Bootie
Current Version: 191.4 introduced with WebOS 1.4.1
Old version : 145.2.6 introduced with WebOS 1.0.3
Bootie is the stage3 bootloader of webOS devices. It is unpacked from the end of boot.bin, and loaded to **0x82000000** in memory. Bootie looks very similar to iBoot from the iPhoneOS devices.
Getting into bootie mode is as easy as holding the volume-up key while plugging the phone into USB while the phone is in the "off" state. The novaterm/novaproxy programs can then be used to talk to bootie.
Running Bootie commands
The following is an example of using novaterm to run the bootie command "help":
Pre
] help
command list:
nduid : get the device id
usb : usb transfer commands
lboot : boot linux image
klog : klog commands
printenv : print all of the environment variables
getenv : read an environment variable
setenv : set an environment variable
reset : reset the device
script : run a script at specified address
run : run a script at from an environment variable
return : return from current script
help : this list
version : get bootie version
battery : battery status (found in webOS 1.4.1 and not in 1.0.3)
charging : commands to set charging states
fsboot : boot current image based on environment
chainboot : boot another bootloader image based on environment
go : Jump to a given address with the given arguments
cpurev : read the cpu revision (found in webOS 1.0.3 but not in 1.4.1)
diag : perform diag operations: write, boot, verify
poweroff : power off completely
Pre 3
] help
command list:
hotspot : hotspot commands
heap : heap debug commands
gfx : gfx commands
fs : fs debug commands
nduid : get the device id
display : display debug commands
backlight : backlight debug commands
token : token read/write commands
usb : usb transfer commands
nvram : nvram read/write/init commands
logo : logo display commands
lboot : boot linux image
klog : klog commands
printenv : print all of the environment variables
getenv : read an environment variable
setenv : set an environment variable
saveenv : save the current environment to nvram
log : dump debug log
dw : display memory in words
dh : display memory in halfwords
db : display memory in bytes
mw : modify word of memory
mh : modify halfword of memory
mb : modify byte of memory
fw : fill range of memory by word
fh : fill range of memory by halfword
fb : fill range of memory by byte
mc : copy a range of memory
mtest : simple memory test
reset : reset the device
reboot : reset the device
poweroff : power off completely
wall : see what's written on the wall
script : run a script at specified address
run : run a script at from an environment variable
return : return from current script
help : this list
test : test the command processor
history : command history
clk : system clocks control
crc : crc32 a range of memory
adler : adler32 a range of memory
sha1 : sha1 a range of memory
chainboot : boot another bootloader image based on environment
go : Jump to a given address with the given arguments
bio : block io debug commands
version : get bootie version
threads : list kernel threads
threadstats : thread level statistics
threadload : toggle thread load display
summit : commands to interact with the smb338
mmcid : identify the mmc
lm3528 : led drivers
lcd : lcd info/update/pattern/fill/write/read
i2c : i2c read/write commands
ctp : capacitive touch panel commands
battery : battery status
a6_sbw : test a6 sbw interface
a6 : test a6 interface
charging : commands to set charging states
fsboot : boot current image based on environment
phytune : commands to tune the phy on msm7k
smem : smem control
pcomm : pcomm command
gpio : gpio read/write commands
acpuclk : clk set/get/test commands
spi : MSM7X30 SPI driver
ssbi : ssbi read/write commands
audio : Audio related commands for Broadway
vibrator : enable/disable the vibrator
chg : charger command
The Bootie Environment
The default environment of Pre phones during boot follows:
] getenv
T ? = 0
T chargebypass = 0
T framebuffer = 0x8f600000
T boardtype = castle-dvt3
installer = trenchcoat
T klog_len = 0x100000
T klog_addr = 0x8ff00000
T logofile = boot/logo.tga
T bootaddress = 0x81000000
T bootfile = uImage
T bootfs = ext2
T bootdevice = mmc0p1
T bootargs-ramdisk = root=/dev/ram0 ramdisk=32768 ro
T bootargs = root=b302 rootdelay=2 ro
T bootconsole = tty1
autoboot = fsboot
The boot environment on a TouchPad (3.0.2) follows:
T ? = -1000
T framebuffer = 0x7f600000
installer = trenchcoat
checkbatt = 1
T chargebypass = 1
T klog_len = 0x100000
T klog_addr = 0x7ff00000
T tablet_wod_support = 0x0
T extended_timeout = 0x0
T chainbootdevice = mmc0
T bootaddress = 0x41000000
T bootdevice = mmc0p12
T bootfile = uImage
T bootfs = ext2
T bootargs-ramdisk = root=/dev/ram0 rw
T bootargs = root=/dev/mmcblk0p13 rootwait ro
T bootconsole = ttyS0,115200n8
T autoboot = fsboot
T boardtype = topaz-Wifi-pvt
Additional commands
In addition to the commands listed by the help command displayed above, bootie supports the command get which will return the contents of a file, for example:
novacom get file://klog
Image formats accepted
It looks like Bootie accepts images generated with mkimage from u-boot tools.
There are apparently two kinds of images:
- simple images are just the uImage as produced by kernel build process.
- multi images that have both the kernel and a ramdisk. Both the kernel and the ramdisk must be processed with mkimage first (kernel is processed by the build). It is important to pass -C none to mkimage when generating the ramdisk file, otherwise Bootie refuses to recognize it. Then generate the multi image like this:
mkimage -A arm -T multi -C none -n 'test-multi-image' -d arch/arm/boot/uImage:/tmp/uRamdisk /tmp/uMulti
When Bootie detects such a multi image, it uses bootargs-ramdisk variable as kernel argument instead of just bootargs, so no need to do any extra actions when trying to feed such a multi-image into the Bootie.