xref: /OK3568_Linux_fs/u-boot/doc/README.semihosting (revision 4882a59341e53eb6f0b4789bf948001014eff981)
1*4882a593Smuzhiyun/*
2*4882a593Smuzhiyun * Copyright 2014 Broadcom Corporation.
3*4882a593Smuzhiyun *
4*4882a593Smuzhiyun * SPDX-License-Identifier:	GPL-2.0+
5*4882a593Smuzhiyun */
6*4882a593Smuzhiyun
7*4882a593SmuzhiyunSemihosting is ARM's way of having a real or virtual target communicate
8*4882a593Smuzhiyunwith a host or host debugger for basic operations such as file I/O,
9*4882a593Smuzhiyunconsole I/O, etc. Please see
10*4882a593Smuzhiyunhttp://infocenter.arm.com/help/index.jsp?topic=/com.arm.doc.dui0471c/Bgbjjgij.html for more information.
11*4882a593Smuzhiyun
12*4882a593SmuzhiyunFor developing on armv8 virtual fastmodel platforms, semihosting is a
13*4882a593Smuzhiyunvaluable tool since it allows access to image/configuration files before
14*4882a593SmuzhiyuneMMC or other NV media are available.
15*4882a593Smuzhiyun
16*4882a593SmuzhiyunThere are two main ARM virtual Fixed Virtual Platform (FVP) models,
17*4882a593SmuzhiyunVersatile Express (VE) FVP and BASE FVP (See
18*4882a593Smuzhiyunhttp://www.arm.com/products/tools/models/fast-models/foundation-model.php)
19*4882a593SmuzhiyunThe initial vexpress64 u-boot board created here runs on the VE virtual
20*4882a593Smuzhiyunplatform using the license-free Foundation_v8 simulator. Fortunately,
21*4882a593Smuzhiyunthe Foundation_v8 simulator also supports the BASE_FVP model which
22*4882a593Smuzhiyuncompanies can purchase licenses for and contain much more functionality.
23*4882a593SmuzhiyunSo we can, in u-boot, run either model by either using the VE FVP (default),
24*4882a593Smuzhiyunor turning on CONFIG_BASE_FVP for the more full featured model.
25*4882a593Smuzhiyun
26*4882a593SmuzhiyunRather than create a new armv8 board similar to armltd/vexpress64, add
27*4882a593Smuzhiyunsemihosting calls to the existing one, enabled with CONFIG_SEMIHOSTING
28*4882a593Smuzhiyunand CONFIG_BASE_FVP both set. Also reuse the existing board config file
29*4882a593Smuzhiyunvexpress_aemv8a.h but differentiate the two models by the presence or
30*4882a593Smuzhiyunabsence of CONFIG_BASE_FVP. This change is tested and works on both the
31*4882a593SmuzhiyunFoundation and Base fastmodel simulators.
32*4882a593Smuzhiyun
33*4882a593SmuzhiyunThe semihosting code adds a command:
34*4882a593Smuzhiyun
35*4882a593Smuzhiyun  smhload <image> <address> [env var]
36*4882a593Smuzhiyun
37*4882a593SmuzhiyunThat will load an image from the host filesystem into RAM at the specified
38*4882a593Smuzhiyunaddress and optionally store the load end address in the specified
39*4882a593Smuzhiyunenvironment variable.
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