summaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
path: root/include/semihosting.h
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
authorBradley Morgan <brads@mainlining.org>2026-10-03 20:02:29 +0000
committerBradley Morgan <brads@mainlining.org>2026-10-03 21:37:00 +0000
commit9dbdb15abf8ffb9dbdd972d6bbbcea9a3591e2a3 (patch)
tree0fc03f69c4ca60b3306afc7d3a7c86c1fee8437b /include/semihosting.h
tashaboot: arm64 bootloader
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>
Diffstat (limited to 'include/semihosting.h')
-rw-r--r--include/semihosting.h32
1 files changed, 32 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/include/semihosting.h b/include/semihosting.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..450848e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/include/semihosting.h
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+/* SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0 */
+#ifndef __SEMIHOSTING_H
+#define __SEMIHOSTING_H
+
+#include <sys/types.h>
+
+/*
+ * semihosting file io, backed by the host when qemu runs with
+ * -semihosting. all calls return negative errno style errors so the
+ * boot flow can fall back to whatever the board has without semihosting.
+ */
+
+enum smh_open_mode {
+ MODE_READ = 0x0,
+ MODE_BINARY = 0x1,
+ MODE_PLUS = 0x2,
+ MODE_WRITE = 0x4,
+ MODE_APPEND = 0x8,
+};
+
+long smh_open(const char *fname, enum smh_open_mode mode);
+long smh_read(long fd, void *memp, size_t len);
+long smh_write(long fd, const void *memp, size_t len, size_t *written);
+void smh_write0(const char *str);
+long smh_close(long fd);
+long smh_flen(long fd);
+long smh_seek(long fd, long pos);
+
+/* probe once, a boot without a debugger attached must not trap */
+bool smh_probe(void);
+
+#endif