Building and flashing images on NXP S32G

The process to build an AutoSD image and flash it onto a S32G board has several steps:

1. Update the board firmware.
   1. Patch the u-boot-nodtb.bin binary.
   2. Patch the secondary boot loader (SBL) binary.
2. Build the AutoSD image.
3. Build the NXP BSP.
   1. Optional: Install the NXP BSP kernel into the AutoSD image.
   2. Install the boot loader into the AutoSD image.
4. Flash the image onto an SD card and boot the system.

Updating your S32G firmware

Before flashing an AutoSD image onto the S32G board, you must update the NXP firmware by installing some patches to the u-boot-nodtb.bin and secondary boot loader (SBL) binaries.

Patching the U-Boot binary

Update the u-boot-nodtb.bin binary and enable the default distro settings.

Prerequisites

• An AArch64 system with internet access
• The make tool
• The patch tool

Procedure

1. Clone the u-boot vendor repository:

   git clone https://github.com/nxp-auto-linux/u-boot
   

2. Change to the u-boot directory:

   cd u-boot
   

3. Create a patch file called config.diff that contains the following content:

   cat <<EOF > config.diff
   diff --git a/configs/s32g399ardb3_defconfig b/configs/s32g399ardb3_defconfig
   
   index 38399e2a6e..dda5fc35e9 100644
   --- a/configs/s32g399ardb3_defconfig
   +++ b/configs/s32g399ardb3_defconfig
   @@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
   CONFIG_ARM=y
   CONFIG_ARCH_S32G3=y
   CONFIG_SD_BOOT=y
   +CONFIG_DISTRO_DEFAULTS=y
   EOF
   

4. Apply the patch:

   patch -p1 < config.diff
   

   Note

   If the patch fails due to merge conflicts, then make the changes manually and build the file. Lines marked with + are additions; lines marked with - are deletions.

5. Build the u-boot-nodtb.bin binary:

   make s32g399ardb3_defconfig
   make -j$(nproc)
   

Next steps Now that the u-boot-nodtb.bin binary is updated, you can patch the SBL binary.

Patching the secondary boot loader binary

After you patch the u-boot-nodtb.bin binary, you must also patch the secondary boot loader (SBL) binary fip.s32. This patch updates the values of the TF_LDFLAGS and FIP_ALIGN parameters. The updated fip.s32 binary is used during the Installing the NXP BSP into the AutoSD image procedure.

Prerequisites

• An AArch64 system with internet access
• The make tool
• The patch tool

• An updated u-boot-nodtb.bin file

  For more information, see Patching the u-boot-nodtb.bin binary

Procedure

1. Clone the arm-trusted-firmware vendor repository:

   git clone https://github.com/nxp-auto-linux/arm-trusted-firmware.git
   

2. Change to the arm-trusted-firmware directory:

   cd arm-trusted-firmware
   

3. Create a patch file called atf.diff that contains the following content:

   cat << EOF > atf.diff
   diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
   
   index e7194a73f..2c9aa6f68 100644
   --- a/Makefile
   +++ b/Makefile
   @@ -408,7 +408,7 @@ TF_LDFLAGS += $(TF_LDFLAGS_$(ARCH))
   # LD = gcc (used when GCC LTO is enabled)
   else ifneq ($(findstring gcc,$(notdir $(LD))),)
   # Pass ld options with Wl or Xlinker switches
   -TF_LDFLAGS += -Wl,--fatal-warnings -O1
   +TF_LDFLAGS += -O1
   TF_LDFLAGS += -Wl,--gc-sections
   ifeq ($(ENABLE_LTO),1)
   ifeq (${ARCH},aarch64)
   @@ -425,7 +425,7 @@ TF_LDFLAGS += $(subst --,-Xlinker --,$(TF_LDFLAGS_$(ARCH)))
   
   # LD = gcc-ld (ld) or llvm-ld (ld.lld) or other
   else
   -TF_LDFLAGS += --fatal-warnings -O1
   +TF_LDFLAGS += -O1
   TF_LDFLAGS += --gc-sections
   # ld.lld doesn't recognize the errata flags,
   # therefore don't add those in that case
   diff --git a/plat/nxp/s32/s32_common.mk b/plat/nxp/s32/s32_common.mk
   index 155670bdb..f862ed95a 100644
   --- a/plat/nxp/s32/s32_common.mk
   +++ b/plat/nxp/s32/s32_common.mk
   @@ -462,7 +462,7 @@ ${MKIMAGE_FIP_CONF_FILE}: ${BL2_W_DTB_SIZE_FILE} ${FIP_HDR_SIZE_FILE} add_to_fip
   T_SIZE=0x$$($(call hexbc, $${BL2_W_DTB_SIZE}, +, $${HDR_SIZE})); \
   echo "DATA_FILE SIZE $$T_SIZE" >> $@
   
   -FIP_ALIGN := 16
   +FIP_ALIGN := 64
   all: add_to_fip
   add_to_fip: fip ${BL2_W_DTB}
   $(eval FIP_MAXIMUM_SIZE_10 = $(shell printf "%d\n" ${FIP_MAXIMUM_SIZE}))
   EOF
   

4. Apply the patch:

   patch -p1 < atf.diff
   

   Note

   If the patch fails due to merge conflicts, make the changes manually and then build the file. Lines marked with + are additions; lines marked with - are deletions.

5. Build the SBL binary:

   make ARCH=aarch64 PLAT=s32g399ardb3 \
        BL33=<path-to-uboot>/u-boot-nodtb.bin
   

Next steps Now that the fip.s32 binary is updated, you can build the AutoSD image.

Building and flashing an AutoSD image on S32G

To make an image to flash onto the S32G you must complete the following steps:

1. Build the AutoSD image
2. Install the secondary boot loader and optionally the NXP BSP kernel into the image

You can then flash this image onto an SD card, insert the SD card into the S32G, and boot the system.

Building the AutoSD image

Follow these instructions to build the AutoSD image for your S32G board.

Prerequisites

• An AArch64 system with internet access

Procedure

1. Clone the sample-images repository:

   git clone --recursive https://gitlab.com/CentOS/automotive/sample-images.git
   

   Note

   Ensure that you include the --recursive option so that the clone operation includes the submodules within the repository.

2. Change to the automotive-image-builder directory:

   cd automotive-image-builder
   

3. Build the image using your image name as the target:

   automotive-image-builder --container build --distro autosd --mode package --target s32g_vnp_rdb3 --export image ../images/developer.mpp.yml
   autosd-s32g_vnp_rdb3-developer-regular.img
   

Next steps Now that you have built the autosd-s32g_vnp_rdb3-developer-regular.img image, install the NXP kernel into it.

Installing the NXP BSP into the AutoSD image

At the time of publication, the AutoSD image is not fully supported on the S32G board without modifications. To create a bootable AutoSD image for the S32G board, you must manually install the secondary boot loader (SBL) binary into the AutoSD image. In addition, the included AutoSD kernel based on CentOS Stream 9 has only partial support and not all devices and features work. You can optionally replace it with the NXP BSP kernel.

Prerequisites

• An autosd-s32g_vnp_rdb3-developer-regular.img image; for more information, see Building the AutoSD image
• An updated u-boot-nodtb.bin file; for more information, see Patching the u-boot-nodtb.bin binary
• An updated fip.s32 file; for more information, see Patching the secondary boot loader binary

Procedure

1. Optional: Build the NXP vendor kernel:

   git clone https://github.com/nxp-auto-linux/linux.git
   cd linux
   make s32cc_defconfig
   # This command is required to boot from AutoSD default boot manager
   
   scripts/config -e CONFIG_EFI
   make -j$(nproc)
   

2. Set the helper environment variables:

   IMAGE=../autosd-s32g_vnp_rdb3-developer-regular.img
   image=$(basename $IMAGE)
   loopdev="$(losetup --show -fP $IMAGE)"
   kernelversion="$(cat include/config/kernel.release)"
   

3. Create a temporary directory and mount the third and fourth partitions of the AutoSD image as block devices:

   mkdir tmpdir
   sudo mount ${loopdev}p4 ./tmpdir/
   sudo mount ${loopdev}p3 ./tmpdir/boot/
   

4. Optional: Build the NXP kernel:

   sudo make INSTALL_MOD_PATH=./tmpdir modules_install
   sudo make INSTALL_DTBS_PATH=./tmpdir/boot/dtb-${kernelversion} dtbs_install
   

5. Optional: Copy the NXP kernel to the AutoSD image that you mounted in ./tmpdir:

   sudo cp arch/arm64/boot/Image ./tmpdir/boot/
   sudo cp System.map ./tmpdir/boot/
   

6. Modify the boot loader:

   rm ./tmpdir/boot/loader/*
   cat << EOF | sudo tee -a ./tmpdir/boot/loader/ffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff-${kernelversion}.aarch64.conf
   title Automotive Stream Distribution (${kernelversion}.aarch64) 9
   version ${kernelversion}.aarch64
   linux /Image-${kernelversion}
   devicetree /dtb-${kernelversion}/freescale/s32g399a-rdb3.dtb
   options root=/dev/mmcblk0p4 rw loglevel=4 efi=noruntime acpi=off console=ttyLF0,115200 module.sig_enforce=1 systemd.show_status=auto
   libahci.ignore_sss=1 slub_debug=FPZ fsck.mode=skip rcupdate.rcu_normal_after_boot=0 rcupdate.rcu_expedited=1
   grub_users $grub_users
   grub_arg --unrestricted
   grub_class autosd
   EOF
   

7. Unmount the filesystem and detach the loop device:

   sudo umount ./tmpdir/boot
   sudo umount ./tmpdir
   losetup -D ${loopdev}
   

8. Install the SBL binary, fip.s32, into the AutoSD image:

   sudo dd if=fip.s32 of=autosd-s32g_vnp_rdb3-developer-regular.img \
       skip=512 seek=512 iflag=skip_bytes oflag=seek_bytes \
       conv=fsync,notrunc
   

Next steps Now that you have installed the SBL binary and optionally the NXP BSP kernel into the AutoSD image, you can flash the image onto the S32G board.

Flashing the AutoSD image onto the S32G board

After you customize the AutoSD image and install the NXP kernel and boot loader into the image, you can flash the image onto the S32G board.

Prerequisites

• An SD card
• An S32G board
• An autosd-s32g_vnp_rdb3-developer-regular.img image

Procedure

1. Flash the image onto an SD card, replacing _</dev/sdX>_ with your block device:

   sudo dd if=autosd-s32g_vnp_rdb3-developer-regular.img of={_</dev/sdX>_} \
           status=progress conv=fsync
   

2. Plug in the SD card and start the system.

   Note

   Flashed u-boot supports EFI boot, so the system should boot without any user interaction.

3. To see the output, log in to the serial port using default credentials:

   Automotive Stream Distribution 9
   Kernel 5.15.129-rt67 on an aarch64
   
   localhost login: root
   Password: password
   [root@localhost ~]#