Re: [PATCH v6 00/10] Add support for RaspberryPi RP1 PCI device using a DT overlay

[Herve Codina <herve.codina@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Thu, 13 Feb 2025 16:30:44 +0000
Phil Elwell <phil@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Hi Andrew,
> 
> On Thu, 13 Feb 2025 at 16:27, Andrew Lunn <andrew@xxxxxxx> wrote:
> >
> > On Thu, Feb 13, 2025 at 05:14:35PM +0100, Herve Codina wrote:  
> > > Hi Phil,
> > >
> > > On Thu, 13 Feb 2025 15:18:45 +0000
> > > Phil Elwell <phil@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > >  
> > > > Hi Andrea,
> > > >
> > > > The problem with this approach (loading an overlay from the RP1 PCIe
> > > > driver), and it's one that I have raised with you offline, is that
> > > > (unless anyone can prove otherwise) it becomes impossible to create a
> > > > Pi 5 DTS file which makes use of the RP1's resources. How do you
> > > > declare something as simple as a button wired to an RP1 GPIO, or fan
> > > > connected to a PWM output?  
> >
> > Where is this button or fan? On a pluggable board? Isn't that what
> > overlays are for, and they are stackable. So when you probe the
> > pluggable board via its eeprom etc, you find the overlay and load it?  
> 
> In the Raspberry Pi ecosystem it would be the firmware that applies
> the overlay, and it can't do that if the resources the overlay refers
> to are not yet present in the dtb.

What do you mean by the 'the resources are not yet present in the dtb' ?

Also what you call the 'firmware' is the bootloader ? the kernel ?
Can you tell me who is the 'firmware' what is the mecanisme it uses to
load the overlay.

Best regards,
Hervé


> 
> > Or do you mean a custom board, which has a CPU, RP1 and the button and
> > fan are directly on this custom board? You then want a board DTS which
> > includes all these pieces?  
> 
> That depends on whether you count the Raspberry Pi 5 as a custom board.
>