Embedded Linux Conference 2013 - Flattened Image Trees: A Powerful Kernel uImage Format
Channel: The Linux Foundation
Date: 2013-03-13

The Linux Foundation
Embedded Linux Conference 2013
Flattened Image Trees: A Powerful Kernel uImage Format
By Joel A. Fernandes
San Francisco, California

The legacy U-boot image format is quickly becoming outdated as multi-component images are quickly becoming necessary. Images now not only carry a kernel, but also a device tree blob, ramdisk image etc for instance. With the increasing importance of security, storing multiple signatures and certificates structures in an image are also becoming common. The struct image_header in the legacy U-boot image format is not flexible enough to cover all multi image formats. Components of a kernel boot image might have to be loaded into different parts of memory before booting. A new image format (Flattened Image tree) similar to FDT solves some these problems.

Audience is U-boot and Kernel developers who work on kernel boot and security boot. They can expect an introduction to FIT, its motivation, advantages with an example. Technical Expertise required is familiarity with kernel boot mechanisms.