generate uboot uImage

Porting Linux to U-Boot based systems:
---------------------------------------

U-Boot cannot save you from doing all the necessary modifications to
configure the Linux device drivers for use with your target hardware
 (no, we don't intend to provide a full virtual machine interface to
Linux :-).

But now you can ignore ALL boot loader code (in arch/ppc/mbxboot).

Just make sure your machine specific header file (for instance
 include/asm-ppc/tqm8xx.h) includes the same definition of the Board
Information structure as we define in include/asm-<arch>/u-boot.h,
and make sure that your definition of IMAP_ADDR uses the same value
as your U-Boot configuration in CONFIG_SYS_IMMR.
 

Configuring the Linux kernel:
-----------------------------

No specific requirements for U-Boot. Make sure you have some root
device (initial ramdisk, NFS) for your target system.


Building a Linux Image:
 -----------------------

With U-Boot, "normal" build targets like "zImage" or "bzImage" are
not used. If you use recent kernel source, a new build target
"uImage" will exist which automatically builds an image usable by
 U-Boot. Most older kernels also have support for a "pImage" target,
which was introduced for our predecessor project PPCBoot and uses a
100% compatible format.

Example:

	make TQM850L_config
 	make oldconfig
	make dep
	make uImage

The "uImage" build target uses a special tool (in 'tools/mkimage') to
encapsulate a compressed Linux kernel image with header	 information,
CRC32 checksum etc. for use with U-Boot. This is what we are doing:
 
* build a standard "vmlinux" kernel image (in ELF binary format):

* convert the kernel into a raw binary image:

	${CROSS_COMPILE}-objcopy -O binary \
				 -R .note -R .comment \
				 -S vmlinux linux.bin
 
* compress the binary image:

	gzip -9 linux.bin

* package compressed binary image for U-Boot:

	mkimage -A ppc -O linux -T kernel -C gzip \
		-a 0 -e 0 -n "Linux Kernel Image" \
		-d linux.bin.gz uImage
 

The "mkimage" tool can also be used to create ramdisk images for use
with U-Boot, either separated from the Linux kernel image, or
combined into one file. "mkimage" encapsulates the images with a 64
 byte header containing information about target architecture,
operating system, image type, compression method, entry points, time
stamp, CRC32 checksums, etc.

"mkimage" can be called in two ways: to verify existing images and
 print the header information, or to build new images.

In the first form (with "-l" option) mkimage lists the information
contained in the header of an existing U-Boot image; this includes
checksum verification:
 
	tools/mkimage -l image
	  -l ==> list image header information

The second form (with "-d" option) is used to build a U-Boot image
from a "data file" which is used as image payload:
 
	tools/mkimage -A arch -O os -T type -C comp -a addr -e ep \
		      -n name -d data_file image
	  -A ==> set architecture to 'arch'
	  -O ==> set operating system to 'os'
	  -T ==> set image type to 'type'
 	  -C ==> set compression type 'comp'
	  -a ==> set load address to 'addr' (hex)
	  -e ==> set entry point to 'ep' (hex)
	  -n ==> set image name to 'name'
	  -d ==> use image data from 'datafile'
 
Right now, all Linux kernels for PowerPC systems use the same load
address (0x00000000), but the entry point address depends on the
kernel version:

- 2.2.x kernels have the entry point at 0x0000000C,
- 2.3.x and later kernels have the entry point at 0x00000000.
 
So a typical call to build a U-Boot image would read:

	-> tools/mkimage -n '2.4.4 kernel for TQM850L' \
	> -A ppc -O linux -T kernel -C gzip -a 0 -e 0 \
	> -d /opt/elsk/ppc_8xx/usr/src/linux-2.4.4/arch/ppc/coffboot/vmlinux.gz \
 	> examples/uImage.TQM850L
	Image Name:   2.4.4 kernel for TQM850L
	Created:      Wed Jul 19 02:34:59 2000
	Image Type:   PowerPC Linux Kernel Image (gzip compressed)
	Data Size:    335725 Bytes = 327.86 kB = 0.32 MB
 	Load Address: 0x00000000
	Entry Point:  0x00000000

To verify the contents of the image (or check for corruption):

	-> tools/mkimage -l examples/uImage.TQM850L
	Image Name:   2.4.4 kernel for TQM850L
 	Created:      Wed Jul 19 02:34:59 2000
	Image Type:   PowerPC Linux Kernel Image (gzip compressed)
	Data Size:    335725 Bytes = 327.86 kB = 0.32 MB
	Load Address: 0x00000000
	Entry Point:  0x00000000

 NOTE: for embedded systems where boot time is critical you can trade
speed for memory and install an UNCOMPRESSED image instead: this
needs more space in Flash, but boots much faster since it does not
need to be uncompressed:
 
	-> gunzip /opt/elsk/ppc_8xx/usr/src/linux-2.4.4/arch/ppc/coffboot/vmlinux.gz
	-> tools/mkimage -n '2.4.4 kernel for TQM850L' \
	> -A ppc -O linux -T kernel -C none -a 0 -e 0 \
	> -d /opt/elsk/ppc_8xx/usr/src/linux-2.4.4/arch/ppc/coffboot/vmlinux \
 	> examples/uImage.TQM850L-uncompressed
	Image Name:   2.4.4 kernel for TQM850L
	Created:      Wed Jul 19 02:34:59 2000
	Image Type:   PowerPC Linux Kernel Image (uncompressed)
	Data Size:    792160 Bytes = 773.59 kB = 0.76 MB
 	Load Address: 0x00000000
	Entry Point:  0x00000000


Similar you can build U-Boot images from a 'ramdisk.image.gz' file
when your kernel is intended to use an initial ramdisk:

	-> tools/mkimage -n 'Simple Ramdisk Image' \
 	> -A ppc -O linux -T ramdisk -C gzip \
	> -d /LinuxPPC/images/SIMPLE-ramdisk.image.gz examples/simple-initrd
	Image Name:   Simple Ramdisk Image
	Created:      Wed Jan 12 14:01:50 2000
	Image Type:   PowerPC Linux RAMDisk Image (gzip compressed)
 	Data Size:    566530 Bytes = 553.25 kB = 0.54 MB
	Load Address: 0x00000000
	Entry Point:  0x00000000