// pureboot — a serial bootloader on libavr, pure by constraint: one C++ // source with no inline assembly and no global register variables, built for // every chip libavr targets, 512 bytes on each. The device speaks primitives // — read/program flash, read/write EEPROM, fuse bytes, an info block, a jump // — and everything composite (verify, erase, reset-vector surgery, updating // the loader itself) lives in the host tool. Protocol reference: README.md // next to this file. // // The image is position-independent: control flow is PC-relative, the write // and read paths take wire addresses, the write guard refuses the 512-byte // slot the code is *running* in (taken from the runtime return address), the // info block is read relative to that same anchor, and the application jump // is an indirect call to an absolute entry. The identical binary therefore // runs from any 512-byte slot with every command intact: flashed one slot // below the resident loader it becomes the staging loader that rewrites the // resident — how pureboot updates itself, host-driven, with no other // firmware involved. // // Entry: reset lands in avr::startup::entry below (BOOTRST on the mega; the // patched reset vector — or erased flash walking up into the loader — on the // tinies). A watchdog reset hands straight to the application. Otherwise the // host has one activation window per awaited knock byte ("pb"); an idle line // boots the application. A session then stays in the command loop until 'J' // jumps away or the chip resets. #include using namespace avr::literals; namespace spm = avr::spm; namespace ee = avr::eeprom; namespace pureboot { namespace { // Purely polled — interrupts stay off, every guard folds to nothing. constexpr auto off = avr::irq::guard_policy::unused; constexpr std::uint8_t ack = '+'; // Per-chip personality: the clocks the dogfood boards run (16 MHz crystal on // the mega, calibrated RC on the tinies). The device signature comes straight // from the chip database (avr::hw::db.signature) — compile-time data is the // only universal source, since the tiny13A cannot even read its signature row // from code. consteval avr::hertz_t clock() { if (avr::hw::db.name == "ATtiny13A") return 9.6_MHz; if (avr::hw::db.name == "ATtiny85") return 8_MHz; return 16_MHz; } using dev = avr::device<{.clock = clock()}>; // The watchdog reset flag's home: MCUSR, or the classic megas' MCUCSR. consteval std::int16_t wdrf_field() { auto reg = std::string_view{avr::hw::db.regs[static_cast(avr::power::detail::reset_reg())].name}; return avr::hw::db.field_index(reg, "WDRF"); } // Geometry: the resident loader owns the top slot of flash — 512 bytes, // except on the >64 KiB chips whose own smallest boot sector is 1 KiB (the // 1284P): there the slot is 1 KiB, matching the hardware boundary the // 512-byte figure comes from everywhere else. The word below the slot is // the trampoline (the application's relocated reset vector) on chips // without a hardware boot section. The RWWSRE bit marks a separate boot // section — on classic AVR the two capabilities coincide (the m8/m32 packs // spell its register SPMCR). constexpr std::uint16_t slot_bytes = spm::flash_bytes > 65536 ? 1024 : 512; constexpr std::uint32_t base = spm::flash_bytes - slot_bytes; constexpr std::uint16_t page = spm::page_bytes; constexpr bool boot_section = [] { for (auto reg : {"SPMCSR", "SPMCR"}) if (avr::hw::db.field_index(reg, "RWWSRE") >= 0) return true; return false; }(); // Past 64 KiB a byte address no longer fits the wire's 16 bits, so on the // large chips every flash address on the wire — and all slot arithmetic — // is a word address instead ('J' always was one). A slot spans the same // wire-high-byte pair in either unit (512 B = 2 x 256 bytes, 1 KiB = // 2 x 256 words), so the slot index is the high byte with its low bit // dropped everywhere. constexpr bool word_flash = spm::flash_bytes > 65536; constexpr std::uint16_t wire_base = word_flash ? static_cast(base / 2) : static_cast(base); constexpr std::uint16_t wire_page_mask = word_flash ? (page / 2 - 1) : (page - 1); // The activation window, in seconds, is a compile-time constant (the build // may override it): the whole EEPROM belongs to the application, and // re-timing the loader is a bootloader self-update with a re-timed binary. #if !defined(PUREBOOT_TIMEOUT) #define PUREBOOT_TIMEOUT 8 #endif constexpr std::uint8_t timeout_seconds = PUREBOOT_TIMEOUT; // The 12-byte info block the host reads with the 'b' command; flash-resident // (there is no crt to copy a .data image), word-aligned so its wire (word) // address is exact on the large chips. The page byte is the wire count // convention: 0 means 256. [[gnu::progmem]] alignas(2) inline constexpr std::array info_data = { 'P', 'B', 1, // magic, protocol version avr::hw::db.signature[0], avr::hw::db.signature[1], avr::hw::db.signature[2], static_cast(page), wire_base & 0xff, wire_base >> 8, // app flash ends here; resident loader base (a word address on large chips) avr::hw::db.mem.eeprom_size & 0xff, avr::hw::db.mem.eeprom_size >> 8, // bit 0: host must patch the reset vector (no hardware boot section); // bit 1: flash wire addresses are word addresses static_cast((boot_section ? 0 : 1) | (word_flash ? 2 : 0)), }; // The serial link: the hardware USART where the chip has one, the polled // software UART (no vector — the table belongs to the application) on PB0/PB1 // elsewhere. Both are class templates on the clock so only the selected // backend is ever instantiated. pending() is the cheap line test the // activation window polls; rx() then picks the byte up; drain() holds until // the last transmitted frame is fully on the wire (the jump hand-over must // not let the target's re-init clip the ack). template consteval std::int16_t rxc_field() { return avr::uart::detail::ufield<'0', "UCSR#A", "RXC#">(); } template consteval std::int16_t txc_field() { return avr::uart::detail::ufield<'0', "UCSR#A", "TXC#">(); } template consteval std::int16_t status_reg() { return avr::uart::detail::ureg<'0', "UCSR#A">(); } template struct hardware_link { using uart = avr::uart::usart0; // The compiled idle poll: lds UCSR0A (2), sbrc skipping the exit (2), // sbiw + sbci + sbci + brne (6). static constexpr std::uint8_t poll_cycles = 10; static void init() { avr::init(); } static bool pending() { return avr::hw::field_impl()>::test(); } static std::uint8_t rx() { return uart::read_blocking(); } static void tx(std::uint8_t byte) { uart::write(byte); } static void drain() { // write() leaves the byte draining behind it. Clear a stale TXC0 // first (W1C by writing the sampled status back — the store a hand // assembler writes, keeping U2X0), then wait for the fresh // completion; with a byte still ahead in the shifter TXC0 cannot // re-set until the last pending byte has fully left. using status = avr::hw::reg_impl()>; status::write(status::read()); while (!avr::hw::field_impl()>::test()) { } } }; template struct software_link { using rx_t = avr::uart::software_rx_polled; using tx_t = avr::uart::software_tx; // The compiled idle poll: sbis skipping the exit (2), sbiw + sbci + // sbci + brne (6). static constexpr std::uint8_t poll_cycles = 8; static void init() { avr::init(); } static bool pending() { return !avr::io::input::read(); // a start bit has begun } static std::uint8_t rx() { return rx_t::template read_blocking(); } static void tx(std::uint8_t byte) { tx_t::template write(byte); } static void drain() { // The software transmitter returns only after the stop bit. } }; using link = std::conditional_t, software_link>; // The application's entry, an absolute address the linker pins (--defsym in // CMakeLists.txt): 0x0000 on the mega (word 0 stays the application's own // vector — BOOTRST re-vectors a reset into the loader in hardware) and the // trampoline word at base - 2 on the tinies. Reaching it must not depend on // where this copy runs, so the jump goes through a pointer: [[gnu::noipa]] // keeps the constant from folding back into a PC-relative call. extern "C" [[noreturn]] void pureboot_app(); [[gnu::noipa, noreturn]] void jump(void (*target)()) { target(); __builtin_unreachable(); } [[gnu::noinline, noreturn]] void run_app() { jump(pureboot_app); } // One activation window is a single 32-bit poll countdown. The divisor is // the backend's counted poll-loop cycles (its own comment reads them off the // compiled loop); whole-second precision is all the window promises, so the // nearest cycle count is plenty. consteval std::uint32_t window_polls() { return timeout_seconds * static_cast(dev::clock.hz / link::poll_cycles); } bool pending_before_deadline() { std::uint32_t polls = window_polls(); do { if (link::pending()) return true; } while (--polls); return false; } // A knock byte under the activation deadline: an idle line means no host is // there, and the application runs. std::uint8_t rx_deadline() { if (!pending_before_deadline()) run_app(); return link::rx(); } std::uint16_t rx16() { std::uint16_t low = link::rx(); return static_cast(low | (link::rx() << 8)); } // The streamers take the count in the wire's 8-bit form: 0 means 256. // send_flash stays out of line: its two callers ('b' and 'R') otherwise each // inline a private copy of the loop. On the large chips the address is a // word address and the read goes through ELPM (flash_load_far). [[gnu::noinline]] void send_flash(std::uint16_t address, std::uint8_t count) { if constexpr (word_flash) { // The 24-bit cursor as the machine holds it: the RAMPZ byte and a // 16-bit Z, carried explicitly (the reassembled 32-bit address // folds away inside the inlined far load). A single read never // crosses a 64 KiB boundary — the protocol forbids it and the host // splits its chunks there — so RAMPZ holds for the whole run. std::uint8_t rampz = static_cast(address >> 15); std::uint16_t z = static_cast(address << 1); do { link::tx(avr::flash_load_far((static_cast(rampz) << 16) | z)); if (++z == 0) ++rampz; // robustness for a host that reads across 64 KiB } while (--count); } else { do link::tx(avr::flash_load(reinterpret_cast(address++))); while (--count); } } void send_eeprom(std::uint16_t address, std::uint8_t count) { do link::tx(ee::read(address++)); while (--count); } // EEPROM write, host-paced: each ack goes out once the byte's write has // begun, so the next byte arrives while it completes and the following // write's own ready-wait sees an idle line. Nothing is ever missed, on // either serial backend, without a buffer. void store_eeprom(std::uint16_t address, std::uint8_t count) { do { ee::write(address++, link::rx()); link::tx(ack); } while (--count); } // One flash page: stream the bytes into the SPM buffer as little-endian // words, then erase and program — except the 512-byte slot this code runs // in, which is drained but never programmed, so a copy can never erase // itself. `slot_high` is the high byte of that running slot's base (run() // derives it); a broken host thus cannot brick the running loader, and a // copy flashed one slot lower may rewrite the slot above it — how pureboot // updates itself. On the mega the RWW section is re-enabled so reads work // immediately. void program_flash(std::uint16_t wire_address, std::uint8_t slot_high) { // A buffer word cannot be loaded twice without an erase (§26.2.1), so a // refused page's drained data must not linger for the next write: // discard the buffer up front — CTPB on the tinies; on the mega writing // RWWSRE aborts a pending load (§26.2.2). if constexpr (boot_section) spm::rww_enable(); else spm::clear_buffer(); // One induction either way. On the byte-addressed chips the wire address // itself walks the page (aligned, so the offset bits wrap to zero); on // the word-addressed large chips the wire word address becomes a 32-bit // byte cursor once, and their 256-byte page makes its low byte the whole // in-page offset. The slot index is one high byte of the wire address — // two values on byte-addressed chips (the & ~1), bits 16:9 re-packed on // the large ones. spm::flash_address_t address; std::uint8_t page_high; if constexpr (word_flash) { // Pages are aligned, so one page never crosses a 64 KiB boundary: // RAMPZ is a per-page constant and the fill cursor is a 16-bit Z // whose low byte is the whole in-page offset (256-byte pages). The // slot index is simply the wire word address's high byte. const std::uint8_t rampz = static_cast(wire_address >> 15); const std::uint16_t z0 = static_cast(wire_address << 1); std::uint16_t z = z0; do { std::uint8_t low = link::rx(); std::uint8_t high = link::rx(); spm::fill((static_cast(rampz) << 16) | z, static_cast(low | (high << 8))); z += 2; } while (static_cast(z)); address = (static_cast(rampz) << 16) | z0; page_high = static_cast(wire_address >> 8) & 0xfe; } else { address = static_cast(wire_address); do { std::uint8_t low = link::rx(); std::uint8_t high = link::rx(); spm::fill(address, static_cast(low | (high << 8))); address += 2; } while (static_cast(address) & (page - 1)); address -= 2; // back inside the page — erase and write ignore the word bits page_high = static_cast(address >> 8) & 0xfe; } if (page_high != slot_high) { // The tinies halt the CPU through the erase and the write, so only // the megas — running on while their RWW section programs — wait. spm::erase_page(address); if constexpr (boot_section) spm::wait(); spm::write_page(address); if constexpr (boot_section) { spm::wait(); spm::rww_enable(); } } } // The four fuse/lock bytes in the hardware's own Z order: low, lock, // extended, high. Writing fuses is not a thing self-programming can do on // AVR — SPM reaches flash (and boot lock bits) only. void send_fuses() { std::uint8_t which = 0; do link::tx(spm::read_fuse(static_cast(which))); while (++which & 3); } [[noreturn]] void run() { // A watchdog reset belongs to the application (whose watchdog stays // forced on until it clears WDRF) — no activation window in its way. // The flag register is MCUSR, or the classic megas' MCUCSR. if (avr::hw::field_impl::test()) run_app(); link::init(); // The high byte of the 512-byte-aligned base this copy runs at: the // return address is a word address, whose high byte is the 256-word slot // index — on byte-addressed chips doubled back into byte terms. // program_flash refuses this one slot and the info block is addressed // from it, so both follow wherever the code was flashed. const std::uint16_t ra_words = reinterpret_cast(__builtin_return_address(0)); const std::uint8_t slot_high = word_flash ? static_cast(ra_words >> 8) & 0xfe : static_cast((ra_words >> 8) << 1); // The knock: 'p' then 'b', each under a fresh window; any other byte is // line noise and waits again. Falling out of a window runs the app. while (rx_deadline() != 'p' || rx_deadline() != 'b') { } for (;;) { // No prompt while an EEPROM write runs: a pending write blocks SPM // and fuse reads (§26.2.1), and the ack tells the host all is done. ee::wait(); link::tx(ack); const std::uint8_t command = link::rx(); switch (command) { case 'b': { // info block, read relative to the running slot // The block sits in the image's first 256 bytes (the build lint // asserts it), and slots are 512-aligned — so the low byte of its // link address (in wire units: bytes, or words on the large // chips) is its offset in any slot, and the high byte of its // runtime address is the running slot's. Built as a byte pair so // no absolute address is ever materialized. const auto link_low = reinterpret_cast(info_data.data()); const std::uint8_t low = word_flash ? static_cast(link_low >> 1) : static_cast(link_low); send_flash(std::bit_cast(std::array{low, slot_high}), static_cast(info_data.size())); break; } case 'J': { // jump to a wire word address: hand-over and staging transfer auto target = reinterpret_cast(rx16()); link::tx(ack); link::drain(); jump(target); } case 'R': // read flash: addr16, n8 (0 = 256) case 'r': // read EEPROM: addr16, n8 case 'w': { // write EEPROM: addr16, n8, then n bytes each acked std::uint16_t address = rx16(); std::uint8_t count = link::rx(); if (command == 'R') send_flash(address, count); else if (command == 'r') send_eeprom(address, count); else store_eeprom(address, count); break; } case 'W': // program one flash page: addr16, page bytes program_flash(rx16(), slot_high); break; case 'F': // fuse and lock bytes send_fuses(); break; default: // unknown bytes are ignored; the loop re-acks break; } } } } // namespace } // namespace pureboot template struct avr::startup::entry;