc6-gaebecdfc (m8@hekate) (gcc version 4.0.0 (DENX ELDK 4.1 4.0.0)) #1 Sat Jan 12 15:38:48 CET 2008
Example 3 – advanced booting
Refer to Multiple kernels, ramdisks and FDT blobs for an image source file that allows more sophisticated booting scenarios (multiple kernels, ramdisks and fdt blobs).