On Thu, Oct 04, 2007 at 06:58:49PM -0700, Mark A. Greer wrote:

Having the link address jump around depending on the size of the kernel
or zImage is wrong IMHO.  It just screams "weird can't boot issues."
We need a way to specify exactly where we want the zImage linked no
matter what the kernel or zImage size.

Why?  The zImage is relocatable.  It doesn't matter where it's linked.

Also, being able to control the link address (that is, the download
address with some firmwares) is not a u-boot specific issue and we
shouldn't make a u-boot specific solution.

How is this a u-boot specific solution?

The more general problem is that some firmwares examine the ELF header
and download the zImage to address it was linked at.  Some firmwares let
you override this but some don't and those are the problem ones.

That's not the more general problem; it's the same problem with a different
file format.

I still like my idea best.  I haven't coded yet it so I don't have a patch
but this is what I mean:

1) add a config option (default 4MB) for the link address
2) add a parameter to the wrapper script thru which we pass the value in
   the config option
3) the wrapper script changes the VMA/LMA to the address specified
   (objcopy --change-addresses=<some math to get correct incr> ?).

I'd much rather it be automatic than require the user to guess an
appropriate value (and be aware in the first place that it needs to be set).

-Scott