1 Booting the Linux/ppc kernel without Open Firmware
2 --------------------------------------------------
4 (c) 2005 Benjamin Herrenschmidt <benh at kernel.crashing.org>,
6 (c) 2005 Becky Bruce <becky.bruce at freescale.com>,
7 Freescale Semiconductor, FSL SOC and 32-bit additions
8 (c) 2006 MontaVista Software, Inc.
9 Flash chip node definition
15 1) Entry point for arch/powerpc
16 2) Entry point for arch/x86
18 II - The DT block format
20 2) Device tree generalities
21 3) Device tree "structure" block
22 4) Device tree "strings" block
24 III - Required content of the device tree
25 1) Note about cells and address representation
26 2) Note about "compatible" properties
27 3) Note about "name" properties
28 4) Note about node and property names and character set
29 5) Required nodes and properties
33 d) the /memory node(s)
35 f) the /soc<SOCname> node
37 IV - "dtc", the device tree compiler
39 V - Recommendations for a bootloader
41 VI - System-on-a-chip devices and nodes
42 1) Defining child nodes of an SOC
43 2) Representing devices without a current OF specification
45 VII - Specifying interrupt information for devices
46 1) interrupts property
47 2) interrupt-parent property
48 3) OpenPIC Interrupt Controllers
49 4) ISA Interrupt Controllers
51 VIII - Specifying device power management information (sleep property)
53 Appendix A - Sample SOC node for MPC8540
59 May 18, 2005: Rev 0.1 - Initial draft, no chapter III yet.
61 May 19, 2005: Rev 0.2 - Add chapter III and bits & pieces here or
62 clarifies the fact that a lot of things are
63 optional, the kernel only requires a very
64 small device tree, though it is encouraged
65 to provide an as complete one as possible.
67 May 24, 2005: Rev 0.3 - Precise that DT block has to be in RAM
69 - Define version 3 and new format version 16
70 for the DT block (version 16 needs kernel
71 patches, will be fwd separately).
72 String block now has a size, and full path
73 is replaced by unit name for more
75 linux,phandle is made optional, only nodes
76 that are referenced by other nodes need it.
77 "name" property is now automatically
78 deduced from the unit name
80 June 1, 2005: Rev 0.4 - Correct confusion between OF_DT_END and
81 OF_DT_END_NODE in structure definition.
82 - Change version 16 format to always align
83 property data to 4 bytes. Since tokens are
84 already aligned, that means no specific
85 required alignment between property size
86 and property data. The old style variable
87 alignment would make it impossible to do
88 "simple" insertion of properties using
89 memmove (thanks Milton for
90 noticing). Updated kernel patch as well
91 - Correct a few more alignment constraints
92 - Add a chapter about the device-tree
93 compiler and the textural representation of
94 the tree that can be "compiled" by dtc.
96 November 21, 2005: Rev 0.5
97 - Additions/generalizations for 32-bit
98 - Changed to reflect the new arch/powerpc
104 - Add some definitions of interrupt tree (simple/complex)
105 - Add some definitions for PCI host bridges
106 - Add some common address format examples
107 - Add definitions for standard properties and "compatible"
108 names for cells that are not already defined by the existing
110 - Compare FSL SOC use of PCI to standard and make sure no new
111 node definition required.
112 - Add more information about node definitions for SOC devices
113 that currently have no standard, like the FSL CPM.
119 During the development of the Linux/ppc64 kernel, and more
120 specifically, the addition of new platform types outside of the old
121 IBM pSeries/iSeries pair, it was decided to enforce some strict rules
122 regarding the kernel entry and bootloader <-> kernel interfaces, in
123 order to avoid the degeneration that had become the ppc32 kernel entry
124 point and the way a new platform should be added to the kernel. The
125 legacy iSeries platform breaks those rules as it predates this scheme,
126 but no new board support will be accepted in the main tree that
127 doesn't follow them properly. In addition, since the advent of the
128 arch/powerpc merged architecture for ppc32 and ppc64, new 32-bit
129 platforms and 32-bit platforms which move into arch/powerpc will be
130 required to use these rules as well.
132 The main requirement that will be defined in more detail below is
133 the presence of a device-tree whose format is defined after Open
134 Firmware specification. However, in order to make life easier
135 to embedded board vendors, the kernel doesn't require the device-tree
136 to represent every device in the system and only requires some nodes
137 and properties to be present. This will be described in detail in
138 section III, but, for example, the kernel does not require you to
139 create a node for every PCI device in the system. It is a requirement
140 to have a node for PCI host bridges in order to provide interrupt
141 routing information and memory/IO ranges, among others. It is also
142 recommended to define nodes for on chip devices and other buses that
143 don't specifically fit in an existing OF specification. This creates a
144 great flexibility in the way the kernel can then probe those and match
145 drivers to device, without having to hard code all sorts of tables. It
146 also makes it more flexible for board vendors to do minor hardware
147 upgrades without significantly impacting the kernel code or cluttering
148 it with special cases.
151 1) Entry point for arch/powerpc
152 -------------------------------
154 There is one single entry point to the kernel, at the start
155 of the kernel image. That entry point supports two calling
158 a) Boot from Open Firmware. If your firmware is compatible
159 with Open Firmware (IEEE 1275) or provides an OF compatible
160 client interface API (support for "interpret" callback of
161 forth words isn't required), you can enter the kernel with:
163 r5 : OF callback pointer as defined by IEEE 1275
164 bindings to powerpc. Only the 32-bit client interface
165 is currently supported
167 r3, r4 : address & length of an initrd if any or 0
169 The MMU is either on or off; the kernel will run the
170 trampoline located in arch/powerpc/kernel/prom_init.c to
171 extract the device-tree and other information from open
172 firmware and build a flattened device-tree as described
173 in b). prom_init() will then re-enter the kernel using
174 the second method. This trampoline code runs in the
175 context of the firmware, which is supposed to handle all
176 exceptions during that time.
178 b) Direct entry with a flattened device-tree block. This entry
179 point is called by a) after the OF trampoline and can also be
180 called directly by a bootloader that does not support the Open
181 Firmware client interface. It is also used by "kexec" to
182 implement "hot" booting of a new kernel from a previous
183 running one. This method is what I will describe in more
184 details in this document, as method a) is simply standard Open
185 Firmware, and thus should be implemented according to the
186 various standard documents defining it and its binding to the
187 PowerPC platform. The entry point definition then becomes:
189 r3 : physical pointer to the device-tree block
190 (defined in chapter II) in RAM
192 r4 : physical pointer to the kernel itself. This is
193 used by the assembly code to properly disable the MMU
194 in case you are entering the kernel with MMU enabled
195 and a non-1:1 mapping.
197 r5 : NULL (as to differentiate with method a)
199 Note about SMP entry: Either your firmware puts your other
200 CPUs in some sleep loop or spin loop in ROM where you can get
201 them out via a soft reset or some other means, in which case
202 you don't need to care, or you'll have to enter the kernel
203 with all CPUs. The way to do that with method b) will be
204 described in a later revision of this document.
206 Board supports (platforms) are not exclusive config options. An
207 arbitrary set of board supports can be built in a single kernel
208 image. The kernel will "know" what set of functions to use for a
209 given platform based on the content of the device-tree. Thus, you
212 a) add your platform support as a _boolean_ option in
213 arch/powerpc/Kconfig, following the example of PPC_PSERIES,
214 PPC_PMAC and PPC_MAPLE. The later is probably a good
215 example of a board support to start from.
217 b) create your main platform file as
218 "arch/powerpc/platforms/myplatform/myboard_setup.c" and add it
219 to the Makefile under the condition of your CONFIG_
220 option. This file will define a structure of type "ppc_md"
221 containing the various callbacks that the generic code will
222 use to get to your platform specific code
224 A kernel image may support multiple platforms, but only if the
225 platforms feature the same core architecture. A single kernel build
226 cannot support both configurations with Book E and configurations
227 with classic Powerpc architectures.
229 2) Entry point for arch/x86
230 -------------------------------
232 There is one single 32bit entry point to the kernel at code32_start,
233 the decompressor (the real mode entry point goes to the same 32bit
234 entry point once it switched into protected mode). That entry point
235 supports one calling convention which is documented in
236 Documentation/x86/boot.txt
237 The physical pointer to the device-tree block (defined in chapter II)
238 is passed via setup_data which requires at least boot protocol 2.09.
239 The type filed is defined as
243 This device-tree is used as an extension to the "boot page". As such it
244 does not parse / consider data which is already covered by the boot
245 page. This includes memory size, reserved ranges, command line arguments
246 or initrd address. It simply holds information which can not be retrieved
247 otherwise like interrupt routing or a list of devices behind an I2C bus.
249 II - The DT block format
250 ========================
253 This chapter defines the actual format of the flattened device-tree
254 passed to the kernel. The actual content of it and kernel requirements
255 are described later. You can find example of code manipulating that
256 format in various places, including arch/powerpc/kernel/prom_init.c
257 which will generate a flattened device-tree from the Open Firmware
258 representation, or the fs2dt utility which is part of the kexec tools
259 which will generate one from a filesystem representation. It is
260 expected that a bootloader like uboot provides a bit more support,
261 that will be discussed later as well.
263 Note: The block has to be in main memory. It has to be accessible in
264 both real mode and virtual mode with no mapping other than main
265 memory. If you are writing a simple flash bootloader, it should copy
266 the block to RAM before passing it to the kernel.
272 The kernel is passed the physical address pointing to an area of memory
273 that is roughly described in include/linux/of_fdt.h by the structure
276 struct boot_param_header {
277 u32 magic; /* magic word OF_DT_HEADER */
278 u32 totalsize; /* total size of DT block */
279 u32 off_dt_struct; /* offset to structure */
280 u32 off_dt_strings; /* offset to strings */
281 u32 off_mem_rsvmap; /* offset to memory reserve map
283 u32 version; /* format version */
284 u32 last_comp_version; /* last compatible version */
286 /* version 2 fields below */
287 u32 boot_cpuid_phys; /* Which physical CPU id we're
289 /* version 3 fields below */
290 u32 size_dt_strings; /* size of the strings block */
292 /* version 17 fields below */
293 u32 size_dt_struct; /* size of the DT structure block */
296 Along with the constants:
298 /* Definitions used by the flattened device tree */
299 #define OF_DT_HEADER 0xd00dfeed /* 4: version,
301 #define OF_DT_BEGIN_NODE 0x1 /* Start node: full name
303 #define OF_DT_END_NODE 0x2 /* End node */
304 #define OF_DT_PROP 0x3 /* Property: name off,
306 #define OF_DT_END 0x9
308 All values in this header are in big endian format, the various
309 fields in this header are defined more precisely below. All
310 "offset" values are in bytes from the start of the header; that is
311 from the physical base address of the device tree block.
315 This is a magic value that "marks" the beginning of the
316 device-tree block header. It contains the value 0xd00dfeed and is
317 defined by the constant OF_DT_HEADER
321 This is the total size of the DT block including the header. The
322 "DT" block should enclose all data structures defined in this
323 chapter (who are pointed to by offsets in this header). That is,
324 the device-tree structure, strings, and the memory reserve map.
328 This is an offset from the beginning of the header to the start
329 of the "structure" part the device tree. (see 2) device tree)
333 This is an offset from the beginning of the header to the start
334 of the "strings" part of the device-tree
338 This is an offset from the beginning of the header to the start
339 of the reserved memory map. This map is a list of pairs of 64-
340 bit integers. Each pair is a physical address and a size. The
341 list is terminated by an entry of size 0. This map provides the
342 kernel with a list of physical memory areas that are "reserved"
343 and thus not to be used for memory allocations, especially during
344 early initialization. The kernel needs to allocate memory during
345 boot for things like un-flattening the device-tree, allocating an
346 MMU hash table, etc... Those allocations must be done in such a
347 way to avoid overriding critical things like, on Open Firmware
348 capable machines, the RTAS instance, or on some pSeries, the TCE
349 tables used for the iommu. Typically, the reserve map should
350 contain _at least_ this DT block itself (header,total_size). If
351 you are passing an initrd to the kernel, you should reserve it as
352 well. You do not need to reserve the kernel image itself. The map
353 should be 64-bit aligned.
357 This is the version of this structure. Version 1 stops
358 here. Version 2 adds an additional field boot_cpuid_phys.
359 Version 3 adds the size of the strings block, allowing the kernel
360 to reallocate it easily at boot and free up the unused flattened
361 structure after expansion. Version 16 introduces a new more
362 "compact" format for the tree itself that is however not backward
363 compatible. Version 17 adds an additional field, size_dt_struct,
364 allowing it to be reallocated or moved more easily (this is
365 particularly useful for bootloaders which need to make
366 adjustments to a device tree based on probed information). You
367 should always generate a structure of the highest version defined
368 at the time of your implementation. Currently that is version 17,
369 unless you explicitly aim at being backward compatible.
373 Last compatible version. This indicates down to what version of
374 the DT block you are backward compatible. For example, version 2
375 is backward compatible with version 1 (that is, a kernel build
376 for version 1 will be able to boot with a version 2 format). You
377 should put a 1 in this field if you generate a device tree of
378 version 1 to 3, or 16 if you generate a tree of version 16 or 17
379 using the new unit name format.
383 This field only exist on version 2 headers. It indicate which
384 physical CPU ID is calling the kernel entry point. This is used,
385 among others, by kexec. If you are on an SMP system, this value
386 should match the content of the "reg" property of the CPU node in
387 the device-tree corresponding to the CPU calling the kernel entry
388 point (see further chapters for more information on the required
389 device-tree contents)
393 This field only exists on version 3 and later headers. It
394 gives the size of the "strings" section of the device tree (which
395 starts at the offset given by off_dt_strings).
399 This field only exists on version 17 and later headers. It gives
400 the size of the "structure" section of the device tree (which
401 starts at the offset given by off_dt_struct).
403 So the typical layout of a DT block (though the various parts don't
404 need to be in that order) looks like this (addresses go from top to
408 ------------------------------
409 base -> | struct boot_param_header |
410 ------------------------------
411 | (alignment gap) (*) |
412 ------------------------------
413 | memory reserve map |
414 ------------------------------
416 ------------------------------
418 | device-tree structure |
420 ------------------------------
422 ------------------------------
424 | device-tree strings |
426 -----> ------------------------------
429 --- (base + totalsize)
431 (*) The alignment gaps are not necessarily present; their presence
432 and size are dependent on the various alignment requirements of
433 the individual data blocks.
436 2) Device tree generalities
437 ---------------------------
439 This device-tree itself is separated in two different blocks, a
440 structure block and a strings block. Both need to be aligned to a 4
443 First, let's quickly describe the device-tree concept before detailing
444 the storage format. This chapter does _not_ describe the detail of the
445 required types of nodes & properties for the kernel, this is done
446 later in chapter III.
448 The device-tree layout is strongly inherited from the definition of
449 the Open Firmware IEEE 1275 device-tree. It's basically a tree of
450 nodes, each node having two or more named properties. A property can
453 It is a tree, so each node has one and only one parent except for the
454 root node who has no parent.
456 A node has 2 names. The actual node name is generally contained in a
457 property of type "name" in the node property list whose value is a
458 zero terminated string and is mandatory for version 1 to 3 of the
459 format definition (as it is in Open Firmware). Version 16 makes it
460 optional as it can generate it from the unit name defined below.
462 There is also a "unit name" that is used to differentiate nodes with
463 the same name at the same level, it is usually made of the node
464 names, the "@" sign, and a "unit address", which definition is
465 specific to the bus type the node sits on.
467 The unit name doesn't exist as a property per-se but is included in
468 the device-tree structure. It is typically used to represent "path" in
469 the device-tree. More details about the actual format of these will be
472 The kernel generic code does not make any formal use of the
473 unit address (though some board support code may do) so the only real
474 requirement here for the unit address is to ensure uniqueness of
475 the node unit name at a given level of the tree. Nodes with no notion
476 of address and no possible sibling of the same name (like /memory or
477 /cpus) may omit the unit address in the context of this specification,
478 or use the "@0" default unit address. The unit name is used to define
479 a node "full path", which is the concatenation of all parent node
480 unit names separated with "/".
482 The root node doesn't have a defined name, and isn't required to have
483 a name property either if you are using version 3 or earlier of the
484 format. It also has no unit address (no @ symbol followed by a unit
485 address). The root node unit name is thus an empty string. The full
486 path to the root node is "/".
488 Every node which actually represents an actual device (that is, a node
489 which isn't only a virtual "container" for more nodes, like "/cpus"
490 is) is also required to have a "compatible" property indicating the
491 specific hardware and an optional list of devices it is fully
492 backwards compatible with.
494 Finally, every node that can be referenced from a property in another
495 node is required to have either a "phandle" or a "linux,phandle"
496 property. Real Open Firmware implementations provide a unique
497 "phandle" value for every node that the "prom_init()" trampoline code
498 turns into "linux,phandle" properties. However, this is made optional
499 if the flattened device tree is used directly. An example of a node
500 referencing another node via "phandle" is when laying out the
501 interrupt tree which will be described in a further version of this
504 The "phandle" property is a 32-bit value that uniquely
505 identifies a node. You are free to use whatever values or system of
506 values, internal pointers, or whatever to generate these, the only
507 requirement is that every node for which you provide that property has
508 a unique value for it.
510 Here is an example of a simple device-tree. In this example, an "o"
511 designates a node followed by the node unit name. Properties are
512 presented with their name followed by their content. "content"
513 represents an ASCII string (zero terminated) value, while <content>
514 represents a 32-bit hexadecimal value. The various nodes in this
515 example will be discussed in a later chapter. At this point, it is
516 only meant to give you a idea of what a device-tree looks like. I have
517 purposefully kept the "name" and "linux,phandle" properties which
518 aren't necessary in order to give you a better idea of what the tree
519 looks like in practice.
522 |- name = "device-tree"
523 |- model = "MyBoardName"
524 |- compatible = "MyBoardFamilyName"
525 |- #address-cells = <2>
527 |- linux,phandle = <0>
531 | | - linux,phandle = <1>
532 | | - #address-cells = <1>
533 | | - #size-cells = <0>
536 | |- name = "PowerPC,970"
537 | |- device_type = "cpu"
539 | |- clock-frequency = <5f5e1000>
541 | |- linux,phandle = <2>
545 | |- device_type = "memory"
546 | |- reg = <00000000 00000000 00000000 20000000>
547 | |- linux,phandle = <3>
551 |- bootargs = "root=/dev/sda2"
552 |- linux,phandle = <4>
554 This tree is almost a minimal tree. It pretty much contains the
555 minimal set of required nodes and properties to boot a linux kernel;
556 that is, some basic model information at the root, the CPUs, and the
557 physical memory layout. It also includes misc information passed
558 through /chosen, like in this example, the platform type (mandatory)
559 and the kernel command line arguments (optional).
561 The /cpus/PowerPC,970@0/64-bit property is an example of a
562 property without a value. All other properties have a value. The
563 significance of the #address-cells and #size-cells properties will be
564 explained in chapter IV which defines precisely the required nodes and
565 properties and their content.
568 3) Device tree "structure" block
570 The structure of the device tree is a linearized tree structure. The
571 "OF_DT_BEGIN_NODE" token starts a new node, and the "OF_DT_END_NODE"
572 ends that node definition. Child nodes are simply defined before
573 "OF_DT_END_NODE" (that is nodes within the node). A 'token' is a 32
574 bit value. The tree has to be "finished" with a OF_DT_END token
576 Here's the basic structure of a single node:
578 * token OF_DT_BEGIN_NODE (that is 0x00000001)
579 * for version 1 to 3, this is the node full path as a zero
580 terminated string, starting with "/". For version 16 and later,
581 this is the node unit name only (or an empty string for the
583 * [align gap to next 4 bytes boundary]
585 * token OF_DT_PROP (that is 0x00000003)
586 * 32-bit value of property value size in bytes (or 0 if no
588 * 32-bit value of offset in string block of property name
589 * property value data if any
590 * [align gap to next 4 bytes boundary]
591 * [child nodes if any]
592 * token OF_DT_END_NODE (that is 0x00000002)
594 So the node content can be summarized as a start token, a full path,
595 a list of properties, a list of child nodes, and an end token. Every
596 child node is a full node structure itself as defined above.
598 NOTE: The above definition requires that all property definitions for
599 a particular node MUST precede any subnode definitions for that node.
600 Although the structure would not be ambiguous if properties and
601 subnodes were intermingled, the kernel parser requires that the
602 properties come first (up until at least 2.6.22). Any tools
603 manipulating a flattened tree must take care to preserve this
606 4) Device tree "strings" block
608 In order to save space, property names, which are generally redundant,
609 are stored separately in the "strings" block. This block is simply the
610 whole bunch of zero terminated strings for all property names
611 concatenated together. The device-tree property definitions in the
612 structure block will contain offset values from the beginning of the
616 III - Required content of the device tree
617 =========================================
619 WARNING: All "linux,*" properties defined in this document apply only
620 to a flattened device-tree. If your platform uses a real
621 implementation of Open Firmware or an implementation compatible with
622 the Open Firmware client interface, those properties will be created
623 by the trampoline code in the kernel's prom_init() file. For example,
624 that's where you'll have to add code to detect your board model and
625 set the platform number. However, when using the flattened device-tree
626 entry point, there is no prom_init() pass, and thus you have to
627 provide those properties yourself.
630 1) Note about cells and address representation
631 ----------------------------------------------
633 The general rule is documented in the various Open Firmware
634 documentations. If you choose to describe a bus with the device-tree
635 and there exist an OF bus binding, then you should follow the
636 specification. However, the kernel does not require every single
637 device or bus to be described by the device tree.
639 In general, the format of an address for a device is defined by the
640 parent bus type, based on the #address-cells and #size-cells
641 properties. Note that the parent's parent definitions of #address-cells
642 and #size-cells are not inherited so every node with children must specify
643 them. The kernel requires the root node to have those properties defining
644 addresses format for devices directly mapped on the processor bus.
646 Those 2 properties define 'cells' for representing an address and a
647 size. A "cell" is a 32-bit number. For example, if both contain 2
648 like the example tree given above, then an address and a size are both
649 composed of 2 cells, and each is a 64-bit number (cells are
650 concatenated and expected to be in big endian format). Another example
651 is the way Apple firmware defines them, with 2 cells for an address
652 and one cell for a size. Most 32-bit implementations should define
653 #address-cells and #size-cells to 1, which represents a 32-bit value.
654 Some 32-bit processors allow for physical addresses greater than 32
655 bits; these processors should define #address-cells as 2.
657 "reg" properties are always a tuple of the type "address size" where
658 the number of cells of address and size is specified by the bus
659 #address-cells and #size-cells. When a bus supports various address
660 spaces and other flags relative to a given address allocation (like
661 prefetchable, etc...) those flags are usually added to the top level
662 bits of the physical address. For example, a PCI physical address is
663 made of 3 cells, the bottom two containing the actual address itself
664 while the top cell contains address space indication, flags, and pci
665 bus & device numbers.
667 For buses that support dynamic allocation, it's the accepted practice
668 to then not provide the address in "reg" (keep it 0) though while
669 providing a flag indicating the address is dynamically allocated, and
670 then, to provide a separate "assigned-addresses" property that
671 contains the fully allocated addresses. See the PCI OF bindings for
674 In general, a simple bus with no address space bits and no dynamic
675 allocation is preferred if it reflects your hardware, as the existing
676 kernel address parsing functions will work out of the box. If you
677 define a bus type with a more complex address format, including things
678 like address space bits, you'll have to add a bus translator to the
679 prom_parse.c file of the recent kernels for your bus type.
681 The "reg" property only defines addresses and sizes (if #size-cells is
682 non-0) within a given bus. In order to translate addresses upward
683 (that is into parent bus addresses, and possibly into CPU physical
684 addresses), all buses must contain a "ranges" property. If the
685 "ranges" property is missing at a given level, it's assumed that
686 translation isn't possible, i.e., the registers are not visible on the
687 parent bus. The format of the "ranges" property for a bus is a list
690 bus address, parent bus address, size
692 "bus address" is in the format of the bus this bus node is defining,
693 that is, for a PCI bridge, it would be a PCI address. Thus, (bus
694 address, size) defines a range of addresses for child devices. "parent
695 bus address" is in the format of the parent bus of this bus. For
696 example, for a PCI host controller, that would be a CPU address. For a
697 PCI<->ISA bridge, that would be a PCI address. It defines the base
698 address in the parent bus where the beginning of that range is mapped.
700 For new 64-bit board support, I recommend either the 2/2 format or
701 Apple's 2/1 format which is slightly more compact since sizes usually
702 fit in a single 32-bit word. New 32-bit board support should use a
703 1/1 format, unless the processor supports physical addresses greater
704 than 32-bits, in which case a 2/1 format is recommended.
706 Alternatively, the "ranges" property may be empty, indicating that the
707 registers are visible on the parent bus using an identity mapping
708 translation. In other words, the parent bus address space is the same
709 as the child bus address space.
711 2) Note about "compatible" properties
712 -------------------------------------
714 These properties are optional, but recommended in devices and the root
715 node. The format of a "compatible" property is a list of concatenated
716 zero terminated strings. They allow a device to express its
717 compatibility with a family of similar devices, in some cases,
718 allowing a single driver to match against several devices regardless
719 of their actual names.
721 3) Note about "name" properties
722 -------------------------------
724 While earlier users of Open Firmware like OldWorld macintoshes tended
725 to use the actual device name for the "name" property, it's nowadays
726 considered a good practice to use a name that is closer to the device
727 class (often equal to device_type). For example, nowadays, Ethernet
728 controllers are named "ethernet", an additional "model" property
729 defining precisely the chip type/model, and "compatible" property
730 defining the family in case a single driver can driver more than one
731 of these chips. However, the kernel doesn't generally put any
732 restriction on the "name" property; it is simply considered good
733 practice to follow the standard and its evolutions as closely as
736 Note also that the new format version 16 makes the "name" property
737 optional. If it's absent for a node, then the node's unit name is then
738 used to reconstruct the name. That is, the part of the unit name
739 before the "@" sign is used (or the entire unit name if no "@" sign
742 4) Note about node and property names and character set
743 -------------------------------------------------------
745 While Open Firmware provides more flexible usage of 8859-1, this
746 specification enforces more strict rules. Nodes and properties should
747 be comprised only of ASCII characters 'a' to 'z', '0' to
748 '9', ',', '.', '_', '+', '#', '?', and '-'. Node names additionally
749 allow uppercase characters 'A' to 'Z' (property names should be
750 lowercase. The fact that vendors like Apple don't respect this rule is
751 irrelevant here). Additionally, node and property names should always
752 begin with a character in the range 'a' to 'z' (or 'A' to 'Z' for node
755 The maximum number of characters for both nodes and property names
756 is 31. In the case of node names, this is only the leftmost part of
757 a unit name (the pure "name" property), it doesn't include the unit
758 address which can extend beyond that limit.
761 5) Required nodes and properties
762 --------------------------------
763 These are all that are currently required. However, it is strongly
764 recommended that you expose PCI host bridges as documented in the
765 PCI binding to Open Firmware, and your interrupt tree as documented
766 in OF interrupt tree specification.
770 The root node requires some properties to be present:
772 - model : this is your board name/model
773 - #address-cells : address representation for "root" devices
774 - #size-cells: the size representation for "root" devices
775 - compatible : the board "family" generally finds its way here,
776 for example, if you have 2 board models with a similar layout,
777 that typically get driven by the same platform code in the
778 kernel, you would specify the exact board model in the
779 compatible property followed by an entry that represents the SoC
782 The root node is also generally where you add additional properties
783 specific to your board like the serial number if any, that sort of
784 thing. It is recommended that if you add any "custom" property whose
785 name may clash with standard defined ones, you prefix them with your
786 vendor name and a comma.
790 This node is the parent of all individual CPU nodes. It doesn't
791 have any specific requirements, though it's generally good practice
794 #address-cells = <00000001>
795 #size-cells = <00000000>
797 This defines that the "address" for a CPU is a single cell, and has
798 no meaningful size. This is not necessary but the kernel will assume
799 that format when reading the "reg" properties of a CPU node, see
804 So under /cpus, you are supposed to create a node for every CPU on
805 the machine. There is no specific restriction on the name of the
806 CPU, though it's common to call it <architecture>,<core>. For
807 example, Apple uses PowerPC,G5 while IBM uses PowerPC,970FX.
808 However, the Generic Names convention suggests that it would be
809 better to simply use 'cpu' for each cpu node and use the compatible
810 property to identify the specific cpu core.
814 - device_type : has to be "cpu"
815 - reg : This is the physical CPU number, it's a single 32-bit cell
816 and is also used as-is as the unit number for constructing the
817 unit name in the full path. For example, with 2 CPUs, you would
819 /cpus/PowerPC,970FX@0
820 /cpus/PowerPC,970FX@1
821 (unit addresses do not require leading zeroes)
822 - d-cache-block-size : one cell, L1 data cache block size in bytes (*)
823 - i-cache-block-size : one cell, L1 instruction cache block size in
825 - d-cache-size : one cell, size of L1 data cache in bytes
826 - i-cache-size : one cell, size of L1 instruction cache in bytes
828 (*) The cache "block" size is the size on which the cache management
829 instructions operate. Historically, this document used the cache
830 "line" size here which is incorrect. The kernel will prefer the cache
831 block size and will fallback to cache line size for backward
834 Recommended properties:
836 - timebase-frequency : a cell indicating the frequency of the
837 timebase in Hz. This is not directly used by the generic code,
838 but you are welcome to copy/paste the pSeries code for setting
839 the kernel timebase/decrementer calibration based on this
841 - clock-frequency : a cell indicating the CPU core clock frequency
842 in Hz. A new property will be defined for 64-bit values, but if
843 your frequency is < 4Ghz, one cell is enough. Here as well as
844 for the above, the common code doesn't use that property, but
845 you are welcome to re-use the pSeries or Maple one. A future
846 kernel version might provide a common function for this.
847 - d-cache-line-size : one cell, L1 data cache line size in bytes
848 if different from the block size
849 - i-cache-line-size : one cell, L1 instruction cache line size in
850 bytes if different from the block size
852 You are welcome to add any property you find relevant to your board,
853 like some information about the mechanism used to soft-reset the
854 CPUs. For example, Apple puts the GPIO number for CPU soft reset
855 lines in there as a "soft-reset" property since they start secondary
856 CPUs by soft-resetting them.
859 d) the /memory node(s)
861 To define the physical memory layout of your board, you should
862 create one or more memory node(s). You can either create a single
863 node with all memory ranges in its reg property, or you can create
864 several nodes, as you wish. The unit address (@ part) used for the
865 full path is the address of the first range of memory defined by a
866 given node. If you use a single memory node, this will typically be
871 - device_type : has to be "memory"
872 - reg : This property contains all the physical memory ranges of
873 your board. It's a list of addresses/sizes concatenated
874 together, with the number of cells of each defined by the
875 #address-cells and #size-cells of the root node. For example,
876 with both of these properties being 2 like in the example given
877 earlier, a 970 based machine with 6Gb of RAM could typically
878 have a "reg" property here that looks like:
880 00000000 00000000 00000000 80000000
881 00000001 00000000 00000001 00000000
883 That is a range starting at 0 of 0x80000000 bytes and a range
884 starting at 0x100000000 and of 0x100000000 bytes. You can see
885 that there is no memory covering the IO hole between 2Gb and
886 4Gb. Some vendors prefer splitting those ranges into smaller
887 segments, but the kernel doesn't care.
891 This node is a bit "special". Normally, that's where Open Firmware
892 puts some variable environment information, like the arguments, or
893 the default input/output devices.
895 This specification makes a few of these mandatory, but also defines
896 some linux-specific properties that would be normally constructed by
897 the prom_init() trampoline when booting with an OF client interface,
898 but that you have to provide yourself when using the flattened format.
900 Recommended properties:
902 - bootargs : This zero-terminated string is passed as the kernel
904 - linux,stdout-path : This is the full path to your standard
905 console device if any. Typically, if you have serial devices on
906 your board, you may want to put the full path to the one set as
907 the default console in the firmware here, for the kernel to pick
908 it up as its own default console.
910 Note that u-boot creates and fills in the chosen node for platforms
913 (Note: a practice that is now obsolete was to include a property
914 under /chosen called interrupt-controller which had a phandle value
915 that pointed to the main interrupt controller)
917 f) the /soc<SOCname> node
919 This node is used to represent a system-on-a-chip (SoC) and must be
920 present if the processor is a SoC. The top-level soc node contains
921 information that is global to all devices on the SoC. The node name
922 should contain a unit address for the SoC, which is the base address
923 of the memory-mapped register set for the SoC. The name of an SoC
924 node should start with "soc", and the remainder of the name should
925 represent the part number for the soc. For example, the MPC8540's
926 soc node would be called "soc8540".
930 - ranges : Should be defined as specified in 1) to describe the
931 translation of SoC addresses for memory mapped SoC registers.
932 - bus-frequency: Contains the bus frequency for the SoC node.
933 Typically, the value of this field is filled in by the boot
935 - compatible : Exact model of the SoC
938 Recommended properties:
940 - reg : This property defines the address and size of the
941 memory-mapped registers that are used for the SOC node itself.
942 It does not include the child device registers - these will be
943 defined inside each child node. The address specified in the
944 "reg" property should match the unit address of the SOC node.
945 - #address-cells : Address representation for "soc" devices. The
946 format of this field may vary depending on whether or not the
947 device registers are memory mapped. For memory mapped
948 registers, this field represents the number of cells needed to
949 represent the address of the registers. For SOCs that do not
950 use MMIO, a special address format should be defined that
951 contains enough cells to represent the required information.
952 See 1) above for more details on defining #address-cells.
953 - #size-cells : Size representation for "soc" devices
954 - #interrupt-cells : Defines the width of cells used to represent
955 interrupts. Typically this value is <2>, which includes a
956 32-bit number that represents the interrupt number, and a
957 32-bit number that represents the interrupt sense and level.
958 This field is only needed if the SOC contains an interrupt
961 The SOC node may contain child nodes for each SOC device that the
962 platform uses. Nodes should not be created for devices which exist
963 on the SOC but are not used by a particular platform. See chapter VI
964 for more information on how to specify devices that are part of a SOC.
966 Example SOC node for the MPC8540:
969 #address-cells = <1>;
971 #interrupt-cells = <2>;
973 ranges = <00000000 e0000000 00100000>
974 reg = <e0000000 00003000>;
980 IV - "dtc", the device tree compiler
981 ====================================
984 dtc source code can be found at
985 <http://git.jdl.com/gitweb/?p=dtc.git>
987 WARNING: This version is still in early development stage; the
988 resulting device-tree "blobs" have not yet been validated with the
989 kernel. The current generated block lacks a useful reserve map (it will
990 be fixed to generate an empty one, it's up to the bootloader to fill
991 it up) among others. The error handling needs work, bugs are lurking,
994 dtc basically takes a device-tree in a given format and outputs a
995 device-tree in another format. The currently supported formats are:
1000 - "dtb": "blob" format, that is a flattened device-tree block
1002 header all in a binary blob.
1003 - "dts": "source" format. This is a text file containing a
1004 "source" for a device-tree. The format is defined later in this
1006 - "fs" format. This is a representation equivalent to the
1007 output of /proc/device-tree, that is nodes are directories and
1008 properties are files
1013 - "dtb": "blob" format
1014 - "dts": "source" format
1015 - "asm": assembly language file. This is a file that can be
1016 sourced by gas to generate a device-tree "blob". That file can
1017 then simply be added to your Makefile. Additionally, the
1018 assembly file exports some symbols that can be used.
1021 The syntax of the dtc tool is
1023 dtc [-I <input-format>] [-O <output-format>]
1024 [-o output-filename] [-V output_version] input_filename
1027 The "output_version" defines what version of the "blob" format will be
1028 generated. Supported versions are 1,2,3 and 16. The default is
1029 currently version 3 but that may change in the future to version 16.
1031 Additionally, dtc performs various sanity checks on the tree, like the
1032 uniqueness of linux, phandle properties, validity of strings, etc...
1034 The format of the .dts "source" file is "C" like, supports C and C++
1040 The above is the "device-tree" definition. It's the only statement
1041 supported currently at the toplevel.
1044 property1 = "string_value"; /* define a property containing a 0
1048 property2 = <1234abcd>; /* define a property containing a
1049 * numerical 32-bit value (hexadecimal)
1052 property3 = <12345678 12345678 deadbeef>;
1053 /* define a property containing 3
1054 * numerical 32-bit values (cells) in
1057 property4 = [0a 0b 0c 0d de ea ad be ef];
1058 /* define a property whose content is
1059 * an arbitrary array of bytes
1062 childnode@address { /* define a child node named "childnode"
1063 * whose unit name is "childnode at
1067 childprop = "hello\n"; /* define a property "childprop" of
1068 * childnode (in this case, a string)
1073 Nodes can contain other nodes etc... thus defining the hierarchical
1074 structure of the tree.
1076 Strings support common escape sequences from C: "\n", "\t", "\r",
1077 "\(octal value)", "\x(hex value)".
1079 It is also suggested that you pipe your source file through cpp (gcc
1080 preprocessor) so you can use #include's, #define for constants, etc...
1082 Finally, various options are planned but not yet implemented, like
1083 automatic generation of phandles, labels (exported to the asm file so
1084 you can point to a property content and change it easily from whatever
1085 you link the device-tree with), label or path instead of numeric value
1086 in some cells to "point" to a node (replaced by a phandle at compile
1087 time), export of reserve map address to the asm file, ability to
1088 specify reserve map content at compile time, etc...
1090 We may provide a .h include file with common definitions of that
1091 proves useful for some properties (like building PCI properties or
1092 interrupt maps) though it may be better to add a notion of struct
1093 definitions to the compiler...
1096 V - Recommendations for a bootloader
1097 ====================================
1100 Here are some various ideas/recommendations that have been proposed
1101 while all this has been defined and implemented.
1103 - The bootloader may want to be able to use the device-tree itself
1104 and may want to manipulate it (to add/edit some properties,
1105 like physical memory size or kernel arguments). At this point, 2
1106 choices can be made. Either the bootloader works directly on the
1107 flattened format, or the bootloader has its own internal tree
1108 representation with pointers (similar to the kernel one) and
1109 re-flattens the tree when booting the kernel. The former is a bit
1110 more difficult to edit/modify, the later requires probably a bit
1111 more code to handle the tree structure. Note that the structure
1112 format has been designed so it's relatively easy to "insert"
1113 properties or nodes or delete them by just memmoving things
1114 around. It contains no internal offsets or pointers for this
1117 - An example of code for iterating nodes & retrieving properties
1118 directly from the flattened tree format can be found in the kernel
1119 file drivers/of/fdt.c. Look at the of_scan_flat_dt() function,
1120 its usage in early_init_devtree(), and the corresponding various
1121 early_init_dt_scan_*() callbacks. That code can be re-used in a
1122 GPL bootloader, and as the author of that code, I would be happy
1123 to discuss possible free licensing to any vendor who wishes to
1124 integrate all or part of this code into a non-GPL bootloader.
1125 (reference needed; who is 'I' here? ---gcl Jan 31, 2011)
1129 VI - System-on-a-chip devices and nodes
1130 =======================================
1132 Many companies are now starting to develop system-on-a-chip
1133 processors, where the processor core (CPU) and many peripheral devices
1134 exist on a single piece of silicon. For these SOCs, an SOC node
1135 should be used that defines child nodes for the devices that make
1136 up the SOC. While platforms are not required to use this model in
1137 order to boot the kernel, it is highly encouraged that all SOC
1138 implementations define as complete a flat-device-tree as possible to
1139 describe the devices on the SOC. This will allow for the
1140 genericization of much of the kernel code.
1143 1) Defining child nodes of an SOC
1144 ---------------------------------
1146 Each device that is part of an SOC may have its own node entry inside
1147 the SOC node. For each device that is included in the SOC, the unit
1148 address property represents the address offset for this device's
1149 memory-mapped registers in the parent's address space. The parent's
1150 address space is defined by the "ranges" property in the top-level soc
1151 node. The "reg" property for each node that exists directly under the
1152 SOC node should contain the address mapping from the child address space
1153 to the parent SOC address space and the size of the device's
1154 memory-mapped register file.
1156 For many devices that may exist inside an SOC, there are predefined
1157 specifications for the format of the device tree node. All SOC child
1158 nodes should follow these specifications, except where noted in this
1161 See appendix A for an example partial SOC node definition for the
1165 2) Representing devices without a current OF specification
1166 ----------------------------------------------------------
1168 Currently, there are many devices on SoCs that do not have a standard
1169 representation defined as part of the Open Firmware specifications,
1170 mainly because the boards that contain these SoCs are not currently
1171 booted using Open Firmware. Binding documentation for new devices
1172 should be added to the Documentation/devicetree/bindings directory.
1173 That directory will expand as device tree support is added to more and
1177 VII - Specifying interrupt information for devices
1178 ===================================================
1180 The device tree represents the buses and devices of a hardware
1181 system in a form similar to the physical bus topology of the
1184 In addition, a logical 'interrupt tree' exists which represents the
1185 hierarchy and routing of interrupts in the hardware.
1187 The interrupt tree model is fully described in the
1188 document "Open Firmware Recommended Practice: Interrupt
1189 Mapping Version 0.9". The document is available at:
1190 <http://playground.sun.com/1275/practice>.
1192 1) interrupts property
1193 ----------------------
1195 Devices that generate interrupts to a single interrupt controller
1196 should use the conventional OF representation described in the
1197 OF interrupt mapping documentation.
1199 Each device which generates interrupts must have an 'interrupt'
1200 property. The interrupt property value is an arbitrary number of
1201 of 'interrupt specifier' values which describe the interrupt or
1202 interrupts for the device.
1204 The encoding of an interrupt specifier is determined by the
1205 interrupt domain in which the device is located in the
1206 interrupt tree. The root of an interrupt domain specifies in
1207 its #interrupt-cells property the number of 32-bit cells
1208 required to encode an interrupt specifier. See the OF interrupt
1209 mapping documentation for a detailed description of domains.
1211 For example, the binding for the OpenPIC interrupt controller
1212 specifies an #interrupt-cells value of 2 to encode the interrupt
1213 number and level/sense information. All interrupt children in an
1214 OpenPIC interrupt domain use 2 cells per interrupt in their interrupts
1217 The PCI bus binding specifies a #interrupt-cell value of 1 to encode
1218 which interrupt pin (INTA,INTB,INTC,INTD) is used.
1220 2) interrupt-parent property
1221 ----------------------------
1223 The interrupt-parent property is specified to define an explicit
1224 link between a device node and its interrupt parent in
1225 the interrupt tree. The value of interrupt-parent is the
1226 phandle of the parent node.
1228 If the interrupt-parent property is not defined for a node, its
1229 interrupt parent is assumed to be an ancestor in the node's
1230 _device tree_ hierarchy.
1232 3) OpenPIC Interrupt Controllers
1233 --------------------------------
1235 OpenPIC interrupt controllers require 2 cells to encode
1236 interrupt information. The first cell defines the interrupt
1237 number. The second cell defines the sense and level
1240 Sense and level information should be encoded as follows:
1242 0 = low to high edge sensitive type enabled
1243 1 = active low level sensitive type enabled
1244 2 = active high level sensitive type enabled
1245 3 = high to low edge sensitive type enabled
1247 4) ISA Interrupt Controllers
1248 ----------------------------
1250 ISA PIC interrupt controllers require 2 cells to encode
1251 interrupt information. The first cell defines the interrupt
1252 number. The second cell defines the sense and level
1255 ISA PIC interrupt controllers should adhere to the ISA PIC
1256 encodings listed below:
1258 0 = active low level sensitive type enabled
1259 1 = active high level sensitive type enabled
1260 2 = high to low edge sensitive type enabled
1261 3 = low to high edge sensitive type enabled
1263 VIII - Specifying Device Power Management Information (sleep property)
1264 ===================================================================
1266 Devices on SOCs often have mechanisms for placing devices into low-power
1267 states that are decoupled from the devices' own register blocks. Sometimes,
1268 this information is more complicated than a cell-index property can
1269 reasonably describe. Thus, each device controlled in such a manner
1270 may contain a "sleep" property which describes these connections.
1272 The sleep property consists of one or more sleep resources, each of
1273 which consists of a phandle to a sleep controller, followed by a
1274 controller-specific sleep specifier of zero or more cells.
1276 The semantics of what type of low power modes are possible are defined
1277 by the sleep controller. Some examples of the types of low power modes
1278 that may be supported are:
1280 - Dynamic: The device may be disabled or enabled at any time.
1281 - System Suspend: The device may request to be disabled or remain
1282 awake during system suspend, but will not be disabled until then.
1283 - Permanent: The device is disabled permanently (until the next hard
1286 Some devices may share a clock domain with each other, such that they should
1287 only be suspended when none of the devices are in use. Where reasonable,
1288 such nodes should be placed on a virtual bus, where the bus has the sleep
1289 property. If the clock domain is shared among devices that cannot be
1290 reasonably grouped in this manner, then create a virtual sleep controller
1291 (similar to an interrupt nexus, except that defining a standardized
1292 sleep-map should wait until its necessity is demonstrated).
1294 Appendix A - Sample SOC node for MPC8540
1295 ========================================
1298 #address-cells = <1>;
1300 compatible = "fsl,mpc8540-ccsr", "simple-bus";
1301 device_type = "soc";
1302 ranges = <0x00000000 0xe0000000 0x00100000>
1303 bus-frequency = <0>;
1304 interrupt-parent = <&pic>;
1307 #address-cells = <1>;
1309 device_type = "network";
1311 compatible = "gianfar", "simple-bus";
1312 reg = <0x24000 0x1000>;
1313 local-mac-address = [ 00 E0 0C 00 73 00 ];
1314 interrupts = <29 2 30 2 34 2>;
1315 phy-handle = <&phy0>;
1316 sleep = <&pmc 00000080>;
1320 reg = <0x24520 0x20>;
1321 compatible = "fsl,gianfar-mdio";
1323 phy0: ethernet-phy@0 {
1326 device_type = "ethernet-phy";
1329 phy1: ethernet-phy@1 {
1332 device_type = "ethernet-phy";
1335 phy3: ethernet-phy@3 {
1338 device_type = "ethernet-phy";
1344 device_type = "network";
1346 compatible = "gianfar";
1347 reg = <0x25000 0x1000>;
1348 local-mac-address = [ 00 E0 0C 00 73 01 ];
1349 interrupts = <13 2 14 2 18 2>;
1350 phy-handle = <&phy1>;
1351 sleep = <&pmc 00000040>;
1355 device_type = "network";
1357 compatible = "gianfar";
1358 reg = <0x26000 0x1000>;
1359 local-mac-address = [ 00 E0 0C 00 73 02 ];
1360 interrupts = <41 2>;
1361 phy-handle = <&phy3>;
1362 sleep = <&pmc 00000020>;
1366 #address-cells = <1>;
1368 compatible = "fsl,mpc8540-duart", "simple-bus";
1369 sleep = <&pmc 00000002>;
1373 device_type = "serial";
1374 compatible = "ns16550";
1375 reg = <0x4500 0x100>;
1376 clock-frequency = <0>;
1377 interrupts = <42 2>;
1381 device_type = "serial";
1382 compatible = "ns16550";
1383 reg = <0x4600 0x100>;
1384 clock-frequency = <0>;
1385 interrupts = <42 2>;
1390 interrupt-controller;
1391 #address-cells = <0>;
1392 #interrupt-cells = <2>;
1393 reg = <0x40000 0x40000>;
1394 compatible = "chrp,open-pic";
1395 device_type = "open-pic";
1399 interrupts = <43 2>;
1400 reg = <0x3000 0x100>;
1401 compatible = "fsl-i2c";
1403 sleep = <&pmc 00000004>;
1407 compatible = "fsl,mpc8540-pmc", "fsl,mpc8548-pmc";
1408 reg = <0xe0070 0x20>;