- Note
- To see the exact sequence of steps in which applications and secondary bootloader (SBL) are converted from compiler generated .out files to boot images, see the makefile
makefile_ccs_bootimage_gen that is included in every example and secondary bootloader (SBL) CCS project.
-
If you are using makefile based build, then see the file named
makefile in the example folder.
Introduction
This section describes the various tools that are used to create boot images for all the SDK applications
Important files and folders
| Folder/Files | Description |
| ${SDK_INSTALL_PATH}/tools/boot/ |
| multicoreImageGen/ | Tool to combine multiple RPRC into a single binary |
| out2rprc/ | Tool to convert compiler generated ELF .out for a CPU to a compact and loadable binary representation, called RPRC. |
| sbl_prebuilt/ | Pre-built secondary bootloader (SBL) images and flash configuration files for different supported EVMs, see also Flashing Tools |
| signing/ | Security signing scripts need to create boot images that can be booted by ROM bootloader (RBL)
|
| uart_bootloader.py | Python script used to send the SBL and appimage binaries over UART using XMODEM protocol in UART boot mode |
| uart_uniflash.py | Python script used to flash SBL and applications to EVM flash using UART. See Flashing Tools for more details.
|
| genimage.py | Python script used to generate multicore elf image from individual core elf images.
|
- Note
- RPRC tools (Out2RPRC and Multi-core Image Gen) would be deprecated from SDK 11.00 release onwards. MCELF would be the default application format going forward.
Out2RPRC
- This tool converts the application executable (.out) into custom TI RPRC (.rprc) image - an image loadable by the secondary bootloader (SBL).
- This tool strips out the initialized sections from the executable file (*.out) and places them in a compact format that the SBL can understand.
- The output RPRC file is typically much smaller than the original executable (*.out) file.
- The RPRC files are intermediate files in a format that is consumed by
MulticoreImageGen tool that generates the final binary that is flashed (*.appimage)
- The RPRC file format contains header to various sections in the executable like section run address, size and a overall header which mentions the number of sections and the start offset to the first section.
- The RPRC magic word is
0x43525052 - which is ASCII equivalent for RPRC
- Shown below is the file header and section format for RPRC files.
RPRC File Format
- Given below are the structs used in the bootloader library to parse an RPRC image
typedef struct Bootloader_RprcFileHeader_s
{
uint32_t magic;
uint32_t entry;
uint32_t rsvdAddr;
uint32_t sectionCount;
uint32_t version;
} Bootloader_RprcFileHeader;
typedef struct Bootloader_RprcSectionHeader_s
{
uint32_t addr;
uint32_t rsvdAddr;
uint32_t size;
uint32_t rsvdCrc;
uint32_t rsvd;
} Bootloader_RprcSectionHeader;
- This tool is provided as a minified JS script. To convert the application executable into RPRC image file, it can be used as
cd ${SDK_INSTALL_PATH}/tools/boot/out2rprc
${NODE} elf2rprc.js {input application executable file (.out)}
- RPRC mandates that the sections in the application image should be 8-byte aligned. Make sure that this is taken care in the linker.cmd file. Sample:
GROUP {
.text.hwi: palign(8)
.text.cache: palign(8)
.text.mpu: palign(8)
.text.boot: palign(8)
.text:abort: palign(8) /* this helps in loading symbols when using XIP mode */
} > OCRAM
Multi-core Image Gen
- This tool converts the RPRC files created for each CPU into a single combined multicore application image that can be booted by the secondary bootloader (SBL)
- Shown below is the file format for multicore image files.
Multi-core Image File Format
- Given below are the structs used in the bootloader library for parsing multicore images:
typedef struct Bootloader_MetaHeaderStart_s
{
uint32_t magicStr;
uint32_t numFiles;
uint32_t devId;
uint32_t rsvd;
} Bootloader_MetaHeaderStart;
typedef struct Bootloader_MetaHeaderCore_s
{
uint32_t coreId;
uint32_t imageOffset;
} Bootloader_MetaHeaderCore;
typedef struct Bootloader_MetaHeaderEnd_s
{
uint32_t rsvd;
uint32_t magicStringEnd;
} Bootloader_MetaHeaderEnd;
- The number of core meta headers present is equal to the number of cores included.
- The meta header magic word is
0x5254534D - which is ASCII equivalent for MSTR
- In Windows or Linux, use the following command to convert RPRC images into a multicore
.appimage file cd ${SDK_INSTALL_PATH}/tools/boot/multicoreImageGen
${NODE} multicoreImageGen.js --devID {DEV_ID} --out {Output image file (.appimage)} {core 1 rprc file}@{core 1 id} [ {core n rprc file}@{core n id} ... ]
- In case of AM263X,
DEV_ID is 55.
- The various core ID to be used are as below.
| CORE | CORE ID |
| r5fss0-0 | 0 |
| r5fss0-1 | 1 |
| r5fss1-0 | 2 |
| r5fss1-1 | 3 |
MCELF Image Gen
- This tool takes individual core ELF files as input and combines their segments to create a single ELF file.
- Shown below is the file format for an mcelf image file and its metacontent as seen by
readelf
MCELF Image File Format
- Segment data from each input ELF file is extracted and appended together to form a single list of segments.
- The program header table fields are then re-calculated and the header table is regenerated using information from this new segment list.
- Once that is done, from the updated program header, the ELF header is regenerated.
- The first segment is the note segment. It can be customized to store information according to your application. By default the note segment contains vendor information, segment to core mapping and entry points.
- The segment sizes can be manipulated using appropriate arguments.
| Argument | Description |
--core-img | Path to individual binaries of each core. It is a mandatory argument. Input is given in this format: --core-img=0:<core0_binary.out> --core-img=1:<core1_binary.out> |
--output | The output file name. It is a mandatory argument. --output=<file_name>.mcelf |
--merge-segments | Enable merging segments based on a tolerance limit. Default value is false. |
--tolerance-limit | The maximum difference (in bytes) between the end address of previous segment and start address of current segment for merging the segments. Default value is zero. |
--ignore-context | Enable merging of segments that are of different cores. Default value is false. |
--xip | XIP section's start and end address seperated by a colon. It creates a new file <filename>.mcelf_xip. Default value is 'none' (XIP is disabled). To enable XIP creation: --xip=0x60100000:0x60200000 |
--max_segment_size | Maximum allowed size of a loadable segment. This feature can only be used with merge_segments disabled. Default value is 8192 bytes. |
--xlat | SOC specific Address Translation. (Under development, reserved for future use) |
--sso | Shared static objects. (Under development, reserved for future use) |
- The input for arguments 3-7 are defined in {MCU_SDK_PATH}/devconfig/devconfig.mak file.
- Given below are the structs used in the bootloader library to parse a 32 bit MCELF binary
#define E_IDENT 16
typedef struct Bootloader_ELFH32_s
{
uint8_t e_ident[E_IDENT];
uint16_t e_type;
uint16_t e_machine;
uint32_t e_version;
uint32_t e_entry;
uint32_t e_phoff;
uint32_t e_shoff;
uint32_t e_flags;
uint16_t e_ehsize;
uint16_t e_phentsize;
uint16_t e_phnum;
uint16_t e_shentsize;
uint16_t e_shnum;
uint16_t e_shstrndx;
} Bootloader_ELFH32;
typedef struct Bootloader_ELFPH32_s
{
uint32_t type;
uint32_t offset;
uint32_t vaddr;
uint32_t paddr;
uint32_t filesz;
uint32_t memsz;
uint32_t align;
} Bootloader_ELFPH32;
typedef struct Bootloader_ELFNote_s
{
uint32_t namesz;
uint32_t descsz;
uint32_t type;
} Bootloader_ELFNote;
- Use the following command to invoke this script to generate a basic
.mcelf image from input .out files without any segment manipulations
$ cd tools/boot/multicore-elf
$ pip install -r requirements.txt
$ {PYTHON} genimage.py --core-img={CORE_0_ID}:{core0_app.out} --core-img={CORE_1_ID}:{core1_app.out} --core-img={CORE_2_ID}:{core2_app.out} --core-img={CORE_3_ID}:{core3_app.out} --output={application.mcelf}
- The various core ID to be used are as below.
| CORE | CORE ID |
| r5fss0-0 | 0 |
| r5fss0-1 | 1 |
| r5fss1-0 | 2 |
| r5fss1-1 | 3 |
UART Bootloader Python Script
- This script is used in UART boot mode for sending the SBL and appimage binaries to the EVM via UART using XMODEM protocol
- Make sure that python3 and its dependent modules are installed in the host machine as mentioned in Python3
- Booting via UART is slow, but is useful if application loading via CCS or OSPI boot is not an option
- Make sure the UART port used for terminal is identified as mentioned in Setup UART Terminal
- Make sure you have the EVM power cable and UART cable connected as shown in Cable Connections
- To boot applications using this script, POWER OFF the EVM
- Switch to UART BOOT MODE.
- POWER ON the EVM
- To confirm that the board is in UART boot mode, open the UART terminal and confirm that you see the character 'C' getting printed on the console every 2-3 seconds.
- Now close the terminal. This is important as the script won't be able to function properly if the UART terminal is open.
- Open a command prompt and run the below command to send the SBL and application binary to the EVM
cd ${SDK_INSTALL_PATH}/tools/boot
python uart_bootloader.py -p COM<x> --bootloader=sbl_prebuilt/{board}/sbl_uart.release.tiimage --file=< path to multicore appimage of application binary >
- When you execute this, the script first sends the uart bootloader, and then the multicore appimage
- After the multicore appimage is successfully parsed, the uart bootloader sends an acknowledgment to the script and waits for 5 seconds before running the application binary
- Upon receiving the ack, the script will exit successfully
- Connect to the UART terminal within 5 seconds to see logs from the application
- Below are the logs of the script after all the files have been sent
Sending the UART bootloader sbl_prebuilt/{board}/sbl_uart.release.tiimage ...
Sent bootloader sbl_prebuilt/{board}/sbl_uart.release.tiimage of size 243975 bytes in 23.94s.
Sending the application ../../examples/drivers/udma/udma_memcpy_polling/{board}/r5fss0-0_nortos/ti-arm-clang/udma_memcpy_polling.release.appimage ...
Sent application ../../examples/drivers/udma/udma_memcpy_polling/{board}/r5fss0-0_nortos/ti-arm-clang/udma_memcpy_polling.release.appimage of size 99580 bytes in 11.74s.
[STATUS] Application load SUCCESS !!!
Connect to UART in 2 seconds to see logs from UART !!!
SoC ID parser Python Script
- Boot ROM reports SoC ID on UART console of the device when UART boot mode is selected. It reports on both GP and HS devices and it provides insights into device configuration which would be helpful for debugs.
- uart_boot_socid.py is a python3 based parser to convert the hexadecimal numbers reported by ROM to human readable text, below are the steps involved to use this parser. This will be helpful in debugging the device boot issue. This will also help to see important information about device like device type, prime/non-prime, key count, key revision, MPK hash etc.
- Make sure python3 is installed as mentioned in Python3
- Steps to use the parser:
- Copy the soc id reported in UART console
- pass the copied id to the script either as a plain string or saving it into a file
- execute the script
$python uart_boot_socid.py -d am64x --string=<copied soc id>
or
$python uart_boot_socid.py -d am64x --file=soc_id.txt
- Example Output:
-----------------------
SoC ID Header Info:
-----------------------
NumBlocks : 2
-----------------------
SoC ID Public ROM Info:
-----------------------
SubBlockId : 1
SubBlockSize : 26
DeviceName : am64x
DeviceType : HSSE
DMSC ROM Version : [0, 2, 0, 0]
R5 ROM Version : [0, 2, 0, 0]
-----------------------
SoC ID Secure ROM Info:
-----------------------
Sec SubBlockId : 2
Sec SubBlockSize : 166
Sec Prime : 0
Sec Key Revision : 1
Sec Key Count : 1
Sec TI MPK Hash : b018658ad99dc903c8c9bfb27b12751099920a042ad1dfea7b7ba57369f15546de285edde6a7b39a8bdc40a27b237f8fb1e57f245e80b929c1e28b024aa2ecc6
Sec Cust MPK Hash : 1f6002b07cd9b0b7c47d9ca8d1aae57b8e8784a12f636b2b760d7d98a18f189760dfd0f23e2b0cb10ec7edc7c6edac3d9bdfefe0eddc3fff7fe9ad875195527d
Sec Unique ID : 01f22176afca3a82692ce53b2738b8c982f7538602871e0bdb7dc2f7668d04b2
CAN Bootloader Python Script
- This script is used in QSPI boot mode for sending the appimage binaries to the EVM via CAN, after flashing the SBL CAN. Refer Basic steps to flash files for flashing.
- Make sure that python3 and its dependent modules are installed in the host machine as mentioned in Python3
- Make sure the UART port used for terminal is identified as mentioned in Setup UART Terminal
- Make sure you have the EVM power cable and CAN cable connected as shown in SBL CAN
- To boot applications using this script, POWER OFF the EVM
- Switch to QSPI BOOT MODE
- POWER ON the EVM
- Open a command prompt and run the below command to send the application binary to the EVM
cd ${SDK_INSTALL_PATH}/tools/boot
python can_bootloader.py --file=< path to multicore appimage of application binary >
- When you execute this, the script first sends the multicore appimage to the EVM
- After the multicore appimage is successfully parsed, the CAN bootloader sends an acknowledgment to the script
- Upon receiving the ack, the script will exit successfully
- Connect to the UART terminal to see logs from the application
- Below are the logs of the script after all the files have been sent
Sending the application ../../examples/drivers/udma/udma_memcpy_polling/{board}/r5fss0-0_nortos/ti-arm-clang/udma_memcpy_polling.release.appimage ...
Sent application ../../examples/drivers/udma/udma_memcpy_polling/{board}/r5fss0-0_nortos/ti-arm-clang/udma_memcpy_polling.release.appimage of size 99580 bytes in 11.74s.
[STATUS] BOOTLOADER_CAN_STATUS_LOAD_SUCCESS!!!
Connect to UART to see logs from UART !!!
1.8.20