uboot/doc/README.hwconfig
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   1To enable this feature just define CONFIG_HWCONFIG in your board
   2config file.
   3
   4This implements a simple hwconfig infrastructure: an
   5interface for software knobs to control hardware.
   6
   7This a is very simple implementation, i.e. it is implemented
   8via the `hwconfig' environment variable. Later we could write
   9some "hwconfig <enable|disable|list>" commands, ncurses
  10interface for Award BIOS-like interface, and frame-buffer
  11interface for AMI GUI[1] BIOS-like interface with mouse
  12support[2].
  13
  14Current implementation details/limitations:
  15
  161. Doesn't support options dependencies and mutual exclusion.
  17   We can implement this by integrating apt-get[3] into Das
  18   U-Boot. But I haven't bothered yet.
  19
  202. Since we don't implement a hwconfig command, i.e. we're working
  21   with the environment directly, there is no way to tell that
  22   toggling a particular option will need a reboot to take
  23   effect. So, for now it's advised to always reboot the
  24   target after modifying the hwconfig variable.
  25
  263. We support hwconfig options with arguments. For example,
  27
  28   set hwconfig "dr_usb:mode=peripheral,phy_type=ulpi"
  29
  30   This selects three hwconfig options:
  31   1. dr_usb - enable Dual-Role USB controller;
  32   2. dr_usb_mode:peripheral - USB in Function mode;
  33   3. dr_usb_phy_type:ulpi - USB should work with ULPI PHYs.
  34
  35The purpose of this simple implementation is to refine the
  36internal API and then we can continue improving the user
  37experience by adding more mature interfaces, like a hwconfig
  38command with bells and whistles. Or not adding, if we feel
  39that the current interface fits people's needs.
  40
  41[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Megatrends
  42[2] Regarding ncurses and GUI with mouse support -- I'm just
  43    kidding.
  44[3] The comment regarding apt-get is also a joke, meaning that
  45    dependency tracking could be non-trivial. For example, for
  46    enabling HW feature X we may need to disable Y, and turn Z
  47    into reduced mode (like RMII-only interface for ethernet,
  48    no MII).
  49
  50    It's quite trivial to implement simple cases though.
  51