Hello TF-A partners!

As you may know, Arm recently announced the v8-R64 Architecture (AArch64 R-class cores), notably the Cortex R-82. v8-R64 has generated a lot of interest in the R-cores community, in part because of its vastly-increased address space and performance, and also because of its ability to run rich operating systems like Linux alongside more traditional RTOSes.

Of course, great hardware requires great firmware to succeed! So, we are upstreaming a new platform into TF-A to support v8-R64, called "fvp_r." It's certainly reasonable to ask, "why support v8-R64 as a platform under the A-cores' trusted firmware?" The answer is simply that v8-R64 cores are far more similar with v8-A cores than different. Therefore, most of the trusted firmware code for v8-R64 cores is in-common with v8-A cores. If a separate trusted-firmware project were created for them, we would have a huge parallel-maintenance headache! Also, SystemReady IR certification for v8-R64 cores requires compliance with EBBR, and building from a TF-A framework puts us on the path toward that goal.

The immediate firmware requirement for v8-R64, however, is not the entirety of TF-A. The immediate requirement for the fvp_r platform is to let the partner/customer dictate the nature of the run-time environment, and for TF to "trusted-boot" their environment. Therefore, the patch that we're upstreaming boots up only through BL1, and BL1 is adapted to load the customer/partner custom-defined run-time system.

On 1 July, the Arm team who are upstreaming the fvp_r platform, will host a Tech Forum session wherein we'll provide an overview, and medium level of detail on:

* The differences between v8-A and v8-R64 (again, more similar than different!),

* The impacts of these differences upon BL1, and

* Changes to BL1 to boot a partner/customer run-time system.

* We'll then detail the nature of the patches involved - which patches provide what functionality.

* Provide some suggestions for making the review of these patches easier.

________________________________ You have been invited to the following event. TF-A Tech Forum When Every 2 weeks from 16:00 to 17:00 on Thursday United Kingdom Time Calendar tf-a@lists.trustedfirmware.orgmailto:tf-a@lists.trustedfirmware.org Who * Bill Fletcher- creator * tf-a@lists.trustedfirmware.orgmailto:tf-a@lists.trustedfirmware.org more details >https://www.google.com/calendar/event?action=VIEW&eid=NWlub3Ewdm1tMmk1cTJrMTkxNHJ0MWdqZDIgdGYtYUBsaXN0cy50cnVzdGVkZmlybXdhcmUub3Jn&tok=NjMjbGluYXJvLm9yZ19oYXZqdjJmaWdyaDVlZ2FpdXJiMjI5cGQ4Y0Bncm91cC5jYWxlbmRhci5nb29nbGUuY29tMDVmNzVlNmQ2YzJjMzcwMTRmMmUyZDBkNzYzNmNiODIwMGU5NDI5Nw&ctz=Europe%2FLondon&hl=en_GB&es=0

We run an open technical forum call for anyone to participate and it is not restricted to Trusted Firmware project members. It will operate under the guidance of the TF TSC.

Feel free to forward this invite to colleagues. Invites are via the TF-A mailing list and also published on the Trusted Firmware website. Details are here: https://www.trustedfirmware.org/meetings/tf-a-technical-forum/https://www.google.com/url?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.trustedfirmware.org%2Fmeetings%2Ftf-a-technical-forum%2F&sa=D&ust=1592587253515000&usg=AOvVaw0RDjjhVrGvCfZnSVkoArNN

Trusted Firmware is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Join Zoom Meeting https://zoom.us/j/9159704974https://www.google.com/url?q=https%3A%2F%2Fzoom.us%2Fj%2F9159704974&sa=D&ust=1592587253515000&usg=AOvVaw0Wqwu3aHeTRWoaF_9AQwgq

Meeting ID: 915 970 4974