[PATCH 0/8] Qi solve GTA02 dynparts compatability and parse idenity partition

[Paul Fertser]

Werner Almesberger <werner at openmoko.org> writes:
> Paul Fertser wrote:
>> In this case, yes. With Qi in NAND that's not so, as far as i
>> understand. Nevertheless, what will be if one block wears out in the
>> kernel partition? The user won't be able to even mount his NAND rootfs
>> after the next boot to save configuration/data and that is probably
>> important for many users.
>
> You mean that the work-out block would change the offset calculation ?
> That won't happen, because the work-out block gets marked only in the
> BBT and Qi does't look there. (See my previous mail on the topic.)

Ok, i see it now. But then it's even more inconsistent and somewhat
defeats the purpose of marking worn-out blocks ;) Moreover, i
understand that the kernel marks worn-out blocks only in BBT, but does
NOR u-boot mark worn-out blocks in both BBT and OOB? If yes, then a
user risks to lose his rootfs by flashing the kernel or bootloader via
DFU.

>> That is, to be absolutely sure that the flashing will be done to the
>> correct addresses, everytime before dfu-ing anything a user must issue
>> a dynpart command in NOR u-boot?
>
> Naw, NOR u-boot takes care of that for you. See the script starting at
> line 87 of http://svn.openmoko.org/trunk/src/host/devirginator/mknor

Yes, i see. That's why i asked Andy whether NOR u-boot does dynpart on
every boot or not.

>> Basically, people tried to "nandwrite -pm /dev/mtd3 uImage-GTA02.bin"
>> and nandwrite marked plenty of blocks bad.
>
> Hmm, did they  flash_eraseall /dev/mtd3  first ?

They didn't.

> Actually, where do these flash instructions come from ? I thought we
> used to have them right ...

The wiki has only one place where nandwrite is mentioned, and that is
http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/Flashing_the_Neo_FreeRunner#Alternative:_using_nandwrite
. "flash_eraseall" is not mentioned at all.

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