[Buildroot] [PATCH v1 1/3] add package/versal-firmware

[Arnout Vandecappelle]

On 22/08/2022 12:01, Frager, Neal via buildroot wrote:
> Hi Yann,
> 
[snip]
>> The official default solution (aside from petalinux) is to clone the
>> embeddedsw github location and build the plm.elf and psmfw.elf from
>> that with a microblaze compiler.
>> And then use bootgen to generate a boot.bin.
>> While I can build u-boot and atf easily with buildroot, I do not have
>> a clean solution for building the plm and psmfw images and generating
>> the boot.bin.

  I don't know what the license is of embeddedsw, but if it allows 
redistribution of binaries, it's actually fine to host those binaries in your 
own repository. Just make sure that the repository contains a README explaining 
the situation (including the steps needed to rebuild the binaries), and the 
license files of all the sources that are used.


>> Yeah, I can see it being quite cumbersome. But it is not unheard of in Buildroot already. For example, we have package/arm-gnu-toolchain/ that provides a pre-built armv7 toolchain, that is used to buid the boot/arm-trusted-firmware/ in certain conditions.
> 
>> So, it would be technically possible to package a microblaze compiler like we've done for arm-gnu-toolchain, and use it to build the plm.elf and psmfw.elf from "the embeddedsw".
> 
>> But that is a bit of a stretch to go. Unless...
> 
>> This is why I am looking for a short term solution of just downloading
>> a prebuilt boot.bin.
>> At the moment, distribution of pre-built binaries requires the
>> click-wrap downloading procedure which does not lend itself well for
>> an automated buildroot download.
> 
>> Above, you seemed to imply you were looking internally to lift this click-wrap restriction. If that is not possible, and you can't have the pre-built blobs hosted in an official Xilinx location, then downloading the "embeddedsw" and building them would be a fallback.
> 
> I believe lifting the click-wrap restriction should be possible.  I am working on getting my github officially supported like the ubuntu-firmware github below.
> 
> https://github.com/Xilinx/ubuntu-firmware/
> 
> My goal is to create a github like the following including the LICENSE file with the release location:
> 
> https://github.com/Xilinx/buildroot-firmware/
> 
> There is zero difference in the firmware files I plan to release for buildroot and the ones AMD has released for ubuntu, so it should be possible.

  If there is no difference, why can't you just use the ones from ubuntu-firmware?

  Or does "zero difference" refer to how they are created, rather than the 
binaries themselves?


  Regards,
  Arnout


> 
> Stay tuned as I work on this...
> 
>>> Also, no need for a seaprate macro; just add this code to VERSAL_FIRMWARE_INSTALL_IMAGES_CMDS.
>> Same comment as above.  I was working from other examples of firmware
>> downloading to create this patch set, and I appreciate your feedback
>> for making it simpler.
> 
>> Looking at other examples is a good refelex! :-) But other may install more than one file at a time, so they need this complexity of conditional append-assignments. In your case, it is my understanding that only one file will ever be copied.
> 
>>> In the end, I don't think we should apply this package, as it looks
>>> like it tries to circumvent the official distrobution restrictions
>>> on these firmware files.
>> I understand, and I hope to be able to come up with a solution.
> 
>> Great! In the meantime, as it is a WIP, I've marked the series as changes-requested in patchwork. Thanks for the feedback!
> 
>> If you have any ideas for how buildroot might be able to generate the
>> boot.bin, I am happy to receive any help.
> 
>> I hope the lead I pointed to above will be enough as a starting point for you. Do not hesitate to ask further if you have concerns.
> 
>> Thanks!
> 
>> Regards,
>> Yann E. MORIN.
> 
> Best regards,
> Neal Frager
> AMD
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