On 2016-12-16, Roger Shimizu <rogershim...@gmail.com> wrote: > On Sat, Dec 10, 2016 at 11:31 PM, Christoph Biedl > <debian.a...@manchmal.in-ulm.de> wrote: >>> Is it possible to put a bootloader like u-boot in the flash partitions >>> and have it load the Linux kernel and initrd from elsewhere?
There's no technical reason this wouldn't be possible, just a matter of getting patches in upstream u-boot for that platform adding support for loading from other media (SD, USB, sata, etc.), filesystem support and so on, and staying withint the size constraints for that platform. You might be able to use an SPL loader as a first-stage loader early in the boot process to load a more capable u-boot from other flash partitions and/or other media and/or filesystems. With the space reserved for a linux kernel on flash media, that would presumably give quite a bit of space for a full-featured u-boot. >> That how I've been running my Dockstars through all the years. As as >> far as I know this worked with the Debian kernels as well (I use my >> own kernels for reasons). > > If I understand correctly, it means boot like: > u-boot shipped by original vendor => self built u-boot => kernel > (Debian's or your own customized one) While technically possible, u-boot upstream discourages chainloaded u-boot. So while you could maybe make patches to get it working for a particular board and set of vendor and upstream u-boot versions, I'm not sure if patches would be accepted for upstream u-boot. live well, vagrant
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