Backporting u-boot "space key to halt boot" change into 2015.01 code - can't get the changes picked up by Make

Phil_Mills1 · September 2, 2021, 3:46pm

I have some older BBB devices out in the world running some rather old OS code. Due to some bad capacitor choices, we’re seeing a lot of noise on the debug serial port that is interpreted as the “any key” a bit too often.
I’m trying to port the “space key to halt boot” fix from am335x: BeagleBones enable CONFIG_AUTOBOOT_KEYED (07684b99) · Commits · U-Boot / U-Boot · GitLab back into the 2015.01 u-boot code (updating the full OS on these is NOT in scope) and following instructions at Embedded Coding: Beaglebone Black Development Part 4 - Bootloader, Linux Kernel and Filesystem to rebuild the bootloader.

The file change went smoothly, as did the instructions for pulling in all of RCN’s assorted patches. When I run “make am335x_evm_defconfig”, though, the “CONFIG_AUTOBOOT_” entries are NOT making into the .config file that’s generated.

What am I missing, folks? This seems like it should be pretty obvious…

RobertCNelson · September 2, 2021, 7:21pm

The u-boot tag of 2015.01 has those options:

github.com

u-boot/u-boot/blob/92fa7f53f1f3f03296f8ffb14bdf1baefab83368/common/autoboot.c#L33

    
      
          #define debug_bootkeys(fmt, args...)		\
          	debug_cond(DEBUG_BOOTKEYS, fmt, ##args)
          
          
/* Stored value of bootdelay, used by autoboot_command() */
          static int stored_bootdelay;
          
          
/***************************************************************************
           * Watch for 'delay' seconds for autoboot stop or autoboot delay string.
           * returns: 0 -  no key string, allow autoboot 1 - got key string, abort
           */
          # if defined(CONFIG_AUTOBOOT_KEYED)
          static int abortboot_keyed(int bootdelay)
          {
          	int abort = 0;
          	uint64_t etime = endtick(bootdelay);
          	struct {
          		char *str;
          		u_int len;
          		int retry;
          	}
          	delaykey[] = {

So i’m guessing your patch is failing, or your not patching the config your building…

Regards,

Phil_Mills1 · September 2, 2021, 8:21pm

I agree - 2015.01 /should/ be nicely compatible with the changes outlied in the link from my original post.

As in the original change, I’ve modifed

configs/am335x_boneblack_defconfig
configs/am335x_boneblack_bvoot_defconfig
configs/am335x_evm_defconfig

… to add lines:

CONFIG_AUTOBOOT_KEYED=y
CONFIG_AUTOBOOT_PROMPT=“Press SPACE to abort autoboot in %d seconds\n”
CONFIG_AUTOBOOT_DELAY_STR=“d”
CONFIG_AUTOBOOT_STOP_STR=" "
…and checked all three into a clone of the u-boot repository that I branched at the 2015.01 tag.

My configs/am335x_evm_defconfig now reads

CONFIG_SPL=y
CONFIG_SYS_EXTRA_OPTIONS=“NAND”
CONFIG_AUTOBOOT_KEYED=y
CONFIG_AUTOBOOT_PROMPT=“Press SPACE to abort autoboot in %d seconds\n”
CONFIG_AUTOBOOT_DELAY_STR=“d”
CONFIG_AUTOBOOT_STOP_STR=" "
CONFIG_CONS_INDEX=1
+S:CONFIG_ARM=y
+S:CONFIG_TARGET_AM335X_EVM=y

At the end of step 4.1 on the EmbeddedCoding.com steps, I have a u-boot.img file, but the strings table in it does NOT have anything for the CONFIG_AUTOBOOT_PROMPT in it.

Phil_Mills1 · September 2, 2021, 10:19pm

Ah. I think I’ve found it. At 2015.01 the “CONFIG_AUTOBOOT_*” macros hadn’t been migrated out of the include/<board>.h files.
Adding those macros into the include/am335x_evm.h file gets me a u-boot.img that has the right strings showing up in it.