Re: [Qemu-devel] [6064] Implement device tree support needed for Bamboo emulation

[Hollis Blanchard]

On Tue, 2008-12-16 at 16:46 +0000, Daniel P. Berrange wrote:
> On Tue, Dec 16, 2008 at 03:09:47PM +0000, Hollis Blanchard wrote:
> > On Tue, 2008-12-16 at 12:30 +0000, Paul Brook wrote:
> > > > To implement the -kernel, -initrd, and -append options, 4xx board 
> > > > emulation
> > > > must load the guest kernel as if firmware had loaded it. Where u-boot 
> > > > would
> > > > be the firmware, we must load the flat device tree into memory and set 
> > > > key
> > > > fields such as /chosen/bootargs.
> > > 
> > > Then why is it optional?
> > 
> > As you mention below, libfdt isn't generally available yet, and since
> > it's possible to make a real firmware work in this environment (in which
> > case -kernel isn't needed), the code can still be useful.
> > 
> > If you'd prefer to make libfdt mandatory, I'm fine with that.
> > 
> > > > This patch introduces a dependency on libfdt for flat device tree 
> > > > support.
> > > 
> > > I don't like the way this is done.
> > > 
> > > AFAIK libfdt isn't present in any of the major distros. I thought the 
> > > conclusion was that we should import libfdt into qemu.
> > 
> > That was our conclusion, but Anthony never agreed.
> > 
> > FWIW, I have requested that Fedora and Debian package libfdt, and they
> > agreed in principle, but it's still missing in Fedora 10 for example.
> 
> If you've got a package review ticket open against Fedora for libfdt
> inclusion, let me know the bug number and I'm happy to do the review,
> so it is not unduely delayed on its path into Fedora repositories. 

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=443882

IIRC Josh Boyer looked into this beyond what's reflected in the bug
report, but I don't remember the current status.

-- 
Hollis Blanchard
IBM Linux Technology Center