--- /dev/null
+/*
+ * Copyright 2010-2011 Calxeda, Inc.
+ *
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+
+ */
+
+The 'pxe' commands provide a near subset of the functionality provided by
+the PXELINUX boot loader. This allows U-boot based systems to be controlled
+remotely using the same PXE based techniques that many non U-boot based servers
+use.
+
+Commands
+========
+
+pxe get
+-------
+ syntax: pxe get
+
+ follows PXELINUX's rules for retrieving configuration files from a tftp
+ server, and supports a subset of PXELINUX's config file syntax.
+
+ Environment
+ -----------
+ 'pxe get' requires two environment variables to be set:
+
+ pxefile_addr_r - should be set to a location in RAM large enough to hold
+ pxe files while they're being processed. Up to 16 config files may be
+ held in memory at once. The exact number and size of the files varies with
+ how the system is being used. A typical config file is a few hundred bytes
+ long.
+
+ bootfile,serverip - these two are typically set in the DHCP response
+ handler, and correspond to fields in the DHCP response.
+
+ 'pxe get' optionally supports these two environment variables being set:
+
+ ethaddr - this is the standard MAC address for the ethernet adapter in use.
+ 'pxe get' uses it to look for a configuration file specific to a system's
+ MAC address.
+
+ pxeuuid - this is a UUID in standard form using lower case hexadecimal
+ digits, for example, 550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000. 'pxe get' uses
+ it to look for a configuration file based on the system's UUID.
+
+ File Paths
+ ----------
+ 'pxe get' repeatedly tries to download config files until it either
+ successfully downloads one or runs out of paths to try. The order and
+ contents of paths it tries mirrors exactly that of PXELINUX - you can
+ read in more detail about it at:
+
+ http://syslinux.zytor.com/wiki/index.php/Doc/pxelinux
+
+pxe boot
+--------
+ syntax: pxe boot [pxefile_addr_r]
+
+ Interprets a pxe file stored in memory.
+
+ pxefile_addr_r is an optional argument giving the location of the pxe file.
+ The file must be terminated with a NUL byte.
+
+ Environment
+ -----------
+ There are some environment variables that may need to be set, depending
+ on conditions.
+
+ pxefile_addr_r - if the optional argument pxefile_addr_r is not supplied,
+ an environment variable named pxefile_addr_r must be supplied. This is
+ typically the same value as is used for the 'pxe get' command.
+
+ bootfile - typically set in the DHCP response handler based on the
+ same field in the DHCP respone, this path is used to generate the base
+ directory that all other paths to files retrieved by 'pxe boot' will use.
+ If no bootfile is specified, paths used in pxe files will be used as is.
+
+ serverip - typically set in the DHCP response handler, this is the IP
+ address of the tftp server from which other files will be retrieved.
+
+ kernel_addr_r, initrd_addr_r - locations in RAM at which 'pxe boot' will
+ store the kernel and initrd it retrieves from tftp. These locations will
+ be passed to the bootm command to boot the kernel. These environment
+ variables are required to be set.
+
+ fdt_addr_r - location in RAM at which 'pxe boot' will store the fdt blob it
+ retrieves from tftp. The retrieval is possible if 'fdt' label is defined in
+ pxe file and 'fdt_addr_r' is set. If retrieval is possible, 'fdt_addr_r'
+ will be passed to bootm command to boot the kernel.
+
+ fdt_addr - the location of a fdt blob. 'fdt_addr' will be passed to bootm
+ command if it is set and 'fdt_addr_r' is not passed to bootm command.
+
+pxe file format
+===============
+The pxe file format is nearly a subset of the PXELINUX file format; see
+http://syslinux.zytor.com/wiki/index.php/PXELINUX. It's composed of one line
+commands - global commands, and commands specific to labels. Lines begining
+with # are treated as comments. White space between and at the beginning of
+lines is ignored.
+
+The size of pxe files and the number of labels is only limited by the amount
+of RAM available to U-boot. Memory for labels is dynamically allocated as
+they're parsed, and memory for pxe files is statically allocated, and its
+location is given by the pxefile_addr_r environment variable. The pxe code is
+not aware of the size of the pxefile memory and will outgrow it if pxe files
+are too large.
+
+Supported global commands
+-------------------------
+Unrecognized commands are ignored.
+
+default <label> - the label named here is treated as the default and is
+ the first label 'pxe boot' attempts to boot.
+
+menu title <string> - sets a title for the menu of labels being displayed.
+
+menu include <path> - use tftp to retrieve the pxe file at <path>, which
+ is then immediately parsed as if the start of its
+ contents were the next line in the current file. nesting
+ of include up to 16 files deep is supported.
+
+prompt <flag> - if 1, always prompt the user to enter a label to boot
+ from. if 0, only prompt the user if timeout expires.
+
+timeout <num> - wait for user input for <num>/10 seconds before
+ auto-booting a node.
+
+label <name> - begin a label definition. labels continue until
+ a command not recognized as a label command is seen,
+ or EOF is reached.
+
+Supported label commands
+------------------------
+labels end when a command not recognized as a label command is reached, or EOF.
+
+menu default - set this label as the default label to boot; this is
+ the same behavior as the global default command but
+ specified in a different way
+
+kernel <path> - if this label is chosen, use tftp to retrieve the kernel
+ at <path>. it will be stored at the address indicated in
+ the kernel_addr_r environment variable, and that address
+ will be passed to bootm to boot this kernel.
+
+append <string> - use <string> as the kernel command line when booting this
+ label.
+
+initrd <path> - if this label is chosen, use tftp to retrieve the initrd
+ at <path>. it will be stored at the address indicated in
+ the initrd_addr_r environment variable, and that address
+ will be passed to bootm.
+
+fdt <path> - if this label is chosen, use tftp to retrieve the fdt blob
+ at <path>. it will be stored at the address indicated in
+ the fdt_addr_r environment variable, and that address will
+ be passed to bootm.
+
+localboot <flag> - Run the command defined by "localcmd" in the environment.
+ <flag> is ignored and is only here to match the syntax of
+ PXELINUX config files.
+
+Example
+-------
+Here's a couple of example files to show how this works.
+
+------------/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/menus/linux.list----------
+menu title Linux selections
+
+# This is the default label
+label install
+ menu label Default Install Image
+ kernel kernels/install.bin
+ append console=ttyAMA0,38400 debug earlyprintk
+ initrd initrds/uzInitrdDebInstall
+
+# Just another label
+label linux-2.6.38
+ kernel kernels/linux-2.6.38.bin
+ append root=/dev/sdb1
+
+# The locally installed kernel
+label local
+ menu label Locally installed kernel
+ append root=/dev/sdb1
+ localboot 1
+-------------------------------------------------------------
+
+------------/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default-------------------
+menu include pxelinux.cfg/menus/base.menu
+timeout 500
+
+default linux-2.6.38
+-------------------------------------------------------------
+
+When a pxe client retrieves and boots the default pxe file,
+'pxe boot' will wait for user input for 5 seconds before booting
+the linux-2.6.38 label, which will cause /tftpboot/kernels/linux-2.6.38.bin
+to be downloaded, and boot with the command line "root=/dev/sdb1"
+
+Differences with PXELINUX
+=========================
+The biggest difference between U-boot's pxe and PXELINUX is that since
+U-boot's pxe support is written entirely in C, it can run on any platform
+with network support in U-boot. Here are some other differences between
+PXELINUX and U-boot's pxe support.
+
+- U-boot's pxe does not support the PXELINUX DHCP option codes specified
+ in RFC 5071, but could be extended to do so.
+
+- when U-boot's pxe fails to boot, it will return control to U-boot,
+ allowing another command to run, other U-boot command, instead of resetting
+ the machine like PXELINUX.
+
+- U-boot's pxe doesn't rely on or provide an UNDI/PXE stack in memory, it
+ only uses U-boot.
+
+- U-boot's pxe doesn't provide the full menu implementation that PXELINUX
+ does, only a simple text based menu using the commands described in
+ this README. With PXELINUX, it's possible to have a graphical boot
+ menu, submenus, passwords, etc. U-boot's pxe could be extended to support
+ a more robust menuing system like that of PXELINUX's.
+
+- U-boot's pxe expects U-boot uimg's as kernels. Anything that would work
+ with the 'bootm' command in U-boot could work with the 'pxe boot' command.
+
+- U-boot's pxe only recognizes a single file on the initrd command line. It
+ could be extended to support multiple.
+
+- in U-boot's pxe, the localboot command doesn't necessarily cause a local
+ disk boot - it will do whatever is defined in the 'localcmd' env
+ variable. And since it doesn't support a full UNDI/PXE stack, the
+ type field is ignored.
+
+- the interactive prompt in U-boot's pxe only allows you to choose a label
+ from the menu. If you want to boot something not listed, you can ctrl+c
+ out of 'pxe boot' and use existing U-boot commands to accomplish it.
Code Review / kvmfornfv.git / blobdiff