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83d290c5 1SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+
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2/*
3 * Copyright 2010-2011 Calxeda, Inc.
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4 */
5
6The 'pxe' commands provide a near subset of the functionality provided by
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7the PXELINUX boot loader. This allows U-Boot based systems to be controlled
8remotely using the same PXE based techniques that many non U-Boot based servers
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9use.
10
11Commands
12========
13
14pxe get
15-------
16 syntax: pxe get
17
18 follows PXELINUX's rules for retrieving configuration files from a tftp
19 server, and supports a subset of PXELINUX's config file syntax.
20
21 Environment
22 -----------
23 'pxe get' requires two environment variables to be set:
24
25 pxefile_addr_r - should be set to a location in RAM large enough to hold
26 pxe files while they're being processed. Up to 16 config files may be
27 held in memory at once. The exact number and size of the files varies with
28 how the system is being used. A typical config file is a few hundred bytes
29 long.
30
31 bootfile,serverip - these two are typically set in the DHCP response
32 handler, and correspond to fields in the DHCP response.
33
34 'pxe get' optionally supports these two environment variables being set:
35
36 ethaddr - this is the standard MAC address for the ethernet adapter in use.
37 'pxe get' uses it to look for a configuration file specific to a system's
38 MAC address.
39
40 pxeuuid - this is a UUID in standard form using lower case hexadecimal
41 digits, for example, 550e8400-e29b-41d4-a716-446655440000. 'pxe get' uses
42 it to look for a configuration file based on the system's UUID.
43
44 File Paths
45 ----------
46 'pxe get' repeatedly tries to download config files until it either
47 successfully downloads one or runs out of paths to try. The order and
48 contents of paths it tries mirrors exactly that of PXELINUX - you can
49 read in more detail about it at:
50
51 http://syslinux.zytor.com/wiki/index.php/Doc/pxelinux
52
53pxe boot
54--------
55 syntax: pxe boot [pxefile_addr_r]
56
57 Interprets a pxe file stored in memory.
58
59 pxefile_addr_r is an optional argument giving the location of the pxe file.
60 The file must be terminated with a NUL byte.
61
62 Environment
63 -----------
64 There are some environment variables that may need to be set, depending
65 on conditions.
66
67 pxefile_addr_r - if the optional argument pxefile_addr_r is not supplied,
68 an environment variable named pxefile_addr_r must be supplied. This is
69 typically the same value as is used for the 'pxe get' command.
70
71 bootfile - typically set in the DHCP response handler based on the
72 same field in the DHCP respone, this path is used to generate the base
73 directory that all other paths to files retrieved by 'pxe boot' will use.
74 If no bootfile is specified, paths used in pxe files will be used as is.
75
76 serverip - typically set in the DHCP response handler, this is the IP
77 address of the tftp server from which other files will be retrieved.
78
79 kernel_addr_r, initrd_addr_r - locations in RAM at which 'pxe boot' will
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80 store the kernel(or FIT image) and initrd it retrieves from tftp. These
81 locations will be passed to the bootm command to boot the kernel. These
82 environment variables are required to be set.
06283a64 83
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84 fdt_addr_r - location in RAM at which 'pxe boot' will store the fdt blob it
85 retrieves from tftp. The retrieval is possible if 'fdt' label is defined in
86 pxe file and 'fdt_addr_r' is set. If retrieval is possible, 'fdt_addr_r'
87 will be passed to bootm command to boot the kernel.
88
89 fdt_addr - the location of a fdt blob. 'fdt_addr' will be passed to bootm
90 command if it is set and 'fdt_addr_r' is not passed to bootm command.
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91
92pxe file format
93===============
94The pxe file format is nearly a subset of the PXELINUX file format; see
95http://syslinux.zytor.com/wiki/index.php/PXELINUX. It's composed of one line
96commands - global commands, and commands specific to labels. Lines begining
97with # are treated as comments. White space between and at the beginning of
98lines is ignored.
99
100The size of pxe files and the number of labels is only limited by the amount
a187559e 101of RAM available to U-Boot. Memory for labels is dynamically allocated as
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102they're parsed, and memory for pxe files is statically allocated, and its
103location is given by the pxefile_addr_r environment variable. The pxe code is
104not aware of the size of the pxefile memory and will outgrow it if pxe files
105are too large.
106
107Supported global commands
108-------------------------
109Unrecognized commands are ignored.
110
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111default <label> - the label named here is treated as the default and is
112 the first label 'pxe boot' attempts to boot.
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113
114menu title <string> - sets a title for the menu of labels being displayed.
115
116menu include <path> - use tftp to retrieve the pxe file at <path>, which
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117 is then immediately parsed as if the start of its
118 contents were the next line in the current file. nesting
119 of include up to 16 files deep is supported.
06283a64 120
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121prompt <flag> - if 1, always prompt the user to enter a label to boot
122 from. if 0, only prompt the user if timeout expires.
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123
124timeout <num> - wait for user input for <num>/10 seconds before
6b62b9a3 125 auto-booting a node.
06283a64 126
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127label <name> - begin a label definition. labels continue until
128 a command not recognized as a label command is seen,
129 or EOF is reached.
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130
131Supported label commands
132------------------------
133labels end when a command not recognized as a label command is reached, or EOF.
134
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135menu default - set this label as the default label to boot; this is
136 the same behavior as the global default command but
137 specified in a different way
06283a64 138
6b62b9a3 139kernel <path> - if this label is chosen, use tftp to retrieve the kernel
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140 (or FIT image) at <path>. it will be stored at the address
141 indicated in the kernel_addr_r environment variable, and
142 that address will be passed to bootm to boot this kernel.
06283a64 143
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144append <string> - use <string> as the kernel command line when booting this
145 label.
06283a64 146
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147initrd <path> - if this label is chosen, use tftp to retrieve the initrd
148 at <path>. it will be stored at the address indicated in
149 the initrd_addr_r environment variable, and that address
150 will be passed to bootm.
06283a64 151
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152fdt <path> - if this label is chosen, use tftp to retrieve the fdt blob
153 at <path>. it will be stored at the address indicated in
154 the fdt_addr_r environment variable, and that address will
155 be passed to bootm.
156
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157fdtdir <path> - if this label is chosen, use tftp to retrieve a fdt blob
158 relative to <path>. If the fdtfile environment variable
159 is set, <path>/<fdtfile> is retrieved. Otherwise, the
160 filename is generated from the soc and board environment
161 variables, i.e. <path>/<soc>-<board>.dtb is retrieved.
162 If the fdt command is specified, fdtdir is ignored.
163
06283a64 164localboot <flag> - Run the command defined by "localcmd" in the environment.
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165 <flag> is ignored and is only here to match the syntax of
166 PXELINUX config files.
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167
168Example
169-------
170Here's a couple of example files to show how this works.
171
695c1329 172------------/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/menus/base.menu-----------
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173menu title Linux selections
174
175# This is the default label
176label install
177 menu label Default Install Image
178 kernel kernels/install.bin
179 append console=ttyAMA0,38400 debug earlyprintk
180 initrd initrds/uzInitrdDebInstall
181
182# Just another label
183label linux-2.6.38
184 kernel kernels/linux-2.6.38.bin
185 append root=/dev/sdb1
186
187# The locally installed kernel
188label local
189 menu label Locally installed kernel
190 append root=/dev/sdb1
191 localboot 1
192-------------------------------------------------------------
193
194------------/tftpboot/pxelinux.cfg/default-------------------
195menu include pxelinux.cfg/menus/base.menu
196timeout 500
197
198default linux-2.6.38
199-------------------------------------------------------------
200
201When a pxe client retrieves and boots the default pxe file,
202'pxe boot' will wait for user input for 5 seconds before booting
203the linux-2.6.38 label, which will cause /tftpboot/kernels/linux-2.6.38.bin
204to be downloaded, and boot with the command line "root=/dev/sdb1"
205
206Differences with PXELINUX
207=========================
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208The biggest difference between U-Boot's pxe and PXELINUX is that since
209U-Boot's pxe support is written entirely in C, it can run on any platform
210with network support in U-Boot. Here are some other differences between
211PXELINUX and U-Boot's pxe support.
06283a64 212
a187559e 213- U-Boot's pxe does not support the PXELINUX DHCP option codes specified
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214 in RFC 5071, but could be extended to do so.
215
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216- when U-Boot's pxe fails to boot, it will return control to U-Boot,
217 allowing another command to run, other U-Boot command, instead of resetting
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218 the machine like PXELINUX.
219
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220- U-Boot's pxe doesn't rely on or provide an UNDI/PXE stack in memory, it
221 only uses U-Boot.
06283a64 222
a187559e 223- U-Boot's pxe doesn't provide the full menu implementation that PXELINUX
06283a64 224 does, only a simple text based menu using the commands described in
6b62b9a3 225 this README. With PXELINUX, it's possible to have a graphical boot
a187559e 226 menu, submenus, passwords, etc. U-Boot's pxe could be extended to support
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227 a more robust menuing system like that of PXELINUX's.
228
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229- U-Boot's pxe expects U-Boot uimg's as kernels. Anything that would work
230 with the 'bootm' command in U-Boot could work with the 'pxe boot' command.
06283a64 231
a187559e 232- U-Boot's pxe only recognizes a single file on the initrd command line. It
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233 could be extended to support multiple.
234
a187559e 235- in U-Boot's pxe, the localboot command doesn't necessarily cause a local
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236 disk boot - it will do whatever is defined in the 'localcmd' env
237 variable. And since it doesn't support a full UNDI/PXE stack, the
238 type field is ignored.
239
a187559e 240- the interactive prompt in U-Boot's pxe only allows you to choose a label
06283a64 241 from the menu. If you want to boot something not listed, you can ctrl+c
a187559e 242 out of 'pxe boot' and use existing U-Boot commands to accomplish it.