Pre-Generated FIP File Repo

Pre-built Flattened Image Package (FIP) sources and Amlogic signing binaries for many commercially available boards and some Android STB devices are collected for use with distro build-systems here: https://github.com/LibreELEC/amlogic-boot-fip

Using the pre-built FIP sources to sign U-Boot is simple, e.g. for LePotato:

$ git clone https://github.com/LibreELEC/amlogic-boot-fip --depth=1
$ cd amlogic-boot-fip
$ mkdir my-output-dir
$ ./build-fip.sh lepotato /path/to/u-boot/u-boot.bin my-output-dir

Then write U-Boot to SD or eMMC with:

$ DEV=/dev/boot_device
$ dd if=fip/u-boot.bin.sd.bin of=$DEV conv=fsync,notrunc bs=512 skip=1 seek=1
$ dd if=fip/u-boot.bin.sd.bin of=$DEV conv=fsync,notrunc bs=1 count=440

Files Included

Amlogic ARMv8 SoCs use a vendor modified variant of the ARM Trusted Firmware-A boot architecture. See documentation here: https://www.trustedfirmware.org/projects/tf-a/

Trusted Firmware-A uses the following boot elements (simplified):

  • BL1: First boot step implemented in ROM on Amlogic SoCs

  • BL2: Second boot step used to initialize the SoC main clocks & DDR interface. BL21 and ACS board-specific binaries must be “inserted” into the BL2 binary before signing and packaging in order to be flashed on the platform

  • BL30: Amlogic Secure Co-Processor (SCP) firmware used to handle all system management operations (DVFS, suspend/resume, ..)

  • BL301: Amlogic Secure Co-Processor (SCP) board-specific firmware “plug-in” to handle custom DVFS & suspend-resume parameters

  • BL31: Initializes the interrupt controller and the system management interface (PSCI)

  • BL32 (Optional): Is the Trusted Environment Execution (TEE) Operating System used to run secure Trusted Apps, e.g. OP-TEE

  • BL33: Is the last non-secure step, usually U-Boot which loads Linux

Amlogic sources provide the following binaries:

  • bl2.bin

  • bl30.bin

  • bl30.bin

  • bl31.img

  • bl32.bin

For G12A/B and SM1 Amlogic also provides DDR drivers used by the BL2 binary:

  • ddr4_1d.fw

  • ddr4_2d.fw

  • ddr3_1d.fw

  • piei.fw

  • lpddr4_1d.fw

  • lpddr4_2d.fw

  • diag_lpddr4.fw

  • aml_ddr.fw

The following files are generated from the Amlogic U-Boot fork:

  • acs.bin: Contains the PLL & DDR parameters for the board

  • bl301.bin: Contains the DVFS & suspend-resume handling code for the board

  • bl33.bin: U-boot binary image

The acs.bin and bl301.bin files use U-Boot GPL-2.0+ headers and U-Boot build system and are thus considered to be issued from GPL-2.0+ source code.

Amlogic alo provides pre-compiled x86_64 and Python2 binaries:

  • aml_encrypt_gxb

  • aml_encrypt_gxl

  • aml_encrypt_g12a

  • aml_encrypt_g12b

  • acs_tool.pyc

The repo replaces the pre-compiled acs_tool.pyc with a Python3 acs_tool.py that can be used with modern build hosts.

The repo also provides the following files used with GXBB boards:

  • bl1.bin.hardkernel

  • aml_chksum

The repo also supports the open-source ‘gxlimg’ signing tool that can be used to sign U-Boot binaries for GXL/GXM/G12A/G12B/SM1 boards: https://github.com/repk/gxlimg

The following binaries can be replaced with open-source implementations:

  • bl2.bin (GXBB and GXL only)

  • bl31.img (GXBB, GXL, AXG and G12A only)

Refer to Experimental U-Boot SPL Support if you wish to replace them.

Licensing

The licence of Amlogic provided binaries was not historically clear but has now been clarified. The current Amlogic distribution licence is below:

// Copyright (C) 2018 Amlogic, Inc. All rights reserved.
//
// All information contained herein is Amlogic confidential.
//
// This software is provided to you pursuant to Software License
// Agreement (SLA) with Amlogic Inc ("Amlogic"). This software may be
// used only in accordance with the terms of this agreement.
//
// Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
// modification is strictly prohibited without prior written permission
// from Amlogic.
//
// THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS
// "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT
// LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR
// A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT
// OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL,
// SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT
// LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE,
// DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY
// THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
// (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE
// OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.