1Dom0 kernel and ramdisk modules 2================================ 3 4Xen is passed the dom0 kernel and initrd via a reference in the /chosen 5node of the device tree. 6 7Each node contains the following properties: 8 9- compatible 10 11 Must always include at least the generic compatiblity string: 12 13 "multiboot,module" 14 15 Optionally a more specific compatible string may be used in 16 addition to the above. One of: 17 18 - "multiboot,kernel" -- the dom0 kernel 19 - "multiboot,ramdisk" -- the dom0 ramdisk 20 - "xen,xsm-policy" -- XSM policy blob 21 22 It is normally recommended to include a more specific 23 compatible string (if one applies) in addition to the generic 24 string (which must always be present). 25 26 Xen will assume that the first module which lacks a more 27 specific compatible string is a "multiboot,kernel". 28 29 Xen will examine each module, starting from the second 30 module that lacks a specific compatible string. Xen will 31 check each such module for the XSM Magic number: 32 33 - For a module which has the XSM Magic number: it will be 34 treated by Xen as if its compatible string was 35 "xen,xsm-policy"; 36 37 - For a module which does not have the XSM Magic: the second 38 module lacking a compatible string will be treated by Xen as 39 if its compatible string was "multiboot,ramdisk"; for the 40 third and subsequent modules which lack a specific 41 compatible string, Xen will not apply any special treatment. 42 43 This means if the ramdisk module is present and does not have the 44 compatible string "multiboot,ramdisk", then it must always be the 45 second module. 46 47 Note: This XSM Magic detection behavior was introduced by Xen 4.7. 48 Xen 4.6 (and downwards) still requires the XSM module to have the 49 compatible string "xen,xsm-policy". 50 51 Xen 4.4 supported a different set of legacy compatible strings 52 which remain supported such that systems supporting both 4.4 53 and later can use a single DTB. 54 55 - "xen,multiboot-module" equivalent to "multiboot,module" 56 - "xen,linux-zimage" equivalent to "multiboot,kernel" 57 - "xen,linux-initrd" equivalent to "multiboot,ramdisk" 58 59 For compatibility with Xen 4.4 the more specific "xen,linux-*" 60 names are non-optional and must be included. 61 62- reg 63 64 Specifies the physical address of the module in RAM and the 65 length of the module. 66 67- bootargs (optional) 68 69 Command line associated with this module. See below for the 70 priority of this field vs. other mechanisms of specifying the 71 bootargs for the kernel. 72 73Examples 74======== 75 76A boot module of unspecified type: 77 78 module@0xc0000000 { 79 compatible = "multiboot,module"; 80 reg = <0xc0000000 0x1234>; 81 bootargs = "..."; 82 }; 83 84A boot module containing a ramdisk: 85 86 module@0xd0000000 { 87 compatible = "multiboot,ramdisk", "multiboot,module"; 88 reg = <0xd0000000 0x5678>; 89 }; 90 91The previous examples are compatible with Xen 4.5+ only. 92 93To be compatible with Xen 4.4 as well use the legacy names: 94 95 module@0xd0000000 { 96 compatible = "xen,linux-initrd", "xen,multiboot-module"; 97 reg = <0xd0000000 0x5678>; 98 }; 99 100Command lines 101============= 102 103Xen also checks for properties directly under /chosen to find suitable command 104lines for Xen and Dom0. The logic is the following: 105 106 - If xen,xen-bootargs is present, it will be used for Xen. 107 - If xen,dom0-bootargs is present, it will be used for Dom0. 108 - If xen,xen-bootargs is _not_ present, but xen,dom0-bootargs is, 109 bootargs will be used for Xen. 110 - If a kernel boot module is present and has a bootargs property then 111 the top-level bootargs will used for Xen. 112 - If no Xen specific properties are present, bootargs is for Dom0. 113 - If xen,xen-bootargs is present, but xen,dom0-bootargs is missing, 114 bootargs will be used for Dom0. 115 116Most of these cases is to make booting with Xen-unaware bootloaders easier. 117For those you would hardcode the Xen commandline in the DTB under 118/chosen/xen,xen-bootargs and would let the bootloader set the Dom0 command 119line by writing bootargs (as for native Linux). 120A Xen-aware bootloader would set xen,xen-bootargs for Xen, xen,dom0-bootargs 121for Dom0 and bootargs for native Linux. 122