diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'docs/modules/ROOT/pages/bootloader.adoc')
-rw-r--r-- | docs/modules/ROOT/pages/bootloader.adoc | 32 |
1 files changed, 32 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/docs/modules/ROOT/pages/bootloader.adoc b/docs/modules/ROOT/pages/bootloader.adoc new file mode 100644 index 00000000..1a984d6d --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/modules/ROOT/pages/bootloader.adoc @@ -0,0 +1,32 @@ += Bootloader + +`embassy-boot` a lightweight bootloader supporting firmware application upgrades in a power-fail-safe way, with trial boots and rollbacks. + +The bootloader can be used either as a library or be flashed directly if you are happy with the default configuration and capabilities. + +By design, the bootloader does not provide any network capabilities. Networking capabilities for fetching new firmware can be provided by the user application, using the bootloader as a library for updating the firmware, or by using the bootloader as a library and adding this capability yourself. + +The bootloader supports both internal and external flash by relying on the `embedded-storage` traits. + + +== Hardware support + +The bootloader supports + +* nRF52 with and without softdevice +* STM32 L4, WB, WL, L1 and L0 + +In general, the bootloader works on any platform that implements the `embedded-storage` traits for its internal flash, but may require custom initialization code to work. + +== Design + +The bootloader divides the storage into 4 main partitions, configured by a linker script: + +* BOOTLOADER - Where the bootloader is placed. The bootloader itself consumes about 8kB of flash. +* ACTIVE - Where the main application is placed. The bootloader will attempt to load the application at the start of this partition. This partition is only written to by the bootloader. +* DFU - Where the application-to-be-swapped is placed. This partition is written to by the application. +* BOOTLOADER STATE - Where the bootloader stores the current state describing if the active and dfu partitions need to be swapped. When the new firmware has been written to the DFU partition, a flag is set to instruct the bootloader that the partitions should be swapped. + +The partitions for ACTIVE (+BOOTLOADER), DFU and BOOTLOADER_STATE may be placed in separate flash, but they have to support compatible page sizes. + +The bootloader has a platform-agnostic part, which implements the power fail safe swapping algorithm given the boundaries set by the partitions. The platform-specific part is a minimal shim that provides additional functionality such as watchdogs or supporting the nRF52 softdevice. |