Device Tree Compiler Manual

===========================

I - "dtc", the device tree compiler

    1) Obtaining Sources

    2) Description

    3) Command Line

    4) Source File

    4.1) Overview

    4.2) Properties

    4.3) Labels and References

II - The DT block format

    1) Header

    2) Device tree generalities

    3) Device tree "structure" block

    4) Device tree "strings" block

III - libfdt

I - "dtc", the device tree compiler

===================================

1) Sources

Source code for the Device Tree Compiler can be found at jdl.com.

The gitweb interface is:

    http://www.jdl.com/git_repos/

The repository is here:

    git://www.jdl.com/software/dtc.git

    http://www.jdl.com/software/dtc.git

Tarballs of the 1.0.0 and latest releases are here:

    http://www.jdl.com/software/dtc-1.0.0.tgz

    http://www.jdl.com/software/dtc-latest.tgz

2) Description

The Device Tree Compiler, dtc, takes as input a device-tree in

a given format and outputs a device-tree in another format.

Typically, the input format is "dts", a human readable source

format, and creates a "dtb", or binary format as output.

The currently supported Input Formats are:

    - "dtb": "blob" format.  A flattened device-tree block with

        header in one binary blob.

    - "dts": "source" format.  A text file containing a "source"

        for a device-tree.

    - "fs" format.  A representation equivalent to the output of

        /proc/device-tree  where nodes are directories and

	properties are files.

The currently supported Output Formats are:

     - "dtb": "blob" format

     - "dts": "source" format

     - "asm": assembly language file.  A file that can be sourced

        by gas to generate a device-tree "blob".  That file can

        then simply be added to your Makefile.  Additionally, the

        assembly file exports some symbols that can be used.

3) Command Line

The syntax of the dtc command line is:

    dtc [options] [<input_filename>]

Options:

    <input_filename>

	The name of the input source file.  If no <input_filename>

	or "-" is given, stdin is used.

    -b <number>

	Set the physical boot cpu.

    -f

	Force.  Try to produce output even if the input tree has errors.

    -h

	Emit a brief usage and help message.

    -I <input_format>

	The source input format, as listed above.

    -o <output_filename>

	The name of the generated output file.  Use "-" for stdout.

    -O <output_format>

	The generated output format, as listed above.

    -q

	Quiet: -q suppress warnings, -qq errors, -qqq all

    -R <number>

	Make space for <number> reserve map entries

	Relevant for dtb and asm output only.

    -S <bytes>

	Ensure the blob at least <bytes> long, adding additional

	space if needed.

    -v

	Print DTC version and exit.

    -V <output_version>

	Generate output conforming to the given <output_version>.

	By default the most recent version is generated.

	Relevant for dtb and asm output only.

The <output_version> defines what version of the "blob" format will be

generated.  Supported versions are 1, 2, 3, 16 and 17.  The default is

always the most recent version and is likely the highest number.

Additionally, dtc performs various sanity checks on the tree.

4) Device Tree Source file

4.1) Overview

Here is a very rough overview of the layout of a DTS source file:

    sourcefile:   list_of_memreserve devicetree

    memreserve:   label 'memreserve' ADDR ADDR ';'

		| label 'memreserve' ADDR '-' ADDR ';'

    devicetree:   '/' nodedef

    nodedef:      '{' list_of_property list_of_subnode '}' ';'

    property:     label PROPNAME '=' propdata ';'

    propdata:     STRING

		| '<' list_of_cells '>'

		| '[' list_of_bytes ']'

    subnode:      label nodename nodedef

That structure forms a hierarchical layout of nodes and properties

rooted at an initial node as:

    / {

    }

Both classic C style and C++ style comments are supported.

Source files may be directly included using the syntax:

    /include/ "filename"

4.2) Properties

Properties are named, possibly labeled, values.  Each value

is one of:

    - A null-teminated C-like string,

    - A numeric value fitting in 32 bits,

    - A list of 32-bit values

    - A byte sequence

Here are some example property definitions:

    - A property containing a 0 terminated string

	property1 = "string_value";

    - A property containing a numerical 32-bit hexadecimal value

	property2 = <1234abcd>;

    - A property containing 3 numerical 32-bit hexadecimal values

	property3 = <12345678 12345678 deadbeef>;

    - A property whose content is an arbitrary array of bytes

	property4 = [0a 0b 0c 0d de ea ad be ef];

Node may contain sub-nodes to obtain a hierarchical structure.

For example:

    - A child node named "childnode" whose unit name is

      "childnode at address".  It it turn has a string property

      called "childprop".

	childnode@addresss {

	    childprop = "hello\n";

	};

By default, all numeric values are hexadecimal.  Alternate bases

may be specified using a prefix "d#" for decimal, "b#" for binary,

and "o#" for octal.

Strings support common escape sequences from C: "\n", "\t", "\r",

"\(octal value)", "\x(hex value)".

4.3) Labels and References

Labels may be applied to nodes or properties.  Labels appear

before a node name, and are referenced using an ampersand: &label.

Absolute node path names are also allowed in node references.

In this exmaple, a node is labled "mpic" and then referenced:

    mpic:  interrupt-controller@40000 {

	...

    };

    ethernet-phy@3 {

	interrupt-parent = <&mpic>;

	...

    };

And used in properties, lables may appear before or after any value:

    randomnode {

	prop: string = data: "mystring\n" data_end: ;

	...

    };

II - The DT block format

========================

This chapter defines the format of the flattened device-tree

passed to the kernel. The actual content of the device tree

are described in the kernel documentation in the file

    linux-2.6/Documentation/powerpc/booting-without-of.txt

You can find example of code manipulating that format within

the kernel.  For example, the file:

	including arch/powerpc/kernel/prom_init.c

will generate a flattened device-tree from the Open Firmware

representation.  Other utilities such as fs2dt, which is part of

the kexec tools, will generate one from a filesystem representation.

Some bootloaders such as U-Boot provide a bit more support by

using the libfdt code.

For booting the kernel, the device tree block has to be in main memory.

It has to be accessible in both real mode and virtual mode with no

mapping other than main memory.  If you are writing a simple flash

bootloader, it should copy the block to RAM before passing it to

the kernel.

1) Header

---------

The kernel is entered with r3 pointing to an area of memory that is

roughly described in include/asm-powerpc/prom.h by the structure

boot_param_header:

    struct boot_param_header {

        u32     magic;                  /* magic word OF_DT_HEADER */

        u32     totalsize;              /* total size of DT block */

        u32     off_dt_struct;          /* offset to structure */

        u32     off_dt_strings;         /* offset to strings */

        u32     off_mem_rsvmap;         /* offset to memory reserve map */

        u32     version;                /* format version */

        u32     last_comp_version;      /* last compatible version */

        /* version 2 fields below */

        u32     boot_cpuid_phys;        /* Which physical CPU id we're

                                           booting on */

        /* version 3 fields below */

        u32     size_dt_strings;        /* size of the strings block */

        /* version 17 fields below */

        u32	size_dt_struct;		/* size of the DT structure block */

    };

Along with the constants:

    /* Definitions used by the flattened device tree */

    #define OF_DT_HEADER            0xd00dfeed      /* 4: version,

						       4: total size */

    #define OF_DT_BEGIN_NODE        0x1             /* Start node: full name

						       */

    #define OF_DT_END_NODE          0x2             /* End node */

    #define OF_DT_PROP              0x3             /* Property: name off,

						       size, content */

    #define OF_DT_END               0x9

All values in this header are in big endian format, the various

fields in this header are defined more precisely below.  All "offset"

values are in bytes from the start of the header; that is from the

value of r3.

   - magic

     This is a magic value that "marks" the beginning of the

     device-tree block header. It contains the value 0xd00dfeed and is

     defined by the constant OF_DT_HEADER

   - totalsize

     This is the total size of the DT block including the header. The

     "DT" block should enclose all data structures defined in this

     chapter (who are pointed to by offsets in this header). That is,

     the device-tree structure, strings, and the memory reserve map.

   - off_dt_struct

     This is an offset from the beginning of the header to the start

     of the "structure" part the device tree. (see 2) device tree)

   - off_dt_strings

     This is an offset from the beginning of the header to the start

     of the "strings" part of the device-tree

   - off_mem_rsvmap

     This is an offset from the beginning of the header to the start

     of the reserved memory map. This map is a list of pairs of 64-

     bit integers. Each pair is a physical address and a size. The

     list is terminated by an entry of size 0. This map provides the

     kernel with a list of physical memory areas that are "reserved"

     and thus not to be used for memory allocations, especially during

     early initialization. The kernel needs to allocate memory during

     boot for things like un-flattening the device-tree, allocating an

     MMU hash table, etc... Those allocations must be done in such a

     way to avoid overriding critical things like, on Open Firmware

     capable machines, the RTAS instance, or on some pSeries, the TCE

     tables used for the iommu. Typically, the reserve map should

     contain _at least_ this DT block itself (header,total_size). If

     you are passing an initrd to the kernel, you should reserve it as

     well. You do not need to reserve the kernel image itself. The map

     should be 64-bit aligned.

   - version

     This is the version of this structure. Version 1 stops

     here. Version 2 adds an additional field boot_cpuid_phys.

     Version 3 adds the size of the strings block, allowing the kernel

     to reallocate it easily at boot and free up the unused flattened

     structure after expansion. Version 16 introduces a new more

     "compact" format for the tree itself that is however not backward

     compatible. Version 17 adds an additional field, size_dt_struct,

     allowing it to be reallocated or moved more easily (this is

     particularly useful for bootloaders which need to make

     adjustments to a device tree based on probed information). You

     should always generate a structure of the highest version defined

     at the time of your implementation. Currently that is version 17,

     unless you explicitly aim at being backward compatible.

   - last_comp_version

     Last compatible version. This indicates down to what version of

     the DT block you are backward compatible. For example, version 2

     is backward compatible with version 1 (that is, a kernel build

     for version 1 will be able to boot with a version 2 format). You

     should put a 1 in this field if you generate a device tree of

     version 1 to 3, or 16 if you generate a tree of version 16 or 17

     using the new unit name format.

   - boot_cpuid_phys

     This field only exist on version 2 headers. It indicate which

     physical CPU ID is calling the kernel entry point. This is used,

     among others, by kexec. If you are on an SMP system, this value

     should match the content of the "reg" property of the CPU node in

     the device-tree corresponding to the CPU calling the kernel entry

     point (see further chapters for more informations on the required

     device-tree contents)

   - size_dt_strings

     This field only exists on version 3 and later headers.  It

     gives the size of the "strings" section of the device tree (which

     starts at the offset given by off_dt_strings).

   - size_dt_struct

     This field only exists on version 17 and later headers.  It gives

     the size of the "structure" section of the device tree (which

     starts at the offset given by off_dt_struct).

So the typical layout of a DT block (though the various parts don't

need to be in that order) looks like this (addresses go from top to

bottom):

             ------------------------------

       r3 -> |  struct boot_param_header  |

             ------------------------------

             |      (alignment gap) (*)   |

             ------------------------------

             |      memory reserve map    |

             ------------------------------

             |      (alignment gap)       |

             ------------------------------

             |                            |

             |    device-tree structure   |

             |                            |

             ------------------------------

             |      (alignment gap)       |

             ------------------------------

             |                            |

             |     device-tree strings    |

             |                            |

      -----> ------------------------------

      |

      |

      --- (r3 + totalsize)

  (*) The alignment gaps are not necessarily present; their presence

      and size are dependent on the various alignment requirements of

      the individual data blocks.

2) Device tree generalities

---------------------------

This device-tree itself is separated in two different blocks, a

structure block and a strings block. Both need to be aligned to a 4

byte boundary.

First, let's quickly describe the device-tree concept before detailing

the storage format. This chapter does _not_ describe the detail of the

required types of nodes & properties for the kernel, this is done

later in chapter III.

The device-tree layout is strongly inherited from the definition of

the Open Firmware IEEE 1275 device-tree. It's basically a tree of

nodes, each node having two or more named properties. A property can

have a value or not.

It is a tree, so each node has one and only one parent except for the

root node who has no parent.

A node has 2 names. The actual node name is generally contained in a

property of type "name" in the node property list whose value is a

zero terminated string and is mandatory for version 1 to 3 of the

format definition (as it is in Open Firmware). Version 16 makes it

optional as it can generate it from the unit name defined below.

There is also a "unit name" that is used to differentiate nodes with

the same name at the same level, it is usually made of the node

names, the "@" sign, and a "unit address", which definition is

specific to the bus type the node sits on.

The unit name doesn't exist as a property per-se but is included in

the device-tree structure. It is typically used to represent "path" in

the device-tree. More details about the actual format of these will be

below.

The kernel powerpc generic code does not make any formal use of the

unit address (though some board support code may do) so the only real

requirement here for the unit address is to ensure uniqueness of

the node unit name at a given level of the tree. Nodes with no notion

of address and no possible sibling of the same name (like /memory or

/cpus) may omit the unit address in the context of this specification,

or use the "@0" default unit address. The unit name is used to define

a node "full path", which is the concatenation of all parent node

unit names separated with "/".

The root node doesn't have a defined name, and isn't required to have

a name property either if you are using version 3 or earlier of the

format. It also has no unit address (no @ symbol followed by a unit

address). The root node unit name is thus an empty string. The full

path to the root node is "/".

Every node which actually represents an actual device (that is, a node

which isn't only a virtual "container" for more nodes, like "/cpus"

is) is also required to have a "device_type" property indicating the

type of node .

Finally, every node that can be referenced from a property in another

node is required to have a "linux,phandle" property. Real open

firmware implementations provide a unique "phandle" value for every

node that the "prom_init()" trampoline code turns into

"linux,phandle" properties. However, this is made optional if the

flattened device tree is used directly. An example of a node

referencing another node via "phandle" is when laying out the

interrupt tree which will be described in a further version of this

document.

This "linux, phandle" property is a 32-bit value that uniquely

identifies a node. You are free to use whatever values or system of

values, internal pointers, or whatever to generate these, the only

requirement is that every node for which you provide that property has

a unique value for it.

Here is an example of a simple device-tree. In this example, an "o"

designates a node followed by the node unit name. Properties are

presented with their name followed by their content. "content"

represents an ASCII string (zero terminated) value, while <content>

represents a 32-bit hexadecimal value. The various nodes in this

example will be discussed in a later chapter. At this point, it is

only meant to give you a idea of what a device-tree looks like. I have

purposefully kept the "name" and "linux,phandle" properties which

aren't necessary in order to give you a better idea of what the tree

looks like in practice.

  / o device-tree

      |- name = "device-tree"

      |- model = "MyBoardName"

      |- compatible = "MyBoardFamilyName"

      |- #address-cells = <2>

      |- #size-cells = <2>

      |- linux,phandle = <0>

      |

      o cpus

      | | - name = "cpus"