tashaboot/arch/arm64/kernel/exceptions.c, branch maintashaboot multi-stage bootloader frameworkhttps://p10-linux-brads.osuosl.org/tashaboot/atom?h=main2026-10-03T21:37:00Ztashaboot: arm64 bootloader2026-10-03T21:37:00ZBradley Morganbrads@mainlining.org2026-10-03T20:02:29Zurn:sha1:9dbdb15abf8ffb9dbdd972d6bbbcea9a3591e2a3
A small arm64 bootloader. No board code, no device tree porting, the
architecture manual is the whole story: exception vectors in the
fixed 16 slot layout (Table D1-7), ESR_ELx decoded by exception class
(D1-2172), EL entry and eret chains per the programmers model
(D1-2146), cache maintenance by set/way over the CLIDR_EL1 levels,
semihosting for console and file io per DUI 0203, and the A64 boot
protocol from Documentation/arch/arm64/booting.rst.
The loader boots a stock mainline Image end to end on the qemu virt
machine. Boot receipt with 7.3-rc3 (42MB Image):
tashaboot 0.1
loaded 43450368 bytes at 40200000, entry 40200000
jumping
[ 0.000000] Booting Linux on physical CPU 0x0000000000 [0x411fd070]
[ 0.000000] Linux version 7.3.0-rc3
[ 0.000000] Machine model: linux,dummy-virt
[ 0.000000] earlycon: pl11 MMIO32:0x0000000009000000
...
---[ end Kernel panic - not syncing: VFS: Unable to mount root fs ]---
The panic is the expected end state, no root filesystem is handed
over yet.
The boot chain, state per stage, start to payload:
+-----------+-----+--------------+----------------------------------+
| stage | EL | state | work |
+-----------+-----+--------------+----------------------------------+
| firmware | any | MMU maybe on | x0 = dtb, jump in |
+-----------+-----+--------------+----------------------------------+
| tashaboot | 3-2 | | SCR_EL3.NS = 1, eret to EL2 |
+-----------+-----+--------------+----------------------------------+
| | 2 | virt scrub | HCR/CNTHCTL/CPTR/HSTR, CNTFRQ, |
| | | | VBAR_EL2, MMU off, tlbi alle2 |
+-----------+-----+--------------+----------------------------------+
| | 2 | | load Image over semihosting, |
| | | | validate header, place per |
| | | | booting.rst |
+-----------+-----+--------------+----------------------------------+
| | 2 | caches clean | flush dcache, inval icache, |
| | | | args ride x20/x21, regs last |
+-----------+-----+--------------+----------------------------------+
| payload | 2 | fresh start | x0 = dtb, x1-x3 = 0, DAIF |
| | | | masked, br to image entry |
+-----------+-----+--------------+----------------------------------+
Two handoff bugs the kernel caught, both AAPCS clobbers in the final
jump. Cache maintenance was called after the register setup, x0-x18
are caller saved, so tb_flush_dcache_all() wiped the dtb pointer and
the kernel spun in setup_machine_fdt() with an invalid device tree
blob. The flush helpers also clobbered x1 (u-boot's void call
convention left mov x1, x0 in cache.S) which handed the kernel a wild
x0. The arguments ride in x20/x21 across the cache calls now, callee
saved, and the register setup is the last thing before the branch.
What is missing on purpose: no SMP bringup (secondary cores park),
no PSCI, no initrd or root filesystem handoff, single serial
console. Those come next.
Signed-off-by: Bradley Morgan <brads@mainlining.org>