Rock5B+: Use Collabora u-boot for all branches

[HeyMeco]

Description

The 2024.10 Rockchip vendor u-boot has issues with Ubuntu Noble hosts. To mitigate on Rock5B+ (platinum support) we can switch to collabora u-boot for both vendor and edge scenarios.

Note: rock5b-rk3588_defconfig in collabora includes a DDR5 check that determines it to be a Rock-5B-Plus or DDR4 for Rock5B

GitHub Issue: https://github.com/armbian/build/issues/8227 Jira reference number AR-2699

Documentation summary for feature / change

1. Add Family overwrite in board config to use collabora u-boot
2. Switch both configurations to collabora rockchip branch
3. Add boot order patch SD - NVME - EMMC -...

How Has This Been Tested?

• [x] Boot Image with vendor kernel
• [x] Boot Image with edge kernel
• [x] Install to NVMe & SPI
• [x] Switch NVMe drive slots and preserve booting functionality

Checklist:

• [x] My code follows the style guidelines of this project
• [x] I have performed a self-review of my own code
• [x] I have commented my code, particularly in hard-to-understand areas
• [x] My changes generate no new warnings
• [x] Any dependent changes have been merged and published in downstream modules

[coderabbitai[bot]]

Walkthrough

A new function was introduced to provide vendor-specific mainline U-Boot configuration for the Rock 5B board, setting global variables and helper functions for handling U-Boot binaries. The existing edge branch configuration was updated to use the Collabora GitLab mainline U-Boot repository with the rockchip branch instead of a specific tag from GitHub. Additionally, a branch check was removed from a function configuring U-Boot SPI environment settings, causing these configurations to always apply regardless of branch. No other functional changes were made.

Estimated code review effort

🎯 3 (Moderate) | ⏱️ ~15 minutes

Assessment against linked issues

Objective	Addressed	Explanation
Ensure Rock 5B boards boot reliably by updating U-Boot configuration (AR-2699)	✅

Assessment against linked issues: Out-of-scope changes

No out-of-scope changes found.

Possibly related PRs

• armbian/build#8275: Both PRs introduce or update vendor branch support for board-specific mainline U-Boot configuration, including helper functions for U-Boot binary handling.
• armbian/build#8338: Both PRs modify the post_family_config_branch_edge__rock-5b_use_mainline_uboot function, but with different branch targets and update scopes.
• armbian/build#8428: Both PRs adjust board-specific configurations for switching to mainline U-Boot and redefining U-Boot handling functions.

Suggested labels

Ready to merge, BSP

Suggested reviewers

• clee
• joekhoobyar
• brentr
• prahal
• rpardini
• krachlatte
• lanefu
• ahoneybun
• amazingfate
• catalinii
• paolosabatino
• TheSnowfield
• SuperKali
• Tonymac32
• TRSx80
• JohnTheCoolingFan
• pyavitz
• efectn
• schwar3kat
• ColorfulRhino
• igorpecovnik

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📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 16742eaef616d980e735e95226d71784afd748b3 and 34e88c4795864e30038ac90ad94a3471a5dcc767.

⛔ Files ignored due to path filters (2)

• patch/u-boot/collabora-rockchip/0001-nvme-before-emmc.patch is excluded by !patch/**
• patch/u-boot/collabora-rockchip/cmd-fileenv-read-string-from-file-into-env.patch is excluded by !patch/**

📒 Files selected for processing (1)

• config/boards/rock-5b-plus.conf (2 hunks)

🚧 Files skipped from review as they are similar to previous changes (1)

• config/boards/rock-5b-plus.conf

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[EvilOlaf]

I don't think attaching u-boot to master is a good idea. I'd rather go for the latest tag and add patches on top if necessary.

[HeyMeco]

I don't think attaching u-boot to master is a good idea.

Usually agree, I guess here I think to just set it to master and then set it to a tag when available. Still doing some testing rn related to nvme.

[HeyMeco]

@EvilOlaf I did more testing and realized upstream didn't have all the necessary changes. I replaced it with collabora's branch and tested it extensively (see above). This is the best case now covering more scenarios than before

[EvilOlaf]

Other suggestion. Use latest tag and add this on top: https://patchwork.ozlabs.org/project/uboot/cover/[email protected]/

[HeyMeco]

Other suggestion. Use latest tag and add this on top: https://patchwork.ozlabs.org/project/uboot/cover/[email protected]/

I'll try this and see if it works with a rock5t patch from collabora's fork. If yes I'll switch both to latest with patch