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Re: How to boot FreeBSD for arm 32 bit as DomU with u-boot on my ARM Chromebook





On 28/12/2023 16:25, Mario Marietto wrote:
Hello.

Hi,

I'm trying to compile u-boot-2017.05 (because it can boot a 32-bit ARM
board. It is an out-of-tree u-boot build that can execute the ubldr to
boot FreeBSD. I found it here :

https://src.fedoraproject.org/repo/pkgs/uboot-tools/u-boot-2017.05.tar.bz2/sha512/be270f9242a72b05463092a022bbabd54996762de1ff23bf7575124ac02e62f49572a4e2f6f571a5019047d40027e56e35593b5cc373c4a5a39b100c3377ba93/

This source code has no support for Xen guests. This was only added in 2020. Can you clarify why you can't use the latest upstream U-boot?


It has been suggested to me by the U-Boot Xen maintainers. Infact one
of them said :


Yes, it can boot a 32-bit ARM board. I'm not a FreeBSD person, but
I've helped a FreeBSD user booting a 32-bit ARM box with u-boot
(GoFlexHome Marvell Kirkwood 6281). The u-boot version was 2017.05.
I used an out-of-tree u-boot build. This u-boot executed the ubldr to
boot FreeBSD. Please see here :
https://forum.doozan.com/read.php?3,49039,82059#msg-82059 >

So. I tried to compile it directly on my ARM Chromebook,but it failed.
And it also fails if compiled with "ARCH=arm
CROSS_COMPILE=arm-linux-gnueabihf-" on my Ubuntu 23.04 x86_64
workstation :


/Chromebook/freebsd-xen/domU-freebsd/bootloaders/u-boot-2017.05# make
snow_defconfig

IIUC, you want to boot FreeBSD in a DomU. So you need to build U-boot using a Xen specific configuration. Looking at the code, I can find xenguest_arm64_defconfig but there are no equivalent for arm32.

In fact, there are some missing low-level layer (e.g. hypercalls) in order to properly use it for 32-bit domU. I don't know if there are support out-of-tree.

So you will probably need to tweak U-boot for your setup.

Looking at the other thread, you seem to have also tried to load the binary from xl.

From the below error, it sounds like you are trying to boot an ELF rather than a zImage:

xc: error: panic: xg_dom_elfloader.c:63: xc_dom_guest_type: image not
capable of booting inside a HVM container: Invalid kernel

Do you have a tree with FreeBSD + your patches? I would like to check the zImage code.

Cheers,

[1] http://lore.kernel.org/CA+1FSii6RRM7G52kPrD80+yR=giWcB8--kpGDDQkkEK=0dnCmw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx


  HOSTCC  scripts/basic/fixdep
   HOSTCC  scripts/kconfig/conf.o
   HOSTCC  scripts/kconfig/zconf.tab.o
   HOSTLD  scripts/kconfig/conf
#
# configuration written to .config
#


/Chromebook/freebsd-xen/domU-freebsd/bootloaders/u-boot-2017.05# make

scripts/kconfig/conf  --silentoldconfig Kconfig
   CHK     include/config.h
   CFG     u-boot.cfg
   GEN     include/autoconf.mk
   GEN     include/autoconf.mk.dep
   CFG     spl/u-boot.cfg
   GEN     spl/include/autoconf.mk
   CHK     include/config/uboot.release
   CHK     include/generated/version_autogenerated.h
   UPD     include/generated/version_autogenerated.h
   CHK     include/generated/timestamp_autogenerated.h
   UPD     include/generated/timestamp_autogenerated.h
   CC      lib/asm-offsets.s
gcc: error: unrecognized -march target: armv5
gcc: note: valid arguments are: armv4 armv4t armv5t armv5te armv5tej
armv6 armv6j armv6k armv6z armv6kz armv6zk armv6t2 armv6-m armv6s-m
armv7 armv7-a armv7ve armv7-r armv7-m armv7e-m armv8-a armv8.1-a
armv8.2-a armv8.3-a armv8.4-a
armv8.5-a armv8.6-a armv8-m.base armv8-m.main armv8-r armv8.1-m.main
armv9-a iwmmxt iwmmxt2 native; did you mean ‘armv4’?
gcc: error: missing argument to ‘-march=’
make[1]: *** [Kbuild:44: lib/asm-offsets.s] Errore 1
make: *** [Makefile:1287: prepare0] Errore 2

What should I do to compile it succesfully ?

On Sat, Dec 23, 2023 at 7:36 PM Mario Marietto <marietto2008@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I've added this parameter to bootxen.source :

guest_loglvl=all

bootxen.source :

mmc dev 1
ext2load mmc 1:3 0x42000000 zImage-5.4.261-iommu-dma-on-xen
ext2load mmc 1:3 0x51000000 xen-4.17-armhf-armmp-0x51004000.ub
ext2load mmc 1:3 0x5ffec000 exynos5250-snow.dtb
fdt addr 0x5ffec000
fdt resize 1024
fdt set /chosen \#address-cells <0x2>
fdt set /chosen \#size-cells <0x2>
fdt set /chosen xen,xen-bootargs "console=dtuart dtuart=serial0 dom0_mem=1152M 
dom0_max_vcpus=2 bootscrub=0 vwfi=native guest_loglvl=all"
fdt mknod /chosen dom0
fdt set /chosen/dom0 compatible  "xen,linux-zimage" "xen,multiboot-module" 
"multiboot,module"
fdt set /chosen/dom0 reg <0x0 0x42000000 0x0 0x49F9A8 >
fdt set /chosen xen,dom0-bootargs "console=tty1 root=/dev/mmcblk1p4 rw rootwait 
clk_ignore_unused --no-log"
bootm 0x51000000 - 0x5ffec000


but when I try to boot FreeBSD I don't get more informations than usual :

root@devuan-bunsen:/mnt/zroot2/zroot2/OS/Chromebook/domU/freebsd-xen# 
./start-freebsd

Parsing config from freebsd.cfg
xc: error: panic: xg_dom_core.c:689: xc_dom_find_loader: no loader found: 
Invalid kernel
libxl: error: libxl_dom.c:571:libxl__build_dom: xc_dom_parse_image failed
libxl: error: libxl_create.c:1640:domcreate_rebuild_done: Domain 1:cannot 
(re-)build domain: -3
libxl: error: libxl_domain.c:1183:libxl__destroy_domid: Domain 1:Non-existent 
domain
libxl: error: libxl_domain.c:1137:domain_destroy_callback: Domain 1:Unable to 
destroy guest
libxl: error: libxl_domain.c:1064:domain_destroy_cb: Domain 1:Destruction of 
domain failed
freebsd is an invalid domain identifier (rc=-6)

Are you aware about a new parameter that I can use to have more detailed debug 
information ?

On Wed, Dec 20, 2023 at 5:52 AM Warner Losh <imp@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I'd think you'd need the right virtualization loader. I'm not entirely sure the 
u-boot.bin you've been creating is for a dom-u..
If I misunderstood, then the below isn't good advice. Chain booting the u-boot, 
the first u-boot initializes things so you want
to start with stage after the SPL. But the different error messages suggest 
that it's trying to reboot with kexec, which
isn't supported on armv7 at the moment.

If you could boot in kvm, I think that the following would work....  Though I'm 
not entirely sure how to
specify the two .fd files in your setup. The use of qemu is to have an easy env 
to debug things... I don't
have a chromebook to try...

My first instinct would be to try qemu on x86 (this is the first step of many 
to get to your destination).

If you could boot the GENERIC_SD image that we produce using qemu + 
edk2-arm-code.fd that would
be a huge first step. This will give you the boot loader, I believe, to boot in 
the VM that you need better
than going via the u-boot route. Since you are booting in a virtualized 
environment, I think it wouldn't
matter which one :).

So, I did the following to boot the virtualized armv7 FreeBSD environment, 
following a post on the forums I found and knew to have the right recipe:
https://forums.freebsd.org/threads/run-boot-freebsd-arm-32bit-image-in-qemu.80765/

1. pkg install qemu
2. mkdir qemu-armv7-env
3. cd qemu-armv7-env
4. fetch 
https://download.freebsd.org/releases/arm/armv7/ISO-IMAGES/14.0/FreeBSD-14.0-RELEASE-arm-armv7-GENERICSD.img.xz
5. xz -d -T 0 FreeBSD-14.0-RELEASE-arm-armv7-GENERICSD.img.xz
6. dd if=/dev/zero of=pflash0.img bs=1m count=64
7. dd if=/dev/zero of=pflash1.img bs=1m count=64
8. dd if=/usr/local/share/qemu/edk2-arm-code.fd of=pflash0.img conv=notrunc
9. dd if=/usr/local/share/qemu/edk2-arm-vars.fd of=pflash1.img conv=notrunc
10. cat > start-freebsd-arm.sh
#!/bin/sh
qemu-system-arm \
   -M virt \
   -m 1024 \
   -drive file=pflash0.img,format=raw,if=pflash,readonly=on \
   -drive file=pflash1.img,format=raw,if=pflash \
   -drive file=$1.img,if=virtio,cache=writethrough \
   -nographic \
   -serial mon:stdio
^D
11. chmod +x start-freebsd-arm.sh
12. ./start-freebsd-arm.sh FreeBSD-14.0-RELEASE-arm-armv7-GENERICSD

But I hit a snag with this on qemu 8.1.2 and 8.1.3 with both 13.2 and 140:

Starting devd.
Starting dhclient.
DHCPDISCOVER on vtnet0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 7
Fatal kernel mode data abort: 'Alignment Fault' on read
trapframe: 0xc4b36a60
FSR=00000001, FAR=dd96701a, spsr=20000013
r0 =00000000, r1 =00000001, r2 =00000001, r3 =c4b36b4c
r4 =00000014, r5 =d6618800, r6 =dd96702e, r7 =0000022c
r8 =00000000, r9 =0000022c, r10=dd96701a, r11=c4b36b90
r12=4300ffff, ssp=c4b36af0, slr=c04a9728, pc =c04a9750

panic: Fatal abort
cpuid = 0
time = 1680843057
KDB: stack backtrace:
#0 0xc035786c at kdb_backtrace+0x48
#1 0xc02fdd20 at vpanic+0x140
#2 0xc02fdbe0 at vpanic+0
#3 0xc06304ac at abort_align+0
#4 0xc063052c at abort_align+0x80
#5 0xc063017c at abort_handler+0x480
#6 0xc060f480 at exception_exit+0
#7 0xc04a9750 at udp_input+0x288
#8 0xc0473f54 at ip_input+0x1e0
#9 0xc04447c0 at netisr_dispatch_src+0xf8
#10 0xc043bf2c at ether_demux+0x1a4
#11 0xc043d5e4 at ether_nh_input+0x480
#12 0xc04447c0 at netisr_dispatch_src+0xf8
#13 0xc043c404 at ether_input+0x50
#14 0xc01c0838 at vtnet_rx_vq_process+0x880
#15 0xc01b70d0 at vtpci_intx_intr+0xac
#16 0xc02b87f0 at ithread_loop+0x2ec
#17 0xc02b465c at fork_exit+0xc0
Uptime: 19s

I don't know if this is a problem with qemu or FreeBSD's kernel...

Warner

On Tue, Dec 19, 2023 at 3:25 PM Mario Marietto <marietto2008@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I've asked some help on the channel #arm on Reddit and someone replied :

https://www.reddit.com/r/arm/comments/18mcir8/i_cant_boot_freebsd_for_arm32_bit_as_domu_with/

Maybe his answer can be useful to understand why it does not work.

On Tue, Dec 19, 2023 at 8:33 PM Stefano Stabellini <sstabellini@xxxxxxxxxx> 
wrote:

+Michal

Hi Mario,

I am not sure about booting FreeBSD, but I am certain that u-boot works
fine as DomU kernel on ARMv8 (not sure about ARMv7). With this config
file:

name="test"
kernel="u-boot.bin"
extra = "console=hvc0"
memory=256
vcpus=1
disk = [ 'FreeBSD-13.2-RELEASE-armv7.img,raw,xvda' ]

I don't know for sure if you can boot FreeBSD but you should definitely
be able to see the u-boot command line prompt. The fact that you are
getting this message:

xc: error: panic: xg_dom_core.c:689: xc_dom_find_loader: no loader found: 
Invalid kernel

Means that something is not right in the u-boot configuration or u-boot
build. Michal and Artem (CCed) might know more. From what I recall,
there was nothing special required to get u-boot.bin to boot as domU
kernel, so now I wonder if it is an ARMv7 vs. ARMv8 issue.

Cheers,

Stefano


On Tue, 19 Dec 2023, Mario Marietto wrote:
....I see that some other interesting files have been produced by u-boot when I 
have compiled it :

u-boot
u-boot.lds
u-boot.bin
u-boot.map
u-boot-nodtb.bin
u-boot.dtb
u-boot.srec
u-boot-dtb.bin
u-boot.sym

So,maybe I should use a different u-boot* file for booting FreeBSD ?


On Tue, Dec 19, 2023 at 4:28 PM Mario Marietto <marietto2008@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
       Hello to everyone.

I have compiled the needed u-boot.bin from scratch using this procedure :

# git clone https://github.com/u-boot/u-boot.git
# cd u-boot
# ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=arm-linux-gnueabihf- make snow_defconfig : this line 
generates the file .config
# nano .config and I've added these parameters :

CONFIG_ARMV7_NONSEC=n
CONFIG_EFI_GRUB_ARM32_WORKAROUND=y

the uboot-bin file is generated with this command :

# ARCH=arm CROSS_COMPILE=arm-linux-gnueabihf- make

At this point,I took a look inside the .config file and I saw that the parameter 
"CONFIG_ARMV7_NONSEC=n" has been removed. So,for
some reason,it is not accepted and this could be a problem....

These are the xen config files that I've used :

nano freebsd.cfg

name="test"
kernel="u-boot.bin"
extra = "console=hvc0"
memory=256
vcpus=1
disk = [ 'FreeBSD-13.2-RELEASE-armv7.img,raw,xvda' ]

nano start-freebsd

xl create freebsd.cfg
xl console freebsd

This is what happens when I launch the vm :

# ./start-freebsd

Parsing config from freebsd.cfg
xc: error: panic: xg_dom_core.c:689: xc_dom_find_loader: no loader found: 
Invalid kernel
libxl: error: libxl_dom.c:571:libxl__build_dom: xc_dom_parse_image failed
libxl: error: libxl_create.c:1640:domcreate_rebuild_done: Domain 1:cannot 
(re-)build domain: -3
libxl: error: libxl_domain.c:1183:libxl__destroy_domid: Domain 1:Non-existent 
domain
libxl: error: libxl_domain.c:1137:domain_destroy_callback: Domain 1:Unable to 
destroy guest
libxl: error: libxl_domain.c:1064:domain_destroy_cb: Domain 1:Destruction of 
domain failed
freebsd is an invalid domain identifier (rc=-6)


On Mon, Dec 18, 2023 at 12:39 PM Mario Marietto <marietto2008@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
       So,ok,I should have said "the second u-boot" ; since the first u-boot binary 
is the "u-boot binary located in the RO
       memory" of the Chromebook". Sorry for the confusion.

On Mon, Dec 18, 2023 at 12:35 PM Mario Marietto <marietto2008@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
       ---> There are no specific options in u-boot devoted to FreeBSD

This is an important factor. So,what about if,instead of compiling a new 
version of u-boot on the partition 2,I will
recompile the u-boot customized version created by the virtual open system in 
2014,that should be installed on the first
partition ? It could work if there are no differences between the u-boot that 
should boot Linux and the u-boot that
should boot FreeBSD.

Can you give a look at the u-boot source code created by virtual open systems ? 
You can find it on my google drive :

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1eAaZMfd6CU0xiqQfH7sq5wGVzzO09BRm/view?usp=sharing

I need to understand if I can recompile it without problem so that it can 
satisfy my needs (the ability of the file
u-boot.bin to boot FreeBSD as domU under Xen,as explained by Stefano 
Stabellini,the xen developer that suggested to me
what I could do to have FreeBSD virtualized under Xen on my Arm Chromebook) ; 
otherwise the risk is to find later
problems that will make me troubles and that I will not able to fix.

I gave a look at the virtual open system u-boot and I didn't see any 
arndale_defconfig inside. So,If I have understood
correctly,I should put that file inside the root of the u-boot source 
code,let's say here :

marietto:/home/marietto/Desktop/Files/u-boot_FreeBSD/u-boot-vos # ls

.checkpatch.conf        README                  doc                     net
.git                    api                     drivers                 
onenand_ipl
.gitignore              arch                    dts                     post
COPYING                 board                   examples                rules.mk
CREDITS                 boards.cfg              fs                      scripts
MAINTAINERS             common                  include                 
snapshot.commit
MAKEALL                 config.mk               lib                     spl
Makefile                cros                    mkconfig                test
PRESUBMIT.cfg           disk                    nand_spl                tools

and I should do : make and make install ? and the file I need,u-bootbin will be 
generated ?

I didn't find any pre made configuration file inside :

u-boot-vos # find . -type f -name "exynos*"

./include/exynos-fb.h
./include/configs/exynos5-common.h
./doc/device-tree-bindings/spi/exynos-spi.txt
./doc/device-tree-bindings/usb/exynos-usb.txt
./drivers/power/exynos-tmu.c
./drivers/power/exynos-cpufreq.c
./drivers/video/exynos-fb.c
./drivers/spi/exynos_spi.c
./board/samsung/dts/exynos5250-spring.dts
./board/samsung/dts/exynos5250-smdk5250.dts
./board/samsung/dts/exynos5250-snow.dts
./board/samsung/dts/exynos5250-daisy.dts
./arch/arm/include/asm/arch-exynos5/exynos-cpufreq.h
./arch/arm/include/asm/arch-exynos5/exynos-tmu.h
./arch/arm/dts/exynos5250.dtsi
./arch/arm/dts/exynos-periph-id.dtsi
./arch/arm/cpu/armv7/exynos5/exynos_cache.c

u-boot-vos # find . -type f -name "arndale*"

For sure I can't use a newer version of u-boot because otherwise the patches 
needed to bypass the bootloader protections
of the Arm Chromebook (such as a lot of different patches needed to boot 
correctly Linux) will be broken ; anyway,since
it works,I don't need to use an updated version of u-boot.

----> As per my experience, you have to respect these two options, compiling 
u-boot for
FreeBSD: 
https://github.com/freebsd/freebsd-ports/blob/main/sysutils/u-boot-master/files/FreeBSD_Fragment

It says that I should use these parameters :

CONFIG_ARMV7_NONSEC=n
CONFIG_EFI_GRUB_ARM32_WORKAROUND=y

These are the parameters used to configure a Linux kernel. I don't understand 
what's the relation between the compilation
of a linux kernel and u-boot. In the past I tried to recompile u-boot,but I 
didn't have the need to set up those
parameters,so I don't know how to do it (but I know how to recompile a Linux 
kernel).

---> I'm not sure that I'm getting you right, as I don't understand what you mean under 
"the first u-boot".


I'm talking about first u-boot because the whole procedure to boot Linux on the 
ARM Chromebook,that's explained here :

http://www.virtualopensystems.com/en/solutions/guides/kvm-on-chromebook/


at some point they say :


To be able to run KVM on ARM platforms, the kernel has to be booted in 
hypervisor mode. Because of this relatively recent
requirement (due to the introduction of the virtualization extensions), up 
until now all booting methods would boot the
kernel in the standard Supervisor mode.

For the ARM Chromebook the default boot procedure doesn't allow us to boot in 
hypervisor mode. Although the laptop's boot
mechanism is based on the frequently used u-boot, the binary is located in RO 
memory. Fortunately, a chained u-boot
mechanism can be used (i.e. starting another u-boot after the original). We can 
then enter hypervisor mode from our
custom iteration of u-boot and subsequently load our kernel and userspace.

So,the first u-boot is the u-boot provided by virtual open systems,that's able to 
chainload the "u-boot binary located in
RO memory" , that does not boot Chrome OS in hypervisor mode. We don't need it 
if we want to boot Linux with kvm or xen
enabled.


On Sun, Dec 17, 2023 at 1:28 AM Stanislav Silnicki 
<stanislav.silnicki@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
       I'm not an expert in the topic, I only know, that ARM has divided 
hardware into two worlds - Secure and
       Not-So, strictly limiting any software, running in non-secure world with 
access to functions and
       resources. 
https://developer.arm.com/documentation/den0013/d/Security/TrustZone-hardware-architecture?lang=en

I'm not sure, that I'm getting you right, as I don't understand what you mean under 
"the first u-boot".

As I understand, virtualization (HYP) is running in non-secure 
world(https://developer.arm.com/documentation/ddi0406/c/System-Level-Architecture/The-System-Level-Programmers--Model/The-Virtualization-Extens
ions), so my guess (only guess!!!), virtualization software has to prepare 
(configure) HW platform in the way,
that FreeBSD kernel will not lack any resources, required to configure MPU, VA, 
etc.
So, if you lucky to boot virtualizer, which is aware of target OS, that maybe 
you can boot the kernel. Although, I
doubt, that you need to boot 'second' u-boot to boot the kernel - there is 
simply ubldr, which you can hook somehow
from virtualizer....

Stan



Mario Marietto wrote:


       ---> As I understand, it makes sure that u-boot keeps in secure mode 
during boot and passes control to
       ubldr, which boots FreeBSD kernel, in that mode.

Can you elaborate your sentence more ? I know that the bootloader secure mode 
is bypassed by the virtual open
systems u-boot. Are you saying that when the control passes to the second 
u-boot,it will happen in secure
mode,so that the bypass that happened loading the first u-boot,is annulled ? If 
this is true,maybe can I boot
FreeBSD using the virtual-open-system custom u-boot ? Is this compatible with 
FreeBSD ? Where can I find the
u-boot.bin that the xen developer talked about ? thanks bro'.



On Sun, Dec 17, 2023 at 12:35 AM Stanislav Silnicki 
<stanislav.silnicki@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
       Hi Mario,

U-Boot  beast is hiding in this den: https://source.denx.de/u-boot/u-boot.git
I took a brief look at your post and it seems to me, that option 
CONFIG_CMO_BY_VA_ONLY is irrelevant to
your target armv7 32 bit
platform: 
https://source.denx.de/u-boot/u-boot/-/blob/master/arch/arm/cpu/armv8/Kconfig?ref_type=heads#L3

As for compiling the u-boot, it is a doable task, given that you understand 
what you are doing. There
are no specific options in u-boot devoted to FreeBSD. It is a boot loader, 
whose mission to make basic
hardware initialization, read you kernel file from some media into RAM and then 
pass it control.

Basically, you can grab some defconfig, prepared for any other Exynos5250 based 
board  (say, this one:
https://source.denx.de/u-boot/u-boot/-/blob/master/configs/arndale_defconfig?ref_type=heads)
 and adopt
it somehow.

As per my experience, you have to respect these two options, compiling u-boot 
for
FreeBSD: 
https://github.com/freebsd/freebsd-ports/blob/main/sysutils/u-boot-master/files/FreeBSD_Fragment

As I understand, it makes sure, that u-boot keeps in secure mode during boot 
and passes control to
ubldr, which boots FreBSD kernel, in that mode. Otherwise, there a lot of 
surprises you may realize.

Hope, this will help to progress you tasks
Stan

Mario Marietto wrote:


       Hello.

       I'm trying to boot FreeBSD for arm32 bit as DomU on my ARM Chromebook. 
Basically there are
       two ways to accomplish this task :

       1) to write a patch that allows the FreeBSD kernel to boot as a zImage 
file. This could be
       accomplished applying this patch to a specific file that's on the source 
code of FreeBSD :


       
https://xenbits.xen.org/gitweb/?p=p...8;hb=0782e25d98cc1391472717035f986c979edef0c9


       This patch was written by Julien Grall a lot of time ago and now it does 
not work anymore.
       This is the reason :


             It appears FreeBSD-CURRENT removed the last step converting the 
kernel file to
             kernel.bin. The patch can be readily rebased, but without 
kernel.bin that
             doesn't do too much



So,without a rebase of that patch the first option is not applicable And I'm 
not able to fix it.

2) booting FreeBSD using U-Boot,as explained to me by a xen developer :


       I was trying to explain why and how Julien's patch works so that you 
could be the one
       to re-do something similar or fix the patch on the FreeBSD kernel that 
you are
       working with. I am happy to help review and write patches but I don't 
work with the
       FreeBSD kernel so I wouldn't be able to help you quickly. However, I 
might have a
       suggestion. Do you know if FreeBSD can be booted by U-Boot ? Because 
U-Boot
       definitely boots as Xen on ARM guest firmware/bootloader. You should be 
able to build
       U-Boot and use the U-Boot binary as Xen guest kernel, then U-Boot could 
load FreeBSD
       from disk or network and start it. For instance as domU config file:

       kernel="/home/petalinux/u-boot.bin"
       disk = [ '/home/petalinux/test.img,raw,xvda' ]

       I know it is important to build u-boot with the following config to make 
it work on
       Xen.

       CONFIG_CMO_BY_VA_ONLY=y



This option seems more doable to me according to my knowledge. But I need to 
understand how to do
it.

Well,let's say that on the ARM Chromebook I'm forced to use and install a 
customized version of
u-boot,created by virtual open systems,because it is the only one that allows 
bypassing its
bootloader protection. You can find more information here :

http://www.virtualopensystems.com/en/solutions/guides/kvm-on-chromebook/?vos=tech

This is the relevant section to read :


       Bootloader :

       If you wish to skip this chapter you can download a pre-compiled binary 
of the
       bootloader:


       $ wget
       
http://www.virtualopensystems.com/downloads/guides/kvm_on_chromebook/nv_u-boot-snow.kpart


       To be able to run KVM on ARM platforms, the kernel has to be booted in 
hypervisor
       mode. Because of this relatively recent requirement (due to the 
introduction of the
       virtualization extensions), up until now all booting methods would boot 
the kernel in
       the standard Supervisor mode. For the ARM Chromebook the default boot 
procedure
       doesn't allow us to boot in hypervisor mode. Although the laptop's boot 
mechanism is
       based on the frequently used u-boot, the binary is located in RO memory. 
Fortunately,
       a chained u-boot mechanism can be used (i.e. starting another u-boot 
after the
       original). We can then enter hypervisor mode from our custom iteration 
of u-boot and
       subsequently load our kernel and userspace.

       Checkout the needed u-boot code :


       $ git clone git://github.com/virtualopensystems/u-boot.git$ cd u-boot$
       ./scripts/build.sh


       If successful, a message about how to copy the bootloader on the USB 
flash disk or SD
       card will appear. We will use it later when preparing the boot medium to 
start our
       system. If you have followed the Setting up the boot medium chapter and 
you have a
       prepared boot device, then you can update u-boot by running :


       $ sudo dd if=nv_uboot-snow.kpart of=/dev/sdX1



so,the needed u-boot that we must use should be installed on the first 
partition of the sd card.

There is another relevant section to read :


       Setting up the boot medium

       Now it is time to copy all the relevant files that we created in the 
previous
       chapters,and use them to boot Chromebook with a different kernel and OS. 
In all these
       examples the device /dev/sdX is used. Take extra care to change the 
examples to the
       device that you have attached. Insert the boot medium on your 
workstation and
       carefully execute the following step. First we need to properly format 
the boot
       medium.

       In the uboot source directory :


       $ sudo ./scripts/sdcard.sh /dev/sdX


       This will erase all data and create 4 partitions in the medium, along 
with copying
       the u-boot binary to the first partition:


       Partition 1 = ChromeOS signed binary (V.O.S chained u-boot)
       Partition 2 = not used
       Partition 3 = EXT2 partition for u-boot files (uImage and 
exynos5250-snow.dtb)
       Partition 4 = EXT4 partition for userspace files


       With u-boot being copied, next is the kernel image and DTB file. From 
the kernel
       source execute :


       $ mkdir ../mnt/
       $ sudo mount /dev/sdX3 ../mnt/
       $ sudo cp arch/arm/boot/uImage ../mnt/
       $ sudo cp arch/arm/boot/dts/exynos5250-snow.dtb ../mnt/
       $ sudo umount /dev/sdX3


       Finally, we have to copy the Ubuntu userspace filesystem that we created 
earlier:


       $ sudo mount /dev/sdX4 mnt/$ sudo cp -a ./precise/* mnt/$ sudo umount 
/dev/sdX4



Now,my idea is to chainload the already chain loaded u-boot created by V.O.S to 
the new u-boot
that we need for booting FreeBSD and that can be installed in the partition 
n.2,as shown in this
scheme,because it is not used :


Partition 1 = ChromeOS signed binary (V.O.S chained u-boot)
Partition 2 = not used (maybe we can install the u-boot for arm 32 
bit,compatible with FreeBSD on
this partition)
Partition 3 = EXT2 partition for u-boot files (uImage and exynos5250-snow.dtb)
Partition 4 = EXT4 partition for userspace files


Take in consideration that default boot string is hardcoded here,in the snow.h 
file of the custom
u-boot created by VOS :


https://github.com/virtualopensyste...18a39b6c177dff58a/include/configs/snow.h#L101


and it needs to be recompiled because it should point to the partition 
n.2,where I will install
the u-boot files as explained here :


https://wiki.freebsd.org/arm/Chromebook


I have some questions to ask before I start working on this.

1) The xen developer said :


       You should be able to build U-Boot and use the U-Boot binary as Xen 
guest kernel...



where is the u-boot binary,according to this document ?

https://wiki.freebsd.org/arm/Chromebook

I don't see it.


2) where is the source code of the file that I can get here :

http://commondatastorage.googleapis.com/chromeos-localmirror/distfiles/nv_uboot-snow-simplefb.kpart.bz2

I need the source code if I want to recompile u-boot so that it can point to 
the partition 4.

Maybe it can be found on this link :

http://linux-exynos.org/dist/chromebook/nv_uboot/

but it can't be opened....


3) in this specific scenario the source code of u-boot should run on arm 32 
bit,not on arm
64,because I have the Samsung Chromebook "SNOW" model XE303C12,that's powered 
by a Samsung Exynos
5250 (ARMv7 32 bit Cortex A15) Soc.


4) I'm not sure if I can chainload the customized u-boot created by V.O.S that 
should be
installed on the first partition with the u-boot tailored for booting FreeBSD 
that should be
installed on the partition 2....


5) the xen developer said that u-boot should be compiled enabling this option :


Code:

CONFIG_CMO_BY_VA_ONLY=y


Well,can you provide some good source that can help me to understand how I can 
recompile u-boot
for FreeBSD ? thanks.

--
Mario.



--
Mario.



--
Mario.



--
Mario.



--
Mario.



--
Mario.





--
Mario.



--
Mario.



--
Mario.


--
Julien Grall



 


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