docs: Request for u-boot-rockchip.bin or build instructions for RK3588 ZVM boot

[zijunWill]

Hi,

I'm following this document: https://github.com/processmission/qemu/blob/devel/docs/system/arm/rk3588.rst

I am trying to boot a ZVM test image. According to the docs, the firmware boot path requires a Rockchip RKNS image to be provided via the SD/MMC interface. I believe this involves providing a u-boot-rockchip.bin file.

Could you please clarify:

1. Is there a pre-built u-boot-rockchip.bin file available for this QEMU model? If so, where can I download it?
2. If not, could you provide the step-by-step instructions to generate a working u-boot-rockchip.bin from source?

What I've tried:
I attempted to build the u-boot-rockchip.bin file myself, but the generated binary file could not start the ZVM image in QEMU.

Environment:

• QEMU branch: devel
• Host OS: Ubuntu 22.04

Any guidance would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[zevorn]

Thanks for the report. There is currently no standalone u-boot-rockchip.bin release asset for this downstream model, but the repository contains both a known-good firmware fixture and a reproducible build flow.

Build the known-good firmware

The pinned build is documented here:

• https://github.com/processmission/qemu/blob/devel/roms/zvm-rk3588s-roc-pc/README.md
• https://github.com/processmission/qemu/blob/devel/roms/zvm-rk3588s-roc-pc/build-u-boot-rockchip.sh

On a host with Docker:

roms/zvm-rk3588s-roc-pc/build-u-boot-rockchip.sh \
    --output-dir "$PWD/build/rk3588-uboot"

sha256sum build/rk3588-uboot/u-boot-rockchip.bin

The expected SHA256 is:

6cd4b3d1931a252d564c88220e071eba57009fff49620b9520f33e8c58f80fb5

The build pins:

• U-Boot commit 5ca1a73c7d3064582498a8aa96c29e714402a6d3
• rkbin commit ecb4fcbe954edf38b3ae037d5de6d9f5bccf81f4
• rk3588_bl31_v1.54.elf
• rk3588_ddr_lp4_2112MHz_lp5_2400MHz_v1.21.bin
• generic-rk3588_defconfig
• the ROC-RK3588S-PC compatibility patch shipped in this repository

Extract the known-good binary from the checked-in fixture

The verified binary is also present at LBA 64 in rk3588s-zvm-no-fs.raw.zst:

roms/zvm-rk3588s-roc-pc/extract-image.sh \
    roms/zvm-rk3588s-roc-pc/rk3588s-zvm-no-fs.raw.zst \
    /tmp/rk3588s-zvm.raw

dd if=/tmp/rk3588s-zvm.raw \
   of=/tmp/u-boot-rockchip.bin \
   bs=512 skip=64 count=18469

sha256sum /tmp/u-boot-rockchip.bin

An arbitrary U-Boot/rkbin build is not necessarily compatible. The current downstream QEMU firmware path validates and patches SPL/BL31 instructions at fixed addresses, so the precise firmware inputs matter.

To understand why your generated image did not boot, could you provide the complete build provenance and reproducer?

• exact QEMU commit (git rev-parse HEAD)
• exact U-Boot repository URL, branch, and commit
• exact official Rockchip SDK/rkbin repository URLs and commits
• exact BL31, TPL/DDR blob filenames, versions, and SHA256 hashes
• defconfig, config overrides, device tree, and any local patches
• complete firmware build commands and output hashes
• exact raw-image assembly commands and offsets
• complete QEMU command line and serial console log

With those details we can compare the image against the pinned known-good build instead of guessing from the final binary.