Re: [PATCH 0/3] Semi-Falcon Boot Support

Hi Tom,

On 14/08/26 20:26, Tom Rini wrote:
> On Fri, Aug 14, 2026 at 03:51:50PM +0530, Gokul Praveen wrote:
>
>> Semi-Falcon Mode is a hybrid boot approach that bypasses
>> the A72 SPL while retaining U-Boot in the boot flow. This mode provides faster
>> boot times compared to normal boot while maintaining U-Boot's flexibility for
>> kernel loading and system configuration..
>>
>> Boot logs link :
>>
>> https://gist.github.com/GokulPraveen2001/fef407a482e2dad30272006de557627c
>>
>> Gokul Praveen (3):
>>    configs: add semi-falcon mode fragment for k3 devices
>>    arm: k3-binman: add tisemifalcon.bin for semi-falcon mode
>>    doc: ti: document semi-falcon mode for J784S4 EVM
> This is just doing what many other aarch64 platforms do, of skipping the
> SPL phase in Cortex-A because something else has already done any
> required initialization, unless I'm reading all of this wrong. So my
> feedback is:
> - It's not "semi-falcon", it's just "no SPL". Naming differences, if
>    any, should be done with that in mind.

Actually, there is an SPL in Cortex-R5 which is still present in the 
semi-falcon bootflow.

Its only the Cortex-A SPL which is avoided, which is why I did not name 
it as "no SPL"

*Normal K3 Bootflow*: R5 SPL + TFA + OPTEE + DM + Cortex-A SPL + UBOOT + 
Kernel

*Semi-Falcon* *boot flow* is : R5 SPL + TFA + OPTEE + DM + UBOOT + Kernel

> - You should make sure to structure this so any K3 platform *could* take
>    advantage. I seem to recall part of the rationale for the current
>    approach is that some variants might only have a little SRAM (512k?
>    256k?) while others might have 1-2M and so easily fit U-Boot in SRAM
>    prior to relocation. It sounds like this specific family has a large
>    enough lower memory bound.
>
Yes, this is structured in a way that all K3 platforms can take 
advantage of this approach and changes.

Additionally, as there is an SPL running in cortex-R5 even with this 
bootflow(semi-falcon).

this bootflow can be used on all variants irrespective of whether they 
have less or more

memory.


Thanking you

Yours respectfully

Gokul Praveen