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From: Simon Glass <sjg@chromium.org>
To: U-Boot Mailing List <u-boot@lists.denx.de>
Cc: Heinrich Schuchardt <xypron.glpk@gmx.de>,
	Tom Rini <trini@konsulko.com>, Wolfgang Denk <wd@denx.de>,
	Simon Glass <sjg@chromium.org>
Subject: [PATCH v6 6/7] doc: Improve environment documentation
Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2021 12:22:56 -0600	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <20211014182257.468649-5-sjg@chromium.org> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <20211014182257.468649-1-sjg@chromium.org>

Make various updates suggested during review of the rST conversion.

Signed-off-by: Simon Glass <sjg@chromium.org>
Suggested-by: Wolfgang Denk <wd@denx.de>
---

Changes in v6:
- Move all updates to a separate patch
- More updates and improvements

Changes in v5:
- Minor updates as suggested by Wolfgang

Changes in v4:
- Add new patch to move environment documentation to rST

 doc/usage/environment.rst | 35 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++---------
 doc/usage/index.rst       |  1 +
 2 files changed, 27 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)

diff --git a/doc/usage/environment.rst b/doc/usage/environment.rst
index 76915484b85..ef9cd20715a 100644
--- a/doc/usage/environment.rst
+++ b/doc/usage/environment.rst
@@ -5,16 +5,20 @@ Environment Variables
 
 
 U-Boot supports user configuration using Environment Variables which
-can be made persistent by saving to Flash memory.
+can be made persistent by saving to persistent storage, for example flash
+memory.
 
-Environment Variables are set using "setenv", printed using
-"printenv", and saved to Flash using "saveenv". Using "setenv"
+Environment Variables are set using "env set" (alias "setenv"), printed using
+"env print" (alias "printenv"), and saved to persistent storage using
+"env save" (alias "saveenv"). Using "env set"
 without a value can be used to delete a variable from the
 environment. As long as you don't save the environment you are
 working with an in-memory copy. In case the Flash area containing the
 environment is erased by accident, a default environment is provided.
 
-Some configuration options can be set using Environment Variables.
+Some configuration is controlled by Environment Variables, so that setting the
+variable can adjust the behaviour of U-Boot (e.g. autoboot delay, autoloading
+from tftp).
 
 The default environment is created in `include/env_default.h`, and can be
 augmented by various `CONFIG` defines. See that file for details. In
@@ -68,18 +72,25 @@ Example::
         echo CONFIG_SYS_BOARD boot failed - please check your image
         echo Load address is CONFIG_SYS_LOAD_ADDR
 
-Some configuration options can be set using Environment Variables.
+Some configuration options can be set using Environment Variables. In many cases
+the value in the default environment comes from a CONFIG option - see
+`include/env_default.h`) for this.
+
 
 List of environment variables (most likely not complete):
 
 baudrate
-    see CONFIG_BAUDRATE
+    Current baud rate used by the serial console. The built-in value is set by
+    CONFIG_BAUDRATE (see `drivers/serial/Kconfig`)
 
 bootdelay
-    see CONFIG_BOOTDELAY
+    Current autoboot delay. The built-in value is set by CONFIG_BOOTDELAY (see
+    `common/Kconfig`)
 
 bootcmd
-    see CONFIG_BOOTCOMMAND
+    Defines a command string that is automatically executed when no character
+    is read on the console interface within a cetain boot delay after reset.
+    The built-in value is set by CONFIG_BOOTCOMMAND (see `common/Kconfig`)
 
 bootargs
     Boot arguments when booting an RTOS image
@@ -125,7 +136,7 @@ autoload
     if set to "no" (any string beginning with 'n'),
     "bootp" will just load perform a lookup of the
     configuration from the BOOTP server, but not try to
-    load any image using TFTP
+    load any image using TFTP or DHCP.
 
 autostart
     if set to "yes", an image loaded using the "bootp",
@@ -291,6 +302,8 @@ vlan
     Ethernet is encapsulated/received over 802.1q
     VLAN tagged frames.
 
+    Note: This appears not to be used in U-Boot. See `README.VLAN`.
+
 bootpretryperiod
     Period during which BOOTP/DHCP sends retries.
     Unsigned value, in milliseconds. If not set, the period will
@@ -332,6 +345,10 @@ flash or offset in NAND flash.
 boards currently use other variables for these purposes, and some
 boards use these variables for other purposes.
 
+Also note that most of these variables are just a commonly used set of variable
+names, used in some other variable definitions, but are not hard-coded anywhere
+in U-Boot code.
+
 ================= ============== ================ ==============
 Image             File Name      RAM Address      Flash Location
 ================= ============== ================ ==============
diff --git a/doc/usage/index.rst b/doc/usage/index.rst
index 356f2a56181..1a79d1c03eb 100644
--- a/doc/usage/index.rst
+++ b/doc/usage/index.rst
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ Use U-Boot
    :maxdepth: 1
 
    dfu
+   environment
    fdt_overlays
    fit
    netconsole
-- 
2.33.0.1079.g6e70778dc9-goog


  parent reply	other threads:[~2021-10-14 18:24 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 24+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2021-10-14 18:22 [PATCH v6 0/7] env: Allow environment in text files Simon Glass
2021-10-14 18:22 ` [PATCH v6 1/7] binman: Allow timeout to occur in the image or its section Simon Glass
2021-10-14 18:22 ` [PATCH v6 2/7] sandbox: Drop distro_boot Simon Glass
2021-10-14 18:22 ` [PATCH v6 3/7] doc: Move environment documentation to rST Simon Glass
2021-10-14 18:22 ` [PATCH v6 4/7] env: Allow U-Boot scripts to be placed in a .env file Simon Glass
2021-10-15 14:32   ` Wolfgang Denk
2021-10-15 15:15     ` Simon Glass
2021-10-18 11:58       ` Wolfgang Denk
2021-10-18 13:37         ` Tom Rini
2021-10-18 14:10           ` Wolfgang Denk
2021-10-18 14:24             ` Tom Rini
2021-10-19 10:33               ` Wolfgang Denk
2021-10-18 18:12             ` Simon Glass
2021-10-19 10:38               ` Wolfgang Denk
2021-10-18 18:12         ` Simon Glass
2021-10-19 10:46           ` Wolfgang Denk
2021-10-19 14:11             ` Simon Glass
2021-10-19 16:09               ` Wolfgang Denk
2021-10-19 16:14                 ` Simon Glass
2021-10-14 18:22 ` [PATCH v6 5/7] sandbox: Use a text-based environment Simon Glass
2021-10-14 18:22 ` Simon Glass [this message]
2021-10-14 18:22 ` [PATCH v6 7/7] bootm: Tidy up use of autostart env var Simon Glass
2021-10-15 14:45   ` Wolfgang Denk
2021-10-24 19:53     ` Simon Glass

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