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diff --git a/doc/usage/filesystems/ext4.rst b/doc/usage/filesystems/ext4.rst new file mode 100644 index 00000000000..c6cdaf57fac --- /dev/null +++ b/doc/usage/filesystems/ext4.rst @@ -0,0 +1,137 @@ +.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0+ + +Ext4 File System +================ + +Overview +-------- + +U-Boot supports access of both ext2 and ext4 filesystems, either in read-only +mode or in read-write mode. + +Configuration +------------- + +First, to enable support for both ext4 (and, automatically, ext2 as well), +but without selecting the corresponding commands, enable one of the following: + +:: + + CONFIG_FS_EXT4 (for read-only) + CONFIG_EXT4_WRITE (for read-write) + +Next, to select the ext2-related commands: + + * ext2ls + * ext2load + +or ext4-related commands: + + * ext4size + * ext4ls + * ext4load + +use one or both of: + +:: + + CONFIG_CMD_EXT2 + CONFIG_CMD_EXT4 + +Selecting either of the above automatically selects CONFIG_FS_EXT4 if it +wasn't enabled already. + +In addition, to get the write access command ``ext4write``, enable: + +:: + + CONFIG_CMD_EXT4_WRITE + +which automatically selects CONFIG_EXT4_WRITE if it wasn't defined +already. + +Also relevant are the generic filesystem commands, selected by: + +:: + + CONFIG_CMD_FS_GENERIC + +This does not automatically enable EXT4 support for you, you still need +to do that yourself. + +Lastly, the current u-boot implementation for Ext4 write requires a lot +of memory to run successfully. The following enable support for +large Ext4 partitions: + +:: + + CONFIG_EXT4_MAX_JOURNAL_ENTRIES + CONFIG_SYS_MALLOC_LEN + +The number of journal entries and dynamic memory allocation are proportional +to the partition capacity. For example, an ext4 4TB HDD partition could +require approximately 500 entries and more than 128 MB heap space. + +Examples +-------- + +Some sample commands to test ext4 support: + +1. Check that the ext4 commands can be seen in the output of U-Boot help: + +:: + + => help + ... + ext4load- load binary file from a Ext4 file system + ext4ls - list files in a directory (default /) + ext4size - determine a file's size + ext4write- create a file in ext4 formatted partition + ... + +2. The ``ext4ls`` command can be used to list the files in an ext4-formatted partition: + +:: + + ext4ls <interface> <dev[:part]> [directory] + +For example, to list files in ext4-formatted partition directory /usr/lib: + +:: + + => ext4ls mmc 0:5 /usr/lib + +3. The ``ext4load`` command can be used to read and load a file from an +ext4-formatted partition to RAM: + +:: + + ext4load <interface> [<dev[:part]> [addr [filename [bytes [pos]]]]] + +For example, to load file /uImage from an ext4-formatted partition: + +:: + + => ext4load mmc 2:2 0x30007fc0 uImage + +4. The ``ext4write`` command can be used to write to an ext4 partition: + +:: + + ext4write <interface> <dev[:part]> <addr> <absolute filename path> [sizebytes] [file offset] + +For example, to write a file loaded at 0x8200000 of size 256 bytes to an +ext4-formatted partition with the filename ``/boot/sample_file.hex``: + +:: + + => ext4write mmc 2:2 0x82000000 /boot/sample_file.hex 0x100 + 256 bytes written in 138 ms (1000 Bytes/s) + + +References +---------- + + * ext4 implementation in Linux Kernel + * Uboot existing ext2 load and ls implementation + * Journaling block device JBD2 implementation in linux Kernel |