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bootutil: Add support for devices without erase #2114

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@de-nordic de-nordic commented Nov 11, 2024

Commits:

  • bootutil: add support for not calling erase when device does not require it and MCUBOOT_DEV_WITHOUT_ERASE_THEN_NO_ERASE option that controls this; add MCUBOOT_MINIMAL_SCRAMBLE that allows to reduce amount of removed data, where applicable;
  • Zephyr: Kconfig options and supporting code
  • Zephyr: switch to flash_area_flatten in bs_custom_storage_erase
  • Zephyr: switch to boot_set_next, from flash_area_erase, for Zephyr builds of bootutil_public.

The first MCUboot option allows to improve life time of devices for which erase is emulated by write, and is not really required by the device design and the second MCUboot option allows to just remove enough of data, where needed, by either reduced range of erase or reduced write; for example by scrambling only image header, rather than removing the entire image.

Tested on nrf52840dk and nrf54l15. In case of nrf54l it reduces swap time by half, in comparison to code using erase.

@de-nordic de-nordic force-pushed the improve-no-erase-device-time branch 14 times, most recently from bedea40 to cf8def0 Compare November 15, 2024 12:15
The commit adds two MCUboot configuration options:
  - MCUBOOT_DEV_WITHOUT_ERASE_THEN_NO_ERASE
  - MCUBOOT_MINIMAL_SCRAMBLE

The first one should be enabled to support devices that do not require erase.
When such devices are used in system then MCUboot will avoid erasing such
device, which is not needed by hardware, and will just write data to it.
This allows to both improve device lifetime and reduce time of operations
like swap.

The second option allows to reduce amount of removed data. When enabled,
MCUboot will remove enough of data, depending on the purpose of the removal,
to just fulfill the purpose; for example if removal of data is done to
make image unrecognizable for MCUboot, with this option, it will only
remove header.

Signed-off-by: Dominik Ermel <dominik.ermel@nordicsemi.no>
@de-nordic de-nordic marked this pull request as ready for review November 15, 2024 13:48
Add Kconfig options:
  - CONFIG_MCUBOOT_STORAGE_NO_UNNEEDED_ERASE that enables MCUboot
    configuration MCUBOOT_DEV_WITHOUT_ERASE_THEN_NO_ERASE
  - CONFIG_MCUBOOT_STORAGE_MINIMAL_SCRAMBLE that enables MCUboot
    configuration MCUBOOT_MINIMAL_SCRAMBLE

Adds implementation of flash_area_erase_required, which is required when
MCUBOOT_DEV_WITHOUT_ERASE_THEN_NO_ERASE is enabled.

Signed-off-by: Dominik Ermel <dominik.ermel@nordicsemi.no>
The intention of bs_custom_storage_erase is to remove data from device;
to support devices that do not require erase, without calling erase,
so that devices that do not implement such functions could work,
the flash_area_erase has been replaced with flash_area_flatten.

Signed-off-by: Dominik Ermel <dominik.ermel@nordicsemi.no>
Switch from using flash_area_erase to flash_area_flatten.
The later function uses write on devices that do not have erase by
design, to scramble data.

Signed-off-by: Dominik Ermel <dominik.ermel@nordicsemi.no>
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