Hi Hauke, On Mon, 23 Jan 2023 at 15:45, Hauke Mehrtens <ha...@hauke-m.de> wrote: > > On 1/23/23 19:49, Simon Glass wrote: > > Hi, > > > > On Sun, 22 Jan 2023 at 07:20, Hauke Mehrtens <ha...@hauke-m.de> wrote: > >> > >> Extend mkimage with a new optional option -M to specify a special U-Boot > >> image magic number. OpenWrt ships images for about 30 different boards > >> with vendor boot loaders which are expecting the mkimage format, but > >> with a different image magic. > >> > >> OpenWrt includes this patch for mkimage more than 10 years. > >> It was added by Gabor Juhos in this commit: > >> https://git.openwrt.org/?p=openwrt/openwrt.git;a=commitdiff;h=f3d2056b81b7a92d28402c22736534d84fe23cfe > >> > >> Cc: Gabor Juhos <j4g...@gmail.com> > >> Signed-off-by: Hauke Mehrtens <ha...@hauke-m.de> > >> --- > >> tools/default_image.c | 4 ++-- > >> tools/imagetool.h | 1 + > >> tools/mkimage.c | 14 ++++++++++++-- > >> 3 files changed, 15 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-) > > > > Strange...what is the different magic for? > > I do not know really know why some vendors do this. With Openwrt we > create images which user can install on their devices. We normally do > not change the vendor bootloader and create an image which is compatible > with the vendor boot loader. > > I assume the vendors want to prevent users from installing "unsupported" > images, but still want to use something close to the U-Boot image. With > a different magic their boot loader (often vendor modified U-Boot) can > prevent the user from installing "wrong" images. > > I saw this on many devices sold by NetGear for example these devices: > NETGEAR WNDR4300 > NETGEAR WNDR4500 > NETGEAR WNR1000 > NETGEAR WNR612 v2 > > I have also seen it from other vendors, probably some ODM or OEM does this. >
OK, but I think it would be better to use a FIT, thus allowing the vendor to add more info into the file. Are the vendor bootloaders upstreamed? Anyway, I don't see a big problem with doing this. Can you please update the mkimage man page? Do we need to update dumpimage also? Regards, Simon
