bootloader project in nCS

[Ubaid_M]

Hi,

1. Is bootloader file and firmware file, different for projects build on nCS..?
    Or a single executable build file consists both bootloader & firmware..?

2. Can you suggest a sample program to build a bootloader project..?

Thanks,

[Edvin]

Hello,

In NCS, the bootloader is enabled through configurations, mostly. 

I suggest that you check out the documentation of FOTA upgrades:

https://developer.nordicsemi.com/nRF_Connect_SDK/doc/1.9.1/nrf/ug_nrf52.html#fota-upgrades

And there is also a written guide on how to add DFU to your project, that I can recommend:

https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/guides/nrf-connect-sdk-guides/b/software/posts/ncs-dfu

If you struggle with the implementation, I suggest that you follow the guide first, and add DFU to the smp_svr sample from NCS, so that you know that everything around (uploading via nRF Connect for iOS/Android/mcumgr) is working as it should, before you start looking into potential issues in your custom application.

BR,

Edvin

[Ubaid_M]

Hello Edvin,

Edvin said:

And there is also a written guide on how to add DFU to your project,

Towards DFU, i see that we make the following configuration to the project:

# Ensure an MCUboot-compatible binary is generated.
CONFIG_BOOTLOADER_MCUBOOT=y

So,
1. By enabling MCUBOOT what happens..?
2. Where is the bootloader image file in the device memory..?
3. Is the boot loader image file different than firmware image file or bootloader code is integrated into the firmware image file..?

Thanks,

[Edvin]

Ubaid_M said:

1. I want to map SLOT-1 & SCRATCH memory locations to external serial flash locations.

2. I want to provide mcuboot SPI interface APIs to interact with external flash.

What chip are you using? I believe it is possible to offload this to an external QSPI flash chip by using CONFIG_NORDIC_QSPI_NOR=y. Without knowing the details, perhaps you can look into what this does, and try to implement something similar using SPI. 

The MCUBOOT bootloader project is located in ncs <vX.Y.Z>\bootloader\mcuboot.

BR,
Edvin

[Ubaid_M]

Hello Edvin,

Edvin said:

The MCUBOOT bootloader project is located in ncs <vX.Y.Z>\bootloader\mcuboot.

1. So i can tweak in the and make changes to mcuboot source code from here right..?

Another query i had was with copying of mcuboot,

Edvin said:

So in this case you can see that the bootloader is located at address 0x0

2. WHO does this copying of mcuboot onto device memory location 0x00..?

Thanking you,

Ubaid

[Ubaid_M]

Hello Edvin,

Edvin said:

The MCUBOOT bootloader project is located in ncs <vX.Y.Z>\bootloader\mcuboot.

Where can i find the mcuboot source code..?

Edvin said:

What chip are you using?

I am using nrf52833dk_nrf52833 board with an external flash IS25LQ040B.
The interface is SPI single line & not QSPI.

That is, i need to change mcuboot source code to provide, SPI access to it, so that  mcuboot can copy new firmware file from external flash to internal flash.

Thanks,

[Edvin]

Hello,

Please see the v1.9.1\bootloader\mcuboot\boot\zephyr (that is the project folder, containing the main.c for the bootloader. You can see that if you follow the guide from one of the links, it should print something like 

I: Starting bootloader

I: Primary image: magic=bad, swap_type=0x0, copy_done=0x2, image_ok=0x2

I: Secondary image: magic=unset, swap_type=0x1, copy_done=0x3, image_ok=0x3

I: Boot source: none

I: Swap type: none

I: Bootloader chainload address offset: 0xc000

I: Jumping to the first image slot
*** Booting Zephyr OS build v2.7.99-ncs1  ***

The first and last line is coming from that main.c file.

BR,
Edvin

[Ubaid_M]

Thank you Edvin,

Edvin said:

the bootloader is located at address 0x0

Can you please suggest who copies bootloader code from hex file onto memory location 0x000..?

And also what is the size overhead added by enabling MCU_BOOT on the firmware file..?

Can i compile mcboot separately..?

Thanks,

Ubaid