Enabling New Hardware in U-Boot

Explore the process of enabling new hardware in U-Boot, a popular open-source bootloader for embedded devices, in this informative conference talk by Jon Mason from Broadcom Ltd. Gain insights into the methodology for enhancing and upstreaming U-Boot with Broadcom's Northstar SoC product line. Learn about U-Boot's features and uses, the steps involved in enabling new hardware, and the complexities of upstreaming changes into mainline U-Boot. Discover the primary goals of getting memory, serial, and networking functionalities working, along with alternatives for SoCs without Ethernet. Delve into topics such as SPI and NAND support, diagnostics, and size considerations. Understand the upstreaming approach, including customer demand, rebasing, squashing, and GPL compliance. Follow the journey from initial development to submitting patches and working with U-Boot maintainers to integrate new hardware support.

About me
About Broadcom
About my group
The Northstar family of SoCs
Enough Marketing!
What is a bootloader?
Features and uses of u-boot
Features of u-boot
U boot alternatives
New Hardware
What is the primary goal?
Get Memory working
Get Serial working
Get Networking working
But Jon, my SoC doesn't have Ethernet
Option #2
SPI and NAND
Other peripherals
Diagnostics
Caution - be careful of the size of u-boot
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Upstreaming approach
Customer demand for u-boot upstreaming
Upstreaming after the fact
Rebase
Squash
Step 2 -Carve into submittable chunks
GPL Compliance
Submit and rework
Request to u-boot maintainers